Nairn Golf Club

Nairn was founded in 1887 on the Moray Firth, east of Inverness, and Old Tom Morris reworked the original layout a few years later. James Braid, five times Open champion, returned to it three times between 1910 and 1926. The Championship Course stretches to 6,832 yards from the black tees; sources give the par as 71 or 72 depending on the card.

Great Britain and Ireland won the 1999 Walker Cup here, 15 to 9.

What it asks of you

The opening holes run along the shore, close enough that a pulled drive on the first can finish on the beach. That is the defining feature of Nairn and the reason it is spoken of in the same breath as the great northern links.

Wind off the Firth is the constant, and it is rarely the same twice in a round because the course turns. The low running shot works and the high approach does not, which is the standard links lesson but harder to apply here because the greens are small and firm.

Braid’s contribution, over three visits, was mostly bunkering. His bunkers sit where a decent drive finishes rather than where a poor one does, so the fairway looks wide from the tee and turns out not to be.

What players say about it

This is a private club with visitor access, and it is well covered by the golf press. The points below summarise what recurs. These are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favor

• The setting is what everyone mentions first: the Firth on one side for the outward holes, the Highlands behind.
• The turf is described as genuine links turf, firm and fast.
• The Walker Cup and the club’s championship record give it standing beyond the Highlands.
• Reviewers consistently place it among the best courses in the north of Scotland.
• Conditioning is reported as excellent.

What comes up against

• The wind can make the course unplayable for a high handicap on a bad day.
• The gorse punishes a wayward shot absolutely on several holes.
• Nairn is a long way north, and the course is played on a trip rather than on a whim.
• The season is shorter than on the Ayrshire or East Lothian coasts.

Getting there and when to go

The club is at Nairn on the Moray Firth, twenty minutes east of Inverness and ten from Inverness airport.

The season runs roughly from April to October, and the links drains well enough to be played outside it. June to September gives the best light and the least wind, and the northern summer evenings are long. Visitor times must be arranged in advance.

Green fees

Visitor conditions are set by the club. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, the club’s published history for the founding and the architects, championship records for the 1999 Walker Cup, and public course records for yardage. Sources disagree on the par, so we give both figures rather than choose one. The opinion section summarises public reviews read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations.

We have not played this course, and this page is no substitute for a round. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.