Muirfield

Muirfield is home to The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which has existed since 1744, when the company wrote golf's original 13 rules for the Silver Club's first competition. Back then, the company played Leith Links's five holes, but moved 92 years later to the nine-hole Old Course at Musselburgh and finally to Muirfield in 1891. Muirfield holds the honor of being the only golf course to host the Open Championship (15 times, most recently in 2002), the Amateur, the Mid Amateur, the Ryder Cup Matches, the Walker Cup and the Curtis Cup.

"Architecturally it is a gem," well-known golf architect Donald Steel has said of Muirfield. "A clockwise outward half encases an anti-clockwise inward nine, an arrangement that ensures that player have to make incessant adjustment for wind direction. Jack Nicklaus liked what he saw so much that he named what he considers his home course after it. In terms of producing the best champions it has an impeccable record."

Don't fret if you aren't successful in scoring a peak-season tee time: Muirfield offers ideal year-round playing conditions and doesn't employ wintertime temporary tees or greens.

Location: Duncur Road, Gullane. Off A198 on north-east side of village.