It’s rarely too early to plan a golf trip. But sometimes it’s too late.
Tee sheets fill up. Booking windows close.
With that in mind, here’s a heads up for anyone considering a golf getaway to Scotland. It involves Cabot Highlands, in Inverness. Already home to Castle Stuart, a Gil Hanse-Mark Parsinen design that ranks 89th on GOLF’s roster of Top 100 Courses in the World, Cabot Highlands is pushing forward on a second 18-hole course, a Tom Doak called Old Petty. Named for an historic local church, with a routing that meanders past a tidal estuary, Old Petty is not slated to open until 2026.
And yet.
You don’t have to wait that long.
On Friday, Cabot announced that it will offer a sneak peek of Old Petty this coming summer; preview play will be welcome from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30. Reservations are now available here.
The announcement marks the latest news in what has been a busy year for Cabot, the fast-growing golf development company whose reach stretches from Canada to the Caribbean and beyond. In September, three months after purchasing Golf du Médoc Resort, in France, and transforming it into Cabot Bordeaux to establish its first foothold in continental Europe, Cabot announced a robust investment in Lofoten Links, a coastal stunner in Norway, where summer rounds play out under the midnight sun.
Which remind us: if you’re planning ahead, the days are long in the Scottish Highlands, too. On Aug. 1, the sun sets at 9:31 p.m.