A Journal for the Thrifty Gowfer
Scottish Islands
Stromness, Orkney
Plate I — Links course — coastal exposure, firm running turf
Eighteen holes at the southern entrance to Stromness harbour, established 1890, looking over Scapa Flow to Hoy. Seven par 3s and not a single par 5.
Stromness has guarded the southern entrance to its harbour town since 1890, and the views do half the work: across the water to Hoy and Graemsay, and out over Scapa Flow, the great natural anchorage where the German High Seas Fleet was scuttled in 1919. The golf is compact — just over 4,800 yards, par 65, with seven par 3s and no par 5 anywhere on the card — and the club's own warning deserves respect: in a strong Orkney breeze, several of those par 3s become flatly unreachable.
Small, undulating greens do the rest of the defending. The club calls the course fair but tough, which translates as forgiving off the tee and merciless from the rough, and longer hitters get one moment of pantomime: the seventeenth can be driven, over a public road.
The £50 summer day ticket has proper island logic — nobody sails to Orkney for a quick nine — and the winter rate of £16 might be Britain's best golf bargain for anyone visiting for the storms and the archaeology. The clubhouse keeps island hours; the tee sheet is online now, whatever older guidebooks say about honesty boxes.
The Full Scorecard
Fields marked “Contact club” aren’t public-facing in a way we’ve been able to verify. Call the club directly for these — we’ll update the entry when we have it from source.
Conditions This Week
Scored 0–10 for golf — wind, rain, conditions · Full 7-region forecast →
Location
Stromness, Orkney · KW16 3DWOpen in OpenStreetMap →
Plan This Round
Where to Stay
Hotels, lodges and self-catering near the first tee. Map-style search via Stay22 covering Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and Vrbo.
How to Get There
Glasgow (GLA) or Inverness (INV) is 240 minutes away by car. Train + onward taxi works for the carless visitor.
Insure Your Round
Most home contents policies don't cover golf clubs in transit. The picker matches you to the right kind of cover in two minutes.
Played here? Consider
Picked for links rounds on the Scottish coast.
Outerwear
Wind off the firth changes club selection two irons. A breathable, fully-waterproof shell that's light enough not to swing in is the single biggest upgrade for Scottish links golf.
Layer
Scottish-made merino — the locals' choice for shoulder-season rounds. Warm enough for a 7am tee time in October, light enough for the back nine when the sun comes out.
Tech
Handles blind tee shots and exposed-coastal yardage cleanly. Battery lasts a 36-hole day; the wind-direction overlay justifies the price on its own.
Stays Nearby
Hotels, B&Bs and self-catering within easy reach of Stromness. Tap any property to check rates.
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