Royal Tarlair sits on cliffs above the harbour at Macduff, on the south shore of the Moray Firth. The Royal designation arrived in 1936 from King Edward VIII, granted shortly before his abdication — making Royal Tarlair one of the last clubs to receive a royal prefix from Edward VIII and giving the club's official history an unusual footnote. The course itself was laid out in 1926 by Major Pollard on a stretch of clifftop that no one had previously considered suitable for golf, on grounds that were entirely correct: the terrain is dramatic, exposed, and in places alarming.
Six of the eighteen holes play directly along the cliff edge, with drops of 80 to 200 feet to the Moray Firth below. The 13th — called Clivet — is the signature: a par 3 played from a clifftop tee across a chasm to a green perched on the next headland. The shot is approximately 150 yards in still air. In the prevailing wind off the firth it is effectively impossible to judge without local knowledge. The ball that misses right is on the cliff face; the ball that misses left is in the rough behind the green. The ball that misses short is in the sea. There are no recovery options from any of those positions, which concentrates the mind.
The holes that run along the cliff between the 11th and 15th are where the round earns its reputation. These are not merely holes with sea views — the sea is in play, the wind comes off it at angles the trees on inland courses would stop, and the fairways run along ledges that are narrower than the scorecard descriptions suggest. Playing Royal Tarlair in a westerly is a different experience from playing it in any other condition.
Visitor fees are £35–£45. The clubhouse is small and welcoming. Pair with Cullen Golf Club (15 minutes east on the coast, £25) and Lossiemouth (50 minutes west, £80) for a three-course Moray Firth day at well under £150 combined — one of the strongest-value full-day golf itineraries in Scotland.