Musselburgh (Old Course)

Overview: Musselburgh Links, the Old Course, is a short historic links inside Musselburgh Racecourse in East Lothian. The nine-hole layout measures about 2,954 yards and plays to a par of 34. Its small scale and shared racecourse setting are part of the identity, while the fairways and greens preserve a direct connection with early Scottish golf.

History: Golf has been played on the Musselburgh Links since the seventeenth century, and the course hosted six Open Championships between 1874 and 1889. The layout is managed on behalf of East Lothian Council and remains open for public play. No single modern architect is credited with the historic ground, so the architect field is left blank rather than attributing the design to nature.

Did You Know? The six Open Championships played here included the first Open held at Musselburgh in 1874. The course is also associated with the four-and-a-quarter-inch hole, a measurement traditionally linked with the pipe used to cut holes at Musselburgh and later adopted as the standard size.