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Southeast Links golf courses:
Dunbar
Golf Course | North
Berwick Golf Club | Gullane
No1 Course | Longniddry
Golf Course |
Dunbar
Golf Course
Only 30 miles East of Edinburgh,
this thin strip of natural linksland had
the powerhouse of 19th Century golf design Tom Morris
influencing it's layout during 1856. Used as a qualifier
for the Open when it is held at Muirfield, it has also
been host to the Scottish Professional and Amateur Championships.
The strength of the wind that
blows off the Firth of Forth will be the overriding
factor when playing this links, usually helping going
out but, as I'm sure you have guessed, generally against
on the back 9. Super views over the sea towards May
Island and a distant Fife, with the beach (potentially)
coming into play on 5 holes! A great links.
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North
Berwick Golf Course, West Links
There are golf holes here that
will never leave your memory bank due to the magnificent
setting along the Firth of Forth and the view across
to the permanence of Bass Rock.
This never fails to be in a Scottish
golfer's top 20 courses and like the Old Course at St.
Andrews it begins and finishes within the town. The
extraordinary layout has virtually remained the same
since 1895, though the club was founded back in 1852.
The two famous signature holes are the 14th 'Perfection'
and the 15th 'Redan'. The 14th asks you for not only
a blind tee shot but also a blind approach to the green
which lies hard against the beach, while the 15th requires
a 190 yards to reach the safety of a raised green protected
by two cavernous bunkers, expect a typical crosswind
to be part of the equation.
Throughout your round North Berwick's
West Links, with it's stone dykes (walls) running across
the fairway and unique greens, will beguile and eventually
seduce you into the Scottish way of thinking about and
playing golf.
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Gullane
No.1
A Championship course, Gullane
is regarded by many as an equal to nearby Muirfield
for which it acts as an Open qualifier. The 1st is at
sea level then one tackles the 2nd, Windyhill, a 379
yard par 4 that climbs up Gullane Hill. Once on top
we stay there until the 17th, with it's hilltop tee
and 390 yard drive downhill to a green protected by
huge bunkers. On a good, dried out, links fairway the
green will look mighty inviting to the big hitters.
An interesting footnote to Gullane
is that Babe Zaharis became the first American to win
the British Ladies Championship here in 1947. Babe Zaharis
had previously been the last woman to participate in
a professional men's event prior to current World No.1
Annika Sorenstam's entry in the Colonial during 2003.
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Longniddry
Golf Club
This is a lovely golf course
that has a little bit of links golf mixed with parkland.
Though there are no par 5's the quality of the architects
involved: Henry Colt, James Braid, Phillip Mackenzie
Ross and Donald Steel does suggest that with this collective
experience there should be something of interest for
the visiting golfer to explore.
The Open of 1987 used it as a
qualifier, just over the 6200 yards it was a perhaps
a wee bit short for the scratch players, though I would
suggest that this is typical of the Scottish golf course
we would all be delighted to stumble across.
see also:
Map Page | Kingdom
Of Golf | Highland Golf
Courses | Southwest Golf
Courses
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