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Muirfield Links
The Honorable Company
of Edinburgh Golfers
Duncur Road, Gullane,
East Lothian, Scotland
BUNKER ON THE 18TH AT MUIRFIELD. DON'T LET
BLUE SKIES AND CALM WINDS FOOL YOU. MUIRFIELD
COUNTS ON WIND AND RAIN BEING PART OF THE GAME.
Length & Par:
Championship (Yellow) Tees: Par 71, 6970 yards
White Tees: Par 70, 6601 yards (SSS 73)
Greens Fees per ROUND: £85
Greens Fees
per DAY:
£110
Credit Cards Accepted: AMEX, VISA, MasterCard
Open and Playable Year Round
ADVANCE BOOKING OF TEE-TIMES REQUIRED.
Booking at least 1 week ahead is strongly recommended.
Visitors welcome Tuesday & Thursday.
The morning format each day is foursomes starting on the 10th tee, twosomes
starting on the 1st tee. The afternoon format is foursomes only.
Bookings (from the USA):
TEL: 011 44 (0)1620 842123
FAX: 011 44 (0)1620 842977.
To pre-book a tee-time contact the club
secretary by phone, fax or in writing at the address and numbers listed above. An
information pack and application form will be sent to you. You will also be asked whether
you wish lunch in the clubhouse and the number of caddies you will need.
After returning the completed form, including a
handicap certificate and deposit, your application will be placed on file. During November
you will be informed of the tee-off time allocated to you FOR PLAY DURING THE
FOLLOWING YEAR.
Minimum Handicap Required: Men, 18;
Women, 24.
Special Rules and Regulations: Women
may play only in the company of men players.
Facilities:
Changing rooms for men and women
Club House
Pro Shop
Putting green
Driving Range
Full bar and restaurant
Rentals:
Clubs: Yes
Shoes: Yes
Pull carts (trolleys): Yes
Golf carts: Yes
Caddies: Yes
LOCATION: About
20 miles east of Edinburgh on Duncur Road, Gullane, just off the A198.
Enter Muirfield from the northeast side of Gullane village opposite the sign for
Greywalls Hotel.
Nearest HOME
AT FIRST lodgings:
In Edinburgh, about 40 minutes west
of the course.
Near St. Andrews, Fife, eastern Scotland, about 90 minutes north
of the course.
In Melrose, in the Scottish Borders,
about 90 minutes south of the course.
In Central Scotland (various
locations), about 2.5-3 hours west of Muirfield.
More information about HOME AT FIRST's SCOTLAND travel program.
THE HISTORY: The Honourable
Company of Edinburgh Golfers is recognized as the worlds oldest golf club. They held
their first meeting on Leith Links in 1744. At that time Leith was a small fishing village
on the Firth of Forth only five miles from Edinburgh, later becoming the main seaport for
the city. In 1744, the first 13 rules of golf were drafted by a committee of the Gentlemen
Golfers of Edinburgh, which became known as the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. A
few years later these same rules were adopted verbatim by the golfers at St. Andrews
across the firth, at the worlds oldest golf course still in use.
The expansion of Edinburgh forced the
Honourable Company to retreat eastward in 1836 to its second 9-hole public course at
Musselburgh. Ultimately overcrowding at Musselburgh brought about a decision to develop a
private club at Muirfield in 1891.
THE COURSE: Muirfield is a traditional Scottish links
located on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, looking north to the hills of Fife (near
St. Andrews). Nearby are other notable links courses at Gullane, and (four miles to the
east) North Berwick.
Muirfield is usually listed among the top ten
courses in the world, and often in the top five. It is forever linked with St. Andrews Old Course and Royal
Dornoch as one of the top-three courses in Scotland.
The home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh
Golfers, Muirfield was designed in 1891 by Old Tom Morris and has hosted 14 British Open
Championships since 1892. Old Tom received a lot of criticism for his design. After 110
years only one original green has survived. Muirfield is now very much the result of Harry
Colts work in the mid-1920s.
OLD TOM MORRIS, 4-TIME BRITISH
OPEN CHAMPION
AND COURSE DESIGNER OF MUIRFIELD LINKS
The course is laid out
in to separate undulating loopsthe back nine holes inside the loop of the front
ninewhich ensures that the wind direction is redirected fairly during a round.
Although the course lacks both water hazards and trees, its thick rough and 151 deep
bunkers add mightily to its considerable challenge resulting in its reputation as
"cruelly fair. Tom Watson has said there is "not a weak hole on the
course", and Jack Nicklaus, 1966 British Open winner at Muirfield, was so enamored
with it he named his golf complex in Ohio, Muirfield Village, after it.
SOME NOTABLE HOLES: Nicklaus says the first hole (444 yards, par 4)
"may be as tough an opening hole as there is anywhere in championship golf." One
of many large bunkers dominates the left of the fairway, which is narrow. Stray off it and
you are in severe rough. The green slopes from front to back.
The four par 3s may offer the greatest
challenge at Muirfield. Each has tight, raised greens guarded by deep bunkers, where the
only escape routes are sideways or backwards. For instance, the 146-yard 13th
runs uphill to a narrow green with deep bunkers on both sidesyou could spend the
whole round here. And the par-3 16th, (181 yards) is mined with seven bunkers
with the slope taking any shot played to the left side into the traps.
Muirfield demands accuracy everywhere, perhaps
most especially on the 436-yard par-4 6th which doglegs left to a split-level
fairway: your second shot must get close.
The 350-yard par-4 11th features the
only blind drive on the course, and its green is naturally surrounded by deep bunkers.
BRITISH OPEN 2002: The 131st British Open
championship was played from July 18-21, 2002, at Muirfield. South African Ernie Els won
but not easilya play-off with three other golfers (Steve Elkington, Stuart Appleby,
and Thomas Levet) was required. It was the 15th time that the Open has been played over
this historic links. (The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers had hosted the Open
Championship six times at the nine-hole public course at Musselburgh before building
Muirfield. Just nine months after construction the 1892 championship was played at
Muirfield and won by English amateur Harold Hilton.
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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