Herald Scotland: Royal Dornoch Golf club triumphs in awards

Mon 02 November 2020

An internationally renowned golf course loved by some of the game's greatest players has been named Scotland's best.

Royalty and Open winners have all hailed Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Sutherland, which is also regularly listed as one of the best courses in the world.

Royal Dornoch has now been crowned Scotland's Best Golf Course 2020 at the World Golf Awards.

The formal announcement and presentation of the award took place at a virtual ceremony at Park Hyatt Dubai, UAE on Thursday.

It was the seventh annual World Golf Awards event, highlighting winners across the globe in various categories.

“We are delighted to win this award,” said Neil Hampton, general manager at Royal Dornoch.

“It was a nice surprise to learn of our success and it is a real positive for everyone associated with the club during this difficult year. We work hard to maintain the quality of the Championship Course at Royal Dornoch, as well as our Struie Course, and look forward to welcoming more visitors back to our links in the months ahead.”

Royal Dornoch beat off competition from Carnoustie, Castle Stuart, Gleneagles, Kingsbarns, Loch Lomond, Royal Aberdeen, Royal Troon, St Andrews Links (Old) and Turnberry to claim the 2020 title.

Organisers of the global awards said that it recognised the quality of the famous links course during what had been a difficult year for businesses.

Chris Frost, managing director at World Golf Awards, said: “Despite the many challenges that the golf tourism and the hospitality industry has faced in this most unprecedented of years, votes were cast by hundreds of thousands of golf consumers from a record 129 countries. Strong support has also come from the leading golf industry professionals and media from every single participating nation in the programme.

“I can happily report that the appetite for golf tourism has never been as keen, as golf fans pushed for World Golf Awards to continue, and for the leaders in our industry to be acknowledged and rewarded. This bodes well for golf tourism’s future as the global recovery begins.

“With all of this taken into account, this year’s World Golf Awards winners are more deserving than ever before. Rewarding your commitment to excellence, whatever the challenges, and the determination to become the undisputed market leader.”

Carnoustie Golf Links won the Scottish award last year, with the Old Course in St Andrews winning in 2018. The World Golf Awards are presented in a range of categories with leading golf tourism destinations competing for titles.

The winners are voted by golf travel and tourism professionals and consumers.

In January the course was named number one in the world by leading online golf reservation service, "golfscape".

The course topped the list of the World’s Top 100 Golf Courses 2020, compiled by an extensive panel of industry leaders.

The panel said of Royal Dornoch: “Bordering the Dornoch Firth, the classic links land will offer you nothing but wild magnificent seas, skies, and mountains with ancient grass covering the dunes.”

Golfscape’s list has eight Scottish courses, including the Old Course at St Andrews (ranked 6) and the Ailsa Course at Trump Turnberry (15).

The championship course has also been ranked number four in the world in Golf Digest’s new Top 100 courses outside the US, by a panel that includes more than 1700 North American golfers and more than 350 international players.

In recent years, Prince Andrew and golfers Greg Norman, Ben Crenshaw and Ernie Els have made honorary members of Royal Dornoch.

Tom Watson headed North in 1981, the year after winning the third of five Open Championships at Muirfield. He arrived to play 18 holes, but had three rounds and 'the most fun I've ever had on a golf course'.

Watson, now an Honorary Member of the Club, returned before the 1996 Open at Lytham and his view of the course had not changed.

The club and course were established in 1877 and in 1886 champion golfer and legendary course designer Old Tom Morris was invited to come up with a fully planned golf course.

Before World War I, the course was popular with high-profile men and women golfers, including Ernest Holderness and Joyce Wethered.

An aerodrome was built on part of the ladies' 18-hole course during World War II, but the club was later able to construct new holes.