Top 100 Golf Courses in Scotland

THE sEMInal HolE
THE 12TH AT
ROYAL DORNOCH
By Tom Mackenzie, of the R&A’s preferred firm Mackenzie & Ebert.
The sign of a great course is when your
favourite holes change with the years.
Initial favourites can sometimes be
highly influenced by the grandeur of the
setting and the visual appeal of the hole
itself. sometimes, respect and then
admiration for the subtlety of holes builds
gradually and surprisingly.
The 535-yard 12th at Royal dornoch,
known as sutherland, is exactly such a
hole.
It may be the ugly sister compared to
many of the other holes on the course, but
it is a brilliant strategic par 5 where it is so
simple to drop a shot when, on paper, par
or better should be easy.
As with all great strategic holes, it is
made by a brilliant green. It is close to 50
yards long and is huge for a hole of this
length but it does not feel like it because it
is angled sharply to the left, as the hole
plays, with the angle reinforced with a
sharp hump on the front left corner.
The left quarter of the green slopes of
down towards a closely-mown hollow
leaving really twitchy recoveries.
similarly, the right of the green is
guarded with a pot bunker and a series of
ridges and shoulders that make recoveries
or approach shots from the right equally
nervy.
If you think too much about it, this all
eats away in your head from the tee
onwards and it becomes a mental battle
between you and green. If you go for the
green in two, which is perfectly possible in
summer, then missing the green either
side makes birdies hard to come by.
If you lay up, then you have to decide
where; too far to the left or too far back
then the angle of the green seems
exaggerated.
The challenge is to flirt with the
approach bunker on the right and leave
yourself about 50 yards short and right,
playing down the length of the green.
Great stuf.
n Tom Mackenzie is one of the UK’s most
respected architects and is vicepresident
of the European Institute of
Golf Course Architects.