Royal Musselburgh played on 21 August 2020

Another great day in Musselburgh. We played The Royal Musselburgh golf course. The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club – or golfing society – was established in 1774. That makes it the sixth oldest golf club in the world. At that time they shared the old Musselburgh 9- hole links course with 4 other golfing societies – among them The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

In 1926 the move was made to Prestongrange House, Prestonpans. Few miles out of the City. Here in a parkland area they asked James Braid to build an 18 hole course.

Maybe it should be added that this area was a very productive coal mine area up to the 1960. And therefore also an industry where the unions had great power and the industry was profitable. Not so any longer.

Today there are no single business industry contributing to the wealth of the area. And you can see that in the city of Musselburgh. It is not a city populated by a majority of middle class and upper class families.

James Braid designed, redesigned or altered 411 courses around the world. He was the Professional at Romford Golf Club for eight years and from 1904 till his death in 1950 at Walton Heath, South of London. He won the Open no less than five times. Two of his 5 Open Championships was won at Muirfield. In 1901 and 1906. So he should know what it takes to make an interesting golf course.

In 1876 the club became the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club. The royal title was granted by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. He remained as Patron of the club until his death in 1942.

Compared to our struggle with the many bunkers and the high rough at Muirfield, playing this course was a pleasure. What you see is what you get. Not necessarily easy but if you can place your drives on the right side of the fairways (many holes with a slight dogleg left or right), you will be fine. And if you are out of the fairway you can still find your ball. That makes for a good flow.

We had the honor to be invited to play with the club’s President, Mr. Craig Mackay. How did that come about? Easy. Craig is the owner of the B&B apartment we have rented and therefore we were easily connected to golf. The good thing about meeting and playing with Craig was his knowledge of the club’s history and the history of golf in the Musselburgh area in general.

Royal Musselburgh have now applied to become one of the qualifying courses for the Open. If approved it will boost the clubs reputation and also hopefully attract more green fee players. The challenge (from my point of view) is that players from the rest of the world visiting the East Lothian area are looking for links courses and not parkland courses. Because that’s a type of golf courses there are plenty of where most of them come from.

But – as said – it is definitely a good golf course in a beautiful nature and with trees sheltering at least a bit from the wind. And with a club house full of memorabilia and history. Here you will find authenticity – an atmosphere that radiates golf.

More facts about the course

The golfing challenge comes on the homeward stretch where a series of par fours are well protected by trees. From the medal tee at the 15th, for example, which is huddled tight beside the trees to the left, only a precision drive will suffice in order to find the rolling fairway. From there a long iron is played over an uphill approach to a tilting green.  

Type of course: Parkland
Holes: 18
Length: 6,254 – 5,880 – 5,587 yards
Par: 70. SSS back tee 70, yellow 69, red 73.

Course record

My game

Aaaah,  in the beginning, I was struggling with my driver and my concentration. You know, during the round there was a lot of talks.

It was Eza’s turn to keep notes of the scores, but she gave up on hole 14. Therefore I can only report on the front nine, where I was 7 over par, with 14 points – nothing to brag about. It was a nice walk and I think that the course deserve a second chance – or is it us?

The course evaluation