[Benjamin Litman]

Some good news out of East Lothian:


http://www.insider.co.uk/news/historic-musselburgh-links-restored-former-10378450#ICID=sharebar_twitter

[Jon Wiggett]

Benjamin,


on the face of it it does appear to be a good story but I worry it might have some bad side effects. With quotes such as 'Essentially, we wish to make Musselburgh great again' which has worrying echoes of Mr. Trump I would be anxious that by reportedly spending £10 million (though I doubt anything like this will be spent) this will be used to massively inflate the greenfee price taking it out of the reach of the local golfer. One of the great things about Mussleburgh Old is it is a course with a massive heritage, in reasonable nick and accessible to all at a price of below £15. I hope this will not change.


Jon

[MCirba]

Holy ground.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

They need a negative amount of £'s to restore the course to its previous ‘Open Championship’ condition. 

[Adrian_Stiff]

Sounds like typical journalists crap.


If those shareholders have backed a £10,000,000 plan they would lose a lot of money. First thing they should have done/could do is buy Mrs Formans.

[Ben Stephens]

Its not clear what the proposals are. I played Musselburgh a while ago and they had plans to extend it to 18 holes by Donald Steel.


Mackenzie and Ebert are carrying out the design work so it will be interesting to see what is actually proposed.

[Niall C]

Interestingly the racecourse seems to be in a spot of bother in that the Jockey Club or whoever oversees the running of horse racing in this country, is threatening to withdraw the licence for Musselburgh to hold races. That aside, is their enough room to build another 9 holes ?


Niall

[Ben Stephens]

Interestingly the racecourse seems to be in a spot of bother in that the Jockey Club or whoever oversees the running of horse racing in this country, is threatening to withdraw the licence for Musselburgh to hold races. That aside, is their enough room to build another 9 holes ?


Niall

Earlier proposal by Donald Steel had 9 extra holes on a piece of land north of the clubhouse

[Ben Stephens]

2002 proposal


Niall[/size]



Masterplan from 2002 proposal - hope they get rid of the racecourse and relocate it

[Jon Wiggett]

Niall,


my understanding is that the council have not agreed the budget for the racecourse and so the necessary budgetary requirements have not been met. The same council that failed to realise the potential of the golf course and the benefits it could have brought to Musselburgh seem hell bent on ruining the racing as well.


Ben, thank god Mr. Steel's quite awful plans were never realised. The proper thing to have done would have been to build a state of the art racing venue on the old landfill leaving the golf to be developed without the track going through the middle of it. Hospitality facilities could have been shared much as now.


Jon

[Wayne_Kozun]

Is the current course pretty similar to the course that held The Open over a century ago and was the home of the Parks, or has it changed a lot through the years?

[Niall C]

Jon


I suspect that the racecourse is similar to the course in respect of the old style charm that it provides. The two almost go hand in glove and one without the other wouldn't quite be the same IMO.


Niall

[Jon Wiggett]

Niall,


not really. The race course used to be just a straight run with the circular track being introduced fairly recently. They have spent a lot of money on the facilities and it now looks very different to what it used to.


Wayne,


the course was changed quite a bit by Donald Steel to accommodate expansion of the horse racing so it is no longer the same.


Jon

[MCirba]

Jon,


Could you describe those changes by Steel and when they were done?  Thanks.

[Jon Wiggett]

Mike,


I am not overly familiar with the changes so some of this might not be 100% correct but from recollection the first tee was moved along with the green which moved a little back an to the right. The second I believe is still intact but the third green was brought forward by quite a distance losing a very good green. The fourth had the fairway altered though in essence the hole has remained true to the original. Fifth is as was. The sixth had the tee moved forward, several fairway bunkers removed and a couple of really awful ones added. The worst was the removal of the bunker at the back of the green which was vandalism pure and simple. The seventh was lengthened to a par 5 though is a good hole. The eighth has remained the same I believe but the ninth has had the green moved short and to the left making the hole quite awkward though the green is a good one.


The course is not as good as it used to be and given the historical significance of the course what was done was IMO an act of vandalism. Most of the blame lies with the council who have managed to mismanage this potentially valuable asset almost to the point of closure and it appears as though they are trying to bankrupt the race track at the moment.


Jon

[Niall C]

Thanks Jon, I hadn't realised the changes were so much or indeed that the race course had been changed as well. When were the changes done ?


Niall

[Marty Bonnar]

Some good stuff here:


https://www.forgottengreens.com/what-might-have-been/musselburgh-old-course-extension/


Cheers,
F.

[Thomas Dai]

Marty,
Thanks for highlighting the Forgottengreens website. Not seen it before. Contains lots of interesting stuff.
Atb

[Marty Bonnar]

Marty,
Thanks for highlighting the Forgottengreens website. Not seen it before. Contains lots of interesting stuff.
Atb

Alfie used to be a regular Poster here. The Arbory Brae story is awesome.
Cheers,
F.

[Thomas Dai]

Marty,
Thanks for highlighting the Forgottengreens website. Not seen it before. Contains lots of interesting stuff.
Atb

Alfie used to be a regular Poster here. The Arbory Brae story is awesome.
Cheers,
F.

It is indeed - http://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview-with-alfie-harry-ward/
Atb

[Jon Wiggett]

Thanks Jon, I hadn't realised the changes were so much or indeed that the race course had been changed as well. When were the changes done ?


Niall

Niall,


it is a topic I have only a small idea about. I know the course was still as was when I first played it in the early 80's but when the changes happened exactly I do not know. As I understand it the race track was upgraded to a circular track with a parallel one for jump racing. They also built a massive banked curve recently which has altered the course even further.


Jon

[Steve Salmen]

I first played OM in1991 and recall the first hole being a short par 4 and ending on a 150 yd par 3.


At some point it changed so that the old 9th became the 1st. I think the last time I played here was 06 or so. Am I correct?

[Jon Wiggett]

Steve,


on the one side I kind of remember that too though my memory of the first round is very hazy. However, as far as I am aware Mrs. Foreman's was always behind the fourth green so I do not see how that could have been. I will have to ask my brother-in-law next time I talk to him as he grew up in Mussleburgh playing the Old Links a lot in his childhood. Indeed, his farther was one of a small group of golfers instrumental in saving the course in from been abandoned by the council in the late 70's.


Jon

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