Cabot Highlands (Castle Stuart Golf Links)

Overview: At Cabot Highlands ~ Castle Stuart Golf Links, the links profile for Cabot Highlands ~ Castle Stuart Golf Links is listed at 7009 yards and par 72. Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen used the broad coastal terraces above the Beauly Firth to create a course that feels both ancient and deliberately strategic. Fairways move over rolling ground, greens sit on elevated shelves and the views reach across water towards the Highlands. The layout offers several ways to play a hole, but the exposed setting makes direction and distance control essential. Its modern scale is balanced by natural bunkering, firm running surfaces and a routing that follows the land rather than forcing it into a grid.

History: Castle Stuart was designed by Hanse with Parsinen and opened in 2009, establishing a new championship venue on the north-east Scottish coast. The course quickly entered the international conversation through its inclusion in leading rankings and its role in the Scottish Open. In 2024 the venue became part of the Cabot Highlands development, joining Castle Stuart with the new Old Petty course while retaining its own name and identity. The original course remains a clear expression of Hanse’s approach to large-scale links architecture.

Did You Know? Castle Stuart’s elevated setting gives many holes a view across the Beauly Firth. The water and distant Highland landscape help reveal the direction of the ground, making the course’s relationship with its setting unusually easy to see during a round.