No breakfast. We had to hurry. Castle Stuart is near Inverness about 45 minutes from here at Moray. On the way, we stopped to fill up our hybrid. £35 for a full tank. Castle Stuart was built in 2009 and was meant to be American style with 9 circling back to the clubhouse and no cute names for each hole. The whole course runs along the Moray firth so there are lots and lots of ocean views. The clubhouse is art deco style and meant to look something like a new age castle. On the 4th hole, however, there is exactly one view of the real Castle Stuart, pretty cool.
Today, we played with another American, Dan, who was a decent golfer and good person. He and I had caddies. John carried his own bag, but got a few tips from my caddie, Shawn, as needed. I recommend caddies on courses you haven’t played before, if possible. In Scotland, you must book them ahead.
This was a terrific course, but two things bothered me. 1) It was manufactured to look like this. A flat field was moulded by earthmovers to make the undulating fairways and tricky rises to sea-top greens. None of it existed in nature. That’s just not proper Scottish golf. 2) And the price. This course has no members. It is meant for tourists, so the Cabot company that runs the course charges what the market will bear. Scots don’t usually play this course, because why should they? One hot tip that might help in the future is that if you’re a member of any golf club in Scotland, this course is half price—but just for you, not your party.
There were many outstanding holes. See a few photos below:
After a good and often challenging round, John had the great idea of going to Cawdor Castle. It would be open for only another hour, but we’d chance it. The grounds are gorgeous, and the castle, a Macbeth icon. Turns out that Shakespeare’s Macbeth is in the wrong era because the castle wasn’t even built until the 14th century, while Macbeth was a character from 400 years earlier. But all of that aside, it was lovely. Recent history is full of gossip. Lady Cawdor still lives in the castle 7 months a year, then vacates for the “season.” The 6th earl willed the estate to his second wife, the Contessa, rather than to his son, the 7th earl. There’s a bit of a family battle ongoing, and no idea who will end up with the castle after the Contessa passes away. Stay tuned…
