Brora Golf Club

Brora Golf Club, a half hour deeper into the Scottish Highlands than Royal Dornoch, is best known today for its rustic ambience. The course doubles as a crofting site, and visitors are often charmed by — and eager to take photos of — the sheep and cattle sharing the fairways. No doubt Brora's simplicity, naturalness, and seemingly easy relationship with its surroundings are central to its appeal. But the club deserves just as much credit for the quality of its golf.

Founded as a nine-holer in 1891 and expanded to 18 by John Sutherland a decade later, Brora came into its own in 1924, when James Braid visited for a day and drew up plans for a new course. Braid's holes traverse rumpled linksland with undulations ranging from about two to 10 feet — perfectly sized for golf. His routing follows a classic out-and-back pattern, with the front nine running along the beachside dune ridge and the back nine looping inland, onto even more compelling ground. The round peaks at the 16th, which climbs a large knoll, and the 17th, which tumbles off it. Braid’s greens have enough contour to enhance each hole's strategy, but not so much that they don’t feel at home in the terrain. 

At a time when many prominent courses are chasing money, prestige, and the latest architectural trends, Brora has stayed admirably committed to its original design and rugged character.

Take Note…

Club vs. crofters. While visitors may enjoy the novelty of playing golf alongside (and sometimes over) livestock, Brora’s members have apparently grown tired of repairing trampled bunkers and taking drops from cow dung. The club purchased the land occupied by its golf course in 2019 and voted to expel the ruminants earlier this year. Since the crofters have a historical right to graze the land, they’ve lawyered up, and the matter is currently sitting before the Scottish Land Court.

Zap. In order to prevent damage from sheep and cattle, Brora has maintained electric fences around its greens since the 1960s. Some sections are enclosed by plastic sleeves, providing safe spots for golfers to step over.

Thommo’s stamp of approval. Five-time Open champion and Melbourne native Peter Thomson fell in love with Brora in the mid-1990s, long before the course had received widespread recognition. “When James Braid first set eyes on the land that is now Brora Golf Club,” Thomson said, “he must have felt the same elation I did, many years later, when I first saw what he had designed on this precious piece of linksland.”

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