Muirfield Golf Club *****

Gullane, EH31 2EG

Nearest main town: Edinburgh

 

If you have managed to arrange a game at Muirfleld, what you score on the course is largely of secondary importance. This, after all, is the course that not even the late Payne Stewart, the former US Open champion, could get on after being told it was a members' day.

Protocol has become more relaxed since those days. The club, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, is more open to approaches from players wishing to play the course, for years considered the best course in Britain and Ireland.

Muirfield is an astonishing links. It consists of nine holes arranged in a circular shape around the boundaries of the club, with the back nine forming the inner circle. There are no dunes as such, just yawning bunkers, thick rough and eighteen subtly contoured greens. One of Muirfield's outstanding features is its turf, which is very fine and tends to dry out quickly, as it lies on top of pure sand. This can give the course a different character from one day to the next; on the Saturday, an American-style target-golf course, and on the Sunday, a typical links.

You get an early indication of what is to come at the 1st, a 449-yard par-4, where the pitfalls of missing the fairway will become immediately apparent. By the time you come off the par-34th, you will be doing better than average if you've yet to land in one of the bunkers, which seem to be depositaries for balls which land short of the green.

An unusual split-level fairway, situated on a dogleg, defines the 6th, before the final three holes on the front nine that will make or break your score. The 8th is probably the toughest of the trio, where 12 bunkers guard the right-hand side of the fairways, forcing you to the left and giving you a longer approach shot.

The back nine is not tough as, say, a Troon or a Carnoustie, with birdie chances at the 14th, 15th and 17th, but it finishes with a bang, a devilish par-4 18th that is a fitting climax. Jack Nicklaus once described Muirfield as the fairest Open course he knew, and there is no greater praise than that.

 

Secretary: Group Captain J. Prideaux               

Tel: 01620 842123 Fax: 01620842977

Professional: None

Playing: Midweek: round £85.00 (Tues & Thurs only); day £110.00 (Tues & Thurs only). Weekend: round n/a; day n/a.

Facilities: Bar: 11 am-11 pm. Food: Lunch from 12pm-2pm.

Comments: The best course I have ever played which is what it is all about... Sadly, strange rules if you want to play... Died and gone to heaven... Just heaven... True sense of history. . . Thick rough, deep bunkering.

 

Baberton Golf Club **

50 Baberton Avenue, Edinburgh, EH14 5DU

Nearest main town: Edinburgh

 

Secretary: Mr B. Flockhart

Tel: 0131 4534911 Fax: 0131 4534678

Professional: Mr K. Kelly                   

Tel: 0131 4534911

Playing: Midweek: round prices on application; day n/a. Weekend: round n/a; day n/a.

Facilities: Bar: 11 am-11 pm. Food: Available.

Comments: Well-established parkland layout. . . Scenic views towards Edinburgh, some 5 miles away. .. Some of the toughest par-3s you will find anywhere... 16th is the toughest par-4 ... All uphill, 467 yards into the wind... Staff and members very sociable and friendly.

 

Braid Hills Golf Club *

Braid Hills Road, Edinburgh, EH10 6JY

Nearest main town: Edinburgh

 

Secretary: None

Tel: 0131 4476666

Professional: None

Playing: Midweek: round £8.50; day n/a. Weekend: round £8.50; day n/a.

Facilities: Bar: None. Food: None.

Comments: One of the best public courses in the UK . . . Tough, challenging with tight fairways and gorse... Fun to play.