Sometimes the best things in life make no sense at all. An unexpected call at a manic time brings an invitation that demands schedules be altered and caution thrown to the wind. The promise of 24 hours with like-minded friends on a stretch of East Lothian coastline, the oldest and among the finest golfing terrain on the planet. It’s just too good to refuse.
There is one problem: I live nearly 500 miles away in Devon and there is only one flight each day from my nearest airport, which doesn’t work time-wise. There’s no other option but the train, which entails a 4am alarm call, 25 minutes in the car to the station and then over eight hours and three changes to make the rendezvous in a village called Aberlady.
Some 20 miles east of Bruntsfield in Edinburgh, where the first golf shots were recorded being struck 640 years ago, and a couple of stops beyond Musselburgh, home to the world’s oldest golf course, Aberlady boasts 20 courses within 20 minutes’ drive, meaning that EH32 might just be the best post code in golf.
It also has The Leddie, a new and stylishly down-to-earth boutique hotel and restaurant. The 17th century building that was formerly Ducks Inn has been transformed into a warm and welcoming retreat that prides itself on doing the basics brilliantly. Like Ducks, it still welcomes golfers and inside, the golfers I’ve travelled the length of Britain to meet are at the bar and they have a pint with my name on it.
The Leddie Hotel in Aberlady
Miraculously, the final connecting train pulls in at Longniddry bang on time. One of those friends is waiting in the carpark. A long exhale, a quick embrace and we are on our way, congratulating each other on the incredible weather we’ve lucked into. As someone once said, I love it when a plan comes together.
I first played golf on the southern shores of the Firth of Forth as a teenager. Back then it was Longniddry and Gullane No.2 but in the decades since I’ve been fortunate to add Muirfield and the newer Archerfield to my collection of gems that stud this coastline.
The reason for my epic journey is not to tackle the big beasts among the county’s 22 golf courses. No, we have assembled to experience something different but no less memorable. We’re not here to grind or compete or to complete a scorecard. We’re here to play.
From The Leddie, Craigielaw Golf Club is but a few decent cracks with a driver. At first glance, the course looks like it’s been here for as long as its more famous neighbours but it was opened as recently as 2001, making it one of the newest in East Lothian.
We set out in two three-balls under electric blue skies with mauve scintillas floating above the hills of Fife on the horizon. There’s barely a breath of wind to disturb the flags.
The first hole establishes the tone; a short par-4 with deep pot bunkers crossing the fairway. A decent drive leaves an enticing but perilous pitch to a table-top green. Not even a shank-induced double-bogey can wipe the ear-to-ear grin from my face as we walk to the second tee.
Ancient dry stone walls create unique hazards on the fairways of Cragielaw (photo: Brian Sweeney)
This a truly gorgeous part of the world, especially on a perfect, sun-drenched evening. Craigielaw’s rumpled terrain, criss-crossed by ancient stone dykes and pitted with dramatic bunkering, serves up pulse-quickening approaches that show you the shots to hit and dare you to try. If the definition of playing is engaging in an activity for the purposes of enjoyment then we are playing, truly playing.
Measuring a little over 6,000 yards from the tees we’re using, Craigielaw rewards those who respond to what the land suggests. The par-4 5th, named Peffer Burn, is one of many highlights, narrowing into a point against the backdrop of the Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve before turning back for a gorgeous short par-3.
“Courses come in all shapes and sizes,” wrote the man who designed it, English course architect Donald Steel. “There are no rules or formulae relating to the sequence of their design. The land dictates. Architects are the judge and must make the best of what they are given.” He was certainly true to his word at Craigielaw.
The blend of gorgeous par-3s, short fours and gettable fives are the perfect way to squeeze the last drops of daylight from a pristine, late spring evening, and with the sun sinking behind Arthur’s Seat to the west, it’s a soul-enriching reward at the end of a very long day.
Foot sore but elated, we head back to The Leddie for dinner where the menu features wholesome dishes made with locally sourced ingredients. Haggis bon bons in peppercorn sauce supplied by John Gilmour, the local butcher, followed by a delicious roast chicken, bacon and leak pie with buttered greens are the prelude to the deep and unbroken sleep of a contented golfer.
The next morning dawns crisp and clear and after a hearty breakfast, it’s only a few minutes’ drive to the small but perfectly formed clubhouse at Kilspindie, which is shaded by trees and accessed via a private, single-track road that crosses one of many memorable par-3s from the previous evening.
Situated on the same piece of land as Craigielaw but set right on the estuary, Kilspindie has long been a destination for hickory aficionados. In more recent times it has been championed by No Laying Up and others, attracting a new wave of international pilgrims and connoisseurs.
Like Brora to the north, Kilspindie is proof that golf is and should be fun. It plays out and back along a narrow strip that hugs the shoreline of Aberlady Bay, and has us all smiling like idiots from the very first shot.
What the course designed by Willie Park Jnr and Ben Sayers lacks in length it more than makes up for in charm. It’s delightfully quirky, requiring shots over and occasionally against stone walls, while on the dogleg par-4 9th, a local rule prohibits tee shots longer than 230 yards.
The author on the fourth tee at Kilspindie Golf Club (photo: Brian Sweeney)
It also helps that it’s achingly beautiful, with an opening stretch of holes that takes the breath away. The pick of them are the par-4 4th, which plays to a semi-punch bowl set on a promontory, and the par-3th 8th, which requires a well-struck iron across a bay to a sloping green set on another point. Like so many holes at Kilspindie, they both offer stunning views across the Forth to Edinburgh and the hills beyond
Afterwards, there’s just enough time for a post-round pint and a quick lunch at The Leddie before the first of my three trains home pulls in at Longniddry. Twenty-four hours in transit for 24 hours in golfing heaven? The experience more than justifies the effort. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
