One of the top-ranked golf clubs in the world announces massive overhaul and new courses

One of the best golf clubs in the world is receiving massive overhaul to its property.

Royal Dornoch, consistently ranked among the world's premier links golf destinations, revealed ambitious expansion plans on Wednesday. The historic Scottish club has partnered with King Collins Dormer Golf Course Design to develop a masterplan that includes:

-Complete renovation of the Struie Course (Royal Dornoch's second 18-hole layout)
-Development of a new par-3 course
-Construction of a new clubhouse facility

This marks the first U.K. project for King Collins Dormer, previously known as King Collins. The design firm has built an impressive portfolio in the United States, including acclaimed courses such as, Sweetens Cove, Landmand, Red Feather, and Crossroads at Palmetto Bluff.

“These are exciting times for everyone connected with Royal Dornoch and with the clubhouse on target to welcome golfers from around the world next season, our thoughts are already turning to the next project,” said Dornoch general manager Neil Hampton. “Usually, the opening of a new clubhouse which has been mooted for 30 years or more would mark the end of the journey for any golf club but for Royal Dornoch it is about what the next step is going to be … Golf has long been the key economic driver in this part of the country and additional, high quality, eco-friendly championship courses created by highly regarded designers can only enhance our reputation as a golfing destination and encourage visitors to extend their stay in the Highlands.”

“We acknowledge the gravity of undertaking a plan that seeks to help one of the world’s greatest clubs secure their ideal version of the future,” Rob Collins posted on Instagram. “With this in mind, we are suggesting the following enhancements to the Club and their property: a revised Struie Course that shall seek to no longer live in the long shadow of the Championship Links, a New Eighteen, which shall be built upon ideal Scottish linksland, a new eighteen hole par three golf course, a new practice facility, which shall endeavor to be considered amongst the world’s finest and will include a member’s only short game facility, a four-hole practice loop of par three holes, two Himalayas putting courses, and a kids course routed into the target greens of the practice facility.”

Royal Dornoch’s Championship links is listed second in the latest Golf Digest World’s 100 Greatest ranking, behind only Royal County Down; writer Herbert Warren Wind once observed “No golfer has completed his education until he has played and studied Royal Dornoch.”

The news is the latest development in a resurgence of golf in the Scottish Highlands. Castle Stuart is about to welcome a second course, Old Petty, under the Cabot banner, while Coul Links awaits a government ruling regarding environment protections to proceed.

Golf Digest senior writer Joel Beall’s debut book, Playing Dirty: Rediscovering Golf's Soul in Scotland in an Age of Sportswashing and Civil War, is on sale now at BackNinePress and all major bookstores.