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A great championship links course with many interesting hazards include the beach, light rough, walls intersecting fairways and streams crossing three of the fairways. A rich variety of holes, including the 14th, aptly named ‘Perfection’ because your approach has to be perfect otherwise you end up on the shingle of the beach. The 16th is a 381-yard par four with only a ditch some 200 yards from the tee to manoeuvre but it is the long three-tiered green, which has what can only be described as a valley in the middle of it, that is the fatal attraction. Hit the wrong part of it and a six-putt is not impossible. To finish, the 18th , a mere 274 yards, tempts you to drive the green. Like many others, it’s on a plateau and you could find your ball skipping through and ending on the welcome mat of the clubhouse. Some claim that golf was being played here even before St Andrews.

Set in more than 1,000 acres of fine Scottish woodland and almost in the shadow of the Pentland Hills, Dalmahoy, designed by James Braid in 1927, offers something special for every golfer. A regular European Tour venue, it is only seven miles from Edinburgh. There are two outstanding courses, meandering around the lake and across picturesque streams. The West Course is the easier of the two and features some spectacular crossings of the Gogar Burn. The trickier East Course is a greater challenge.

Muirfield, a regular venue for the Open Championship, is simply one of the best courses in the world. The home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, it was designed in 1891 by Old Tom Morris and, including the 2002 championship, has hosted 15 Opens since 1892, the Amateur Championship on numerous occasions, the Ryder, Walker and Curtis Cups. From the championship tees, the course stretches to a formidable 6,970 yards and still adds up to a par-70 6,601 yards off the medal tees. Although the thick rough and cavernous bunkers, of which there are 151, can make it a very severe test, it is a course which invokes respect from all who have tangled with it. Henry Cotton called it ‘cruelly fair’. Tom Watson said there was ‘not a weak hole on the course’. Jack Nicklaus, who won in 1966, was so taken with this links in the lee of Gullane Hill, almost 20 miles from Edinburgh, he named his golf complex in Ohio, Muirfield Village, after it.

There`s nothing like the experience of playing a Scottish links course but to see it through the eyes of the pioneers of the sport, that’s something else. Here at Musselburgh you have the chance to step back in history and endeavour to emulate local man Willie Park Junior, who won the second of his Open titles over the Old links in 1889. To some, the Old Course may be just a 2,808-yard nine-hole links course encircled by a racecourse. Others claim it was possibly the first proper golf course in the world. Golf was played at the links as far back as 1672 although it is suggested that Mary, Queen of Scots enjoyed playing golf at the Old Course in 1567. So what challenges did they face? See for yourself. Musselburgh, which hosted the Open Championship on six occasions between 1874 and 1889, hire out hickory-shafted clubs and gutta percha balls. The locals claim that playing with the old equipment, which can be hried here, gives you a better understanding of the course because the bunkers tend to come into play more. Some prefer the gutta percha balls because high approach shots stop quicker on the greens. History is all around. The first three holes run eastwards alongside the Links Road and because many sliced their shots and had to play back to the links from the road, the brassie, a wood with a brass plate on the sole, was invented in 1885. The Graves, the 344-yard second, is so named because it may have been a burial ground for soldiers who died at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547 and were buried there to discourage golfers.The course has been home to a number of prestigious golf clubs over the years, including the Honourable Company, Royal Burgess and Bruntsfield Golf Club. At one time over 60 clubs played at the course.

COURSE NO.3 Laid down in 1910, the first three and last three holes are on the south side of the A198 with the remaining holes on Gullane Hill offering spectacular views. Short it may be but you have to be accurate to get the best out of your round. 

Private links with two 18-hole courses, the Fidra Links and the Dirleton Links, designed by DJ Russell. The courses offer spectacular views of Fidra Island and the Firth of Forth. Fidra was believed to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson`s `Treasure Island`.

Championship links course. Became an Open qualifying course in 1992. Club dates back to 1856 but some records suggest it may have been founded in 1794. Old Tom Morris designed the first 15 holes in 1894. The Firth of Forth is a lateral water hazard on some holes and when the wind gets up it is a formidable test for even the best of golfers.

A combination of links and inland, the Glen's East Links in North Berwick is one course that should be on most golfers' play list. It offers all year round golf and magnificent panoramic views of the Forth estuary, Bass Rock and the town. It was designed originally as a nine-hole course in 1894,  but because so many locals wanted to play golf the town's West Links had become overcrowded and it was decided that the Rhodes Links should be extended to 18 holes. James Braid and Ben Sayers duly carried out the work in 1906 and the Glen Golf Club was founded.

Kilspindie could fit perfectly into the latter category.

The course, a mixture of links and parkland, was constructed on the south side of the Firth of Forth in 1921 and many thousand Scots pines were removed at the western end. Part of the course is tree-lined whereas part is very open and exposed to the prevailing winds. It was designed by Harry S. Colt but has since been altered by James Braid, Mackenzie Ross and recently Donald Steel. There are no par-5s (for the men) but a number of long par-4s which are very testing if the wind blows.The SSS reflects the degree of difficulty at two over par. Accuracy is essential because there is out of bounds to the left of 11 holes. Relatively flat and easily walked with superb views to Fife, up the Forth to Edinburgh and the Pentlands. Superb greens.