Saturday 2 April 2016

Castle Stuart has become a "must play" recommendation for many operators.

Castle Stuart Golf Links the host to the Scottish Open again in 2016 and Peter Craigon tells you why he reckons that this layout is one more of those MUST play courses when you visit Scotland. 

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of spending a couple of days at Castle Stuart on an early season mini-tour with 3 of my great golfing buddies – Donald McLeod is our Associate Director, Robin Duncan is the current Captain of Blairgowrie GC and Alan Wilson is a past Captain and Secretary of the 81 year old Perth Academy FPs GC. In fact all four of us are members of that wonderful old golf club having gone to school at Perth Academy (many years ago!)

I had played Castle Stuart on a number of occasions since it opened in 2009 and we have had some great feedback from clients we have sent there regularly in that time. However, I had not previously stayed in their accommodation. We stayed in their onsite Farmhouse which is a high class conversion only a drive and a wedge from the clubhouse. I can thoroughly recommend it as a base for anyone looking to play golf in the Highlands. The accommodation had 4 bedrooms and can easily accommodate 4 to 8 golfers and had a great lounge with Sky Sports to we enjoyed a few glasses of something nice whilst watching the PGA Tour event late into the night. We had a full Scottish breakfast in the clubhouse the next morning which was as good as any you would find in any of the hotels or guest houses up and down the country!

I must also say there can no other top class links golf course in Scotland with such fabulous scenery from more or less every hole (and I should know as I have played over 250 of Scotland’s wonderful golf courses over the years). The views to the west and north of Inverness and across to the Black Isle are simply spectacular. The course was designed jointly by Gil Hanse (he has just completed the course for this year’s Olympics in Rio) and Mark Parsinen and what a great job they have done. Every hole is fair yet challenging and it will be great to see some of the top players in the world warm up for The Open when the Scottish Open takes place at Castle Stuart in July. Simply put Castle Stuart is great links golf and is one of the reasons so many of the world’s best players think it is a great warm up for the Open at Royal Troon.

Also worth noting that it is not just me and our clients who think Castle Stuart is a great place to play golf – none other than Arnold Palmer visited last year and he and his design team are set to build what will be Arnie’s first golf course in Britain – the course is due to start being built next year – what an unbelievable prospect – taking what is one of Scotland’s very best links golf courses and adding another one right beside it with Arnold Palmer’s masterful design – I for one can’t wait.

Castle Stuart is one of the best golf experiences Scotland has to offer so why not ask me or Donald McLeod to add it to your itinerary the next time you come to Scotland along with Royal Dornoch and Nairn. In fact, to make the most of the experience we can add a high class whisky tasting in the Castle Stuart clubhouse run by one of the experts from the Tomatin Distillery.

Find out More on Morton Golf Website


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