The clifftop above the Moray Firth, fifteen minutes east of Inverness, drops in two levels: a high terrace and a lower terrace, both with the firth spread out to the north and the Black Isle on the far shore. Gil Hanse built his golf course on both levels simultaneously — routing the holes back and forth between them so that the elevation change is built into nearly every hole. The project was developer Mark Parsinen's second Scottish links, after Kingsbarns; the brief was a course that would feel genuinely old rather than purpose-built. The course opened in 2009. The critical consensus was that it had largely succeeded.
The site does most of the work. The land drops from the clifftop to a lower terrace, with the firth visible from every part of the property. Hanse's routing moves between the two levels repeatedly — uphill tee shots, downhill approaches, green sites that use the elevation change to create angles that would be impossible on flat ground. There is no green that doesn't have a sea view, which sounds like a marketing claim until you're standing on the 17th tee watching the light change over the Black Isle. The par 3 17th, played from a clifftop position to a green below, with the firth as the backdrop on all sides, is the course's signature photograph. It is also a genuinely difficult hole.
Three Scottish Opens — 2011, 2012, 2013 — brought the European Tour to Castle Stuart and gave the course an extended period of television exposure that no purpose-built course in Scotland had received since Kingsbarns. Phil Mickelson, winner in 2013, was sufficiently complimentary about the course design that his comments have been repeated in press materials ever since. Touring professionals tend to be sceptical of new courses; the consistency of their approval at Castle Stuart says something about Hanse's architecture.
Visitor green fee is £255 in 2026. Caddies and buggies both available, which is unusual for a links course — the topography makes buggies practical where they'd be unsuitable on flatter ground. Booking via the club website up to 12 months ahead; no handicap certificate required. For visitors based in Inverness, the Highland three-course circuit is Castle Stuart (25 minutes east), Nairn (40 minutes east, £185), and Royal Dornoch (1 hour 15 minutes north, £235) — three very different courses in terms of character, all within range of an Inverness base.
