St AndrewsMuirfieldDornoch

Best golf courses in Scotland

Scotland

At a glance

Must-play: St Andrews (Old) · Muirfield · Royal Dornoch
Great value: North Berwick · Crail · Elie · Monifieth
Best months: May, June, September
Hardest to book: Old Course (ballot) · Muirfield (limited days)
Book ahead: 6–12 months for peak; 4–6 weeks in shoulder season

A note on this list

Scotland has more than 550 golf courses — the home of the game, and no other country of its size comes close for great links. This is not a ranking. Rankings send you into arguments about whether the 17th at St Andrews is a better hole than the 8th at Troon, and those arguments go nowhere. This is something more useful: an honest guide to the courses that actually matter, grouped by region and by the kind of trip you are planning.

The joy of a Scottish trip is how much variety sits within a short drive — the Open rota, the Highland links pilgrimage, the golfing kingdom of Fife, and the great East Lothian coast, all reachable in a week. These are the courses we would build a trip around, with a note on how to get on each one.

The Open venues — start here

Ten courses have hosted The Open, and the current rota runs almost entirely through Scotland. If it is your first trip and you want the courses every golfer has heard of, begin here.

The Old Course, St AndrewsFife · public land

The one every golfer wants to walk — public land owned by the town, a 30-time Open host, and the birthplace of the game itself. The Swilcan Bridge, the Road Hole 17th and the vast double greens are golf's most famous ground. Get on via the daily ballot (enter two days ahead), a single-golfer queue, or an advance reservation, and take a caddie — the Old Course hides its lines from the first-timer. See the Fife guide for everything around it.

MuirfieldGullane, East Lothian

Home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers — the oldest organised golf club in the world — and the connoisseur's Open venue. Its returning nines, walled boundary and perfectly fair, wind-exposed test are widely called the best-designed links in Scotland. Visitor tee times are limited and coveted; apply well ahead.

CarnoustieAngus · Championship

“Car-nasty” — the hardest course on the Open rota, with the fearsome closing stretch and the Barry Burn snaking across the 17th and 18th, where the 1999 Open famously slipped from Jean van de Velde's grasp. Off the medal tees it is a stern, honest, unforgettable examination. Pair it with Panmure and Monifieth next door.

Royal TroonSouth Ayrshire · Old Course

Home of the “Postage Stamp” 8th — at 123 yards the shortest hole in Open golf, and one of the most treacherous. An out-and-back links that plays gently downwind on the way out and brutally into the prevailing wind on the way home. The anchor of the Ayrshire coast.

Turnberry (Ailsa)South Ayrshire

The most beautiful of them all — holes running along the shore past the lighthouse with Ailsa Craig out to sea and the Isle of Arran beyond. This is where Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus fought out the 1977 “Duel in the Sun.” A magnificent, and expensive, round.

PrestwickSouth Ayrshire

Where it all began: Prestwick staged the very first Open in 1860 and hosted 24 in all. A gloriously old-fashioned links of blind shots, humps and history — the sleepered Cardinal bunker, the Railway holes along the old stone wall — barely a mile from Prestwick Airport.

The Kingdom of Fife — beyond the Old Course

St Andrews is only the start of Fife. The New and Jubilee courses on the same links are excellent and far easier to book, and the coast either side is one long ribbon of great golf.

KingsbarnsFife · book direct

Proof that a great links can be built as well as found. Kyle Phillips shaped this stretch of coast in 2000 so cleverly that it looks centuries old, every hole giving a view of the North Sea. A regular Dunhill Links Championship venue and a genuine modern classic.

Dumbarnie LinksUpper Largo, Fife · book direct

Clive Clark's 2020 links on Largo Bay opened to rave reviews — wide, dramatic and generous off the tee, with elevated tees, big sea views and room to swing. The newest of the Fife greats and one of the most enjoyable.

Crail — Balcomie LinksFife · book direct

The Crail Golfing Society dates to 1786 — the seventh-oldest golf club in the world — and its Balcomie links, laid out by Old Tom Morris, tumbles around a rocky headland with the sea in play from almost every hole. Short, charming, historic and affordable.

Elie — The Golf House ClubFife · book direct

A quirky, much-loved links with no par 5s and only two par 3s, where the starter still checks the blind opening drive through a submarine periscope. James Braid was born up the road at Earlsferry and learned the game here. Pure, unpretentious Fife golf.

East Lothian — Scotland's golf coast

A short drive east of Edinburgh, the East Lothian shore packs more quality links into a few miles than almost anywhere on earth — Muirfield is only the headline.

North Berwick — West LinksEast Lothian · book direct

One of the oldest and most gloriously eccentric courses in the world, played over stone walls, around beaches and across burns. Its Redan 15th is the most copied hole in golf. You do not have to win a ballot or spend a fortune to play world-class links here.

Gullane No. 1East Lothian · book direct

The grandest of Gullane's three courses, climbing over Gullane Hill for one of the great views in golf — from the 7th, Bernard Darwin reckoned the panorama across the Forth among the best anywhere. A Scottish Open host, and far more accessible than its famous neighbour a mile away.

The Renaissance ClubDirleton, East Lothian

A modern Tom Doak design set among pines and dunes, and the regular host of the Genesis Scottish Open. Private and polished — access is through resort stay-and-play packages — but a superb, contemporary counterpoint to the ancient links around it.

