There is a stretch of the Moray coast where the land seems made for golf.

Between Lossiemouth and Burghead, Hopeman Golf Club sits above the Moray Firth, its fairways moving through gorse and broom before eventually reaching the cliffs, coves and exposed ground that give this place its character. It is golf with the sea rarely far from view — and, when the wind arrives, rarely far from mind.

Founded in 1909, Hopeman began life as a nine-hole course serving the small coastal village from which it takes its name. For much of its history it remained that way, until the course was extended to 18 holes in 1985.

That extension gave Hopeman some of its most memorable ground.

The back nine moves closer to the edge of the Moray Firth, where the landscape becomes increasingly dramatic and the course reveals the hole for which it is best known.

The 12th is called The Prieshach.

Just 150 yards on the card, the tee sits high above Clashach Cove, with the green more than 100 feet below. From there, the shot hangs against a backdrop of sea and sky before falling towards a green guarded by bunkers, gorse and heather. On a clear day, bottlenose dolphins can sometimes be seen in the Moray Firth beyond.

It is a hole with a particularly good judge among its admirers.

Long before winning The Open at Carnoustie in 1999, Paul Lawrie would play Hopeman with his father and brother as a boy. He has described The Prieshach as one of the best par threes he has ever played and, in the club's centenary year of 2009, became an Honorary President of Hopeman.

Yet The Prieshach is only part of the story.

Hopeman is not long by modern standards. Its defence comes instead from the ground, the gorse lining its fairways and the weather rolling in from the Firth. The course asks for imagination and accuracy rather than distance — the kind of golf that changes with the wind and rewards knowing where to miss.

The landscape beyond the fairways matters too. This is an old fishing village on a coastline of sandstone cliffs, beaches, stacks and sheltered coves. For generations, stone quarried around Hopeman was carried from its harbour and shipped elsewhere. Today, that same rugged coastline provides the backdrop to the golf.

There are grander names along this part of Scotland. Courses that appear more readily on itineraries and lists.

Hopeman feels different.

A village golf club, founded more than a century ago, sitting quietly above the Moray Firth. Gorse, cliffs and sea. And one extraordinary little par three dropping towards a cove.

Sometimes the best holes — and the best courses — are the ones you weren't looking for.

Tracks Less Taken.