Loading...Everyone loading the clubs into the boot for the North Coast 500 knows about Royal Dornoch. Plenty know Brora, Nairn, Castle Stuart. But drive the full loop and you'll pass half a dozen wee links and moorland tracks that most guidebooks — and most visiting golfers — never even slow down for. That's a shame, because a few of them are the best days out on the whole route.
Consider this the local pro's shortlist. These are the quiet stops I send friends to when they've had their Dornoch pilgrimage and want the other side of Highland golf: the side with an honesty box, a windswept 9th tee, and a starter who'll ask where you're from before he asks for the green fee.
Golspie: ten minutes north of Dornoch, and criminally overlooked
Golspie sits between Dornoch and Brora and the locals treat it like a well-kept secret — which, given James Braid had a hand in its shaping, is a bit rich. What you get is three courses stitched into one: proper links by the beach, heathland in the middle, and a pine-lined stretch inland. Few courses in Scotland change character that quickly.
The wind here comes off the Dornoch Firth and swirls once you turn back toward the clubhouse. Trust the yardage on the front nine, then club up two on the way home. Green fees are the best value on the coast and the welcome in the clubhouse is proper Sutherland — warm, curious, and quick with a cup of tea. Pair it with a morning round at Brora and you've had a fuller day of Highland golf than most package tours deliver in three.
Brora: the sheep-fence links Peter Thomson called the most natural in the world
Yes, Brora is on some lists. But it's rarely played the way it should be. James Braid redesigned it in 1924 for the princely sum of £25, and his routing still runs the way the ground wants to run. Tom Watson is an honorary member. Peter Thomson called it "the most natural links in the world." That's the pedigree.
The electric sheep fences round every green aren't a gimmick — they're the working reason the turf plays as firm and true as it does. Step over them, don't lean on them.
Ask for Gary Dingwall, our Director of Golf, if you want a proper read of the place before you tee off. The par-3 6th — the "Witch" — plays a full club longer into a westerly than the card suggests, and the green sheds anything short-right into a swale you don't want to be in. Bump-and-run everything from 100 yards in. This is not target golf.
Reay: the northernmost 18-hole links in mainland Britain
Push on past Thurso and you'll find Reay — an 18-hole James Braid links laid out on genuinely wild ground above Sandside Bay. It's remote, it's cheap, and on a still evening in June (and you'll have light until eleven at night up here) it's one of the most peaceful rounds you'll ever play.
The greens are small, the fairways are firm, and the wind off the Pentland Firth does not mess about. Bring a low, chasing 7-iron and know how to hood it. Call ahead — the clubhouse hours are relaxed, and they'll usually squeeze you in if you ring the day before.
Durness: nine holes, an Atlantic cliff, and a par 3 across the sea
Durness is the far northwest corner of the mainland and the golf course is a nine-hole cliff-top affair that will ruin you for every manicured resort layout you've ever paid three figures to play. The signature hole plays across a chasm of Atlantic to a green perched on the far side. You will lose a ball. You will not care.
Honesty box for the green fee. Sheep on the fairway. Views that stop you mid-swing. This is the kind of place that reminds you why golf started here in the first place.
Wick and Lochbroom: the two ends of the loop worth a detour
Wick, on the northeast corner, is another old links — flat, breezy, and with the sort of quiet character that Caithness does so well. It won't test a scratch player the way Dornoch will, but it'll charm anyone who understands that a good links round is about ground, not distance.
Over on the west coast, tucked above Ullapool, is Lochbroom — a nine-hole hill course with sea-loch views that most NC500 drivers roll straight past on their way to the ferry. It's not a links, but it's a proper Highland golfing experience, and after three days of coastal wind it'll feel like a holiday within a holiday.
How to actually play the hidden nine
A few things a local would tell you before you set off:
- Call ahead, don't just turn up. Most of these clubs are run by a handful of members and a starter. A phone call the day before gets you a warmer welcome than an email a month out.
- Cash for the honesty box. Durness and a couple of the smaller stops still work on trust. Bring notes.
- Play the twilight slot. June and July give you light until nearly 11 PM. A 6 PM tee at Reay after a lunchtime round at Brora is the sort of day you'll be telling people about for years.
- Bump-and-run, always. The turf up here rewards the low ball. Leave the flop shot in the bag.
- Layer up. The Moray Firth coast and the Atlantic north coast are two different weather systems. Pack for both in the same day.
Dornoch will always be the headline. But if you drive the NC500 and only play the marquee names, you're missing the version of Highland golf that the rest of us actually live in — quieter, harder in the wind, cheaper, and full of the sort of small welcomes that don't make it into the glossy trip guides.
Plan the trip, and send us your photos
Building your own NC500 golf loop? Grab our free Highlands Golf Trip Planner — course-by-course tee-time windows, accommodation clusters in Dornoch and Brora, and the twilight-round hacks that make the most of a Highland summer. Subscribe here and we'll send it over.
And if you play any of the hidden nine, tag us on Instagram or DM your photos — especially anything from the Durness cliff hole. We love seeing the route through visiting eyes, and the best shots end up in the next round-up. See you on the first tee.
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