Elie

Few courses in Scotland carry quite the lived-in charm of Elie Golf House Club, one of the oldest clubs in the world and a genuine piece of Scottish golf history. The club traces its roots to the 1770s, and the course that exists today — a traditional links laid out along the Firth of Forth — was shaped in part by Old Tom Morris. That lineage alone sets the tone: this is golf in its most elemental form, exposed to coastal wind, routed over firm and rumpled linksland, with the sea ever-present and the game dictated as much by the conditions as by the player.

The town of Elie itself sits on the East Neuk of Fife, a stretch of coastline that punches well above its weight in golf history given its proximity to St Andrews. The landscape is open and honest — gorse, rough fescues, and views across the water define the experience as much as the holes themselves.

What golfers remember about Elie, beyond its antiquity, is the periscope mounted at the first tee — salvaged from a Royal Navy submarine and used to check whether the fairway is clear of play. It is exactly the kind of detail that no scorecard could ever prepare you for.