Castle to Castle

The final day began with a quick breakfast and a fond farewell to Royal Dornoch early in the morning, and an hour drive south to the outskirts of Inverness, where we strapped on the spikes for our final round of the trip, at Castle Stuart. We had heard a lot about the Castle Stuart course, all of it good. Only two and a half years old, the course will be hosting its first Scottish Open in a month’s time, welcoming many of the world’s best players in their final tune up before the British Open. We hit a few balls on the driving range (first of the trip, ranges are pretty uncommon around these parts), and then jumped onto the course with our two caddies, the first group out at 9:45.

Although the sun had been shining on the car ride down, as soon as we stepped onto the first tee, hard against the Moray Firth, the skies darkened and rain began to spit down. Off we went, straight into the wind, and by the time we made it to the second, the rain was beating down and we were dripping. But the rain didn’t keep us down, because the course was beautiful. The first three holes ran along the water, with the fairways and greens running off into the rocky beach. The fourth, a par three, turned inland and looked straight back at the original Castle Stuart (see picture below). From there we wound our way through dunes and wavy grasses, with the occasional gorse and heather clumps scattered throughout, always with a view of the water and the mountains surrounding it. By the sixth the rain had stopped, and the sun began to peek through the swift moving clouds. It never quite broke through for the rest of the day, but the weather stayed fine with no more rain, and we dried off quickly.

The course was fantastic. It was in great shape, and had fabulous views of the firth and the mountains from every hole. We played pretty well, with some solid drives and approach shots sprinkled around some bananas and chunks. All in all, the course and the great time we had playing there was a perfect cap to our whirlwind golf tour of East and North Scotland.

After we dropped our last putts on the 18^th, we had a bite to eat in the swanky Art Deco clubhouse, and then jumped in the car for the drive down to Edinburgh. Once we arrived back in the city, we saluted ourselves with a dram of Glenmorangie and headed out into the sunny evening for some drinks and food. After a few hours of wandering the streets and with our appetites satiated, we headed to Brew Dog, a new bar in town that makes their own delicious craft beer. We ended up chatting and drinking with a really nice guy from Edinburgh, who has the enviable job of “beer judge”. What does that mean? It means he travels around Europe and the UK going to beer competitions and drinking all those wonderful beers in order to decide which one is the best. Where do we sign up for this gig? After more than a few quaffs and some good laughs, we headed home to catch a few hours of sleep before Bruce headed to the airport in the morning for his flight back to Seattle. We couldn’t have asked for a better end to the trip.

Check back later for a final wrap up, including our course rankings, and just as important, how we rated the whiskies. Slainte!