I finally got round to playing The Glen after 10 years being a member at the other end of town, the West Links Club. I was a guest of Ian, one of my playing partners at NBGC during our three month vacation in Scotland in the summer of 2021.
The Glen lies to the east of North Berwick, on top of a plateau with fabulous views over the bay and onto the Bass Rock. It’s also dominated by views of The Law in places.
This is a link to the Club’s website: https://www.glengolfclub.co.uk.
The course opened around 1894, although it is also claimed golf was played here in the 17th century. It was originally called the Rhodes Links with 9 holes. It became an 18 hole course in 1906, when James Baird and Ben Sayers helped design the course and The Glen Golf Club was incorporated. I think they ought to change the name to The East Links Club. It’s quite a contrast to the course in North Berwick most visitors will play.
This is a link to a pretty nice flyover of the course: http://gleneastlinks.w1gcms.club/player.htm
I really enjoyed the course; it was too bad it was a bit of a grey morning, because the views of the coast line really are excellent, and some holes are framed by the Berwick Law. The course is set out on a much larger space of land than it first appears, and traverses back and forth and up and down the land which slopes towards the sea. Some of the holes are really very challenging, although none are especially long, probably just as well if there is any kind of wind. I thought 1 was an interesting uphill challenge, 18 the exact opposite of course coming back to the clubhouse but allows you to have a real swing to conclude the round. 13 is an awesome par three, and a couple of these par threes could be pitching wedges or 5 irons depending upon the wind. The greens were under some reconstruction and were a bit bumpy but with lots of subtle borrows. Fairways are pretty wide open but pick your spots as they can result in massive bounces mostly towards the Firth. I played pretty well for the front 9 at one over, then ran into a series of problems on 14-15-16-17 which caused me to finish with an 80. Like my old primary school master would have said - could have done better.
View of The Glen and Bass rock taken from the top of Berwick Law.
Nice clubhouse and very friendly Proshop and bar staff. I think The Glen is a really great course to compliment the better known West Links. If I was arranging a day’s golf at North Berwick I’d play The Glen in the morning and the West in the afternoon. I’d also grab a coffee at the awesome Drift which you can see from the 8th tee box and which has the most spectacular of views of the Bass Rock and Tantallon Castle.
Drift: https://www.driftalong.co.uk
Tantallon Castle: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/tantallon-castle/