Playing Royal Musselburgh
In the same vein as arriving at Augusta, there’s an anticipation, an excitement about arriving at Royal Musselburgh. A gap in a long, tall red sandstone wall is the subtle entrance to this historic Club’s course. Small, understated signs announce you’re entering the grounds of the 6th oldest golf club in the world, founded 1774, and expectations are already high. Driving past manicured greens, left and right, mature forest stands and distant tees gives no indication of what lies ahead; a unique sight. The impressive Prestongrange House, a castle in reality, now acts as the Clubhouse, its turrets and castellations witness to centuries of drama. The spacious car park overlooks the 1st and 3rd tees, as well as the small putting green, and straight away you understand the course… tree-lined avenues flank some holes, with a hint of forgiveness in some far-off areas which seem to offer more open space, plus some steep climbs and drops mid-fairway near the Clubhouse.
The main entrance to the Club is impressive. The old wooden door, iron rivets holding its thick beams in place, holds a well-polished brass plate bearing the Club’s name and date… which also feature high above the Pro Shop, and below the turret. It’s not easy to forget the provenance. A dark blue, gold starred, carpet leads you up the stairs, the beech-panelled sides topped by high, brighter blue walls with inset light blue patterns. It is majestic. The Club’s gold and blue badge sits proudly above you and you know that this is history. There are so many old trophies, medals and memorabilia that it’s easy to forget your tee time given the warmth of the welcome and the quality of the food and service.
This corner of east Lothian is a prestigious pocket of golfing history. The Musselburgh Golf Club lies to the west, as does the Old Course at Musselburgh where the Club used to play its golf, along with the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society and the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society. The Club moved in 1925 to leased land where they continue to enjoy a beautiful parkland setting on elevated ground overlooking the Firth of Forth near Prestonpans, a few miles east from Edinburgh. Originally laid out by James Braid and FG Hawtree, when additional land became available the Club invited Mungo Park to create some new holes and the current course opened for play in 1938.
Standing on the 1st tee, the view ahead may remind you a little of the 1st hole at The Roxburghe. A par-4, tree-lined all the way down the left but partially open on the right. At SI 8, it has teeth, but at 350 yards it’s all about where the drive lands... perhaps in the small cross fairway depression. Trees will not be your friend here. The 2nd cuts back to return you to the Clubhouse where you cross the drive and settle in for the 3rd hole, framed behind the wicked slopes of its green by the historic backdrop of the estate’s East Lodge and the red sandstone wall.
You’ll stay this side of the driveway to play a dogleg right, then a more straightforward par-4 before a favourite of the course. The 6th hole, a 176-yard par-3, is a tree-lined avenue demanding a straight drive and accuracy in distance. Three large bunkers sit fanning the front of the green, telling you all you need to know about playing this into a prevailing wind. Like all of the three par-3s here, you need to know your carry.
It’s another six holes until you reach a straight one, such are the number of doglegs here. Only four of the 14 par-4 holes are longer than 400 yards, so it’s not about strength here… it’s about touch, and accuracy off both tee and fairway. The course’s solitary par-5, hole 9, on this par-70, 6254-yard course is just over the distance threshold at 477 yards and, on a good day, possibly reachable in two. The trees though, particularly at the 10th, form a mentalwall as well as a physical one down the left, and as a dogleg-left it forces you right even if you’re not a natural slicer. And too far right means you are blocked out by more trees.
The back nine starts gently, almost flat, until you turn to play the 14th hole, a short par-3 of around 150 yards. Called ‘The Gully’, the name gives you a heads-up before you get near the tee. The line of the left side trees, and the slope of the fairway almost hide the sheer drop of about 20 feet down to the left from just under half way to the pin. Two bunkers guard the right side, and the bale out area such as it is… one bunker sits in the front left face of the hill, as though a 10-foot-wide ball has previously slammed in there and held. If you’re lucky, it may just catch your ball before it runs down the neatly cropped slope, leaving you a very difficult lob up to this narrow, but long, green.
From here on in, the fairway views are once again dominated by the imposing Clubhouse. The fairways themselves change character too, as emphasised by the 15th , the course’s 440-yard par-4, and featuring a tee shot that will disappear down into a right-to-left-sloping fairway with trees down the left… followed by a shot back up towards a fairway that not only narrows but rises to a plateau’d green which slopes back to front and right to left. And it’s only SI 3. That deep fairway ripple continues on the 17th , accentuated by smaller berms which run across the fairway within the valleys. Turning for home, you’ll climb gently again until you find yourself rolling down and then up a slope that can catch your drive and kill its run, leaving a longer shot into the 410-yard hole. From the ridge, the fairway and bunkers force you to come in slightly from the right, the green sitting somewhat lower than where you are standing. If you do manage to avoid the sequence of two sets of three bunkers on approach, some of them more than double the normal size, you’ll have done well.
Visiting Royal Musselburgh is a very enjoyable experience, from the moment you drive in to the feeling of having been surprised and rewarded in equal measure when you leave. You’re assured of a great welcome from the team there and, when relaxing post-match in their high-ceilinged lounge bar, take the time to discover the detail of their historic trophies and maps dotted around the walls. You’ll become part of that growing golfing fraternity who have discovered golf where it all began.