The Other Old Courses

Three hours south of golf’s birthplace, Edinburgh and East Lothian offer culture, castles and courses worthy of a memorable Scottish sojourn.   

 

My first fleeting glimpse of Edinburgh’s turreted skyline, punctuated by that heart-stopping castle on the crag, came from within a custom van that reeked of cigars, wet gear and single malt. Our eightsome had started in the Highlands and deployed south, hacking through a dozen of Scotland’s golf shrines at an unwavering 36-hole-a-day clip. We were rounding the Firth of Forth late one evening, wearily heading for our final destination of Muirfield and the Greywalls Hotel, when Edinburgh suddenly came into full and glorious view. As we watched Scotland’s magical capital city disappear out the back window, I had this blasphemous notion that I should return some day to see more of Scotland than just its gorse and greens.

Sixteen months later, on a brilliant Indian summer morning in October, my non-golfer wife and I arrive at Edinburgh International Airport. My goals this time are simple: Take a moment to see and savor Edinburgh, and tee it up on a handful of the region’s hidden gems, preferably in the company of locals.

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Millions of people do visit Edinburgh without their golf clubs. Local 19th century author Robert Louis Stevenson deemed it “what Paris ought to be.” Less populous than Denver and with a compact layout that allows visitors to explore it by foot, the ancient city spreads out along a series of rocky hills overlooking the North Sea. Among Europe’s most dramatic cities, a so-called Athens of the North, Edinburgh manages to be both respectable and…a wee bit tawdry. This sort of contradiction framed Stevenson’s most famous work, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was set in London but based on Edinburgh’s own Deacon Brodie, a high-society dignitary who moonlighted as a thief and serial philanderer.

On the first morning in Edinburgh my wife and I head for the bottom of the signature Royal Mile, where the Palace of Holyroodhouse has been the site of considerable royal drama over the centuries. It was the official residence of Mary Queen of Scots in the late 1500s, and its abbey dates back to 1128. The adjacent 650-acre Holyrood Park is topped by the 823-foot peak of Arthur’s Seat, where King Arthur is said to have first surveyed the city, and further defined by the striking Salisbury Crags.

Edinburgh’s residents are known for keeping an eye on the details, both professional and personal. But they also like to party, and they know how to show people a good time. Edinburgh is famous for its festivals, especially in the month of August, when the Festival Fringe and International Festival double the town’s population, transforming the Royal Mile into a surreal stage and the world’s largest celebration of art.

On top of these attractions, Edinburgh is perched just west of the rich Scottish golf vein of East Lothian. It’s a 20-mile seaside stretch that encompasses some 20 golf courses, Scotland’s version of Myrtle Beach, with castles instead of Costcos. The crown jewels are Muirfield, home to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and host of 15 British Opens; Gullane No. 1, the flagship of the eponymous golf-centric town ; and the inimitable North Berwick West Links, birthplace of the original Redan, arguably the world’s most copied golf hole.

On my card, East Lothian’s appeal lies equally in its lesser-known venues. Although most of these tracks are technically “private,” access is easy (several encourage walk-ons), the atmosphere relaxed and the green fees less daunting.  

Dunbar Golf Club, laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1856, is located at the far end of East Lothian in the scenic seaport of Dunbar. Spotting an assortment of shops and a peaceful beach en route to the course, my wife happily dumps me in the club parking lot and heads off on her own.

Many of Scotland’s name courses barely sniff the ocean, while Dunbar boasts 14 consecutive holes squeezed between an old deer-park wall and the frothy North Sea, with in-your-face views of the Isle of May, Bass Rock and Fife in the distant. I join a friendly member, Graham Kean, and two of his friends in a spirited four-ball match. The first three holes are fairly pedestrian, but Kean tells me the club plans to add a lake and a burn to front the par-five first, likely transforming it into Dunbar’s signature hole. A half-dozen new championship tee boxes are also in the works to stretch Dunbar’s 6,404-yard length and keep it viable as a qualifying site when the Open is held at Muirfield sometime after 2012 (members are also planning a new clubhouse).

The next day I visit Longniddry Golf Club, where General Manager Bob Gunn shows me around the cozy stone clubhouse, which offers views of the Firth of Forth and the Edinburgh skyline to the west. He shows me where then 60-year-old Sam Snead scissor-kicked the club’s high ceiling after winning the World Seniors title here in 1972; Snead rated Longniddry second only to Muirfield among his favorite East Lothian courses. 

I’m struck by the diversity of Longniddry, which was laid out in 1921 by Harry S. Colt on the estate of the Earl of Wemyss. The terrain is reminiscent of the coastal Carolinas or the Monterey Peninsula, with narrow parkland holes lined by Scotch pine, followed by more traditional seaside links. The scorecard says it’s just 6,260 yards from the tips, with no three-shot holes and a par of 68, but Longniddry offers eight par fours of more than 400 yards and finishes with a flourish. The 17th is a dogleg left of 434 yards, with a tricky drive aimed at Arthur’s Seat in the distance. On the 18th, against a prevailing wind, the tee shot must cross a gully and settle on a hogbacked fairway. The approach navigates another gully and a cross-bunker to reach the green.  

