Course Review - Castle Stuart Golf Links, Inverness, Scotland.

On Sunday Phil Mickelson broke a two decade-long winning drought in Europe when he won the Scottish Open, hosted at the Castle Stuart Golf Links. This week’s course review takes a look at the unique design and golfing experience offered by this new addition to Scotland’s golf scene.

Castle Stuart first opened its doors to golfers in 2009, and is the brainchild of American golf course developer Mark Parsinen. With its coastal location on Moray Firth, between Inverness and Nairn, Castle Stuart enjoys the perfect location for a links course, with authentic Scottish weather to match.

The Gil Hanse design at Castle Stuart takes players on a scenic route as they navigate the course. The opening holes are played on an elevated beach with a view across the channel providing the backdrop for some challenging links golf. The use of mounding on the course ensures that each new hole is only revealed once the previous one has been completed – this provides a pleasant surprise for players as they navigate the winding layout at Castle Stuart on their way to the back nine.

Like many modern golf facilities, Castle Stuart was designed with both professional golfers and weekend players in mind. Though the tees may be adjusted for professional tournaments to add some length to the course, players using the normal tees should find the fairways without too much trouble.

Most of the fairways at Castle Stuart are generously sized, with a few tricky bunker placements and hard-to-read greens here and there. The course is playable by golfers of most handicaps, and weekend golfers shouldn’t be intimidated by Castle Stuart’s Scottish Open credentials – the course provides an entertaining round of golf and the impressive clubhouse facilities will ensure a very successful 19th hole.

Castle Stuart is open to the public, subject to bookings, and several golf travel packages are available – for more details, you may visit the course website at www.castlestuartgolf.com.

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