GOLF IN SCOTLAND

THE HISTORY OF GOLF IN SCOTLAND

Golf was invented in Scotland during the High Middle Ages (roughly between 900 and 1286 CE). Scotland lays claim to inventing golf, golf clubs (the instruments and the organizations), and the modern-day 18-hole golf course. The original type of golf courses, called `links`, are typically close to the water, and are sometimes surrounded by water. You will see many golf courses in Scotland referred to as `links`.

Today, golf is the national sport of Scotland, but not all Scots were supportive of the game at first. James II banned golf in 1457 because he felt the popularity of the game meant that his subjects would not put enough practice into archery. By 1502, however, James IV removed the ban as he was a fan of the sport. The oldest golf course in the country is the Old Course at St Andrews, which hosted its first golf game in the early 1400s. The New Course, also at St Andrews, was built in 1895.

There are over 550 golf courses spread out across Scotland today, on the mainland and on the islands off the coast of Britain. The coasts are known for their golfing opportunities primarily because the concept of `links`, the oldest golf course, required that the links be close to a body of water. Below you will find a short list of highly-recommended golf courses, information on these courses, and how far the courses are located from nearby cities.

All of the golf courses below were listed in the Top 50 of Golf Digest magazine's World's Greatest Golf Courses, published in January 2020.

St Andrews Links (second picture) is considered the birthplace of golf, and out of all the courses in the world, the ones at St Andrews are the Holy Grail. There are seven different courses available to play, with the Old Course being obviously the oldest but also the most popular. The links are situated just to the north and west of the city center so it is entirely possible to walk to the links from South Street, as it is just a half-mile away. Seven miles southeast of St Andrews, you will find the state-of-the-art Kingsbarns Golf Links, situated on the grounds of the ornate Cambo Estate. While Kingsbarns has history going back centuries, the current golf course was designed and implemented in the late 1990s. On the other side of the River Tay from St Andrews and Kingsbarns, you will find another legendary golf course, Carnoustie Golf Links (third picture). Less than an hour's drive from St Andrews, Carnoustie boasts four separate courses, including a five-hole course that is completely free to play. One of the world's top courses, it last hosted the British Open in 2018.

The top-ranked golf course in the country according to Golf Digest is Muirfield Links, situated on the Firth of Forth northeast of Edinburgh. This course, which has hosted the British Open sixteen times, is unique in that the course is not continuous but a loop, where golfers play nine holes along the firth in one direction, only to turn around and play nine more holes on a parallel course and then returning to where you began your game. Four miles east of Muirfield Links, you will find North Berwick Golf Club, the first golf club in the world to allow women as players and members. The golf club plays at the North Berwick West Links, whose signature hole is the V-shaped par-3 15th hole.

Closer to Glasgow, you will find three golf courses that were top-rated by Golf Digest. The first is Royal Troon Golf Course in the town of Troon in South Ayrshire. It hosted the British Open for the first time in 1923, and is historically a sister club to Prestwick Golf Club which begins just south of Royal Troon and runs parallel to Glasgow Prestwick Airport. The longer course, on which the British Open has been played, is the Old Course, while the shorter, newer course, is called The Portland. Both are recommended for those wishing to play a good game of golf. A little more than 20 miles south of Royal Troon, just southwest of Culzean Castle, is Turnberry (fourth picture), which dates from 1906 and is considered one of the grandest golf courses and resorts in the country. Consisting of three different courses, the main course is called the Ailsa and the smaller courses are the (18-hole) Kintyre Course and the (9-hole) Arran Course. Speaking of Kintyre, another top-ranked golf course is located on the Kintyre Peninsula, the Machrihanish Golf Club, about five miles west of Campbeltown. Considered one of the best golf courses in the world by such legends as Jack Nicklaus, Machrihanish is well-known for its dramatic first hole, one of the most memorable in the world.

In the Highlands, there are two well-recommended golf courses, one near Aberdeen and one near Inverness. About 10 minutes north of Aberdeen, you will find the Trump International Golf Links, which was designed by Martin Hawtree at the request of Donald Trump. One of the newer golf courses in Scotland, it opened in 2012, and is lauded for its attention to detail, something golf connoisseurs will really like. Thirty minutes north of Inverness, Royal Dornoch Golf Club is home to two courses. The Championship Course is the one that is best-known, running directly along Dornoch Firth. The other course, the Struie Course, is a little easier to play, but not by much, making it an exciting prospective game and a big reason why Royal Dornoch is rated so high by golfers and golf publications.