Sightseeing duties in Edinburgh delay my golf until the late afternoon on a couple of occasions. On the first I head straight for the Old Golf Course at Musselburgh Links, just 15 minutes from the capital city and the former home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. “Regular” golf has been played on these hallowed grounds since 1672, and local legend has is that some form of the game took place much earlier, including an outing by Mary Queen of Scots in 1567—just six days after the death of her husband. 

There are a couple of worthy 18-hole parkland courses nearby (The Musselburgh Golf Club and Royal Musselburgh), but the old nine-hole links is an original British Open venue that hosted the tournament six times between 1874 and 1889. Routed within a horse-racing track, it’s flat and basic. But you come for the history, and many visitors rent hickory clubs to play. The first hole is a delicate par three over the rails; the fourth a demanding 431-yard par four that requires a drive over the final stretch of track, followed by a long approach to a well-protected green. Behind the green lies Mrs. Forman’s Inn; there’s a hatch in the wall where golfers once secured fortification before teeing off on the 183-yard, par-three fifth. 

On another afternoon, after climbing Arthur’s Seat with my wife and before racing back to attend a performance by the Celtic group Capercallie at the Festival Theater, I sneak out to play nine holes at Braid Hills No. 1, which overlooks Edinburgh from the hills to the south. Braid Hills is municipal golf at its best, the course where Tommy Armour learned the game, a collection of memorable holes that wind up and down through hillsides and rock outcroppings. It must be the finest—and toughest—5,731-yard course I’ve ever set foot on.

So can a hardcore golfer find happiness on a trip to Scotland without a full slate of morning and afternoon tee times? I left Edinburgh relaxed and rejuvenated, with a greater appreciation of Scotland’s non-golf-related history and culture—accompanied by a smiling spouse who was under the impression that she’d been on a real vacation with her sensitive, unselfish husband.  

 

Travel Notes

For more on Edinburgh, visit edinburgh.org; edinburghguide.com; and welcometoscotland.com. 

 

More on East Lothian Golf

If you want to include Muirfield on your play list, start now: Securing a tee time typically requires a year’s notice. Laid out in 1891, Muirfield is perennially ranked among the world’s top 10 courses. Its classic loop layout and smooth, fast greens make it the most “American” of the Scottish links. Guest play is limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays; bring a coat and tie to enter the clubhouse afterward and enjoy the superb, five-course buffet lunch, the gin and tonics, and the wine. The mess-style seating at long tables in the grand dining room promotes mingling and offers views of the 18th green, where Tom Watson ground out a victory during last summer’s British Senior Open.

Adjacent to Muirfield is the “golf town” of Gullane, with three courses numbered simply by age: No. 1 (1882), No. 2 (1900) and No. 3 (1910). The original, laid out by Willie Park Sr. and routed over and around Gullane Hill, is the most famous and challenging. The view from the seventh tee atop Gullane Hill may be the finest in all of golf. It’s also where the late Payne Stewart looked out on the empty Muirfield links after having been turned away because he hadn’t made a tee time. A fourth course in Gullane, Luffness New (1894), is the work of Old Tom Morris and bears a likeness to Muirfield. 

Just down the coast from Gullane is North Berwick West Links, perched along the North Sea and still holding true to the 1878 “formalization” by David Strath, whose figure-eight routing sends golfers out along the sea and then back. The manager of an Edinburgh golf shop, a scratch player, told me of his improbable round of 90 there: Teeing it up with a tailwind, he went out in a sizzling 31; returning against a brutal gale, he staggered home in 59. North Berwick’s par-three 15th is the original Redan, which has been copied around the world, while the main architectural feature of the 13th, appropriately named “The Pit,” is a freestanding stone wall that effectively shields a tiny green. The irreverent layout possesses character in spades—and ranks among the world’s top 100 courses. 

A few miles from Longniddry in Aberlady are Craigielaw and Kilspindie, both also sited on the substantial estate of the Earl of Wemyss. Craigielaw is a Donald Steel design opened in 2001 (gasp) with unusual amenities for Scotland, namely a huge practice facility and a golf school. The traditional links design incorporates rolling greens fronted by gaping bunkers. Kilspindie, established in 1867, is a short 5,480 yards but is worth a visit just for the eighth hole, a par three overlooking Gosford Bay that requires a demanding shot over the beach.

The big buzz in East Lothian this spring is the opening of Tom Doak’s Renaissance Club (trcaa.com), a private links that plays 7,435 yards from the tips—and will take advance work to get on. It’s a close neighbor to Muirfield and Archerfield Links, the latter also a truly private facility.

For courses, accommodations and packages, go to eastlothiangolf.com.  

Andy Bigford is a contributing editor.