Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart & Aberdeen Golf Vacation
Includes - St Andrews, Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart, Cruden Bay, Trump Aberdeen, Nairn, Royal Aberdeen, Carnoustie, St Andrews Jubilee Course and the Boat of Garten
The Character
The Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart & Aberdeen Golf Vacation involves a long anti-clockwise, loop in a south to north, flow. The tour involves stops in four regions, albeit two would be closer to drive throughs as we concentrate more intensely on Aberdeenshire and the Highlands. This is a high mileage, medium intensity transport burden, with at least one significant drive back from the highlands, (this could be eliminated if we fly through London)
The biggest concentration of world top-100 ranked courses isn’t found around St Andrews. They actually occur in the north, stretching from Royal Dornoch to the links of Aberdeenshire. Here we’ll encounter five such qualifiers.
At Faraway Fairways we blend club and country. Nowhere is this glorious fusion better presented than the Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart & Aberdeen Golf Vacation, which seamlessly slides into the archetypal Scottish landscape, culture, and history, making it ideal for non-golfers too. Deep lochs, dark glens, tartans, animal furs, castles, whisky, mysterious monsters and clan feuds, are all wrapped up in the spirit of the Scottish Highlands. This is the Scotland where eagles soar, where the rivers run clean, and where wild animals freely roam the heather uplands in an orchestrated symphony of rich splendour
Itinerary
The Jubilee in question was that of Queen Victoria. This course therefore dates to 1897. It’s a quite typical links for the area, threading its way through low dunes, and without any double greens. The raised tees afford the golfer stunning views across St Andrews Bay and the town beyond.
It was only in 1988 that the Jubilee course came of age when Donald Steel was asked to upgrade it, adding length, interest, and challenge to the layout. Slowly it started to build up a reputation and loyalty. Today most judges agree the Jubilee is St Andrews’s most underrated course. Some go even further and regard it has the toughest links in the family now.
The Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart & Aberdeen Golf Vacation is really a Highlands tour however. We pass near enough to St Andrews on the way north to fire an arrow at the Old Course however and see if we can hit, but our chances of doing so are low (about 1 in 8). There’d be no harm in trying however
World top-50 ranked & Open Championship venue
Dubbed ‘Car-Nasty’, Carnoustie is considered by many to be the most difficult links in the Open Championship rotation
In recent years it has seen some dramatic finishes, none more so than in 1999 when Jean van de Velde took an eight at the 72nd hole to throw away the claret jug. Iconic images of him paddling in the notorious ‘Barry Burn’ have entered golfing legend. The final four holes are the hardest finish on the rotation. After the carnage of 1999 (6 over won) Sport Illustrated described it as
“a nasty antique that was brought down from the attic after 24 years …the rough was deeper; and the R&A made the fairways as narrow as an eel’s appendix scar”.
Whereas the eighteenth is the hole that has often generated the most drama. The par 3 sixteenth has the highest average scoring par 3 on the Open Championship rotation as indeed the closing four are the hardest. The Par 5, sixth ‘Hogan’s Alley’, is another famous hole with a punitive out of bounds fence running down it’s left
1999 Carnoustie reduced Sergio Garcia to tears after successive scores of 89 and 83
World top-100 ranked
Making use of Europe’s highest dunes system Martin Hawtree set about transforming this shoreline to realise the owners ambition to build the “best course in the world”.
Snakes of green slither their way through valleys in this frankly fantastic landscape. The early results have been impressive. A top-100 rating was secured in the opening season.
The par three’s quickly earned rave reviews, the 6th and 3rd in particular. The opening half dozen holes just seem to get better and better when it no longer seems possible.
More recently the par 4, fourteenth, an elevated tee played into a fairway valley has established itself as the signature hole.
World top-100 ranked
If you’re the purist that believes links courses should be wild, windswept, isolated and one step away from the sea, then Cruden Bay ticks all your boxes.
The waves crashed into the bay of Cruden and set about carving a beautifully curving horseshoe. In addition, Cruden Bay also benefits from the same dramatic ‘high dune’ systems of the Trump International and Royal Aberdeen. Significantly though, Cruden Bay has greater personality, as it retains many original quirky old links features. It even counts a dog-leg par-3 amongst its garrison! The sixth, Bluidy Burn, is a candidate for finest par five in Scotland, combining as it does, just about every classic links challenge on a single hole imaginable.
Cruden Bay is sometimes referred to as a ‘cult classic’ and whereas we might associate this with the entertainment, it kind of works here too
Occasionally World top-100 ranked
Dating from 1780, the traditional nine out and nine back layout at Royal Aberdeen is the sixth oldest golf course in the world.
In 2014 Justin Rose won the Scottish Open here, whilst Tom Watson has added a seniors Open title to his collection.
The outward nine is often regarded as Scotland’s finest, wending its way north through a spectacular dunescape. It’s not hyperbole. It has legitimate claims.
Like a fairground ghost train, one by one hazards present themselves. Undulating fairways, gorse, a burn, and of course a stiff wind blowing in off the sea are essential ingredients.
It would be a mistake to overlook the merits of the back nine though. This is played on a raised plateau, and often subject to greater exposure. The final three holes rival any closing stretch in the country.
Created from a Highland wilderness of gorse and heather Nairn is a perennial Scottish top-25 hoverer.
Nairn is a bit like a great symphony which takes you on a journey with each movement getting progressively challenging before developing into a climatic crescendo. Nairn requires you to use every club in you bag, and play a myriad of different shots.
Wise heads frequently nominate Nairn as possessing the best putting surface that Scotland has to offer too. One of the slightly more remarkable features is that you can very easily hit the ball into the sea on every one of the first seven! If you’re a ‘leftie’ with a tendency to hook, you might like to consider packing an extra sleeve of balls!
