Fortrose & Rosemarkie Golf Club Ross-shire

Course architect James Braid’s remarkable achievement in designing 18 challenging holes within the narrow Chanonry peninsula is instantly obvious and admired by first-time visitors.

Modern-day golf writers enthuse over the course layout and condition, with accolades such as ‘a gem of a course by the sea’ – ‘the smallest but perhaps the brightest jewel in the Highlands’ golfing crown’ – ‘one of the most pleasant rounds of golf in the north’ – ‘a unique course with a special character to be found nowhere else’.

What Fortrose and Rosemarkie may lack in yardage is more than offset by its small, deceptive greens and strategically-placed bunkers – challenges which are multiplied in the mind of the player by a public road dissecting the course, the proximity of the sea to eight of the holes and the dense island of gorse that awaits the wayward shot at numerous others.