My Pilgrimage from North Berwick to Carnoustie

[Bill Gayne]

Appreciate the comments and the recent threads on Edinburgh/East Lothian as I'll be doing a somewhat similar trip in August with two rounds at Carnoustie, two rounds at North Berwick, one round at Gullane #1, and some off time for other activities or add-on golf.

[JBovay]

Matthew,

Having just done a similar trip, I know you'll have an excellent time. Best of luck to you with logistics and everything in your future, too.

It sounds like you'll get in at least two rounds on the Old Course? That's terrific, and I hope you'll have the time and energy for a few more, even if it means playing as a single.

Also, I'd like to echo Jaeger's comments about North Berwick--I think you'll really enjoy seeing the course twice.

Look forward to comparing notes.

Best,
JB

[Niall C]

Re Gullane - all three courses are similar in so much as they play out from town, go over the hill and play back into town, each with a fairly open aspect. No. 3 is significantly shorter than 1 and 2 with 1 being slightly longer than 2 but with a good bit more bunkering than 2. In terms of value for money, 2 and 3 are better value than 1 but when you compare 1 to some other high end courses it is still good value.

Having played quite a bit of golf at Gullane, I would generally pick no. 3 most of the time. Even though its shorter its no pushover as its easy to get out of position by trying to over power the course. There's a premium on chipping and putting. All in all great fun.

Niall

[Brent Carlson]

With your aspirations to become a golf architect - one more suggestion.  Make sure and at least walk HCEG.  Can someone help him accomplish this? 

[Jaeger Kovich]

With your aspirations to become a golf architect - one more suggestion.  Make sure and at least walk HCEG.  Can someone help him accomplish this? 

It is Scotland, everyone has the "right to roam". I was told by a caddy last week that if you drive up to the gate, and ask politely to be let through so you can drive down to the beach (there is a road that runs through the course, that you barely notice). You can park at the beach, walk back up, and as long as you don't bother anyone or harm anything, you are free to walk as you please... You can probably even tell them your intentions to just walk around the property and want to study the historic architecture.

[Jud_T]

Matthew,

Enjoy!  Interested to hear your thoughts during/afterwards.  I'm still kicking myself for not seeing North Berwick when I was in country. 

[Tom_Doak]

Matthew:

If you want to see The Renaissance Club, it should not be a problem to go in and have a look around.  There is a gate, but you let yourself in by pressing a button!

It is a private club, but they would surely be open to a young architecture student having a peek.  PM me and I will give you the name of the director of golf.

[Niall C]

With your aspirations to become a golf architect - one more suggestion.  Make sure and at least walk HCEG.  Can someone help him accomplish this? 

It is Scotland, everyone has the "right to roam". I was told by a caddy last week that if you drive up to the gate, and ask politely to be let through so you can drive down to the beach (there is a road that runs through the course, that you barely notice). You can park at the beach, walk back up, and as long as you don't bother anyone or harm anything, you are free to walk as you please... You can probably even tell them your intentions to just walk around the property and want to study the historic architecture.

Jaeger

Not sure I would be asking a caddy for legal advice 

The right to roam legislation as its commonly referred to is a fairly woolly and contentious bit of legislation from what I can remember reading. It has produced an Outdoor Access Code however again it doesn't provide the level of detail you might want to have in determining what is acceptable practice and what is not. Not doubt in due course their will be conflicts which will end up in court and the creation of case law that will help in a practical sense.

In the meantime I think you would have two chances, neither of them good, of being able to drive a car into Muirfield, even the members don't do that they have a car park at the front gates. Getting access to walk over the course is perhaps another matter but again I'm not sure they are obliged to open up their gates to you and you may have to get access by coming up from the beach.

That said, a polite enquiry to the club may work wonders.

Niall

[Mark Chaplin]

Certainly no right to drive a car on a private road in Scotland.

[Jaeger Kovich]

1. fair enough!

2. sounded like the beach, was "public" and that the "car park" for it would have been as well... True I might have been a little nervous and decided to park in the club lot myself... but the beach sounded pretty cool!

[Niall C]

Mark

There are instances where you can drive on a road that is private and include where it is an established right of way or you can take advantage of a servitude. Also a lot of publicly adopted roads might still be on private land ie. the solum of the road is owned by someone other than the roads authority. I would imagine none of the above would apply at Muirfield.

Jaeger

I've never done it but the coastal walk round that way looks pretty enjoyable and popular judging by the numbers that use it. That said Muirfield is set back a wee bit from the coast and access to the course isn't quite as immediate as say somewhere like Prestwick, Western or Troon but still accessible with a bit of a hike I would imagine.

Niall

[Matthew Essig]

Thank you for the offers to other courses, but my itinerary is packed. I wish I could, but I've had just enough time to explore St. Andrews. Not sure if there is enough time to even check out Edinburgh at this point.

I will start posing some opinions on holes/courses when
a) I have enough time to thoroughly go over the massive amount of content being thrown at me
b) have enough internet access