Playing Muirfield
BY MURRAY BOTHWELL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY OLLIE ALLISON
5 MIN READ
Through an ornately crafted wrought-iron gate, at the end of a long drive flanked by houses and fields, lies a secret linksland, less well known to the average golfer than some of the other more accessible Open venues and shrouded in mystery, rumour and anecdotes. Every Tuesday or Thursday those gates are open to non-members and your first views of Muirfield either confirm your television-fed memories and suspicions, or take you completely by surprise. Bounded by grey-stone walls on three sides, the trees behind create a wide, flattened amphitheatre with no single feature to focus on.
For now.
Across the sea of wafting grasses there are glimpses of the course’s 150 revetted bunkers, some 200 less than Harry S Colt’s 1925 design. They are some of golf’s best. Avoiding them, and the rough, are what makes accurate play at Muirfield essential. There’s no shelter from the frequently changing wind. The visually flat fairways offer beautifully springy seaside turf to tease you into over-stretching your game, and thanks to its circular routing, being the first links course to feature an outer loop and an inner loop played in opposite directions, the golfer is tested at every turn.
Muirfield reveals itself from acres of deep, deep fescue just as the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’ previous course did at Musselburgh Links. In summer, corridors cut through waist-high waves of grass accentuate the heady smell of nature all around and, high above, the unbridled inspiration of skylarks sing out across the quietness of the links. There’s no Professional Shop here, so a seat in front of the beautiful red-roofed Clubhouse is worthwhile, its white-painted wooden architecture accentuating its many tall windows: who wouldn’t want to drink in that view over lunch, across the nearby Forth to the Kingdom of Fife and the courses of Leven, Lundin Links and Dumbarnie? A gust of wind draws your eye back to the task ahead. Major changes in elevation through the fairways are few, mainly at the raised green of the 13th with its stunning panoramic views or the old dune ridge around the 11th fairway. Otherwise, it’s all deceptively subtle.
Your eye dials in quickly to where the edges of the fairways stop. There’s often more than enough ground to land on, but where the grass turns 90-degrees upwards you know you’ve gone too far. Almost half the holes are doglegs, to one extent or another, and the four par-3s each present magnificent challenges with varying wind directions and tricky bunker positions. Unusually-placed C-shaped bunkers make an appearance, as well as a doughnut bunker to the right of the refined swales of the 18th green.
The clockwise loop of the front nine holes takes you imperceptibly downhill, along the treeline and by the third tee you realise just how far you’ve descended. Bunkers are carefully positioned to catch shots drifting in the prevailing wind. Turning towards the centre, the clever designs of the immaculately cut fairways are recognised as run-outs rapidly narrow the landing areas from fifty yards to five, supported by judicious bunkering. As with the rest of the course, you are politely shown what the challenge is and it’s up to you whether you choose risk or reward.
A par at the testing par-5 9th is a source of great satisfaction, playing into wind and navigating a narrowing, bunker-protected fairway and green. Turning at the 10th, you head straight for Fife, twice. Standing confidently over your approach shot to the heavily-protected 11th green, you become aware of the bunkers again from this elevated position. Twenty-three of them lie within 150 yards, spread over four holes; it’s easy to see why the scores can climb quickly.
Heading home brings some very memorable holes into play. The par-3 13th, and later the 550-yard par-5 17th with its narrowing green reachable through the mouth of a horseshoe dune ridge, with spectacle bunkers cut into each leading edge. The deepest of cross-fairway bunkers lie half way, and avoiding them saves a potential climb down to around 8 feet below the fairway above. And finally, the 18th. Usually into wind, the neatly mown landing area opens up from the last narrow walkway like a lollipop, except this one is sprinkled with bunkers left and right. With the clubhouse dominating your view, it’s a challenge to keep it on line and avoid the four bunkers, three of them linear, which protect the putting surface that slopes generally from front to back.
First impressions count but, as with many relationships, it can take time to form a bond. Like many of the Open champions who have reflected upon this course over the years, Muirfield will quickly become the baseline by which you measure all other courses, and yourself.