The Roxburghe is the Scottish Borders' standout parkland — a Dave Thomas design opened in 1997, set in 200 acres alongside the River Teviot a few miles south of Kelso. Thomas (who as a player had a reputation for shotmaking and as a designer was responsible for the original Belfry Brabazon) shaped a course that uses the river as a strategic boundary on five holes and the surrounding rolling pasture for everything else.
The course is owned and run as part of the Schloss Roxburghe Hotel — the 200-year-old Floors Castle estate's adjacent country house, redeveloped as a five-star hotel by 12.18. Investment Management in 2018. Stay-and-play packages combining the golf with the hotel's spa and restaurant are the obvious play, and the whole property sits in some of the most underrated countryside in Scotland — the Tweed Valley, with its abbey ruins and salmon rivers.
Visitor green fee is £65–£95 depending on season. The course is open to visitors all week and the booking system is online with reasonably wide availability. Buggies are permitted, club hire is excellent, and the practice facilities are tour-spec. Train to Berwick-upon-Tweed and a 40-minute drive — or, more pleasantly, drive from Edinburgh through the Lammermuirs in 90 minutes.
The Scottish Borders get less golf tourism than the coast or the Highlands, which is a straightforward piece of misevaluation. Kelso and the Tweed Valley are among the most attractive rural areas in Scotland, with the ruined abbeys of Jedburgh, Dryburgh, Kelso and Melrose all within 20 minutes. The Roxburghe is the natural golfing anchor for a Borders break — combine it with a round at Minto Golf Club or Hawick Golf Club and a walk along the Tweed at Dryburgh and you have a weekend most golfers from Edinburgh or Newcastle would return to.
