A grand (if bittersweet) finale as our trip ends at an historic, highly regarded course that delivers memorable holes, memorable beauty and memorable hospitality NORTH BERWICK, EAST LOTHIAN, Scotland — Martyn Huish, the head PGA professional at North Berwick Golf Club (West Links), is 47 and was born here, in this town in East Lothian, …
The Crail Golfing Society’s older course is its most popular (but don’t overlook Craighead Links) CRAIL, FIFE, Scotland — To this old little village on the Firth of Forth, in this region of Scotland north of Edinburgh known as the East Neuk, the golfers come from the United States, and Scandinavia, and Germany and France…
They grow up playing golf here, and have for generations ELIE, FIFE, Scotland — Daylight was waning and the rain was pelting when we left The 19th Hole, the pub across the narrow street from the final fairway of The Golf House Club, Elie Links. The story goes that sometimes golfers pop into the pub…
Where we see links golf very old, and links golf very new KINGSBARNS, FIFE, Scotland — It rained some Thursday morning on the east coast of Scotland, and we drove from the Old Manor Hotel on Leven Road, overlooking Lundin Golf Links, about 15 minutes north into St. Andrews, and by then it was raining…
A stolid Old World feel at the club that just hosted one of the most vibrant Opens ever TROON, AYRSHIRE, Scotland — Trump Turnberry is more spectacular and beautiful. Prestwick Golf Club is older, more rugged, aggressively links golf. If you come to Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland, you must play those courses….
Setting aside Donald Trump’s politics (if you can), his redesign of the famous Ailsa course at Turnberry is simply fantastic TURNBERRY, AYRSHIRE, Scotland — You can hate his politics, and ego. You can snicker at the self-aggrandizing ostentatiousness and opulence that characterizes much of what Donald Trump touches. But if you are a golfer, if…
Dating to 1851, site of the first Open Championship, Prestwick is more than a relic PRESTWICK, AYRSHIRE, Scotland — Old Tom Morris laid out the first 12 holes of Prestwick Golf Club in 1851, though golf had been played there even earlier. In 1860, the very first Open Championship, known in the United States as…
Whereupon the writer shoots a front-nine 39, but … MACHRIHANISH, ARGYLL, Scotland —On Sunday, the sun came out, and the wind disappeared, and you could see, very clearly now, the islands of Islay, Jura and Gigha beyond Machrihanish Bay in the North Atlantic Ocean and, to the south, much farther in the distance, Ireland. But…
A relatively new course conjures the golf of 130 years ago MACHRIHANISH, ARGYLL, Scotland — If I have ever before used the phrase “wild and woolly” to describe a links golf course, please forgive that exaggeration. I wrote too soon; that is, before playing Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club, a place where the phrase is apt….
A long journey is rewarded by an inspired, and inspiring, golf course MACHRIHANISH, ARGYLL, Scotland — We had already been on the road for 24-some hours, flying from Seattle on Wednesday morning to Dallas to London to Edinburgh, Scotland, and now it was late Thursday in a new time zone and we were three hours…
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