Muirfield

About the course

Muirfield lies on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth beside the village of Gullane in East Lothian. It is the home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and the links sits a little back from the water behind a band of dunes and sea buckthorn, so the sea is glimpsed rather than always in view. What sets it apart is the routing: the front nine runs clockwise around the outside of the property and the back nine turns anticlockwise inside it, so the wind changes direction from one hole to the next.

The Honourable Company is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world and wrote down one of the earliest codes of rules in 1744. The course opened in 1891 to a design by Old Tom Morris, and Harry Colt reworked it in the 1920s, giving it the two loops played today. Muirfield first hosted The Open in 1892 and has staged it sixteen times, most recently in 2013, when Phil Mickelson won. The Ryder Cup, the Walker Cup and the Curtis Cup have also been played here.

There are very few blind shots. The defence lies in the bunkering: deep bunkers with steep faces of stacked turf pinch the landing areas and wrap around the greens. The fairways are narrow by links standards and the greens are firm and quick. The short 13th, played to a long, narrow green tucked between dunes and bunkers, shows how much precision even a modest par 3 can demand here.

Why we recommend it

Muirfield is the choice for golfers who want the most traditional golf day in Scotland: a morning round, the famous lunch in the clubhouse and foursomes in the afternoon. Visitors can play only on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a handicap of 24 or better, and a jacket and tie are required in the clubhouse, so tee times need to be booked well in advance. Fair and beautifully presented, it rewards solid ball-striking more than local knowledge.

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