Eyemouth Golf Club Course Review

Eyemouth Golf Club Course Review

GF Round: £25-£37.50wd, £42.50we; Day £30-£57.50wd, £62.50we
Par 72, 6,404 yards
Slope 125
GM Verdict – A clifttop course in a quiet Berwickshire coastal town that’s home to two of Scotland’s most intriguing golf holes.
Favourite Hole – The 167-yard par-3 6th  - it’s pretty much all carry over a rocky inlet so not for the faint-hearted into the wind!

The former counties of Berwickshire, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire evolved into The Borders in 1975 along with part of Midlothian, and although the old names perhaps better stir the emotions, the new tag does sum up this much fought-over land with Ronseal-like clarity. The Borders stretch from Biggar in the west to Eyemouth, 76 miles away on the east coast.

A glance at the map and you could certainly be excused for thinking Eyemouth Golf Club sits at the easternmost extremity of East Lothian’s rich golfing coast, but it is actually the Scottish Borders’ only seaside course, set on the Berwickshire clifftops just off the A1. The club was formed in 1894 and for its first 103 years played over a nine-hole course along the cliffs. The extension to 18 holes came in 1997, when the club also acquired a new clubhouse with a wonderful elevated setting a little further from the shoreline.

Thankfully, its most famous hole – the par-3 6th christened ‘A-Still-No-Ken’ - survived the transition and continues to test, and sometimes terrify, golfers. Standing on the tee when the wind is fiercely against is a daunting prospect indeed, for it’s pretty much all carry to the green the other side of a rocky inlet. The top is most definitely not the shot! Continuing along the cliffs, the 7th is a cracker too, with its exhilarating approach to a green set right on the edge. The 10th is then a fine par 5, with the drive again towards the sea before the hole turns sharply right and on over a stream and reeded pond.

The steeply downhill par-5 13th, which can stretch to 656 yards from the tips, is another memorable hole and you may be surprised to learn that the steepness of the slope means that, from the normal tees at 607 yards, it would definitely be in range in two for some at times… but a pond just short of the green will deter all but the bravest or most foolish from taking it on!