Scotland: The Ultimate Grand Tour

Nowadays, golfers can find brilliantly designed courses on every continent save Antarctica. In South Africa, for example, there are fine layouts in settings so wild that it is not unusual to see giraffes ambling across the fairways. But there is still no place quite like Scotland. The modern game began here in the 15th century, but its origins go back even further. Once, shepherds used crooks to knock stones into rabbit holes dug in the sandy soil that linked fertile farmland to the sea — hence the term “links.” Today, the country contains many of the greatest courses in the world.

I have journeyed to Scotland many times and consider it to be the place where the game exists in its purest and most enjoyable form: on traditional courses with players carrying pencil bags holding only half-sets of irons and woods; at centuries-old clubs that possess more history than many museums; and on fairways where, since 1860, touring professionals have battled for the oldest trophy in golf, the Claret Jug, which goes to the British Open champion.

Usually, I concentrate on a single part of the country, but this year, I decided to make a two-week circular journey, a kind of golf grand tour. Predictably, I began in St. Andrews, a fine old seaside town of just 16,000 inhabitants, famous for its 15th-century university, which lies 50 miles northeast of Edinburgh. If Scotland is golf’s Holy Land, St. Andrews is its Jerusalem. As well as the Old Course, it is the home of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, founded in 1754.

No one has ever questioned the historical stature of the Old, from which King James II banned the game in 1457 because he believed it was distracting his soldiers from their archery practice, but golfers have long debated whether the flattish, idiosyncratic layout with its seven double greens is truly an architectural triumph. Some iconoclasts have gone so far as to suggest that the Old is not even worth playing. I emphatically disagree. To date, the Old has staged 28 Open Championships, and the sense of history is palpable. That, coupled with the stately stone clubhouse of the R&A looming behind the first tee, makes the opening shot here as compelling as any in golf. The first fairway is roughly 100 yards wide, but it can feel impossibly difficult to hit, given the setting and the pressure of the situation.

With that in mind, I always make time for a warm-up round before taking on the Old. There are 16 excellent courses in and around St. Andrews, but on my recent trip, I chose Elie, known more formally as The Golf House Club, 13 miles to the south. Windswept and in almost constant view of the Firth of Forth, Elie was founded in 1875. It features an amusing mix of holes, the first two being par 4s, with No. 1 measuring a daunting 420 yards, while the second is a mere 284. What I like best about Elie, however, is the large periscope that is mounted on top of the starter’s hut. It comes from a British submarine, the HMS Excalibur, and is used to see if the fairway, which climbs up and over an imposing hill, is clear before the next group hits.

When in St. Andrews, I invariably stay at the [Old Course Hotel][1], a modern 144-room property overlooking the 17th fairway of the Old and owned since 2004 by the American plumbing magnate and golf impresario Herb Kohler. Its exterior is uninspiring, but the rooms are spacious and well-appointed and command sweeping views of the fabled links. In addition, there is an excellent restaurant, the Road Hole, which serves succulent local scallops, as well as fine Scottish lobster, lamb and venison. The hotel also has a spa with an indoor pool, where I generally swim a few laps to ward off stiffness after a day’s exertions.

One of the pleasures of the Old Course Hotel is its proximity to the three best courses in St. Andrews — the Old, the New and the Jubilee — all of which are within a 10-minute walk. Before setting off on my journey, I decided to treat myself to a final round on the Old. A fitful wind was blowing off the North Sea, and on either side of the fairways, swathes of gnarly yellow gorse were in glorious bloom. The Old is an out-and-back course, meaning that most of the second nine plays back into town. St. Andrews has been an ecclesiastical center since at least the eighth century, and ancient towers and spires rise from its huddle of gray stone buildings. It is an inspiring scene, and one of which I never tire. I stood for a while in contemplation, savoring the salty air and being gently buffeted by the breeze.

Heading north from St. Andrews, it is a two-hour drive to the Balgownie links of the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, where Tom Watson won The Senior Open Championship in 2005, and the British and Irish captured The Walker Cup in 2011. The tee of the opening hole has an expansive view of the North Sea. The course then takes a hard left, and the rest of the front nine runs through dunes parallel to the waves. The track works its way back through less dramatic, but nonetheless challenging, links land. Here, accuracy is at a premium, as well as an ability to deal calmly with the gusting wind.

