The Muirfield: A Jewel of a Scottish Course
Muirfield is a very exclusive seaside links course, twenty miles from Edinburgh. It is the home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the world's oldest golf club, though the game of golf is several centuries older. Characterized by long narrow fairways and fast undulating greens, Muirfield offers no surprises like hidden bunkers, blind shots or subtle undulations. Yet it is a demanding course with all its challenges in open view; a fair course for any determined golfer to take a chance.
Muirfield holds the distinction of being the only course till date to have hosted the Open the Amateur, the Mid Amateur, the Ryder Cup, the Walker Cup and the Curtis Cup. It has been the venue for the Open fifteen times, the last time in 2002. Many consider it the perfect course; it certainly has most of the qualities a perfectionist would seek in his ideal course. The toughness of Muirfield lies in its bunkers and long, thick rough, making the fairway the safest place in this course. Muirfield has ideal playing conditions all year round.
Design wise it is jewel, with two loops of nine holes each, the first nine run clockwise followed by an anticlockwise inward nine. This makes it obligatory for players to make continuous adjustments for wind direction. Jack Nicklaus fancied this layout enough to copy it on his home course which he even named it Muirfield Village, home of the Memorial Tournament. In fact many professionals name this 6601 yard par 70 course as their favorite Open Championship venue.
This is a very private club with restrictive entry to visitors. Guests can book for Tuesdays and Thursdays (excluding Public Holidays) and the 1st tee is reserved for two-balls and the 10th tee for four-balls. A letter of introduction from the visitor’s home club verifying the handicap has to be produced to play here. Once you are here you will be tempted to spend a full day on the Muirfield course, playing eighteen holes in the morning and again another eighteen holes in the afternoon with a sumptuous lunch at the club house in between the two rounds.
