Muirfield: the visitor's guide

What it is

Muirfield is the golf course of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (HCEG), a private club in Gullane, East Lothian, about 20 miles east of Edinburgh. HCEG traces itself to 1744, when the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith wrote down the first formal rules of golf ahead of a competition for a silver club; that document is the earliest written evidence of any golf club anywhere. The club played at Leith, then Musselburgh, before moving to Muirfield in 1891, this time with land of its own for the first time in two centuries. It is ranked 4th in the UK and Ireland by both NCG and Golf Monthly.

How the course plays

Muirfield is an 18-hole links, par 71, with a course rating of 73.8 and a slope of 142 off the White markers, per the club's own Scottish Golf handicap chart. The club's own site describes the length as just over 6,700 yards from the medal tees and 5,900 yards from the blue markers; from the championship tees used for The Open it runs well past 7,000.

What sets Muirfield apart is the routing. Old Tom Morris laid out the original course in 1891. When the club bought a further 50 acres in 1922, Harry Colt redesigned the layout in 1925 into two concentric loops: the front nine runs clockwise around the outside of the property, the back nine anti-clockwise inside it. That means the wind, which is rarely still this close to the Firth of Forth, keeps changing direction from hole to hole rather than blowing the same way out and the same way back, which is the reason the course is often called one of the fairest tests in links golf. There are three par fives and four par threes, around 150 bunkers, and, aside from the 11th, the landing areas are visible from the tee rather than hidden by blind rises.

Diagram to followSimple routing diagram of Muirfield showing the front nine as an outer clockwise loop and the back nine as an inner anti-clockwise loop

History and a few facts

Muirfield has hosted 16 Open Championships, more than any course except St Andrews and Prestwick, starting in 1892 and running to 2013, when Phil Mickelson closed with a 66 to win his only Claret Jug. The 1892 Open at Muirfield was the first played over 72 holes rather than 36. Other winners here include James Braid, Walter Hagen, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and Ernie Els. The club also hosted the 1973 Ryder Cup, the first played in Scotland, and the AIG Women's Open in August 2022. No future Open at Muirfield has been announced; the R&A's confirmed hosts for the next two Opens are St Andrews and Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Playing it as a visitor

Muirfield takes visitors on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year, minimum age 12, and you need a recognised handicap of 24 or less, checked when you book. The 2026 green fee is £395 for 18 holes or £605 for 36 holes with lunch, rising to £420 and £655 for 2027; winter rates (November 2026 to March 2027) drop to £150 to £200 for 18 holes. Play is fourballs in the morning and foursomes (alternate shot) in the afternoon. Bookings for groups smaller than four are not taken in the peak months of May to September; they go on a waiting list instead.

Booking does not work like most clubs. There is no online tee sheet and no phone bookings: independent clients apply by email to golfservices@muirfield.org.uk in a fixed window each spring for the following year's diary (for 2027, applications open 18 March 2026 and close 27 March 2026), with a maximum of three preferred dates per group. The club was fully booked from mid-April to October for 2026, with any cancellations going to a waiting list.

Muirfield is a walking course with a strong caddie programme. A caddie costs £80 for one round or £160 for two, exclusive of gratuity, and needs booking at least 24 hours ahead; caddies here do not carry for two golfers at once. Pull trolleys are free. There are two buggies at £40 a round, allocated first come first served to golfers who could not otherwise play, and anyone using one has to sign a safety form first. Mobile phones cannot be used anywhere on the property except in aircraft mode for photos, and photography is not allowed inside the clubhouse.

Getting there

By road, come off the Edinburgh City Bypass onto the A1 towards Berwick-upon-Tweed, then take the A198 signposted North Berwick through Longniddry and Aberlady into Gullane. Muirfield is on Duncur Road, the last turning on the left as you leave the village. The club warns that traffic on the Forth Road Bridge, the M9 from Glasgow and the city bypass builds up from around 06:00, so it asks visitors to allow plenty of time; arriving before 07:30 is not permitted.

The nearest railway stations are Drem and North Berwick, both on the East Coast line, though neither is in Gullane itself. Edinburgh Airport is the nearest airport, about 30 miles from the course, which the club puts at around 45 minutes by road without traffic.

Where to stay

Greywalls Hotel sits next to the course, sharing Muirfield's own postcode. Two more, The Bonnie Badger and The Mallard Hotel, are in Gullane itself, each around half a mile from the clubhouse in a straight line. The Open Arms Hotel is a short drive away in the neighbouring village of Dirleton, and Marine North Berwick is further out on the coast at North Berwick.

When to go

Muirfield is open to visitors all year on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but 2026 is effectively full from mid-April to October, so anyone planning ahead needs to apply in the club's spring booking window for the following season rather than trying to book close to the date. Winter rounds (November to March) are cheaper and the diary is less pressured, though short days and the coastal wind off the Firth of Forth make conditions harder going. As with any east-coast links, spring and early summer tend to bring the firmest, driest turf.

Events

Muirfield does not currently have a publicly announced date to host The Open again; see The Open's venue page for any change to that.