Elie Golf House Club

Today's 18-hole golf course at Elie is a 6,251-yard (par 70) course, and the 4th through 7th holes still appear much as they were 400 years ago. Indeed, time and nature alone are responsible for today's layout. The course gradually took shape over centuries, and it is only in the last 120 years that it became the present layout. There was no official completion date or course architect, other than nature. Today's rather queerly named Golf House Club, Elie, was formed in 1873 in order to raise money to build a clubhouse for the expanding course, which to this day doesn't really have a name; it is identified usually as simply the Links at Elie. This gradual, almost organic evolution of the links here is what makes Elie a must for the golf connoisseur. The quirky, quizzical confabulation of holes includes no par fives, only two par threes, a half dozen short par fours, as many blind tee shots, and one of the best four-hole strings of seaside holes in the Kingdom of Fife. -- Kiel Christianson

Hole highlight: 13th (380 yards, par 4) – James Braid called it 'the finest hole in all the country'. Drive right to avoid a grassy hollow. An accurate approach is needed to a long and narrow elevated green.