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Beaufort Castle Golf Course, Highland. (1910 - WW2)

Ben Sayers laid out an eighteen-hole course for Lord Lovat on his estate at Beauly in 1910.

Ben Sayers visit in January 1910.

Globe - Tuesday 11 January 1910. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Match played on the Beaufort Castle course in February 1910 involving Bens Sayers, Lord Lovat and Lord Newton. 

The Scotsman Tuesday 15 February 1910. Image © Johnston Press plc.

From the Leicester Daily Post Monday 21 March 1910 - "Ben Sayers, snr., of North Berwick, visited Beaufort Castle, the Highland seat of Lord Lovat, to carry out further duties in connection with the new course of 18-holes on the Beaufort Castle Estate. Sayers has also been at Saltcoats in Ayrshire looking over ground for a new course."

Result of a match played on the Castle course against Beauly in April 1910.

Dundee Courier Monday 11 April 1910. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The following report appeared in the Dundee Evening Telegraph on Wednesday 10 August 1910 - “The new course on Lord Lovat’s Estate at Beaufort Castle was formally opened today. The course was constructed under the direction of Ben Sayers snr., of North Berwick, and is like many other greens in the North of Scotland, full of interesting golf. To celebrate the opening, Alex Herd (Huddersfield), Tom Fernie (Troon) and Ben Sayers snr., - all of whom played for Scotland in the recent international match against England – took part in the competition.

The weather when play opened was charming. In the forenoon a medal round was played. Herd was partnered with Fernie while Sayers was coupled with A Shephard, the Inverness professional. Herd was in splendid form and finished first with 68, being 35 out and 33 home. Sayers was second with 74, Shepherd third with 75 and Fernie fourth 76. In the afternoon a foursome was played”

The course seems to have been played following WW1 and up to WW2 when the land was requisitioned for the war effort. 

A report in The Scotsman in 2004 outlined a 20 million pound development plan put forward by Ann Cloag, Stagecoach millionairess and owner of Beaufort Castle, it was to include a golf complex to rival the nearby Skibbo Castle.

Mrs Gloag had purchased the castle and 19,500 acre-estate from the family of the late Lord Lovat for about 1.3 million in 1995. Amongst the development plans was a 6,551 yard championship golf course, with a par of 71. The design of the course would incorporate the existing contours of the land, which, according to golf architects, was of such quality as not to require major remodelling – which suggests it would probably be using the land occupied by the former course. The country club was to be situated at the heart of the course, close to the proposed ninth green and tenth tee, on the site of the existing listed building of Home Farm, which would be converted into a clubhouse. It was hoped to start work in the autumn with the golf course taking two years to establish.

Mrs Gloag’s plan appeared to have the backing of local residents, and it was difficult to see a downside from a tourist perspective.

We are now in 2014 and the project, for whatever reason, never materialised.