Gullane is on the same coast line as many other famous links courses in Scotland and we mainly decided to play Gullane due to the history and location. The played the Open qualifier and Scottish Open the same period as we where visiting.
This was the first golf course we played on our trip and we had fantastic weather. I think we all thought that this would be just a warmup to some of the more well-known courses on our trip, but I was positively impressed with the course.
We arrived a bit earlier than our tee time and had a short practice on the driving range which is located across the road at the new clubhouse.
the golf course
The opening hole where you can see that they were setting up grandstands for the tournaments a couple of weeks later than we played. They didn’t play this hole, but used a combination of the holes from this and another course. It is a pretty short opening hole, but well bunkered along the fairway. I went for the green and ended up just a bit long. Maybe not the best course management wise, but still an opening par.
A slight dogleg right to left uphill to a very narrow green. Really need to hit the fairway here as the rough was pretty thick and you are unable to get on the green. I hit a 3 wood and wedge to the green.
The 3rd at Gullane is a downhill par 5 with 3 bunkers on the left that you want to try to avoid. If was playing downwind so we all had a short iron to the green in two. I hit driver, 8 iron to the front edge, but missed out on birdie which was disappointing.
Even if avoid the 2 bunkers short the green still slopes away. I hit the green but 3 putted for bogey.
difficult par 4
A long and difficult par 4. The fairway is pretty wide, but the second shot is tough. It was into the wind when we played. My tee shot hit the bunker and I had to lay up. Hit a good 5 iron approach shot and rolled in a midrange putt for par which was a really good save. This hole I would take par any day.
Difficult to see on the picture how much downhill this hole is. We opted for different strategies from the tee. Some hit iron and others driver. I was on the driver team and hit it far right into the rough. Advantage was that I was close to green with only a wedge left and made par.
A relatively short par 5 and if you hit the fairway you get a lot of roll.
I only had a 60 degree wedge to the green and couldn’t stop it near the hole. It was playing downwind and difficult to get the distance right, but very much links like golf where it is mostly better to stay close to the ground. 3 putted for par… missed opportunity
Difficult par 3 slight uphill and with well placed bunkers and a steep run off in front of the green. I missed the green but managed to make par.
A short par 4 to finish, but can play a lot longer from the back tees.
my experience
I shot a 78 with zero birdies. Had some good birdie chances, but also made som decent par saves, so all in all a satisfactory result.
The course was in decent shape and overall I enjoyed the course. Some good holes and more height variations than I expected which gave the course more character. Definately worth visiting and would probably recognized even more if it wasnt for the other great courses in the area.
my score
