a a
— Center of the Golfing Universe —

—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 world’s 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 world’s 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 Colt’s 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 loops—the back nine holes inside the loop of the front nine—which 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 3’s 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 13^th runs uphill to a narrow green with deep bunkers on both sides—you could spend the whole round here. And the par-3 16^th, (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 6^th which doglegs left to a split-level fairway: your second shot must get close.
        The 350-yard par-4 11^th features the only blind drive on the course, and its green is naturally surrounded by deep bunkers.

BRITISH OPEN 2002: The 131^st British Open championship was played from July 18-21, 2002, at Muirfield. South African Ernie Els won but not easily—a 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.