Scotland Golf Trip - North Berwick West

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North Berwick Golf Club (pronounced BER-ICK) was established in 1832 and is the 13th oldest golf club in the world. Only playing the Old Course at St. Andrews will you tread on more ancient fairways in Scotland. The West Course is a true links course - out and back and by the sea with most holes having a view of the huge Bass Rock in the distance.

I believe that Bob and I played from the "Blue Stakes" .

We stayed in the Marine Hotel, which borders the 16th and 17th holes of the North Berwick Golf Club West Course. We could see almost the entire 17th hole from our room, which paralleled the 2nd hole to the left by the sea, in the Marine hotel. To the left side of the photo is the 16th green, which is raised above the fairway and very difficult to hold a ball on from the 100 yards or less. Note the huge valley between the two segments of the 16th green as well as the raised surface.

My 2nd stroke on the 16th hole nearly ran up on the green (as I had planned) but failed to have sufficient speed and returned to the lower level. A putter is generally called for on a stroke just short of a raised green but my lack of experience in such shots results in a putt too strong and, therefore, I was now looking at a similar shot from behind the green. Needless to say this hole was not parred.
There is a small practice area, three holes, just past the wall between the hotel and the course. Note how the pin is bent to the left and the flag is straight out, indicating significant wind velocity.

The current North Berwick Golf Club House was built in 1880 and the attendant was kind enough to take our picture.

The outward 9 holes played into the wind until we hit the 9th hole, a 510 yard par 5. Then we turned back for the clubhouse and all the holes played downwind.
To see how the wind effected our play, the 11th hole was playing 489 yards and I hit driver 8 iron into green side bunker while my nephew, Bob, hit drive sand iron to 15'.

One of the main features of the course is the huge Bass Rock in the sea which can been seen from most holes.

The 2nd hole borders the Firth Of Forth, which leads into the North Sea, and is a very difficult hole into the wind.
Perhaps the most interesting hole of all the courses we played was the 13th, The Pit, which we called the "Wall Hole" due to the stone wall that separates the fairway from the green and runs down the entire left side of the fairway.
It is a very short hole, 339 yards. But the wall separates the fairway and the green, i.e. you have to play your 2nd shot to the green over the vall. Bob's 2nd shot was to the right of the green with the wall between his ball and the green. And to make it harder to play, the wall was about 10 yards from the edge of the green. Note where the flagstick is located.
It is not a good idea to have your ball near the green but on the wrong side of the wall of this hole. There is little room to pitch to the green from here as the green is long and narrow. Even the 2nd shot to the green from the fairway is no easy shot due to the narrow green and the extreme rough surrounding it.

The 10th hole is a short par 3 but playing downwind makes it difficult to judge the proper club. However, the depth of the green allows for strong shots.
North Berwick has another course, the East Course, on the east side of the town. To the righ is part of the course and the east end of the town. And yes, the 1st hole does indeed 'climb' the hill to the left from the club house just to the left of the town houses in the distance. We didn't play this course but it does appear to represent some difficult challenges.

To read more about our adventure on the various courses and see some photos of where we were, please select one of the courses from the menu below.

North Berwick Golf Club (pronounced BER-ICK) was established in 1832 and is the 13th oldest golf club in the world. Only playing the Old Course at St. Andrews will you tread on more ancient fairways in Scotland. The West Course is a true links course - out and back and by the sea with most holes having a view of the huge Bass Rock in the distance.
I believe that Bob and I played from the "Blue Stakes" .
We stayed in the Marine Hotel, which borders the 16th and 17th holes of the North Berwick Golf Club West Course. We could see almost the entire 17th hole from our room, which paralleled the 2nd hole to the left by the sea, in the Marine hotel. To the left side of the photo is the 16th green, which is raised above the fairway and very difficult to hold a ball on from the 100 yards or less. Note the huge valley between the two segments of the 16th green as well as the raised surface.
My 2nd stroke on the 16th hole nearly ran up on the green (as I had planned) but failed to have sufficient speed and returned to the lower level. A putter is generally called for on a stroke just short of a raised green but my lack of experience in such shots results in a putt too strong and, therefore, I was now looking at a similar shot from behind the green. Needless to say this hole was not parred. There is a small practice area, three holes, just past the wall between the hotel and the course. Note how the pin is bent to the left and the flag is straight out, indicating significant wind velocity.
The current North Berwick Golf Club House was built in 1880 and the attendant was kind enough to take our picture.
The outward 9 holes played into the wind until we hit the 9th hole, a 510 yard par 5. Then we turned back for the clubhouse and all the holes played downwind. To see how the wind effected our play, the 11th hole was playing 489 yards and I hit driver 8 iron into green side bunker while my nephew, Bob, hit drive sand iron to 15'.
One of the main features of the course is the huge Bass Rock in the sea which can been seen from most holes.
The 2nd hole borders the Firth Of Forth, which leads into the North Sea, and is a very difficult hole into the wind. Perhaps the most interesting hole of all the courses we played was the 13th, The Pit, which we called the "Wall Hole" due to the stone wall that separates the fairway from the green and runs down the entire left side of the fairway. It is a very short hole, 339 yards. But the wall separates the fairway and the green, i.e. you have to play your 2nd shot to the green over the vall. Bob's 2nd shot was to the right of the green with the wall between his ball and the green. And to make it harder to play, the wall was about 10 yards from the edge of the green. Note where the flagstick is located. It is not a good idea to have your ball near the green but on the wrong side of the wall of this hole. There is little room to pitch to the green from here as the green is long and narrow. Even the 2nd shot to the green from the fairway is no easy shot due to the narrow green and the extreme rough surrounding it.
The 10th hole is a short par 3 but playing downwind makes it difficult to judge the proper club. However, the depth of the green allows for strong shots. North Berwick has another course, the East Course, on the east side of the town. To the righ is part of the course and the east end of the town. And yes, the 1st hole does indeed 'climb' the hill to the left from the club house just to the left of the town houses in the distance. We didn't play this course but it does appear to represent some difficult challenges.