A rare treat in the golfing world is to play the 9 holes at Musselburgh Links Old Course. It is claimed that this is the oldest course in the world, with historical records suggesting play as far back as the last seventeenth century. The course did host The British Open in 1874 and on occasion thereafter, sharing it with St Andrews and Prestwick, until the HCEG moved and built Muirfield and took the Championship there.
The course is built mainly inside the Musselburgh horse racing track. it’s not a long course, and you can hire hickory clubs to get a real sense of the original of the game. The Park family play an important part in the history of the Club and had a global influence on golf course design. For example, the hole size - 4.25” - was initiated here. In addition, it is claimed the first ever half way house - Mrs Foremans - was established at Musselburgh.
This is a link to the Club’s website: https://www.musselburgholdlinks.co.uk/
This is from the website:
Course History
The earliest documentation of golf being playing on Musselburgh Links is from 1672, which has earned Musselburgh Links the Guinness World Record for being the oldest golf course in the world. However, it has been reputed that Mary, Queen of Scots played on Musselburgh even earlier in 1567. Musselburgh Links was originally seven holes, with another added in 1838 and the full nine-holes coming into play in 1870. The first three holes stretched eastwards from the grandstand at the racecourse, the site of the former clubhouse of the Honourable Company.
To the right is the main traffic route through Musselburgh, onto which the Musselburgh golfers used to slice their shots, then played back to the links using brass-soled clubs. The metal plate on the ‘brassie’ wooden club was invented in Musselburgh in 1885 to deal with such shots. At the fourth green there still stands Mrs Foreman’s Inn. There used to be a hatch in the wall through which refreshments could be passed to the early golfers.
The course turns northwest with the next three holes following the coastline and the eighth returning south towards the Home Hole, which is now the present first hole. The four and a quarter inch diameter hole became standard during the 19th century, its seemingly random size was just that, it happened to be the width of the implement used to cut the holes at Musselburgh and in 1893 the R & A made the size mandatory.
This is a very cool video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpaUHGVsaSI
I took my WFGC pals there to play in September 2022. What a treat - we hired Hickories and enjoyed playing a very different game from the one we know and love! How did those guys in the old days play so well? The course is in pretty awful condition compared with the manicured surfaces we play on these days. Also, the turf was long and thick on the race track, so if you hit in there, a very good chance you’d never find the ball! We had a spectacular day, having played Gullane 2 in the morning.
