One of Scotland’s most famous golf clubs has taken a major step forward with ambitious plans to create a third 18-hole course in the Highlands.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club has lodged an environmental scoping request with Highland Council setting out proposals for a new links course alongside a major overhaul of its wider golfing facilities.
The plans include a new 18-hole links, a par-three course, alterations to the existing Struie Course, a new driving range, maintenance building and other associated facilities.
The application covers land south of Meadows Park Road in Dornoch and was submitted to the council earlier this month.
It represents the latest stage in a long-term expansion programme at Royal Dornoch, which is already internationally renowned for its Championship Course.
The club bought around 50 acres of neighbouring farmland at Davochfin for a six-figure sum in 2024, initially opening up the prospect of improvements to the Struie Course and expanded practice facilities.
Royal Dornoch subsequently appointed American golf course architects King Collins Dormer to develop a masterplan for the site.
The designers were selected after a nine-member panel unanimously backed their proposals, which envisage Royal Dornoch eventually being able to offer three full courses as well as significantly expanded practice facilities.
General manager Neil Hampton previously said: “The parcel of land we have secured provides scope for us to offer three fine courses at Royal Dornoch in the future.
“In addition, we are looking to add a driving range and Par 3 course, along with short game and putting facilities.”
The plans would also involve creating new holes for the Struie while retaining parts of the existing layout.
Royal Dornoch has said the Struie must remain available as an 18-hole course for members and visitors while any construction work takes place.
King Collins Dormer is led by designers Tad King, Rob Collins and Trevor Dormer. The Royal Dornoch commission is the practice’s first project in the UK.
Collins said when the appointment was announced: “Our team at KCD is thrilled with the prospect of spending many seasons in Dornoch, helping our shared vision with the club come to life.”
Hampton said earlier this year that King Collins Dormer had impressed the club by finding ways to use land which was not currently part of either course while also incorporating a par-three layout, driving range and short-game facilities.
He said: “KCD had the whole package of using a piece of land that was not currently used for golf, seeing something in it that could make a very attractive and playable course as well as using the other land in a more novel way to create par-3 courses, driving ranges, short game areas – all these things.”
The project comes during a period of investment at Royal Dornoch. A new £13.9 million clubhouse opened beside the first tee of the Championship Course in December 2025, while the club has also invested around £1.5 million in a new irrigation system for the Struie.
Royal Dornoch will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2027 before hosting the Curtis Cup between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States in 2028.
The club believes further investment in golf could also increase the wider economic impact of visitors to Dornoch and the surrounding Highlands by encouraging players to stay in the area for longer.