Travel bucket list idea:
Muirfield Golf Course
Gullane, Scotland, United Kingdom (UK)
- https://www.muirfield.org.uk
Bucket List Experience
Last updated: 21 March, 2024
Second only to St Andrew’s in golf lore, Muirfield is home to The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the world’s oldest golf club. Old Tom Morris, Harry Colt and Tom Simpson designed the layout – two concentric rings of nine holes that go clockwise out and counterclockwise back.
Except for the tee shot on the 11th, the whole course is laid out in front of you, with no trickery save the bumpy fairways. Even the greens are perfectly sized for the approach shot required – the mark of a totally fair challenge.
It’s so good – and so famous – that when Jack Nicklaus designed the course of his dreams in his home state of Ohio, he named it after this Gullane beaut.
Logistics
Price from: £285
Minimum age: Any
Age suitable: 13+
When: All year around
Duration: -
Getting there & doing it
Muirfield is on the northeastern edge of Gullane; follow the signs to Greywalls Hotel. To get a tee time you must email the secretary with a request. Only players from recognised clubs with a handicap are allowed.
When to do it
Visitor tee times are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays only; you must go out in groups of four. Better to go out in the morning, when the format is fourballs; afternoon format is alternate shot foursomes, which isn’t as much fun. From November to March the play is strictly off mats, so it’s best played between April and October.
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Edinburgh Region, United Kingdom (UK)
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Round-ups
Round-ups that include this experience
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Spectacular landscapes, impeccable fairways and greens, brilliantly-designed holes and plenty of golfing folklore – we asked golf expert and journalist Fionn Davenport to recommend his top 30 golf courses from around the world.