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The Donald Ross TrailA leaflet with details of places in Dornoch associated with Donald Ross is available free from the Tourist Information Centre and most Dornoch shops, pubs and hotels. To download a copy now, in PDF format, click on the image. (File size 127K)

Donald Ross's House,
St Gilbert Street
A history of golf

Golf has been played on Dornoch Links since the 16th Century, although formal permission to play was only granted to the Sutherland Golfing Society in 1877. In 1906 Millicent Duchess of Sutherland asked King Edward VII to grant the title 'Royal' to the Dornoch Golf Club, a move which lead to a marked expansion in membership. Royal Dornoch is now ranked 15th in the world's top golf courses, and is as much-loved for its technical difficulty as it is for its stunning views across the Dornoch Firth and Sutherland hills.

Donald Ross
The birthplace of Dornoch's most famous son, Donald Ross - a greenkeeper who emigrated to the United States and laid out hundreds of golf courses - can still be seen in St Gilbert Street. Ross House, a new golf training and further education college bearing his name, opened in the Burgh in 2001.

The life and work of Donald Ross and the history of golf in general is commemorated in the USA by The Donald Ross Society and the Chivas Irons Society.