The magnificent Clubhouse
I first played Luffness in September of 2019 with a group of friends from WFGC.
Me on the fourth hole looking back to the Clubhouse
Here’s a little history of the Club from the website: Luffness New Golf Club was established in l894 when its course was designed by Old Tom Morris. Golf was originally played on the “old” Luffness course from 1867 on land to the west and north of the current course, round the back of Gullane Hill on the land of Luffness Estate and Gullane Common, although it is thought golf in the Aberlady area dates back to the 16th century.
In 1893 a dispute arose regarding the playing of golf on Gullane Common. The outcome of the dispute was in 1894 Mr Henry Hope, owner of Luffness Estate, decided to establish a course entirely on the Luffness Estate land. This resulted in a course, designed by Tom Morris being laid out on its current location and the formation of Luffness New Golf Club. The original Luffness golf club eventually moved to a location further west, nearer Aberlady and became Kilspindie Golf Club.
The full history of the club can be found in the Centenary Book “One Hundred Years at Luffness New – 1894 to 1994″.
Clubhouse
This is from the Club’s website:
A challenging traditional links course which offers a true test of golf without being the longest of courses. There are no island greens surrounded by water, lakes on every hole or a succession of problems far beyond the average player. The course can be hard – mighty hard – when the wind blows down the Forth and the rough is thick enough to whet the whistle of a hungry herd. There are distinctive bunkers too but, like all great courses, Luffness rewards the virtues of accuracy and patience.
The fairways are beautifully kept, and the golfer who can keep the ball down the middle will find little to worry him, but there is plenty of trouble in store for the wanderers. The bunkers are placed fairly to punish the errant shot and furthermore they are constructed to penalise severely those who cannot get the ball in the air. The greens are small and true and always in excellent condition. The course measures 6581 yds, Par 70, a reasonable figure on a calm day, but very tight if even a slight wind blowing.
Layout of the course; you come round the corner from Aberlady and the Clubhouse is on your right.
This seems a very fair description.
Gill and I played again in August 2021, with friends from Renaissance, John H and his lovely wife, Frances. Man, it was windy when we played! Luffness is a hard track at the best of times, but we had 3/4 club winds, and sometimes it was tougher to play with the wind behind you rather than into your face. It’s really a fabulous golf course, and I hope I get a chance to play again.
The views from Luffness are quite different from the rest of the Gullane courses.
I was able to play again in September 2022 in a fantastic fun outing with seven pals from Winged Foot in a match against eight guys from Luffness, corralled and admirably coached by Gordon P and Chris W. They beat us fair and square over 4 matches 3-1; Kieran C and I managed to eke out a last gasp victory in a close match. The golf course was in great shape and the weather superb:
That’s Kieran and me with a wonderful view to Edinburgh. And the other pic is where my ball managed to land up on 18. Luckily Kieran was stone dead and that decided the match. The Luffness course is such fun to play: the first 5 holes loop around close to the clubhouse and then you cross the road into Gullane and the course takes on a whole new character with gorgeous views down the firth, although at the same time you are completely exposed to the wind. The golf course was in great shape, again. The greens are fantastic.
We had a very nice experience with Gordon’s friends, and some longer term friendships hopefully have been established. Robin M and his twins were over at Winged Foot not long after our event and they had a terrific time. Those twins are amazing golfers. One just won the Scottish Amateur, and it was easy to see why given his play. His brother was pretty amazing too.
In addition to golf, there was lunch and libations, and some fun prizes. We also participated in “perimeter putting” and a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at the flag pole. Afterwards, our group agreed this was the highlight of the entire trip. I hope we manage to arrange a re-match either in Scotland or New York.
