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— Center of the Golfing Universe —

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A classic northern Scotland links with an unrivaled pedigree:
a layout designed by Old Tom Morris and improved upon by
James Braid. Lengthened in 1999 for Walker Cup play, Nairn
offers an  updated championship course to links connoisseurs.
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POT BUNKERS, DENSE ROUGH, UNDULATING FAIRWAYS,
THE SEA AND THE WIND — THE CLASSIC HAZARDS
OF LINKS GOLF ABOUND AT NAIRN G.C.

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Nairn Golf Club
Seabank Road
Nairn, Scotland IV12 4HB
KA10 6SY Scotland
Tel: +44 (0) 1667 453208
Fax: +44 (0) 1667 456328
E-mail: bookings@nairngolfclub.co.uk
Web Site: http://www.nairngolfclub.co.uk

Nairn Golf Club Photo

          The pet project of an upper crusty Scot who rose to one of Britain’s highest offices, the evolution of Nairn Golf Club is a story of riches to even more riches. Robert Finlay, a successful attorney who represented Inverness county in British Parliament was the force behind turning a pristine stretch of sand dunes on the south side of the Moray Firth into a world-class golf course. Finlay, later Viscount Finlay after serving as the Lord Chancellor of Britain under Prime Minister Lloyd George, also had friends in high places in the turn-of-the-century world of golf. Finlay built Nairn Golf Club on the backs of his well-heeled London friends he talked into taking out memberships in a golf club 540 miles away. In 1887 he hired Archie Simpson away from Royal Aberdeen Golf Club to design the original course at Nairn. Then he convinced the one of golf’s living legends, Old Tom Morris, to improve the design. Old Tom, of St. Andrews, who had won the British Open 4 times during the 1860s, had already lent his hand to the classic links designs of three of Scotland’s (and the world’s) great courses

OLD TOM MORRIS

at Muirfield, Prestwick, and Carnoustie before he was brought by Finlay to the sands west of Nairn. Old Tom’s design wasn’t good enough for Finlay. Within two decades the course was being torn up by the great James Braid—himself a 5-time winner at the Open Championship and one-time record-holder at Nairn—who was tweaking Nairn by adding the sophisticated subtleties the maturing game was demanding.

NAIRN IS BLESSED WITH A SUPERB SITE
OF  DUNES LAND ALONG THE MORAY FIRTH.
                                                 Nairn Golf Club Photo

          Great courses continue to evolve in response to the evolution of the game, and Nairn fancies itself a great course. Improvements and alterations have continued at Nairn, including another round of changes by Braid. But all golf courses evolve within their original natural context—or should—and the

links at Nairn continues to be blessed by an ideal stretch of dunes land exposed to the weather crossing the Moray Firth from Scotland’s Northern Highlands.
          Finlay’s original plutocratic membership set the tone for Nairn. Even today the club draws the rich and famous, and lets you know on its web site with a page listing “notable guests” who have recently played there: Prince Andrew, F W De Clerk, numerous top pro golfers, Michael Jordan, Michael Douglas, and Jack Nicolson (sic) among them. Nairn claims a long, friendly association with Americans, and promises us a warm welcome. It does require proof of handicap from all visitors, but sets no handicap restrictions. Green Fees for Nairn’s championship course (there’s also a 9-hole fun course at Nairn) come in just under those for the region’s top-rated course, Royal Dornoch (currently rated #3 in the world outside of the US, and second in Scotland behind only St. Andrews Old Course). Still, at £75 for 18 holes at Nairn played between May and September, one need not be a movie star, head of state, champion basketballer, or world-class golf pro to afford a round at Nairn. Compared to the new flock of resort courses springing up in Scotland and Ireland that market with an eye to high-rolling American duffers, Nairn is a bargain, and, if a little self-enamored, authentically Scottish.

