The most anticipated new course in the British Isles in 2026 finally has a confirmed public opening date. Old Petty, the new Tom Doak design at Cabot Highlands in Inverness, Scotland, will open to public play on Friday, May 15, 2026, capping a long preview period and giving traveling golfers a fresh major-design layout to add to their Scottish itineraries.
Designed by Doak with longtime associate Clyde Johnson, Old Petty becomes the second 18-hole championship course at Cabot Highlands, joining the existing Castle Stuart Golf Links. With Trump International down the road in Aberdeen, Royal Dornoch a short drive north, and Nairn just minutes away, the Moray Firth coast now offers one of the densest collections of world-class links golf in Scotland — and Old Petty is the most talked-about new arrival.
What Happened
Cabot Collection confirmed the May 15 public opening this week, following an extended preview period through the summer of 2025 that gave members and selected guests early access. The official launch date had been kept deliberately quiet while the team finished agronomy work and clubhouse fit-out. Tee times are now bookable through Cabot’s reservation system from May 15 onwards.
The site sits adjacent to the historic Old Petty Church, with sweeping views across the Moray Firth and sightlines to the 400-year-old Castle Stuart from 13 of its 18 holes. Highlights of the routing, per early visitors and Cabot’s own marketing, include a coastline-hugging 10th, a short par-3 17th the design team is positioning as one of the course’s signature holes, and a 14th that returns the player to the firth after an inland stretch.
The Doak Design Approach
Doak’s body of work — Pacific Dunes, Ballyneal, Cape Kidnappers, Tara Iti, Sedge Valley — has made him one of the most quoted modern course architects in the game. Old Petty fits squarely in that tradition: minimalist routing, walking-friendly, fescue-and-bent surfaces, and a design philosophy that prizes ground-game options over forced aerial shots.
The technical challenge here was unusual, even for Doak. The course is built atop long-used farmland that had been smoothed over by centuries of agriculture, meaning the natural "crumple" of classic links land had to be partially reconstructed. Doak and Johnson went to significant lengths to recreate that wrinkled surface, hand-shaping landforms rather than relying on bulldozer-led mass earthmoving. The result, per a recent Golf Digest preview, plays as if the land had always looked that way — which is, in classic Doak fashion, exactly the point.
Why Cabot Highlands Matters
Cabot Highlands — the rebrand of the resort formerly known as Castle Stuart — has been a strategic acquisition for the Cabot Collection, the same group that operates Cabot Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Cabot Saint Lucia, and Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida. Adding a 36-hole footprint in the Scottish Highlands gives the brand a flagship UK destination and creates one of the few resort properties in Scotland with a multi-day, multi-course itinerary built into one stay.
For golf-travelers, that matters. Most Scottish golf trips chain together hotels and standalone courses across the East Lothian, Fife, Ayrshire, or Highland coasts. Cabot Highlands is one of the few that lets you base in one place for 36 holes of high-end links golf, with on-site lodging, in the same way Bandon Dunes does in Oregon. Old Petty is the design that closes that loop.
It also lands in a year of significant new course openings worldwide, including Tiger Woods’ Trout National in New Jersey and the renovation of Oakland Hills’ clubhouse and infrastructure. As we noted in our broader coverage of the design landscape, 2026 may be remembered as one of the strongest course-opening years of the decade.
What This Means For You
If a Scottish golf trip is on your radar — for 2026, 2027, or 2028 — the calculus has changed:
- Build the trip around Inverness, not just Edinburgh or St Andrews. The Highlands now have two world-ranked Cabot courses plus Royal Dornoch, Nairn, and Brora within easy driving distance. That’s enough material for a full week without crossing the country.
- Book early. Cabot’s existing tee-time policies for Castle Stuart already see peak-season availability disappear months in advance. Add a brand-new Doak design and the May–September 2026 window will be the hardest to crack.
- Walk it. Old Petty is built as a walking course with caddies. The land is gentle and the caddies are local — that’s part of the experience and part of the price you’re paying.
- Pack for the firth. Wind off the Moray Firth is a constant. As our links-golf primer covers, low-trajectory iron play and a willingness to bump-and-run will save more shots here than any single piece of equipment.
Key Takeaways
- Old Petty at Cabot Highlands officially opens to public play on Friday, May 15, 2026.
- Designed by Tom Doak and Clyde Johnson on land adjacent to the historic Old Petty Church and Castle Stuart, with Moray Firth views from 13 of 18 holes.
- Becomes the second course at Cabot Highlands alongside Castle Stuart Golf Links, creating a 36-hole resort destination in the Scottish Highlands.
- Tee times are now bookable from May 15 forward; expect peak-season availability to be tight.
- Walking-only with caddies, in keeping with Doak’s design ethos.
For Scottish-trip planning, the Highland coast just became the most interesting region to base out of. For more on the broader 2026 course-opening landscape, see our coverage of Trout National’s launch and our running guide to America’s best courses for trip-planning context.
