If you think of yourself as a golfer, both sides of the Forth of Forth teach you the same thing.
Primarily and notably, that before treading on any hallowed links land turf, for your dignity’s sake, it’s better to call yourself a golf historian rather than a golfer.
Playing golf by the sea is always an education and often a humiliation. Links golf may be “the way golf was meant to be” but that doesn’t mean you will play as it should be played or, as you usually play.
Playing the world’s most famous and oldest seaside links courses is 40% thrilling and 60% humbling.
The Golf Coast of Scotland, which features the greatest concentration Championships links golf courses in the world, doesn’t feature the likes of Royal Troon, Turnberry or Prestwick, the birthplace of the Open in 1860. It is on the east coast of Scotland. Not the west one.
Nor does it include St Andrews or Carnoustie either. It is on the south side of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian, west of Edinburgh and stretches from Musselburgh Old Links ( established as an 8-hole course in 1838, becoming a nine in 1870 ) to Dunbar (est, 1856 ) with Luffness New ( est. 1867), the golf village of Gullane (the Gullane No 2 course wa established in 1898), Archerfield’s Fidra (named after the island which may have inspired Robery Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island” )and Dirleton Links, Muirfield and North Berwick in between.
Scotland’s Golf Coast may not boast the Road Hole or the Postage Stamp but it still has famous scenic and sadistic holes like Mill Stone Den (the 14th at Dunbar), The Graves at Kilspindie (est 1898) in Britain’s first nature reserve of Aberlady Bay and Coots Pond at Longniddry (est. 1921).
East Lothian is very historic golfing territory. Mary Queen of Scots may well have swung a golf club at Seton Castle near Prestonpans in the late sixteenth century. There are over twenty courses along the coast including the Renaissance which opened in 2008.
The “auld gowf course” in the middle of Musselburgh racecourse is a sacred site for golfers and golf historians alike. Musselburgh Links was one of the three courses which staged The Open Championships in the 1870s and 1880s, with Prestwick and the Old Course at St Andrews, It hosted six Opens, the first in 1874 and the last in 1889 won by Willie Park Jnr who, with Ben Sayers, designed Kilspindie.
The four-and-a-quarter-inch (108 mm) diameter golf hole was the width of the implement used to first cut the holes at Musselburgh. Thought to be an old drainpipe. In 1894, the Royal & Ancient made the measurement mandatory for all golf courses. Earlier, the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club paid an account to a local Blacksmith, Robert Gay for “forming the hole, the sum of £1”..
Muirfield has hosted The Open Championship sixteen times, the first in 1892. A new private 18-hole course at Muirfield was designed in 1891 by Old Tom Morris, who also designed The Old Course and New Luffness and Dunbar. A round at the home of The Honorable Society of Edinburgh Golfers, the oldest verifiable organized golfing society ( est. 1744) , now costs £420 or £655 for a day ticket, including lunch.
Golf historians may want to visit Leith Park , the site of the former five-hole Leith Links. Charles 1 and the future James V11 and James 11 may have played there while in residence at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace. The rules of golf developed in Leith, the original home of the Honorable Society, were adopted by the Royal and Ancient Company of Golfers when it moved to St Andrews in 1777. Golf was officially banned at the park in 1905.
The lesser well-known, non-Open roster courses along the Scottish Golf Coast are cheaper than the so-called Championships courses. From £120 to 180 with twilight and senior rates. Dunbar is £175-225. The historic 2971yard, nine hole Musselburgh Links charges around £25.
Sadly, its famous 10th/19th hole – Ma Forman’s- is no more. Reportedly, a golf ball once came down its chimney and landed in the frying pan in which the landlady was preparing her signature Welsh rarebit. The old pub has been “developed”.
North Berwick Golf Club, founded in 1832, charges around £300 for a green fee. It is the 13th oldest golf club in the world and , in 1888, was the first club in the world to allow female members. After the Ladies Putting Club of St Andrews (1867).
Its signature hole is the 11th (“Redan”). Other holes are called Bowsun’s Locker, Eastward Ho! and Quarry. Glen Golf Club is the seaside town’s east links. First opened in 1894, it was James Braid’s first design, becoming the Burgh – possibly the world’s first municipal course- in 1905 and Glen in 1930.
Not basing yourself at The Marine Hotel at North Berwick is as mad as hiring a Fiat 500 for a golf break. Companies like Golf Breaks offer Scottish Golf Coast tours and will book your hotel and tee times for you. Book at least a year in advance if you wish to play Muirfield.
The Marine is a real golf hotel. Some bedrooms have old tee boxes repurposed as bedside tables. And command views of the course and Bass Rock. And the largest gannetry in the world.
lts maximalist Victorian moquette wallpaper and carpets which bring the outside in may get getting used to but it is an extra-friendly, characterful place. With just enough but not too much tartan. And a five-minute walk to the first tee.
Complimentary bicycles are available for those with time and energy left to explore the town. A billiards room for those for whom cycling is too much. The food is very good and quasi-clubhouse and there is a spa with hydrotherapy pool for those who believe they play better with waxed eyebrows and drive straighter after a toxin-eliminating body wrap.
A whisky in your porridge with your full Scottish haggis breakfast settles the first tee nerves.
The grand 83-room hotel is part of the golf-focused Marine and Lawn group which comprises the Adelphi in Portrush ad Slieve Donard next to Royal County Down Club in the Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland and, in Scotland, the Marine Troon, Dornoch Station and Greywalls, right behind the clubhouse at Muirfield, just down the coastal trail road from North Berwick.
The 1901 Edwin Lutyens Edwardian country house with a Gertrude Jekyll garden is being refurbished and “branded” but. when it and the Colonel Weaver’s House ( named after the family who open Greywalls as a hotel) reopens, will offer all the usual Marine and Lawn trappings. From Flori toiletries, fireplaces, an ample sense of exclusivity and luxury, and “unco” ( in the “extremely” sense of old Scottish word) affable staff.
Like many golfers, I keep my scorecards. They remind me of the beautiful places golf has taken ne and the famous courses where I have played. Mostly badly.
The scorecard from North Berwick West Links will remind me of the pleasures of Scotland’s Golf Coast. As well as an incident which makes a good trivia question.
Having hit the perfect drive straight down the middle towards the right flag, how did I turn a par four into a par five and have to call through the group putting on the green behind me?
I hit a wall in front of me and the rebound nearly took my head off.
I cannot blame gannets or migratory geese squawking at the top of my backswing or, as I initiated my downswing, being distracted by the sight of two semi-nude men scampering away from The Marine Hotel’s outdoor ice baths.
I hit my shot perfectly.
Perfection can be found in North Berwick. On the course and off it. If you get the right club at the 14th which is called “Perfection”. And, if you get your hotel selection spot on and stay at the Marine and meet Aimee behind the reception desk, Joshan in the bar, Richard and Daniel in the restaurant and the rest of GM Gina Clark’s wonderful staff, all of whom have mastered the art of serving up “ coorie”, the Scottish for homely hospitality.
On a golfing break, it is great to come back with some fond memories of some really nice people.
Rather than negative memories.
Of a wall.
And a nasty 8 on your card.
5 nights at the Marine Hotel North Berwick playing North Berwick, Gullane 1, Archerfield Links and Dunbar from around £2175 per person (this price is subject to availability and rate changes). GOLF BREAKS /cwilliams@golfbreaks.com
TEL. 01753752900