THE COURSE & SOME NOTABLE HOLES:
          The course is known to seduce first-time visitors with a reasonably gentle front nine with pleasant sea views, setting them up for a tortuous trip through a purgatory of six finishing holes on the back nine. The par-72 6,721-yard championship course at Nairn looks reasonable enough on the scorecard. Braid’s clever placement of bunkers and

GORSE IN BLOOM AND THE CLUBHOUSE FLAG
FLYING AT NAIRN'S 18TH GREEN.
                                          Nairn Golf Club Photo

rough combine with the course’s tight fairways to make for quite a challenge to any but the straightest of hitters. Not long on paper, Nairn, like all links courses worth the name, plays very long in rough weather, conditions not unknown in coastal Scotland.
          While both nines at Nairn offer challenging play, six holes on the back nine are considered the great challenge here. Here is a review of four of these signature closing holes:
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THE TABLETOP GREEN AT #12, "THE TABLE",
IS ENCIRCLED BY TROUBLE.
                                          Nairn Golf Club Photo

• Hole #12, “Table”, Par 4, 445
   yards: the first of the closing test at
   Nairn requires a very accurate drive
   to a narrow landing between bushes
   and fairway bunkers. A second shot
   from a safe spot in the fairway is to
   a usually fast table-top green almost
   completely encircled by hazards. The
   green is difficult to pitch and run,
   but prevailing winds make high,
   arcing approach shots risky.

• Hole #13, “Crown”, Par 4, 435 yards:
   the No. 1 handicap hole at Nairn
   features another narrow fairway lined
   with dense bushes and an out-of-
   bounds, with a large trap at the
   landing zone. Prevailing winds make all
   shots on this hole tricky. Trying to
   land on the slippery, elevated green
   guarded by more dense bushes can
   rattle the nerves of the steadiest
   golfer.

THE ELEVATED 13TH GREEN AT NAIRN IS MADE A
RISKY TARGET BY DENSE BUSES AT ITS EDGES
AND PREVAILING WINDS OFF THE MORAY FIRTH.
                                          Nairn Golf Club Photo

THE LONG PAR-3 14TH HOLE AT NAIRN RESISTS BIRDIES
WITH BUNKERS, GORSE, AND PREVAILING  WINDS
OFF THE MORAY FIRTH.
                                                  Nairn Golf Club Photo

• Hole #14, “Kopjes”, Par 3, 221
   yards: a long par-3 that can
   play even longer because it's
   the highest hole on the course,
   one the winds off the Moray
   Firth usually cross at right
   angles. The normally fast green
   is made more difficult by a gully
   that bisects it, making putts
   very difficult to read.

• Hole #15, “Sutors”, Par 4, 309
   yards: this short four looks like a
   breather after the last three
   challenges. But the drive here is
   the tightest at Nairn, and,
   because a deep rough and a
   lurking bunker conspire to
   eliminate driving off the tee with
   an iron, you will probably hit at
   least a 3-wood off the tee and

THE 15TH TEE AT NAIRN: A SHORT HOLE,
BUT A TIGHT LAUNCH PATH THAT
STILL REQUIRES A DRIVE OR 3-WOOD.
                                                  Nairn Golf Club Photo

   hold your breath. If safe and long in the fairway, the hole plays a little easier, but
   still requires pitching uphill to another slippery green that doesn't like to hold low
   trajectory shots.

THE REGION: Nairn, a town of some 11,000, is known for its sand beaches on the south coast of the Moray Firth sixteen miles east of Home At First’s lodgings in downtown Inverness. Nearby are several castles and historic sites, none more important than the Culloden battlefield, where the British army slaughtered combined troops under the leadership of Bonny Prince Charlie in their attempt to restore the Stuarts to the throne of Britain in 1745. Brodie and Cawdor Castles (this latter with associations with Shakespeare’s “Macbeth) are close by Nairn, too. Across the Moray Firth from Nairn is the Black Isle with its mysterious “clootie wells”, ancient Pictish artifacts, and prim, historic villages of Fortrose and Cromarty. All of these regional attractions are within easy reach of Home At First lodgings in Inverness city or amid splendid Northern Highlands scenery west of the town of Dingwall.

MARKER ON CULLODEN BATTLEFIELD, 12 MILES EAST OF NAIRN GOLF CLUB.
                   Nairn Golf Club Photo

]
Want to learn about other courses throughout the British Isles
including some of the greatest tests of golf in the world? See our
SCOTLAND, IRELAND, ENGLAND, and WALES
Course Guides for more information.
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