The origin of the name of Muirfield

My question in the blog about our visit to Muirfield was: Why is Muirfield golf course called Muirfield when the golf club is called The Honourable Gentleman of Edinburgh Golfers and when there are no town or place near the golf course with the name of Muirfield?

Now I have learned that Muir is the Scottish word for “moorland”. Moorland or moor is a type of habitat in upland areas in temperate grasslands. Moorland, nowadays, generally means uncultivated hill land.

So here we are. The honourable gentleman of Edinburgh golfers simply bought a piece of land characterized as muir field, build a golf course and called it Muirfield.

That also explain why I didn’t found the expected links course with rough of heather and fairways of grey grass on sandy soil, but a rough of tick grass and fairways with green grass on (apparently) fertile soil.

Related to this question is another puzzle (at least to a Dane).

In Denmark, the golf club takes its name after the golf course or vice versa. And with few exceptions the name is taken from the town or area where the course is build.

Here where we are now – in Scotland – in the old days, a group of people founded a golf club or a golfing society and got permission to play golf on a chosen golf course that often was laid out on public land. The old course in the town of St. Andrew and the old course in the town of Musselburgh are examples.

I have found that, at a time, in the 17 and 18-hundred there were up to 5 golfing societies playing their golf at the Old Musselburgh Links.