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— Center of the Golfing Universe —

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Three classic links courses with roots to golf's ancient past in Scotland.
Gullane shares East Lothian dunesland with its revered neighbor,
Muirfield, but is easily accessible to visitors.

Gullane Golf Club
29 Hillhouse Road
Gullane, East Lothian
EH31 2BB Scotland
Tel: +44 (0) 1620 842 255
Fax: +44 (0) 1620 842 327
E-mail: bookings@gullanegolfclub.com
Web Site: GULLANE GOLF CLUB
 

Gullane Golf Club Photos

GULLANE'S SETTING IS MOST UNUSUAL:
HILLY LINKSLAND, AS SHOWN HERE
AT THE SECOND GREEN OF COURSE #1.

          The south shoreline of Scotland’s storied Firth of Forth extends east from Edinburgh 30 miles or so to St. Baldred’s Boat where the sea cliffs and the ruined Tantallon Castle mark the Firth’s merger with the fierce North Sea. Offshore stands the sentinel Bass Rock, a sedimentary buoy warning shipping of their departure from friendlier waters of the firth. The north coast of East Lothian county has not always been much friendlier than the North Sea. Here the intrigues of Scottish clans helped lose Scotland its independence from England, and then win Scotland kings the very

Looking north from Gullane
Course 1, Hole 9, across the Firth
of Forth toward St. Andrews.

throne of the United Kingdom. East of Edinburgh the coast is littered with sandy wastes, dunesland that supported no crops and was too lose and shifty to support habitation. Like the dunesland along the north coast of the Firth of Forth in the Kingdom of Fife, the dunes of East Lothian attrac-ted competitive Scots at leisure, racing horses and playing the new game of golf. Golf history runs deep here — some believe deeper here than at St. Andrews on the Fife coast — with three storied courses along the coast: Musselburgh (1567? 1672? 1836?), Muirfield (1891), and North Berwick (1832).

          The coastal village of Gullane, population under 2,500, owes its very existence to its sandy perch. The sandstorms and erosion that might otherwise drive away residents has blessed Gullane with the ideal setting for old-style (true) links golf. Locals insist Gullane has witnessed golf on its dunesland for over three centuries. Its first golf club organized in the early years of the 19^th century and its first club maintained course on Gullane sands in 1882.

Often threatened in the past by sand-storms, erosion, and horse racing,
the village of Gullane exists because
of the game of golf. The 18th hole of Course 1 borders a village street.

The broad sands of Gullane extend
far inland, supporting no fewer
than five 18-hole courses including
THE 3 OF Gullane Golf Club. Shown
is Gullane G.C. Course 2, Hole #11.

          The sands at Gullane are broad and extend inland, not unlike those across the firth at St. Andrews. And, like St. Andrews, Gullane can support multiple courses on its extensive dunesland. The Gullane Golf Club of 1882 laid out their Number 1 course in 1884. The club hired golf legend Willie Park Jr. to design Gullane’s Number 2 in 1898, incorporating seven holes of the defunct Old Luffness golf course. Club members and the club greens keeper designed Gullane Number 3 in 1910. Meanwhile, the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (1744) moved its club course from Musselburgh Old Links to a new private course on the Gullane sands called Muirfield, built by another golf legend Old

Tom Morris in 1891. And Luffness New Golf Club’s 18 hole links also occupies prime Gullane dunesland. From the high point of Gullane Course Number 1 — the 7^th hole atop Gullane Hill — the landscape is surveyed with numbered flags stretching from the edge of town to the firth. This densely developed dunesland rivals any place along the Ayrshire or Fife coasts as the ground zero of Golf Scotland.

The densely developed Gullane dunesland rivals any golf
complex in Scotland.

THE COURSES: Although Course #1 is the senior venue at Gullane, and the one that has held the most important professional, amateur, and Open qualifying tournaments, each of the three links courses at Gullane has its strong merits and its enthusiastic supporters. All share the same basic landscape, of course, and, therefore, the same natural challenges and hazards, especially strong sea breezes, frequent rainfall, deep pot bunkers, unplayable gorse bushes, narrow, rumpled fairways, and tricky greens. Rare for true links courses, all three courses at Gullane are hilly, adding the challenge of uphill, downhill, and sidehill shots. None of the courses is especially long, and none is made more complicated by water or trees. Still, each of Gullane’s three courses has its own distinctive character. Here’s a brief synopsis of each:
 

Gullane G.C. Course 1

GULLANE #1: On its way uphill to the 200-foot-high-point tee at the 7^th hole (“Queen’s Head”), golfers must negotiate the par-5 3^rd hole, probably the signature hole at Gullane. The course has seen dozens of important championships, and normally hosts the Final Open Qualifier tourney whenever the British Open is held at neighboring

Muirfield. In windy conditions—often the case here on its hillside coastal perch—even the best golfers find #1 a great challenge.

Gullane G.C. Course 2

yards) is a challenge here in a gale. A clue: the par-4 3^rd hole measures only 237 yards.

Gullane G.C. Course 3

GULLANE #3: Shorter still, at 5,252 yards, #3 offers only one par-4 longer than 400 yards (but it’s a doozy, the exposed 450-yards-long 10^th), and only one par-5, the 443-yard 14^th. In many ways, this course is a condensed version of its longer neighbors. Expect even tighter fairways, and greens as slippery and fast as #s 1 & 2.

]
Want to learn about other courses throughout the British Isles
including some of the greatest tests of golf in the world? See our
SCOTLAND, IRELAND, ENGLAND, and WALES
Course Guides for more information.
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