North Berwick Golf Club

Overview

Even in the glittering array of Scotland’s seaside golf courses, North Berwick’s West Links stands out as a rare gem. It has taken a long time to evolve to its present state of excellence, but it has been time well spent.
Rudimentary golf (often discouraged by the authorities) had been played on North Berwick links land since the early years of the seventeenth century, and possibly earlier than that. But it was the formation in 1832 of North Berwick Golf Club that marked the beginning of organised golf over terrain which in time would be expanded to become the West Links which we know today.

There are three holes for which the West Links is best known :
The 13th (“Pit”). A short par 4 calling for an imaginative approach to a sunken green behind a wall. Take time to look west and enjoy the view to Fidra, thought to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”.

The 14th (“Perfection”). Legend has it that this hole is so christened because it requires two perfect shots to hit the green. It might also be because of the sublime view, this time to the Bass Rock, home to one of the world’s largest gannet populations.

The 15th (“Redan”). The original, copied many times. A testing par 3 played to a large, steeply sloping green. Beware the vast hidden gully to the right front of the green. The hole plays every inch of its length.