The Carnegie at Skibo Castle

In Scotland, A Castle Course Becomes One Of The Toughest Links Challenges Endorsed By Two Former Open Winners

From above, the Scottish North Sea looks majestic. On a small propeller plane, you can fly down low enough to see Skibo Castle over the dunes. “No idea what it’s called,” said the pilot through his radio, jabbing his finger downwards at the golf course, “but it looks good.”

Later, I found out we had been flying over the Carnegie Club, which had been developed by Peter de Savary. Very expensive, but you couldn’t get on the course unless you were a member or had been invited by one. Even then, a member would have to pay £250 a round to play golf with his guest.

Exclusivity was a big deal in Britain during the 70s and 80s, but it was understandable that not many people were playing on the Carnegie at the time. It was remote and pricy; a difficult combination and little wonder that most of the members were American.

Sam Snead once gave me his opinion about the rash of exclusive golf clubs, which made it almost impossible to join. “Ol boy gets blackballed by a fancy new club, so he goes away, earns a fortune, builds his own course, makes himself President and blackballs everyone he don’t know. Finishes up with ten members. What’s the point of that?”

The inescapable truth was, however, that whatever you thought of the “exclusive membership”, the Carnegie Club course at Skibo Castle had been designed by Donald Steel and been arranged on one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the world. There had been a course on the land before.

It had been opened in 1898, but Steel’s design and innovation had retained little from the original 18 holes and remains mostly original although one or two refinements have been made over the years since he laid it out. Steel had a perfect links landscape to work on and was given the opportunity of a lifetime, which I think he took with both hands. The result was that the Carnegie was then and is still, a work of genius and one of the finest links courses in the world.

The fact that the Carnegie is there at all is a miracle. The land is not simply 18 holes inserted into a range of windswept dunes, it lies in a nature reserve, a saltmarsh and a designated site of special scientific interest with colonies of protected species including greylag geese, widgeon and otters in residence. These are all factors which usually discourage development. The magnificent Skibo Castle, was there already and is used as the clubhouse and hotel, but the course had to be built and earth had to be moved and the environment had to be protected at all costs.

Skibo Castle retains many of its original features indicating that it was the home of Andrew Carnegie, the son of a weaver from Dunfermline who emigrated to the Unites States in the mid-19th century and made his fortune before returning and moving into the Castle.

Carnegie was a short man and the chairs in the lounge and the ornamental balustrade on the terrace are alarmingly low because they were designed for his convenience. Carnegie was no golfer but he knew about money and wrote a book called “The Gospel Of Wealth” where he decried that “a man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” To prove his conviction, he gave away 700 million pounds of his “excess” wealth and provided public libraries for the people throughout Britain and the United States.

The land surrounding the Castle eventually became the course for the Carnegie Club. Donald Steel was commissioned and laid it out as a 6,207-yard

par 71 set on a peninsular jutting out into the Dornoch Firth with the sea on three sides. The prevailing wind is from the east and in spite of its remoteness, the Carnegie remains open all year.

It is elegant and traditional, strangely devoid of deep rough, short on trees and thus unprotected from the elements, yet the first impression you get is of its superb condition. The turf is full of spring and the greens are big, undulating and, when I played it, fast. The land drains quickly and the ball sits up beautifully on the fairways, asking to be hit.

Sandy Lyle, Open Champion in 1985 and an ambassador for the Carnegie Club, had this to say about Skibo. He took the position several years after Donald Steel had made some modifications to the course.

“I play the Carnegie whenever I can. It is a genuine challenge and can be very difficult. There is nothing to deter the wind off the sea and that can give you serious problems when you’re out there. I enjoy going out in the evening. The summer days are long and the light on the landscape in the evening is extraordinary. I bring friends up to play and sometimes play with the guests. I often come here to practise before the Open.”

When I played it, there was little preamble and Steel’s layout was asking questions straight away. Number one is a 400-yard par 4 that bends to the right with bunkers on both sides at 250 yards and the green in a shallow bowl guarded by a heavy swale pot bunker short and on the left. The second is a sharp dogleg to the right and the third a dogleg to the left.

By the seventh, a short par 4, the wind was getting to me and this hole, which has a split fairway at 200 yards, was asking impertinent questions. The long, oval green is well guarded with a choice of second shot; safe left or go for it and risk deep traps on either side. The 10th, a long, narrow bendy par 4 seemed beyond most golfers, certainly into the wind. Hit a 250-yard drive and you have a second of the same length.

The 11th, a dogleg left with a second over the water is a character-builder and the remaining holes have the Dornoch Firth on the right hand side all the way to the long par 4, 16th. The 17th, as so often with holes numbered 17, is a murderous little 300-yard par 4. It’s a demanding fairway metal up to a raised diagonal green and you’re encouraged to go for it by the four pot bunkers just short of the putting surface. All the bunkers on this hole have sharp run offs and the green is left to right, narrow and full of slopes.

The 18th, a classic narrow 550-yard dogleg left with the Dornoch Firth on your left is a classic golfing challenge. You have to take risks here although you can play away from the water’s edge if you want to go the long way round. But it’s designed for the mad gambler, which is what I turned out to be. My risk was predictably without reward, and I was at the bottom of the Firth for the fourth time.

I loved the Carnegie and after it was all over, I loved the clubhouse and the bar. It’s friendly and comfortable and the food’s good. Staying at Skibo was a spectacular

It is elegant and traditional, strangely devoid of deep rough, short on trees and thus unprotected from the elements, yet the first impression you get is of its superb condition. The turf is full of spring and the greens are big, undulating and, when I played it, fast. The land drains quickly and the ball sits up beautifully on the fairways, asking to be hit.

experience. My room had a big window looking out over the estate and there was a bottle of whisky and a flask of spring water on the table.

18 holes in a stiff, chilly wind on a tough course, and the idea of sitting in a deep armchair alone for a while before a roaring fire in a lovely old fashioned sitting room with a bottle of malt and a glass, is mesmerising and, for me anyway, more beguiling than the golf club bar. Then there was venison for dinner and more malt before deep sleep and another round in the morning.

Paul Lawrie, the Scottish professional who won the Open at Carnoustie in 1999 and knows about links golf, said of Skibo, “I’ve played there a number of times over the years and the course gets better every time. They’ve reshaped the second hole by creating dunes and they renovated the 7th and 8th and lengthened the 10th into a really strong par 4. They also changed the water hazards to the right of 11 and 12 and made a huge difference. It’s interesting that they’ve played about with the layout over the years, and I feel that it plays now in a way that I really like.”

When quizzed about which hole tends to be the score-breaker, he said, “Any hole can be a score breaker but 11 and 12 normally test you – into the prevailing wind and you need accuracy and lengthy drives to keep your score going - particularly at the long 11th. The water all along the right side forces you to concentrate and you must not get too greedy by trying to cut off a few yards.

Personally, I don’t thank you can leave

Skibo without feeling that you’ve been given the chance to play a unique course. It’s not just the testing layout - the links is beautifully presented and conditioned, the details like the paths through the long grass, the course furniture, the “two-thirds-way” house are all beautifully done and conceived. The Carnegie is not just full of quality and character, it’s got class.

Personally, I don’t thank you can leave Skibo without feeling that you’ve been given the chance to play a unique course. It’s not just the testing layout - the links is beautifully presented and conditioned, the details like the paths through the long grass, the course furniture, the “twothirds-way” house are all beautifully done and conceived.