West Links, North Berwick Golf Club
On the northern edge of Scotland’s East Lothian district sits Muirfield Golf Club, one of the sternest tests in the game—and one of the most private. Just 10 minutes to the east lies the town of North Berwick and its very public West Links. A shrine that lures knowledgeable golfers from all over the world, […]
The Golf House Club, Elie
Short on the card but long on charm, Elie is a delight to play and even more fun to talk about
Western Gailes Golf Club, Scotland
A young course architect found inspiration for his first design at a lesser-known strip of raw, heaving linksland along the west coast of Scotland
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, Scotland
Back in the late 1700s, golf had developed from a “short” game played in streets and churchyards to a “long” game played in open areas. Taking their cue from St. Andrews, the golfers of Aberdeen moved out to the coast. But a series of social upheavals, including the Industrial Revolution, sharply reduced the number […]
Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course, St Andrews
On a hill just outside St. Andrews you can take a step back in time
Letter from St. Andrews: Rules of Engagement
A look at one of golf’s alleged predecessors, the deliciously nasty game called chole
The Renaissance Club, Scotland
One of the finest courses in Britain gets even better thanks to new holes on new land
acquired from an old, and revered, neighbor
Letter from St. Andrews: It Doesn’t Add Up
A critical look at the wacky British handicap system
Letter from St. Andrews: Is Eight Enough?
Earlier this year, the St. Andrews Links Trust announced that its No. 7 course, currently under construction on a clifftop two miles southeast of town, would be named the Castle, in recognition of the fact that a medieval stronghold had occupied the approximate site of the intended 9th and 18th greens. The name was one […]
Letter from St. Andrews: A Closed Open
I’m not sure why—maybe I haven’t fully and truly expatriated, or maybe it’s just that I’m a congenital jackass—but I get uncommon pleasure from tweaking my fellow St. Andreans with a question. When the 19th-hole conversation turns to the game’s majors, I ask, “So who do you like in the LCSE?” “What?” they say. “The […]
