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Reay Golf Club – course improvement

Proposal code: THC-2026-06-153

We aim to improve the golf course to make the most of its natural advantages, benefitting of golfers of all abilities to the benefit of members, visiting golfers, the local community and Caithness.

1. What do you want to do?

Reay golf course is the most northerly links course in mainland Scotland.  Incorporating part of the Sandside Bay SSSI it is in a remote but scenically unique location.  The golf club is a Community Sports Club and an important community resource for Reay village and the north coast.  Links golf has a special attraction and Reay has benefitted from increasing visitor numbers thanks to the input of local volunteers and to tourism initiatives such as NC500.  To build on this the club commissioned a report from world renowned links golf specialists Mackenzie & Ebert to identify how the course could be improved for the benefit of golfers of all abilities, making it a challenging but accessible course that makes the most of its natural features. Mackenzie & Ebert advise many of the most highly ranked existing courses in the world. This includes eight of the ten British Open venues.  Their report is in 2 parts, the first setting out improvements that can largely be made by greenkeeping staff and volunteers with minimum input from outside contractors.  The second is more ambitious and involves the redesign of a number of holes, fairways and greens.   The proposals prioritise finding an inspirational routing around the course’s natural setting and also focuses on very detailed design of the green shapes, contours, surrounds and bunkering.

To take this forward, in addition to our own input, we need to commission Mackenzie & Ebert to:

• Further advise the club on detailed design and relevant consent issues.
• Commission a 3D LiDAR survey to map the land contours to a fine grain to enable the green contours, surrounds and bunkering to be fully designed.
• As required where work impacts on SSSI and archaeology appoint environmental, archaeological and agronomy consultants in an advisory capacity.
• A planning application is likely to be mandatory for work in protected areas and pre application consultations will be required with various statutory bodies such as the Highland Council, Nature Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland and SEPA.
• Look at potential phasing of the work, define what tasks might require external assistance and what can be progressed in house as well as considering how the improvements could be delivered to minimise disruption to play.
• Develop cost planning.

2. Why is your project important for your community?

Reay Golf Club is an important community facility.  The club has approaching 300 members from across the north coast, including 60 juniors.  It has an extensive coaching programme to encourage young people to take up the sport and to improve performance.  A few years ago it appointed its first full time greenkeeper and recently took on an apprentice.  The course is also an important facility for visitors to the area and visitor income plays an important part in ensuring the club’s sustainability.  Improving the course and making it more attractive for all levels of players will help us to grow our membership, expand our coaching programmes, attract more visitors and ensure ongoing sustainability.  It will also attract more visitors to Reay and to Caithness, increasing visitor spend and helping to grow the local economy.

The project aligns with many national, regional and local strategies.  It fits with the key themes of the Caithness Area Place Plan.  It contributes to the People theme by improving a local sports facility with members from across the north coast and which encourages youth involvement.  The land the golf course occupies is owned by the club and, fitting with the Place theme,  local people are welcomed to walk on the course, to access the coast and the SSSI as well as to use the clubhouse facilities.   Investing in the development of the course aligns strongly with the prosperity theme; the club is already a facility used by people travelling the NC500 route but, as Mackenzie & Ebert note, it has the potential to use its special nature to attract many more visitors to Caithness increasing visitor spend across the hospitality and leisure sector.  In terms of young people, the club strives to provide affordable access to the sport, with introductory and coaching sessions to help them improve.  The club has recently, with support from the Community Regeneration Fund, the Caithnes and North Sutherland Fund and Baillie Wind Farm Community Fund, opened a new indoor facility allowing coaching to be available year round and in all weathers.

3. What positive impact will your project have?

Mackenzie & Ebert see huge potential in Reay Golf Course.  They suggest that as well as making the course more enjoyable for members their proposals will elevate the quality of the course dramatically, attracting visitors to come to Caithness specifically to play the course.  The Highlands already benefits from golf tourism because of courses such as Royal Dornoch, Brora, Castle Stuart and Nairn.  While Reay will always be a community club it has the potential to join the “must play” courses in Scotland bringing substantial benefit to Caithness.

4. What key milestones have you achieved so far and what will your next steps be?

We have already received Mackenzie & Ebert’s report on how the course can be improved.  In addition to the club’s own contribution to the cost funding support came from the Bailliw Wind Farm Community Fund and the North Highland Initiative.

Our next step will be to commission Mackenzie & Ebert to carry out the detailed design and take the project to the stage where we have detailed designs, planning consent and the necessary approvals, an implementation plan and a cost plan for different phases of the work.  

5. What is your anticipated start date/end date

We will commission the work as soon as funding is available.  It is anticipated that this phase will take up to a year to complete.

• Sports
• Visitor Infrastructure
• Planning & Dev Phase
• Outdoor Community Space

• Caithness