Scotland is the undisputed home to all things golf and offers tourists, and locals, the best golf breaks in the world. What is now a sporting phenomenon is popularly said to have originated in 12th century Scotland when a group of shepherds decided to knock a few stones into some rabbit holes with sticks.
The game just took off from there and became so popular that, in 1452, King James II banned his subjects from playing golf as it kept them from their archery practice.
The two oldest golf clubs in Scotland, being Muirfield’s Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, were founded in 1744 and 1754 respectively and the structure of the game soon settled in to what we know it as today. Golf was originally played with more or less than 18 holes but, when decided as such by St Andrews, an 18-hole game of golf soon became the norm.
A dream golf break for any golfer would be to take a golf break in Scotland and spend time at St Andrews to play the Old Course. The links style of golf course is the oldest in the world and was, of course, developed in Scotland.
Most links courses are found in coastal areas where the natural hazards comprise high and unpredictable winds and uneven fairways. Famous links courses include Bruntsfield in Edinburgh, Muirfield in East Lothian and Prestwick in South Ayrshire. It would be worth planning a golf break to Scotland even from Outer Mongolia just to play a round or two of golf on these venerable courses.
Scottish golf courses are the most beautiful in the world and are steeped in the history and tradition of the sport. Scotland also hosts the Open Championship three out of every five years and Open courses are also available to the casual golfer. So on your next golf break, why not try the Mussellburgh Old Course, which has been confirmed as the oldest course in the world by Guinness World Records.
It would, however, be foolish to spend all your golf breaks putting around famous Scottish courses as some of the most beautiful and exiting to play are the lesser known ones, which include Cromwell’s Dunbar in North Berwick and Roxburghe near Kelso on the Scottish Borders. Hitting stones into rabbit holes has given everyone so much pleasure that it will be around for many years to come.
