Built in stone and lime, with timber features and Staffordshire roof tiles, it was an elegant replacement for the tiny building Old Tom Morris used as he extended the links in 1886.
Soon it would host royals, Hollywood stars including Bing Crosby and US Presidents eager to play what some say is one of the best links courses to have never staged the Open.
Opened in 1909, the clubhouse at Royal Dornoch is now set to be demolished (Image: Craig Wilson/Creative Commons/Geograph)
Now, though, the old clubhouse with its 116 years of golfing heritage and distinctive clock tower is weeks away from being demolished, with a towering new sandstone clubhouse set to take its place.
Soon locals will venture inside for the last time to salvage what souvenirs they can before the building – a feature in countless golfers’ photographs down the years – is lost forever.
But if the demise of the distinctive old Royal Dornoch clubhouse is tinged with a little sadness, its gleaming £14 million modern replacement has ignited some very different emotions.
The new clubhouse at Royal Dornoch overshadows its 1909 predecessor (Image: Robert M. Wilson)
With its construction scaffolding now gone to reveal its three storeys of pale sandstone blockwork and tall chimney stack with retro-style square clock, lively debate has ensued over whether it’s a bold step into the future or a brutal mistake.
Stinging criticism across social media sites has likened to everything from a Victorian mill to a municipal crematorium, a caravan site toilet block, to nuclear bunker, prison and even a slaughterhouse.
Some armchair critics have compared its stonework’s ‘pixelated’ effect to a Minecraft building. Others query why some windows strangely appear to have been blocked off.
Also raising eyebrows has been the cost: at £14 million for the 2,100 sqm building, it is in a different league to the humble property it replaces.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club’s new £14 million clubhouse has divided opinion (Image: Robert M. Wilson)
The dramatic change prompted debate over whether it is an example of Scotland’s golfing heritage being sacrificed to meet rising demand from wealthy international golfers for more luxurious facilities.
On the other hand, others have praised the club’s committee for its bold vision and, echoing the excitement that rippled through the town when the Carnegies unveiled the last clubhouse, hail it as symbolising a new era for golf tourism in the area.
And having missed out on a bigger slice of Scotland’s £300 million a year golf tourism sector due to a lack of infrastructure and the hard to reach location, they hope it might lead a Highland charge to lure golfers away from the likes of St Andrews, Gleneagles and Muirfield.
David Purves of DP Private Hire, who regularly transports American and other international golfers to the course, is among the new building’s fans.
The 3 storey new clubhouse at Royal Dornoch (Image: Robert M Wilson)
“I love it,” he says. “It’s the best thing that has happened to Dornoch in a long time. It’s the way forward.
“The people of Dornoch are very lucky to get a building of this stature.
“Royal Dornoch has nailed it, they’ve come up with a building that will not only cater for people now but will still be doing it in 100 years’ time.
“I have a big American clientele,” he continues, “and they think that it’s great.”
Glasgow-based architects Keppie designed the new clubhouse at Dornoch and its interior (Image: Keppie Design)
He’s aware of the criticism: “There’s been mixed feelings about it. A lot of people like it and there are a lot that don’t – we Highlanders are very opinionated people.
“Some don’t like change but they’re living in the Dark Ages. It’s time to move on – there’s no point looking backwards.”
A member of nearby Tain Golf Club, he hopes the clubhouse will bring benefits across the area.
“This is a big chance to get people here.
“The Highlands have got to get out of the 1920s,” he adds. “Buildings are just bricks and mortar, the history has been made in Dornoch and the memories are still there.”
Royal Dornoch’s new clubhouse (Image: Robert M. Wilson)
Alison Davies of Dornoch Heritage Society says the clubhouse and demolition plan has had a “mixed reaction” among locals.
“Taste is a very personal thing,” she says. “It is a contemporary building on the edge of a historic town which has to have functionality to host high numbers of golfers and a high standard of hospitality.
“There’s no doubt that the architect and the club were committed to a design which reflected the architectural references in Dornoch, such as the Cathedral door archway, the many vernacular house types, features from the adjacent large, period buildings such as the hotel.
“As to the original clubhouse, there will be nostalgia about its passing but it has been through a number of changes over the years.
“I think it is broadly agreed to no longer meet the functional needs as well as being structurally past its sell by. ”
Glasgow-based architects Keppie say the twin gabled building with its solar panels and a battery energy storage system “honours the legacy of Royal Dornoch Golf Club whilst celebrating its future.”
The same firm also developed the interior design, with open plan lounges and restaurant with huge picture windows and “spaces that reflects the marvellous offering of the course itself and captures the heritage, prestige, and global reputation of Royal Dornoch Golf Club”.
Royal Dornoch’s new clubhouse (Image: Robert M. Wilson)
At Dornoch Caravan and Camping Park, Lynn Redfern says she understands the need for a new clubhouse but has some reservations over its impact.
“It looms right over our caravan park and it’s certainly making a statement,” she says.
“It’s a prestigious golf course, they’re planning a third course and other upgrades, and they need something that reflects that.
“They have done a fantastic job with the building. But it does look like an old mill which I’m not sure really fits with Dornoch. We have never had mills here.
“Dornoch was always the capital of Sutherland, with a courtroom and the Cathedral. But no mills.”
The new clubhouse dominates the campsite by day and at night, she says.
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“When it’s lit up at night with all the lights on it’s like a Christmas tree, which is a downside.
“But I know people who have been inside and say it’s stunning. I suppose the light stone will weather and we’ll eventually get used to it.”
The clubhouse is part of a bigger jigsaw intended to propel the Dornoch club, which traces golf in the town to 1616, into a new age.
Founded in 1877, with the Royal title bestowed in 1906, the club will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2027 and will host the Curtis Cup the following year.
Royal Dornoch’s links attract golfers from around the globe
Earlier this week it unveiled a new 175-yard par-3 hole to its Champion Course’s neighbouring Struie Course.
And it has previously announced an American design team to reconstruct its second course, The Struie, to create an 18-hole par 3 course, huge practice complex with two putting areas and children’s course, and acquired 50 acres of land including previously untouched sand dunes.
The upgrades come at a time of rising demand, with the club, which charges visitors £360 for a single round on its Championship Course, forecasting a 30 per cent increase in advance bookings for 2026 compared to the same period last year.
It has also reported a growing global profile, particularly among American members and visitors.
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Speaking to The Herald last November, General Manager Neil Hampton said: “We have more than 2,300 members of the Championship Course and the Struie, with around 700 based outside the UK, from Argentina to Australia. At the last count we had members in 24 countries.
“We attract visiting golfers from around the world – many of them American – and more than 40,000 rounds are played on our two courses annually.
“We are all looking forward to providing five-star facilities to match the world-class reputation of our golf courses.”
The 10th hole at Royal Dornoch (Image: Contributed)
However, the breathtaking scale of the expansion plans and choice of American design team has sparked debate on some golf forums over the ‘Americanisation’ of Scottish courses.
Regular visitor to Dornoch, Robert Wilson, who photographed the clubhouse this week during a visit, says his initial reaction to artist’s impressions of it were shock, but he’s now warming to it.
“At first, I thought to myself ‘that looks terrible’.
The new £14m clubhouse at Royal Dornoch Golf Club (Image: Robert M Wilson)
“It’s huge and some people think it looks like a big Lancashire cotton mill instead of a Scottish golf clubhouse.
“I do think once it settles a bit, the stonework weathers and the landscape takes shape around it, it will be nice.
“But it’s a building that could be anywhere,” he adds.
“It’s a shame they are demolishing the old one. It’s been there for over 100 years, in the background of photographs and has all that history attached to it.
“I think it will be missed.”