Course Club Testimonials | Nairn Dunbar Golf Club, Highlands, Scotland

Nairn Dunbar Golf Club Testimonials

Nairn Dunbar made a deep impression on me as a course where strong, accurate play is required from start to finish.

There is adequate forgiveness for a middle handicapper to play the same ball for long stretches, but good scoring will be difficult from off the fairway. (Due to both lie and loss of distance off the tee). Apparently there has been a conscious effort to improve the course conditioning during the last 5-10 years and the result is a golfing test which is easily on a par with some of the more celebrated courses in the region. Although located slightly more inland than the more well-known Nairn Championship course, the Dunbar course offers a number of visually appealing holes, with excellent bunkering on many green complexes. This course belongs on your “must play list” for this area.

2023

Patrick

I made my third visit to Nairn Dunbar last week and have to say I was really impressed with the condition of the course.

I know that a concerted effort has been made to emphasize the links credentials of the layout recently and so half a dozen tees have been rebuilt and intrusive areas of gorse removed at almost half the holes. Further work has also been carried out to thin out trees between the 9th and 14th holes.

New greenside bunkers have been installed (or older ones replaced) on seven of the front nine holes, whilst new fairway bunkers have been added to five holes on the back nine. Every one of these new or renovated pot bunkers has been constructed to the highest standard possible, with properly revetted faces that you’d expect to find on the best championship courses.

It’s not all about conditioning, of course, even if the greens – which are in the process of bent grass overseeding to enhance their links quality – were absolutely fabulous. Architecturally, the use of natural ridges to hide or elevate a green (the former at the 2nd and the latter at the 7th) were features I’d not paid enough attention to in earlier visits, as was the wonderful lateral spine running through the 4th green and the lovely two-tiered putting surface at the long 13th.

Nairn Dunbar rose thirteen places in the Scottish Top 100 chart last time around so efforts to improve course playability were obviously appreciated at that time and I’ve now seen enough to make me believe that trend might well continue when the listings are next overhauled. It’s great to see a really decent track located next to a world famous course rise to the challenge and the ongoing efforts of the club to improve the course certainly deserves recognition.

2016

Jim McCann

It is a very good, tough and demanding course, located just 200m from the Moray Firth, if you want a very good firm fast links course with some of the very best greens in Scotland with some nice subtle green complexes as well, good value for money and very friendly staff in Scotland then this is your golf course.

Located in an area with some very famous neighbours, it for sure deserves consideration to be included in the trip north. Not only by the conditioning but also for the challenge off the tee. The risk reward par 5s which I liked a lot, on all 4 of them. Par 3s are also a very good feature of the course with tight bunkering around them.

I have to say there was not one single hole I didn’t like. Some courses are blessed with a terrific piece of land by the water, others with huge dunes and hills around … this one has some nice trees with heath, small dunes, firm fairways and penalizing bunkers. It is a serious test of golf, where distance will not be a factor if you hit it straight except the long par 4s 4-5-6 which might be the toughest stretch of the course. Even the 7th tests you because after a tough tee shot that small green demands one of the most precise approach shots of the round.

A course that less skilled golfers will find very playable due to the lack of forced carries (except for the 17th tee shot over a burn) and where par 3s are not long. Then there is the 18th hole, a par 5 where the green is in a sort of higher platform from the fairway with a sort of Punchbowl left side and a break to the right on the front, reachable but not easy.

2022

Javier

10th and 11th Greens on a Late Summer Evening

Long Narrow Green on the 5th Par 5 Hole.

Nairn Dunbar may live in the shadow of its Walker Cup hosting neighbour located on the west side of town but please don’t dismiss this enjoyable course from your Highlands golfing itinerary.

Here you will find a 6,691-yard championship length layout that features a number of demanding two-shotters, a fine quartet of short holes and a strong collection of par fives including the excellent finish.

Unsurprisingly The Club has hosted many national competitions over the years and will co-host the British Boys Amateur Championship in 2017.

Nairn Dunbar, named Golf Yearbook’s Scottish Club of the Year 2015, attracts visitors from far and wide who head to the popular golf destination of The Highlands. Perhaps one of the best ways to play this excellent value-for-money venue is to buy a Moray Golf Pass or look at a Highland Golf Escapes ticket as these offer exceptional prices and include a number of courses. Another excellent way to play here is to enter one of its many annual open competitions. However you book your tee-time though you will get extremely good bang for your buck.

With regards to the course itself the opening eight holes at Nairn Dunbar are of a particularly high standard and serve up all the thrills and spills associated with true links golf; natural movement in the land, deep pot bunkers and some excellent green complexes housing plenty of undulations.

2017

Ed Battye

Founder, Golf Empire

Nairn Dunbar is likely considered the ‘second’ course in the town of Nairn but you shouldn’t dismiss it – I truly enjoyed my round here last August and would love to come back.

The start is a bit fiddly and you need to know the lines but then there are some very strong holes. The course plays like a links with some interesting greens even though purists would probably lament the trees on the course, Ah well. The 18th is something special I must say…interesting to say the least!

When you’re in the area you’re probably playing Castle Stuart and Nairn, the famous and well-known courses around here. However, you’d miss something if you didn’t get a tee time at Nairn Dunbar: it’s a lovely round with a nice club house and a very pretty club logo (looks great on a ball marker). The towns people of Nairn can be happy to have two such great courses in their midst. I’d be happy with one!

2023

Hendrik