David Gemmell joined Brora as general manager in May 2023. He says the club is increasingly gaining international recognition despite it remote location in rural Sutherland, where it will soon be offering a free local community membership.
What should we know about the course?
The four Par 3 holes are uniquely positioned as they all play in a different direction – north, south, east and west.
The course playability is very fair as the rough is naturally light, and the fairways are very accessible. The greens and surrounding natural undulations make approach positioning key to success.
Over the years the greens have developed into some of the purest putting surfaces players will ever putt on due to the introduction of fescue grasses and highly-skilled greenkeeping.
Who’s out there playing?
Over the past five years Brora has gained worldwide recognition which has greatly increased both the membership and visitor numbers. We now have 1,100 members across all categories, from all over the world.
Our visitor numbers have increased to around 13,000 rounds in 2025, complimented by around 10,000 member and member guest rounds.
What is driving that growth?
Tourism is increasing across the Highlands and especially in golf. Royal Dornoch is, and always will be, the major attraction for golf in the Highlands and they should be commended for how much they have done, and are still doing, to raise awareness for the Highlands.
Brora, like many golf clubs, has benefitted greatly from this as have the local communities. The Highlands is now regarded as a destination for visitors with more golfers now coming in to stay for longer, which is fantastic to see. The warm Highland welcome, the quality of the courses, and the availability of other tourist attractions like distilleries and castles makes visiting the Highlands an experience not to be missed.
What is the club doing with that additional income?
Increased member and visitor numbers have allowed us to invest in developing our facilities which includes new course sheds and a new irrigation system for our greens, tees and surrounds.
Sandy sub-soil naturally drains the whole course, especially the greens which members affectionately refer to as ‘teabags’ (Image: Graeme McCubbin)
We are continuing to invest in the experience that we offer and this winter will see us refurbish and re-brand our restaurant and bar areas. We recently obtained a public licence so are now able to invite non-members in to eat and drink with us so, as part of our commitment to the community, we are introducing a free local community membership that will give locals a 10% discount on food and drink along with some other benefits.
In addition, we will be introducing an online booking system for our restaurant, and restructuring our menus. This will give a variety of people another option for dining in our area. Meanwhile we are working in collaboration with Struie Course at Royal Dornoch, Golspie Golf Club and Tain Golf Club to introduce packages that will hopefully encourage visitors to come and stay for longer in our area.
What are the biggest difficulties that the club must overcome?
The challenges we face are more based around logistics and manpower as we rely heavily on our local community for our workforce, and getting deliveries can prove expensive and can take longer to arrive.
Our season runs from April until October which means that we must employ a mixture of full-time and seasonal staff. This is difficult to balance as we have a responsibility to try and help our seasonal staff as much as we can over the winter months. It is like a light switch being turned on and off for most hospitality businesses from summer to winter, so very difficult to manage.
The course was re-designed by James Braid in 1924 (Image: Graeme McCubbin)
James Braid designed or remodelled about 400 golf courses throughout his career – why is Brora home to the JBGS?
This is where it was conceived. The JBGS came into being in 1996 to celebrate his memory, as well as to enjoy the fun and fellowship that golf brings. The great Peter Thomson, another five-time Open winner, helped to set the ball rolling and presided over our affairs until his recent passing.
We seek to uphold good values and traditions, meeting like-minded golfers wherever we can, at clubs which owe much to Braid. We do so on an informal basis – sometimes we play a friendly match against the host club, other times we enjoy a society day.
On our visits, we usually leave something for the benefit of junior golf at the host club. It is one way of encouraging young players to enjoy the game of golf and to understand its traditions and values. Members of the JBGS constantly seek the opportunity to visit golf clubs with Braid-influenced courses.