Hidden Scotland
Sign in

Courses on Old Tom Morris's trail
in Lothian.

It’s 20:57 in Lothian.
Lothian

Old Tom at Luffness and Dunbar.

Old Tom Morris left his mark on this stretch of the Forth coast. In 1894 he laid out a links on the Luffness estate between Aberlady and Gullane, and its last six holes loop out towards Aberlady Bay. At Dunbar, where the club has played since 1856, his course was later reshaped by James Braid and Ben Sayers. North Berwick's West Links, beside the town, is home to the original Redan, with old stone walls in play. Pack a jacket and tie if you would like to stay for lunch at Luffness.

North Berwick Golf Club→
Dunbar Golf Course→
Luffness New Golf Club→
Quiz20 hours ago

In 1815 a golfer bet a gallon of whisky that he could hit a ball from Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh over Arthur's Seat. How many strokes did it take?

Did you know19 hours ago

The women golfers of North Berwick formed their own club in 1888, and joined the men's North Berwick Golf Club only in 2005.

They played a nine-hole course beside today's sixteenth fairway, moved onto the West Links in 1935, and stayed a separate club for another seventy years.

See North Berwick Golf Club · Lothian
True or false18 hours ago

True or false: golfers at Musselburgh could once order a drink through a pub window without leaving the course.

Did you know17 hours ago

The 13th hole on the West Links at North Berwick, the Pit, is played over an old stone wall.

The wall runs right across the front of a small green sunk in a hollow behind it, so the approach has to carry the stones. Every so often the only way on is a lucky ricochet off the wall itself. The name comes from that sunken green.

See North Berwick Golf Club · Lothian
Did you know17 hours ago

The golfers of Dunbar set down their rules on 14 May 1794 and agreed to meet at the West Barns links on the second Wednesday of every month.

The links were soon taken over for military training and a rifle range during the wars with France, and golf there faded for decades.

See Dunbar Golf Course · Lothian
True or false16 hours ago

True or false: Lanark Golf Club's captain in 1862 once conceded a hole without realising his ball was already in the cup.

Did you know15 hours ago

An assistant minister at Dunbar was disgraced in 1640 after he was caught playing golf on a Sunday.

The kirk had already rebuked two men from nearby Tyninghame in 1616 for playing nine holes on the Sabbath, the first record of golf near Dunbar.

See Dunbar Golf Course · Lothian
Quiz14 hours ago

Tommy Armour, the Edinburgh-born Open champion, holds an unhappy record in American professional golf. What is it?

Did you know13 hours ago

The first mention of golf at North Berwick, in East Lothian, is not a match but a charge.

In January 1611 the kirk session, the church court that policed the Sabbath, accused first Thomas Gowan and then Alex Lockart of playing golf on a Sunday.

See North Berwick Golf Club · Lothian
True or false13 hours ago

True or false: women were not allowed to play golf in Scotland until the twentieth century.

Did you know12 hours ago

When the women's golf championship first came to Scotland, at Gullane in 1897, the final was played between two sisters from North Berwick.

Edith Orr beat her sister Aimee, in a field of 102 golfers.

See North Berwick Golf Club · Lothian
Quiz11 hours ago

Willie Gunn, the most famous caddie on Edinburgh's Bruntsfield Links, was known for wearing what?