Founded in 1904, the Club was originally called Alness and Ardross Golf Club. The link to Ardross came from Ardross Castle and Estate, then owned by Dyson Perrins (of Lea & Perrins), who was an early benefactor of the club, and on whose land the club was then partly located. This was down by the Firth between the shore and Dalmore, now the site of the A9. Although the club then comprised 9 holes, an additional 9 holes in the grounds of Dalmore House made up a full 18.

Records from the 1908-09 season put the number of members at 70 and the male subscription at five shillings; ladies at two shillings and sixpence. The first hole in one was recorded in 1909, Mr DM Ross achieving that on the fifth hole, then called Cromarty.

This Firthside location ultimately proved unsuitable because of frequent flooding, while the Dalmore holes were taken over by the US Navy during World War 1 when they built a mine assembly facility with railway sidings heading out to what is now known as “Yankee Pier”.

Fortunately an alternative location was made available by the Perrins family in 1922 at Quarryfield Park, the current location of the Club. The Secretary of Dornoch Golf Club, Mr J Sutherland, was engaged to lay out the course, assisted by Mr D Grant, a Dornoch green keeper. The cost of the new course and clubhouse totalled £890, the majority spent on the course, financed partly by a £350 loan from the Commercial Bank of Scotland, for which members provided personal guarantees. The Standard Scratch of the course was then 37, the pars for the 9 holes being 5,3,4,4,3,4,4,3,4.

The new course and clubhouse were officially opened on 24th July, 1922 by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Madden. The Royal Marine band from the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth played at the opening ceremony, demonstrating the prevailing links between the club and the Royal Navy. In those days the Home Fleet was a more or less permanent feature of the Firth and the Club enjoyed significant revenues from visiting sailors, a notice board advertising the course having been erected at Invergordon Pier.

With the exception of the inevitable disruption caused by the Second World War, the Club continued operating on the same basis until 1965, when it was threatened with closure by the landowner, who wanted to take over the land for agricultural purposes. Eventually the resulting dispute was settled by the creation of a Trust to own the land, which was leased to the Club. Membership gradually increased over the next few years as industrial activity in the area grew, the number standing at 223 by 1977, when a gents subscription would have cost £10.

In 1973 a legacy from Mrs Elizabeth Mackenzie, and energetic fund raising from members, enabled the club to raise £29,000 to build a new clubhouse, with electric power, a telephone, a kitchen and a bar. The previous clubhouse had been lit with gaslights. The new clubhouse was finally opened in 1982.

The course and clubhouse as currently constituted are the result of an extraordinary effort by members to redevelop the Club in the mid 1990’s, pursuing an ambitious scheme to buy out the existing land, acquire new land for a further 9 holes and to build a new clubhouse. The whole scheme was costed at just over half a million pounds. This funding was eventually raised largely through grants from The Scottish Sports Council, the National Lottery and other local funding bodies. The course work was completed in 1998 and the new clubhouse opened in 2000, with the existing car park tarmacked in 2002. The boundary wall between the current 3rd green and the car park, a pleasing feature of the club, was created by volunteers in subsequent years using stone from other course boundaries.

In its modern format, the course offers 18 holes over 4886 yards to a Par of 67, the record being set in 2002 by Craig Taylor with a gross 63 (net 59). While relatively short, Alness Golf Club remains a testing Highland course, full of distinctive holes, offering sweeping views of the Firth and the hills, all to the background rush of the River Averon. The Club has always enjoyed the support of volunteers from the local community, who continue to meet the day to day challenges of enabling golf to be played in this lovely place.