Craigielaw & DunbarEast Lothian · book direct

Craigielaw is a fine modern Donald Steel links at Aberlady, and Dunbar runs in a thin, thrilling line along the rocks at the eastern end of the coast — two more excellent, welcoming rounds to fill an East Lothian week.

The pilgrimage north — Highland links

The drive into the Highlands is part of the reward. The far-north links are remote, natural and, for many good judges, the very best golf in the country.

Royal Dornoch — ChampionshipSutherland · book direct

Many of the game's finest judges call Dornoch their favourite course in the world — remote, natural and utterly absorbing, its raised plateau greens the model that a young Donald Ross carried to America. Worth every mile of the drive north.

BroraSutherland · book direct

A James Braid links where sheep and cattle still graze the fairways, kept off the greens by little electric fences — the most charming time-capsule in Scottish golf, and beloved of the connoisseurs who make the trip up the coast from Dornoch.

NairnHighland · book direct

A classic Moray Firth links with the water in view from every hole and in play on the opening stretch. Braid-shaped greens, a 1999 Walker Cup pedigree, and the easiest of the great Highland links to reach — twenty minutes from Inverness airport.

Castle StuartInverness, Highland · book direct

A modern Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen design on the Moray Firth, a multiple Scottish Open host with an art-deco clubhouse and wide, generous, cinematic holes along the water. Pairs naturally with Nairn and Fortrose for an Inverness base.

Fortrose & Rosemarkie and TainHighland · book direct

Fortrose & Rosemarkie runs out along a narrow spit on the Black Isle where dolphins surface offshore, and Tain, an Old Tom Morris links on the Dornoch Firth, is a lovely, low-key addition to a Highland trip.

Aberdeenshire's mighty dunes

The north-east coast is Scotland's most underrated links region — huge dunes, serious golf and a fraction of the crowds.

Royal Aberdeen — BalgownieAberdeen · book direct

The sixth-oldest golf club in the world (1780), whose Balgownie links runs out through a magnificent valley of towering dunes and back over higher ground with the sea always in view. The outward nine is rated one of the finest stretches of links golf anywhere.

Cruden BayAberdeenshire · book direct

Many a connoisseur's favourite — a wild, tumbling, gloriously eccentric Tom Simpson links among enormous dunes beneath the ruins of Slains Castle, the clifftop pile that helped inspire Bram Stoker's Dracula. Blind shots, hidden greens and pure drama.

Trump International & MurcarAberdeenshire · book direct

Trump International is laid out through some of the largest sand dunes in Britain at Menie, and neighbouring Murcar is a rugged, classic links right next to Royal Aberdeen — three big dune courses within a few miles.

Inland grandeur & the Ayrshire strip

Not all of Scotland's greatness is on the coast, and the Ayrshire Opens have neighbours every bit as good and easier to book.

GleneaglesPerthshire · book direct

A grand Perthshire moorland resort with three courses — the PGA Centenary, a Jack Nicklaus design that hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup, and James Braid's heather-lined King's, one of the finest inland courses in Britain. Highland scenery without the long drive north.

Western Gailes & DundonaldAyrshire · book direct

Western Gailes is a pure, classic links squeezed between the railway and the shore, and modern Dundonald a Scottish Open host next door — with Glasgow Gailes they make a superb, less-heralded Ayrshire day between the famous Open courses.

Angus value — Panmure, Monifieth & MontroseAngus · book direct

Around Carnoustie sit three of the best-value links in Scotland: Panmure (where Ben Hogan prepared for his 1953 Open win), Monifieth and Montrose, the fifth-oldest course in the world. Championship links golf at a fraction of the marquee fees.

For a specific type of trip

First time in Scotland: St Andrews, Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and North Berwick, based in Fife and East Lothian. See the 7-day Scotland itinerary for a full routing.

One base, no driving: Fife (St Andrews, Kingsbarns, Crail, Elie, Dumbarnie) or East Lothian (North Berwick, Gullane, Muirfield, Craigielaw, Dunbar) each give a week of world-class golf from a single hotel. See Fife and East Lothian.

The Highland pilgrimage: Royal Dornoch, Brora, Nairn, Castle Stuart and Fortrose out of Inverness — remote, natural and unforgettable. See the Highlands guide.

Open-course pilgrimage: Turnberry, Royal Troon, Prestwick and the Ayrshire links from a single base on the west coast. See the Ayrshire guide.

Great value, no ballots: Crail, Elie, North Berwick, Panmure, Monifieth, Brora and Scotscraig — welcoming, affordable and genuinely brilliant. Ready to string them together? Build your route in the trip planner.

St Andrews (Old), Fife — St Andrews (Old) · Co. Fife

Common questions

What are the must-play golf courses in Scotland?

For a first trip: the Old Course at St Andrews, Muirfield and Carnoustie on the east coast; Royal Troon and Turnberry in Ayrshire; and Royal Dornoch in the Highlands. Add Kingsbarns and North Berwick and you have a golfing week few countries can match.

How far ahead do I need to book top Scottish courses?

For peak season (June–August) at the marquee names, 6–12 months is wise; the Old Course is by daily ballot or advance reservation released roughly a year out, and Muirfield has limited visitor days. In the shoulder months (May, September, early October) 4–6 weeks is often enough, and many superb links — North Berwick, Crail, Monifieth — are easy to secure.

Can you play great golf in Scotland on a budget?

Absolutely. Alongside the famous (and pricey) names, North Berwick, Crail, Elie, Monifieth, Panmure and Brora are affordable, welcoming and genuinely world-class. A trip mixing one or two marquee rounds with these gems is superb value.