Just a half-hour farther up the coast lies Cruden Bay, a links course designed by Old Tom Morris that opened in 1899. (The father of modern golf course design, Morris was the first to standardize the length of a course at 18 holes. He died in 1908 at the age of 86 and is buried in the grounds of St. Andrews Cathedral, where his grave has become a place of golfing pilgrimage.) At Cruden Bay, the first hole has a distant view of the 15th-century New Slains Castle, said to have been an inspiration for Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula.” The front nine snakes through towering, windswept dunes, and several holes play directly into what often feels like a near gale. Shots on Nos. 12 and 13 require golfers to deal with a twisting burn (stream), and then there is the devilish par-4 14th, where you play to a long and narrow green tucked into dunes right beside the North Sea.

I do not currently recommend any hotels close to Aberdeen or Cruden Bay. There are plenty of comfortable places to stay, but nowhere fully meets the Harper standard. So if you require sophisticated comfort, you can either press on to Inverness, a three-hour drive, or take time out at [Darroch Learg][2] in the Highlands. Just 41 miles west of Aberdeen, the hotel sits on an oak-crowned hill near the town of Ballater, about eight miles from the Queen’s summer residence, Balmoral Castle. The 19th-century house has been owned by the Franks family for more than 40 years and affords dramatic views of the mist-shrouded hills in Cairngorms National Park. The accommodations are extremely comfortable, and the dining room serves fine locally sourced cuisine. Several famous whisky distilleries — Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Cardhu — are within easy reach.

Inverness lies 70 miles northwest of Ballater, a scenic drive of an hour and 45 minutes. Just to the east of town, the modern links course of Castle Stuart overlooks the Moray Firth, where the slick black heads of seals can often be seen bobbing in the water. Constructed by American Mark Parsinen, Castle Stuart opened in 2009 to almost universal acclaim. Indeed, officials from the European Tour like the course so much that they have taken to playing the Scottish Open there.

After my round — during which I tried, and abjectly failed, to deal with the fiendish greenside bunkering—I checked into nearby Culloden House, a majestic Palladian mansion dating from 1746 surrounded by a 40-acre estate. The interior is a showcase of neoclassical splendor, with Adam plasterwork, chandeliers and antique furniture. Some of the 28 accommodations also come with chandeliers and marble fireplaces. In the dining room, chef Michael Simpson serves a menu that features superb regional ingredients such as Highland beef and seafood from the Orkney Islands.

The tiny town of Dornoch (pop. 1,200) lies 57 miles north of Inverness and exudes an atmosphere of calm that harks back to the early 1900s. The Royal Dornoch course has deep ties to two of the game’s icons. Donald Ross not only grew up there, but also served as the golf club’s professional and greenskeeper before moving to the United States and becoming one of the New World’s most celebrated course designers. And Old Tom Morris is regarded as the man who gave Royal Dornoch its greatness when he redid the seaside links in the 1880s.

For me, Royal Dornoch represents golf at its most meditative and spiritual. It is truly a superb track, with elevated tees that give players a clear sense of where to hit their drives, and testy greens complexes that demand precise approaches. The scenery is awe-inspiring, too, and the second shot on the par-4 eighth is one of the best in golf, especially when it is hit off the top of the two-tiered fairway that drops some 50 feet to a water-backed green.

For me, Royal Dornoch represents golf at its most meditative and spiritual.

The Royal Golf Hotel provides austere, clean and comfortable accommodations, with its location, a two-minute walk to the first tee, being the main selling point. For more demanding travelers, however, I recommend Glenmorangie House, a convivial inn 16 miles to the southeast owned and managed by the famed Glenmorangie Distillery. The six rooms and three cottages are furnished in traditional Scottish style, but come with modern baths. The hotel strives to create the atmosphere of a house party, with pre-dinner tastings of Glenmorangie whiskies, followed by lavish meals.

