Cabot Has Unrivaled Scottish Highlands Golf Combo With New Doak Course

A view of the new Old Petty course over Castle Stuart at Cabot Highlands.

Jacob Sjoman

Cabot has taken a major step in positioning its property in Scotland as the definitive jumping-off point for golf getaways to the Scottish Highlands with the introduction of its eagerly awaited Old Petty course, a full-filled, links-style layout from architect Tom Doak and his associate Clyde Johnson.

In creating the second course at Cabot Highlands to complement the existing (and highly regarded) Castle Stuart course, Doak was actually able to get several of Old Petty’s holes closer to the property’s 400-year-old castle than the original layout designed by Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen. “Uncomfortably close,” Doak noted with a chuckle in the case of the par 3 third hole, which plays alongside the stone tower house that was completed by the third Earl of Moray in 1625.

“You could hit the ball over the fence there,” Doak said following a recent round at Old Petty, which is set for its full public reveal in 2026. “It’s 120 yards off the tee on a 200-yard hole, and then it widens back out after you’re past that, so hopefully not too many people hit it over the fence.

“If that was like the Road Hole at St Andrews or a busy public golf course that was in town and there was danger there, we couldn’t be as close as we are,” he added. “But the castle isn’t really used for much of anything now, so we could play uncomfortably close to it that one time and get away with it.”

Seizing the Spotlight

The addition of Old Petty gives Cabot Highlands a strong one-two punch in a more remote region of Scotland often overshadowed by the star power of St Andrews and other facilities that have established a global following by hosting Open Championships (like Royal Troon, Trump Turnberry and Muirfield).

But the rugged Highlands are seizing the international spotlight with the growth at Cabot Highlands, and the investment being made at Royal Dornoch, which is building a new clubhouse and has brought on King Collins Dormer Design (KCD) to help create a new 18-hole course.

While Castle Stuart has some dramatic cliffside holes and steep elevation changes as it plays along the Moray Firth, Old Petty is masterfully laid out on more gently rolling terrain that was mostly former farmland hemmed in by stacked stone walls.

“Some people think that we architects are all really competitive with one another, like if he did the first course, I have to top it for the second one. I don’t really think that way,” Doak said. “I have a lot of respect for Gil, who worked for me back in the day. We want to do something different than the other guy did. And something that complements it a bit, because it is different.

“In the bigger picture, this is trying to make the Highlands more of a destination and get people to come and stay up here and play five or six days and play all these great courses once. You want to be in that conversation,” Doak added. “That’s the real goal, more than (saying), ‘We’re going to be the best course and we’re going to take over from Dornoch.’ That’s probably not going to happen no matter what I do.”

Scottish Influence

One of the most accomplished modern architects in the game, Doak says every course he’s created during his career has been influenced by the year he spent in Scotland immediately after college, a time when he first saw how different golf can be. And that inspiration is unquestionably incorporated at Old Petty.

“You’re trying to build a course that plays like a links, whether or not some people may want to disqualify it from being a ‘true links’ because we had to move a lot of dirt around and manufacture it. We’re still looking for it to play like that,” Doak said. “It’s not a course where you can just hit it at the flag all day. You have to allow for the ground game. That means you have to take into account the contours around the green, because you’re not just flying it within 10 feet of the hole.”

Doak has particular appreciation for the memorability potential of “wrinkly” terrain, uneven lies and a deft short game.

“I ask people a lot what was your favorite shot today or the best shot you hit all year? Usually, the answer is not, ‘A 7-iron out of the middle of the fairway and I hit it close,’” said Doak. “It’s a recovery shot. They might say, ‘I got in trouble and had to hook it around a tree or hit a little pitch shot that just barely covered a bunker and then took a contour and went right into the hole. I think more about those shots than most architects do, because I’m not as good a golfer. I hit more of those shots than Jack Nicklaus does.”

The Bothy

In addition to the castle and the bayfront, Doak and Johnson incorporated a few other existing elements to create internal visual interest.

The most notable one is an old Bothy, a no-frills old dwelling or farm shed typically found in rugged areas for those seeking a respite from the wind and weather. The fifth green at Old Petty almost butts up against the wall of the red-roofed Bothy, which has been refurbished as a halfway house.

“We said, ‘why don’t we just put the green right next to that thing?’ It draws your eye, so let’s take advantage of that,” said Doak. “And obviously the castle is a much more prominent example of that. Not just going past it on the third hole, but after you make the loop and you’re coming back to it on the 8^th hole. We only would have turned that into a par 5 with a blind approach over a bunker because you’ve got something to aim at behind it – the castle itself.”

“Any little thing that was there and a natural feature of the property, we latched on to, and we latched onto really strong,” Doak added.

Golf in the Scottish Highlands

Doak says he hopes people walk off Old Petty after their first visit and immediately think about how much fun it was, and when they might be able to come back and play again. But Doak also acknowledges that’s not always realistic with destination courses.

“Most of the people who come are on that six-day tour and they’re going to play eight different golf courses,” Doak said. “For me, the thing is, I don’t want people to walk off and feel like they got beat up. But I do want them to walk off and think, ‘I could have done better now that I know that a little more.’ So, you want them to think about how they could have done better, and that’s the thing that brings them back.”

Now with two courses, Cabot Highlands has positioned itself firmly in the discussion for the place to use as a home base for a Scottish Highlands golf trip. It’s only a few minutes from the Inverness airport and a reasonable same-day road trip to golf clubs like Royal Dornoch, Nairn and Brora. Ultimately, Doak says he isn’t worried about 19th hole debates or rankings regarding which course might be better.

“I’ve got to build a lot of super cool projects and that’s what I want to continue to do,” Doak said. “If I can build something that I’m enthused about and we had a lot of fun doing the project, I’m not too concerned with the other people in the taproom discussion.’’