Musselburgh Old

Few places on earth carry the weight of golf history that Musselburgh Old Course does. This is, by credible claim, the oldest playing golf course in the world, with documented play dating to at least 1672 — and quite possibly earlier. The Open Championship was held here 6 times between 1874 and 1889, and the names on those trophies read like a who's who of the Victorian era's great champions. Walking these fairways means walking the same ground as Old Tom Morris and the Dunns.

The layout occupies the infield of Musselburgh Racecourse, which gives it an unusual flat, open character unlike almost any other links in Scotland. The sea air rolls in from the Firth of Forth just beyond, and the turf plays firm and fast in the manner of true traditional links golf. At par 68 it is compact by modern standards, but that misses the point entirely.

Musselburgh is not somewhere you go to test your ego against length. You go because the game was essentially invented here, and that is a feeling no modern parkland or resort course can replicate.