World top-100 ranked
Castle Stuart is another modern addition to the golfing landscape having opened in July 2009.
The course is set on two-tiered balconies overlooking the dark and foreboding waters of the Moray Firth. Players enjoy stunning panoramas from the highest elevations. The course is rich in the textured signature landscape of Scottish ‘whins’, gorse and broom, heather, and marram from beginning to end. These change colour with the seasons as nature commanded, and weave a tapestry of highland hues into this landscape mosaic of rugged beauty.
The course has quickly established a bit tour pedigree when it hosted the prestigious Scottish Open, where Luke Donald and Alex Noren have triumphed. It was used successfully by Phil Mickelson in 2013 as a springboard to Open success a month later at Muirfield
World top-10 ranked
Golf Digest has rated Royal Dornoch the highest of Scotland’s many worthy candidates, and it remains one of elite quartet that vies for the title of best courses.
The Championship course represented a paradigm in design that endures today. The ‘bump-and-run‘ was the traditional shot to mitigate a links wind. Elevated plinth greens were introduced and ringed with fiendish pot-bunkers to guard them from any such commando approach. Without completely taking the traditional ‘stock shot’ out of the equation, a degree of risk was added. Dornoch therefore challenges you to go the aerial route, and ride the wind. Iron play is the key to the course. The rationale is simple: hit a good approach shot and you should be rewarded. Hit a bad one, and you pay the penalty.
Tom Watson said of Dornoch “the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course”.
The bunkerless 14th, ‘Foxy’ is often regarded as the signature hole and one of the toughest par 4’s in Scotland
Boat of Garten is a comparatively short course at about 5500 yds and just a delight to play; fun and picturesque
It might be described as an alpine course that has claims to Scotland’s title of number one ‘hidden gem’ (sadly being discovered).
Boat of Garten is flanked by a steam railway on one side, and the River Spey on the other. The Cairngorm mountains provide constant drama to the east, whilst its fairways are lined by silver birch trees
Unless we’re flying out of Inverness, any trip to the Highlands has to come back south eventually, that means using the A9 to Edinburgh. Whereas Gleneagles is an option, Boat of Garten is on a direct line of travel and further north, so perhaps more in keeping with the spirit of Highlands and Aberdeen golf vacation
Testimonial
From BB Canada
“I told Alun the courses I was interested in playing and he prepared a stay and play package with 14 days of outstanding golf, but also tremendous site seeing opportunities for my wife.”
From JC Illinois
“His attention to detail is amazing--I think our travel plan booklet ran to forty-eight pages, with gorgeous descriptions of cities and sights, plus maps showing where to go to catch trains, or walk from trains to hotels, sights and golf courses, etc.”
From DF Alabama
“I will cherish the memories for a long time- especially the wonderful times spent on and off the golf course with two of my brothers and brother-in-law. None of the memories and golf would have been possible or enjoyed without your tremendous planning and logistical support.”
AS from Colorado
“Alun and Faraway Fairways created possibly the most memorable golf trip we have ever experienced. EPIC is the only word that comes to mind.”
AC, From Florida/ New York, 2025
“We were hopeful to secure a 4 ball at St. Andrews while avoiding the massive expense other operators had quoted. He was very clear about the plan for achieving a tee time at the Old Course through the ballot, including detailed instruction on how it could be done, and what our odds were. He suggested mid- to late April as the best chance of success and advised that this is also the least rainy part of the year. We took his advice and trusted the process. Well, he was right on all counts!”
From SB, Minnesota
“We wholeheartedly recommend Alun and Faraway Fairways if you’re looking for a golf trip that is effortless, enjoyable, and truly unforgettable—even for a non-golfer in the mix! My husband and I will be daydreaming about this trip for years to come. 5.5 stars!”
From JB, California
“The best part was that the service was surprisingly affordable. They were thousands of dollars below other quotes that I received, in fact the prices were very similar to what I would have paid if I would have booked everything on my own.”
From JCA, Maryland
“I would and will highly recommend your company to anyone looking to plan an unforgettable golf trip. Thank You for putting together a fantastic trip for J.C. and me”
From WF Connecticut
“I think all eight of us would agree that Alun at Faraway Fairways did an absolutely wonderful job of putting this “golf vacation of a lifetime” together for us. His focus on the details was extraordinary from the choice of courses and the timing of the tee times, the amazingly beautiful accommodations along with some excellent meal selections, and the transportation options he provided to get us from place to place.”
From DR South Carolina
“You are about to tee it up in your Major. Seek wisdom, integrity and professionalism. Alun Davies and Faraway Fairways will not disappoint you. They cannot assure a calm sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s on the Old Course.”
From MM, California
“One fantastic trip you organized, and more importantly took ownership of in terms of daily communication and stewardship during our 2+ weeks in Scotland and Ireland. The logistics were spotless…100% of the transports were on time and excellent, the lodging choices spectacular and the golf was off the charts in terms of quality and arrangements made”
DH from California
“You cannot go wrong with the support Faraway Fairways offered. I did this trip solo and all last minute but I have already begun to plan the next trip which will include my best golfing buddies.”
Enquiry
We don't need to make this an ordeal by 101 filtering questions! In reality there are probably little more than half a dozen things we need to know to build out a proposal. The guidance below might help you frame answers
Duration - usually best expressed as a range up to a maximum
Time of year - can be anything from a specific date range to a named season
Travel class - Faraway Fairways uses 'Luxury', 'Premier' or 'Affordable' for generic purposes. You might choose to reference the international 'star' rating system. We're only looking for something to help steer us into the right sector
Self drive or hired driver - In broad terms, self driving is normally less expensive, and much more flexible, but some folk just don't want to do it
Must play courses/ must do places - a few name checks is all that's needed