"Arguably the oldest golf course still played in the world, and a genuine early Open Championship host — great historical depth for a very cheap muni-style green fee."

Nine holes inside a working racecourse east of Edinburgh, with documented golf since 1672 and claims of Mary, Queen of Scots playing nearby a century earlier — long certified by Guinness as the world's oldest playing course. Musselburgh hosted six Open Championships between 1874 and 1889 as one of the rota's three original venues, and it gave golf its most universal standard: the 4.25-inch hole, set by the cutting tool used here and adopted by the R&A for all courses in 1893. It grew from seven holes to today's nine (par 34) by 1870.

Every golf-history lover alive. Six Opens, the origin of the hole size, the old home of the Honourable Company — for a modest fee you walk the same ground as Old Tom and Willie Park.

No single hole dominates; the magic is the ensemble — nine short, quirky holes squeezed inside Musselburgh Racecourse where six Open champions were crowned. Standing on the 1st tee knowing the hole you'll putt into defined the size of every golf hole on Earth is the entire point.

One of the friendliest history lessons in golf: short, flat, nine holes, and nobody expects brilliance. Genuinely a lovely place to be a beginner — you can even rent hickory clubs and play it as golfers did in 1880.

Not confirmed in GSPro — historic nine-holers rarely get lidar treatment. For a Scottish-links history fix in the bays, Muirfield (verified in our library) is the natural successor: the Honourable Company literally left Musselburgh for it in 1891.

Fully public and cheap — a council-run course where you just book a time and go. Hickory club hire is offered, which is the correct way to play it. Minutes from Edinburgh.