Story of a Golf Club: Kilspindie Golf Club Kilspindie Golf Club, often overlooked by visitors drawn to its bigger, and more famous neighbours, sits nestled quietly down a single track road, in the small village of Aberlady, in East Lothian, and maybe… just maybe, that’s a good thing. Kilspindie is the quintessential Scottish golf club, and the lucky visitors who are curious enough to venture off the well-trodden East Lothian path, will be rewarded with what is hidden within.  Founded in 1867, The Luffness Golf Club was, at the time, the 35th registered golf club in the world. Back then, the course occupied a different site on the other side of the Peffer Burn, and after 27 years of play the landowner, George Hope, decided to create a new course which was closer to the village of Gullane. This met with disapproval from those who hailed from Aberlady, [...]

Story of a Golf Club: The Renaissance Club The 2017, 2019, 2020, and - dare we say 2021 - Scottish Open venue that is The Renaissance Club. The brainchild of Jerry Savardi is sandwiched between the venerable Muirfield links, and Archerfield to the East, and designed by the acclaimed architect Tom Doak, opened for play in April 2008.  Firstly, the club. Renaissance is exclusivity defined, and you get the sense that you’re in for somewhere very special when you arrive at the 20 ft high wrought-iron gates at its entrance, with the simple button by the side to call for assistance, and when they open you enjoy a slow drive up to the clubhouse while you acclimatise to your surroundings. Caddies in boiler suits are visible with the small number of groupings that are dotted around the opening 6 holes, before you pull in under a large valet [...]

Story of a Golf Club: Gullane Golf Club Our Scotland Tour series continues in East Lothian with a golf club that sits front and centre of the town of Gullane; Gullane Golf Club. With records showing the game has been played on the links since the 1650, the course mysteriously cites no name accredited with its design meaning we can only assume Mother Nature is responsible for the fine routing we get to enjoy today.   Gullane enjoys three golf courses, all maintained to the same exacting standards that start and end right in the town itself. In some ways, the town of Gullane resembles St Andrews, in that you see people walking to their morning tee time, pulling a trolley and ready for play, through the towns shops! Gullane as a place eat sleeps and breathes golf! The etymology of Gullane is just as clear as the [...]

Story of a Golf Club: Musselburgh Links - The Old Golf Course Musselburgh Links – The old golf course….. To the racing fan stood up in the terraces, it looks like any other 9 hole golf course. But to golfers, it’s a pilgrimage to the games roots. With golf played since 1672, and fabled stories that Mary Queen of Scots played here as early as 1567, Musselburgh is the oldest remaining course in the world, and the game we enjoy would be very different in a number of ways without its existence.   Starting with the hole itself, Musselburgh is responsible for the 4 and ¼ inch sized cup we play to today. A locally fashioned instrument was used to cut the holes on the links back in the 19th century, and was adopted by the R&A in 1893, and with that simple move standardised the quickly evolving [...]

The second part of our Tour Film from the Cookie Jar comes from the Scottish Highlands. This one is a cracker! It’s longer than a typical English soap-opera, and twice the entertainment! In this episode, we head down to East Lothian for the second leg of our trip, playing at the Renaissance Club, Gullane No.1, Muirfield (The Honorable Co. Edinburgh Golfers), Kilspindie and Musselburgh Old Links. All of this in 3 days, with a late night barstool putting tournament at the epic Duck’s Inn, Aberlady with our host Malcolm Duck (aka The Duck)!We have a cameo appearance from Steve Elkington talking about his win at Wentworth over Monty, swimming pools in locker rooms, broken golf courses, broken clubs, and even a car that gets broken into! We’ve got a ‘what’s in the bag’ with a twist, courtesy of friend of the pod – Sam Cooper (aka @links_from_the_road), some secret and [...]

The first ever Tour Film from the Cookie Jar comes from the Scottish Highlands. This is a new style of film, and we hope you love it! In Part I from our tour, we make the stupidly long, nine hour drive north en-route to Boat of Garten, only to find out that the course was fully shut due to inclement weather in recent weeks. Luckily, things worked out ok in the end as you can probably tell! We’ve got footage in here from Castle Stuart, Royal Dornoch, and Brora! After all that, it’s down to East Lothian for another onslaught of great links golf! Club-twirls, hozzle-rockets, plenty of birdies, even more bogeys and a lot of great fun around some of the very best links golf you can find in the world! We joust on the links of Brora with club professional Malcolm, Mills stays awake all night [...]

The story of Castle Stuart is, in many ways, the story of Mark Parsinen… In the early 2000s, Mark began planning the design of a golf course on the Moray Firth. He had been closely involved with the creation of Kingsbarns near St Andrews, which opened to critical acclaim in July 2000. To create his Highlands masterpiece, Mark enlisted the support of the American architect, Gil Hanse.  Although Mark was given an undeniably picturesque landscape from which to carve this links, his meticulous attention to detail certainly maximised the natural beauty of the surrounding environment. Both loops of nine begin on the craggy shoreline, and you gradually climb to the upper shelves which provide panoramic views across the region. On almost every tee-box, Mark and Gil Hanse capture your attention, pointing the golfer towards some of the most important and historic monuments in the area: such as the [...]

Story of a Golf Club: Royal Dornoch Golf ClubVery few courses evoke the same, mystical aura as Royal Dornoch. Its remote location and rich history have combined to make Dornoch a site of pilgrimage for golfers, and it is perennially ranked as one of the Top 10 courses in the World.The earliest records suggest that golf has been played on the links at Dornoch since 1616, when Sir Robert Gordon spent a few pounds on bows, arrows, and golf clubs and balls for the young schoolboy, the Earl of Sutherland.The club itself was founded in 1877, but stood as a nine-hole course until Old Tom Morris extended the layout in 1886. The young secretary at the time, John Sutherland, was self-taught in the art of green keeping, and gradually refined the work by Old Tom. Sutherland would become Dornoch’s own ‘father of golf’, writing articles for the London Daily [...]

Story of a Golf Club: Brora Golf Club To kick start our new Scotland 2020 tour series, we’re bringing you ‘Story of a Golf Club’ from the remote town of Brora. Situated a short drive north Dornoch, along the beautiful coastline sits this (previously lesser known) James Braid classic, which is untouched and natural as almost any course you will visit. We say ‘previously’, because the charm, and magical aura surrounding the course and the club has become famous worldwide, with thanks to a number of famous visitors from the US, who left feeling exactly like we did when our time at Brora came to end.  Founded in 1891, benefitting from the influence of John Sutherland of Royal Dornoch, it was redesigned by James Braid in 1923, and very little has changed to the layout since then. It’s a simple out and back links; forgiving off the tee, [...]

A short teaser film for the upcoming CJG series in Scotland! 8 courses, in 5 days, across 3 counties! It was one hell of an adventure, rich in club twirls, sandy and acidic soil and breathtaking courses! Great and mediocre golf in equal measure, without a blister in sight! We're going to be bringing you 7 story of a golf club episodes and a special full length Tour Film in the coming weeks and months! Big thank you to Ecco Golf for the footwear which kept us dry and comfy, and Scotland Where Golf Began for laying on an outstanding and trip and mouth watering itinerary! Hit subscribe to keep up to speed as we drop content, and follow us on @cookiejargolf for podcasts, photography and more!