Royal Dornoch: mystique and emotion at heart of golf’s greatest outpost
Despite its remote location, some 30 miles north of Inverness, Royal Dornoch has been an established fixture in the top 10 of the world’s best courses for decades…
Dumbarnie Links: how golf’s most exciting new course defied Covid-19
This global pandemic has been difficult enough for golf clubs which have been around for centuries. Imagine, then, trying to open a new one. That was the reality facing the team at the breathtakingly beautiful Dumbarnie Links, on the Fife coast, and it was a challenge they embraced wholeheartedly. “It’s been harder than anything I’ve ever had to do” David Scott, the general manager at Dumbarnie tells The Wandering Golfers. It must then have brought him an overwhelming sense of satisfaction that those who have played it have spoken with one voice: special, magnificent, stunning, wow. “We’ve been thrilled with…
Coronavirus: how top golf clubs emerged from Covid-19
Very little about our world feels normal these days. Spending a few hours walking the fairways of your local golf club with friends is, let’s face it, about as close as it gets. This Covid-19 pandemic is not a disaster in a traditional sense, even if the trauma is comparable. It is not an event confined by time and space like a hurricane or a terrorist attack. No, there is a growing realisation that even if golf represents a rare escape from our current troubles, it may be some time yet before we fully return to anything close to normal.…
St Andrews and Chariots of Fire: secrets of famous scene
St Andrews and Chariots of Fire: the association immediately brings to mind the evocative opening moments of the celebrated Oscar-winning film, a sequence which has long since taken its place in cinematic history. The iconic images of young British athletes striding out across a windswept beach in slow-motion are set to one of cinema’s most remarkable soundtracks, written by the Greek composer Vangelis. To golfers the world over, they are also memorable for another reason. Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, the film’s two protagonists, are among the athletes who run up West Sands beach in St Andrews, hurdle the railings…