This wasn’t meant to be a golf trip. I was visiting family and planned to see some of the sights I didn’t have time for last time around. But plans change. This time for the better.
The plan was a short city break. Three days of Edinburgh: the Royal Mile, the Botanical Gardens, a couple of unhurried dinners with family in Leith. But being a golfer, I couldn’t help glancing at the map to see if there were any nice golf courses around. Silly question, of course there were, and now there was no turning back; Golf was added to the schedule.
The Golf Coast
East Lothian markets itself as Scotland’s Golf Coast, which sounds like something a tourism board came up with (it is) but for once the name undersells rather than oversells. Between Musselburgh in the west and Dunbar in the east, along one 30-mile ribbon of coast, sit 18 clubs and 21 courses. Muirfield is here. North Berwick is here. The Renaissance Club, where the Scottish Open is played, is here. Golf has been documented on the Old Links at Musselburgh since 1672, which makes this modest municipal strip a serious contender for the oldest course in the world still being played.
The A198 coast road strings them together like beads. You drive past one famous links, and before you have finished discussing it, you are passing the next.
One hill, three courses
I settled on Gullane, twenty-odd miles from the city centre, mostly because it takes visitors seven days a week and Muirfield does not. Gullane is a village built around a single enormous hill with three 18-hole courses draped over it, sensibly named No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. No. 1 is the championship course, opened in 1884 and good enough to have hosted the Scottish Open in 2015 and 2018.
Up Gullane Hill
The course is right next to the highway, and after arriving I made my way to the pro shop, where an almost brand new set of TaylorMade clubs were waiting for me. “When you spend the money to play a course like this, you should play with nice clubs”, as the club pro would later tell me. A nice touch. Renting clubs when traveling can be hit-and-miss, but here it was definitely a hit.
Another big hit was the weather. Warm, sunny, and almost no wind, all in all a very pleasant day. I had almost wished for tougher conditions, wind and chilly, so that the course could really show what a challenge it could be. No, just kidding, it was a perfect day for golf.
Alan Gray, the starter, chatted me up and gave me some useful tips for where to aim and what to avoid. The first hole starts politely enough beside the village and the members clubhouse, an easy par four to warm you up. The second sends you straight up Gullane Hill, a climb that has you questioning your fitness and your club selection at the same time. The reward comes as you step up on the third tee, when you get your first glance of the Firth of Forth. Here you work your way downhill again, getting closer to the water. A short par three, a dogleg fifth that takes you uphill again, and by the time you reach the seventh tee the entire Firth of Forth opens up below you: the sea, the beaches, the islands, Fife on the far shore, and on a clear day Edinburgh itself in the west.
I stood there long enough with the camera that the group behind us started making themselves visible on the tee below (fair enough, and bad form on my part anyway). You then work your way further and further away from the clubhouse until the course turns around when you are at the furthest point. No halfway house, “A proper golf course”, as Alan Gray had told me.
The golf itself is honest links golf on ground that drains like a sieve. The greens at Gullane have a reputation for being among the truest in Scotland and nothing I saw contradicted it. Miss on the wrong side, though, and the run-offs will punish you. The course plays 6873 yards from the back tees at par 71, but the scorecard says little: the wind decides the length of every hole. I found the course to be in good shape, with firm fairways that let the ball bounce giving you the opportunity for very long drives. The greens were firm and true.
The back nine starts along the coast, and then slowly turns towards the hills again. If features some true challenges as you work your way to the top after finishing the 16th, only to reward you with a new stunning view, this time of the village below and the two finishing holes. The 17th is a downhill par four, and here you have a chance to drive the green. But it is a risky proposition, with sand traps all along the front edge. The 18th takes you back to the clubhouse and the road.
After the round I was met by Alastair Good, the club head pro, and he kindly invited me to a tour of the members clubhouse, showed me the history of the club and the courses, and offered me a beer to finish the day on a high note (together with my birdie on the 18th).
If you have you way past Edinburgh, plan a visit to Gullane. You won’t regret it. If you have a few more days, there are 20 other courses to choose from, too, all withing easy reach from Edinburgh. You don’t even need a car, since most of the courses are along the highway served by an express bus from Edinburgh. I tried it on the way back to the city, and ran into several golfers with their bags on the bus. Fast and convenient.
Fact box: Scotland’s Golf Coast
- Where: East Lothian, the coastline east of Edinburgh, from Musselburgh to Dunbar
- Courses: 21 courses at 18 clubs along roughly 30 miles of coast
- The big names: Muirfield (Open Championship venue), North Berwick West Links, Gullane No. 1
- Tour stop: The Renaissance Club hosts the Genesis Scottish Open
- The history: Golf documented at Musselburgh Old Links since 1672, among the oldest playing courses in the world
- Gullane No. 1: opened 1884, par 71, 6873 yards, host of the 2015 and 2018 Scottish Opens
Tips for golfers traveling to Edinburgh
- Getting there: the A198 coast road reaches Gullane in about 45 minutes from central Edinburgh. No car? ScotRail runs to North Berwick in about half an hour,. Or ride the express bus like I did. It stops right at the golf course, and golf bags are no problem.
- Book ahead: Gullane No. 1 takes visitors daily but tee times go early in summer. Muirfield admits visitors on limited days and books out months in advance, so plan that one before you plan the flights.
- What it costs: Gullane No. 1 is £210 weekdays and £250 weekends in 2026. Winter golf from £105, and the courses drain so well that a January round is a real option.
- Money-saver: Gullane No. 2 and No. 3 share the same hill and much of the view at a fraction of the fee.
- Where to base yourself: Edinburgh works for a city-plus-golf trip like ours. For two or more days of golf, stay in Gullane or North Berwick instead and skip the commute.
- Pack for wind: the hilltop holes are exposed even on a mild day.
