Old Tom Trails - The Nairn Golf Club
BY MURRAY BOTHWELL
6 MINS READ
Nairn golf course sits so close to the water’s edge that at high tide, on a windy day, you are at one with nature. Its stunningly simple design, set across a links estate which uses its natural subtle hillocks and hollows to great effect, is as traditional a links experience as you may ever find.
The original layout dated from the foundation of the club in 1887. Designed by Archie Simpson, the Professional and Keeper of the Green at the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, he made full use of the proximity of the land to the sea and fashioned a stretch of links that brought the Moray Firth and the land together at each hole. It was only two years later though that Tom Morris was asked by Nairn Golf Club to extend the golf course when they acquired land to the west from the Earl of Cawdor. Morris totally revised the course, and his use of strategically-placed bunkers for golfers to navigate increased the challenge on this traditional out and back links. The only change to this format today occurs over three holes which change direction away from the coast, and take the golfer into a small tree-lined loop, with spectacular views on its exit of the sea and the mountains beyond.
Unlike some of the world’s championship links courses, the Nairn Golf Club’s truly remarkable feature is that from every hole you can see the sea, and the golden colouring and changing lights of the Black Isle. The prevailing wind plays left to right here, and it’s a thought worth pondering as you head off from the 1st tee for it’s all too easy to launch your ball into the sea on your right at every one of the first seven holes! Tees are set right at the marram’s edge, adjacent to the protective boulders which aim to defend this historical course from the elements. As players roam the coastal margin towards the end of the property, most will never have experienced proximity to the shoreline measured in inches as frequently as they will have on this course. Single-word names beautifully describe each hole such as Sea, Road and Burn, harking back to the simplicity of the game when Tom laid out the links.
The historic Bothy, situated between the 9th green and the 10th tee was built in 1877, along with the Icehouse, for the purpose of catching and storing salmon. This fine old building now doubles as the Club’s halfway house, mixing historical artefacts of Nairn’s golfing and social past with well- presented trays of snacks and thermos flasks of ability-inducing caffeine.
Twenty years on from Tom’s inspired design, the five times Open Champion James Braid (and the first to break 70 at Nairn with a 69 in 1901) was asked to lend a hand to extend the original course, and he set about altering tees and bunkers before creating new greens with subtle borrows to catch out even the most talented players. Braid probably deserves the most praise for Nairn's masterful routing. Little mounds on the fairway cause the ball to dart in different directions, and serpentine greens snake their way between large and small bunkers gathering the wayward ball, and never guaranteeing a straight exit. Other than in a strong westerly, it leads you in gently before demanding accurate driving and precision second shots. Gorse is a hazard. Burns are a hazard. The beach is a hazard. The par-4 holes tease and play with your mind and all four short holes are cunningly angled, with the 4th a little gem of a par-3 facing north and the 14th out of the trees simply spectacular. As the three par-5 holes are over 530 yards long, it is a test for all. The uniqueness of the traditional links design can still be seen at the 5th tee, right on the water, where you play directly over the par-3 4th green which you’ve just walked off.
Then, in 1920, new holes were designed by Ben Sayers of North Berwick before, once more, Braid returned to Nairn to contribute his expertise. With some discreet improvements fifty years ago by the esteemed architect C. K. Cotton, some judicious lengthening prior to the Walker Cup contest in 1999, and some recent re-modelling, Nairn nevertheless remains one of the classic Morris and Braid combinations of designs which will stand the testament of time.