Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As this blog headline heralds, new golf courses in the Scottish Highlands beckon those who love golf, including me.

Not sure I’ll get there, but here is the way writer Martin Dempster put it in an edition of Links Magazine:

“Scotland’s golf-rich north is being energized by exciting new projects and timely additions to time-honored classics, beginning with venerable Royal Dornoch.”

Royal Dornoch is one of my favorite golf courses.  I have had the privilege of playing there three times, so much so that I echo what pro golfer Tom Watson said about it after he played it the first time – “It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course.”

Rather than write too much myself about the new developments, I’ll cite highlights from Dempster’s great article.

• It would be silly to suggest that the Highlands — the most northerly region on the Scottish mainland — is a newcomer to golf.  We’re talking about an area deservedly famous for Royal Dornoch, as well as highly regarded courses like Nairn, Brora, Boat of Garten, and Fortrose & Rosemarkie, to name but a few.  [I have played all of them.]
• The Scottish Highlands is proving more popular than ever for visitors to the Home of Golf.  The opening of what was originally called Castle Stuart in 2009 — and its subsequent staging of four editions of the Scottish Open, including network coverage in the U.S. — helped raise the area’s profile, along with Nairn hosting the Walker Cup in 1999 and the Curtis Cup in 2012.

Castle Stuart is now called Cabot Highlands, having been added to the ever-growing Cabot Collection, and recently debuted a second course, called Old Petty, designed by Tom Doak.

• There’s also a lot happening at Royal Dornoch.  A new $18.5 million clubhouse will be fully operational for the start of the 2026 season.  So, too, the new par-three 9th hole on the club’s other course, the Struie:  The 175-yarder is the only hole on either course to face southeast toward the Dornoch Firth and already has been hailed as “a real cracker.”
• “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,” says general manager Neil Hampton.  “The investment being made will pave the way for even greater economic and employment benefits for the wider community. “
• The same reasoning was behind the decision to build the second course at Cabot Highlands.  In 2015, Arnold Palmer was commissioned to create what would have been his first layout in Scotland; when The King passed away the following year, the task fell to Doak.  Aimed at complementing the original Castle Stuart course, Old Petty — its name paying homage to the 187-year-old church on the right side of the 2nd hole.
• New and exciting development isn’t just happening in and around Inverness.  To the south, in the area commonly known as the “Heart of the Highlands,” Discovery Land Company — the real estate developer and operator of private communities like Idaho’s Gozzer Ranch, Baker’s Bay in The Bahamas, and New York’s Silo Ridge — is turning the five-century-old Taymouth Castle into a luxurious place to live and play, starting with a just-completed renovation of its 100-year-old James Braid course.
• It is widely believed by people in the golf industry that the Highlands would get a further boost if the much-publicized Coul Links project ever gets the green light from the Scottish Government. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen in the face of strong opposition from environmentalists and wildlife groups.

To close this blog, Dornoch’s Captain Neil Hampton, who has lived and worked in the area for most of his life and is the chair of Golf Highland, a collective of 30 clubs and courses across the region, says this:

“No other area in Scotland offers such a variety of golfing experiences and price points, coupled with amazing scenery and the warmest of welcomes.  I am very proud of what we have to offer and how everyone comes together to make the golfing experience second to none.”

Okay.  One more visit to the Scottish Highlands and Royal Dornoch.  Perhaps.