Muirfield

Two circles of links, one strict set of manners.

Muirfield is home to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, a club whose records run back to 1744 at Leith Links, when it drew up the earliest known written rules of golf. The course on the edge of Gullane has hosted The Open 16 times, most recently in 2013, when Phil Mickelson won, and the AIG Women’s Open came here for the first time in 2022. It is a private members’ club, but it opens its tee sheet to visitors on two days a week all year, which makes it one of the great Open venues you can actually apply to play.

Muirfield green fees and tee times.

Visitor days are Tuesdays and Thursdays, excluding public holidays. Each year’s diary opens first to tour operators and then to independent groups for a short application window: for 2027 that ran from 18 to 27 March 2026. Applications go by email to Golf Services on the club’s booking form, one per group and with up to three preferred dates; phone requests and early submissions are refused. In May to September the club books fourballs only, and smaller groups go on a waiting list for cancelled fourball times. Groups are capped at 12. Every player needs a recognised handicap of 24 or less, checked at booking, and must be at least 12 years old. Green fees are paid in full to confirm and are refunded only if the club resells the time.

The round, in perspective.

Old Tom Morris laid out the first course in 1891, on a modest leased area. After the club bought extra links land, Harry Colt produced a revised layout in 1925, Tom Simpson refined it in the 1930s and Martin Hawtree made further changes in 2011. The routing is the thing people remember: the front nine runs clockwise around the edge of the property and the back nine turns anticlockwise on an inner loop, so the wind keeps switching angle. The club calls it a fair and balanced test and points to the detail. There are three par fives and four par threes, about 150 bunkers, and with the exception of the 11th you can see where your drive will land. From the medal tees it measures just over 6,700 yards; the blue tees play about 5,900.

Know before you go.

Visitor days

Tuesday and Thursday, not public holidays

Handicap

24 or less, minimum age 12

Format

Fourballs in the morning, foursomes in the afternoon

Group size

Fourballs only May–September; maximum 12 players

Buggies

Two, £40, only for golfers who could not otherwise play

Phones

Not allowed on club property; cameras in aircraft mode only

Make the trip work.

Muirfield runs its day around formats. An 18-hole visit is a morning fourball between 10.50am and noon; the 36-hole day starts with a fourball between 8.20am and 10.10am and finishes with afternoon foursomes, the alternate-shot game members play. In winter, 18-hole times run from 8.40am to 9.40am. Lunch is a carvery: included for 36-hole players, or £35 for two courses after 18. The public rooms require jacket, tie and dress shoes for men, and photography is not allowed inside the clubhouse. Pace of play is set at 4 hours 10 minutes. Practice balls on the full range are free, and pull trolleys cost nothing.

Edinburgh Airport is about 30 miles away, roughly 45 minutes by car via the city bypass, the A1 and the A198 through Longniddry and Aberlady. The club warns that morning traffic from 6am makes visitors late, and asks you not to arrive before 7.30am. St Andrews is about two hours away; Troon and Turnberry nearer three.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Gullane Golf Club (No. 1 Course) (1 km) · 2. Kilspindie Golf Club (5 km) · 3. Craigielaw Golf Club (5 km) · 4. North Berwick Golf Club (West Links) (6 km) · 5. The Glen Golf Club (8 km) · 6. Longniddry Golf Club (9 km) · Compare all East Lothian tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

Greywalls, the Edwardian house hotel on Duncur Road, sits beside the course. The clubhouse serves no food in the morning, and the club points visitors to Greywalls or Gullane village for breakfast. Gullane village, a few minutes away, has small hotels, pubs and guest houses. North Berwick is ten minutes east with more choice, and many groups base themselves in Edinburgh and drive out for the day.

Make a trip of it.

Gullane No. 1 starts in the village, about a mile west, and North Berwick’s West Links is ten minutes east. Kilspindie at Aberlady and Dunbar add contrasting links rounds. Away from golf, Dirleton Castle and its gardens are two miles east, and the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick runs boat trips to the Bass Rock gannet colony.

Find your season.

Muirfield takes visitors all year on its two days, with lower winter rates from November to March and short morning windows. The club reported its 2026 diary full from mid-April to October, with cancellations offered from a waiting list. East Lothian is one of the drier corners of Scotland.