Dornoch being the northernmost point of my journey, it was time to retrace my steps. The most direct way to Turnberry, in the southwestern county of Ayrshire, is a five-hour drive straight down the A9 highway. Preferring a more leisurely route, I opted for the A82, which follows the Great Glen — a geological fault line that bisects the Scottish Highlands — along the shore of Loch Ness to Fort William. One of my favorite Scottish retreats, the palatial Inverlochy Castle, stands just outside of town, but on this occasion, I had chosen to stay at the [Isle of Eriska][4], an enchanting private island hotel an hour’s drive farther south.

A bridge connects the mainland with the tranquil 300-acre island. There, a manor house contains 25 individually decorated lodgings with well-equipped baths. Log fires warm the book-lined bar, and a superb dining room offers Scottish delicacies, as well as nightly trolley specialties carved at the table. Amenities include a health spa with a 55-foot indoor pool and, should you wish to practice your putting, a nine-hole golf course in glorious natural surroundings.

The second leg of the drive down to Turnberry takes around three-and-a-half hours and runs for part of the way along the western shore of lovely Loch Lomond. Turnberry has seen more than its share of golfing drama, having hosted four Open Championships on its celebrated Ailsa course. The first came in 1977, when Tom Watson edged Jack Nicklaus by a stroke in a famous duel, winning with a birdie on the 18th hole. (Turnberry has two other links courses: The Kintyre and The Arran.)

With unforgettable views of the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran and the rocky outcrop of Ailsa Craig itself — the granite plug of an extinct volcano — The Ailsa course is a marvelous melding of long and short holes with a bewildering range of doglegs and elevation changes. On a hill behind the course stands the 149-room Turnberry hotel, an imposing structure that opened in 1906. Although I recommend the property, I prefer to stay at [Glenapp Castle][5], located 19 miles south of Turnberry and secluded amid 30 acres of gardens and woodlands. The magnificently restored Victorian mansion contains just 17 accommodations, and the grand public areas include a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Visitors to Turnberry should not neglect the excellent Prestwick Golf Club, 20 miles to the north. A classic links course that opened in 1851, Prestwick hosted the first British Open in 1870. Today, the course is a first-rate track with varied and interesting holes such as the famous par-3 fifth, dubbed “Himalayas,” whose blind tee shot over a mountainous dune has been copied by modern course architects for decades.

From Turnberry, I embarked on the final stage of my golf grand tour, driving across the country for two-and-a-half hours to Gullane, a village in the region of East Lothian, on the shore of the Firth of Forth 20 miles east of Edinburgh. The Gullane Golf Club, founded in 1882, boasts three wonderful courses, simply named No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. The numbers represent the order in which they were laid out, but they also provide a fairly accurate indication of their quality. The fairways on Gullane No. 1 are lined by ankle-high marram grass, and diabolical pot bunkers protect the greens. Good as Gullane No. 1 is, however, it is not the best course in town. That distinction goes to Muirfield, which was founded in 1744. The layout is universally lauded for the way it exposes golfers to wind from every possible angle, with a clockwise front nine and a counterclockwise back nine. The club is not only the oldest in Scotland but also is arguably the most exclusive, with an atmosphere not unlike that at Augusta National. From July 18-21 this year, Muirfield will host the Open Championship for the 16th time.

Situated at the edge of the course, overlooking the ninth and 18th greens, stands one of my favorite golf hotels: Greywalls. Designed by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901, it was built as a private home and was subsequently converted into an exceptional inn with just 23 guest rooms. Prints and oil paintings depicting golfing adorn the walls, and memorabilia from past Open competitors is on prominent display. The outstanding Chez Roux serves classical French cuisine and is under the supervision of Albert Roux, who, in 1982, became the first chef in Britain ever to be awarded three Michelin stars.

After dinner, strolling around the hotel’s large walled garden — the work of legendary horticulturalist Gertrude Jekyll — I reflected on an exceptionally memorable trip. Virtually every town in Scotland has a signboard on its outskirts addressed to motorists that reads “Haste ye back.” And indeed, no matter how many times I visit this wonderful country, I always leave fired with a determination to return.