The Renaissance Club

The Renaissance Club sits at Dirleton in East Lothian, between Muirfield and North Berwick, on ground that was forestry until Tom Doak was given it. The course opened in 2008, which makes it the youngest name on this coast by roughly a century.

It plays as a par 71 of about 7,293 yards for members and visitors, and a par 70 of about 7,282 for tournament weeks. It has hosted the Scottish Open every year from 2019 through 2026.

What it asks of you

Doak’s reputation rests on doing very little to good ground, and the site here gave him two kinds at once: wooded, sheltered inland holes and exposed links ground along the Firth of Forth. The course moves between them, which is unusual on this coast where the ground is normally one thing all the way round.

The tournament setup shortens the course by a stroke of par rather than by yardage, which tells you where the difficulty sits. It is not length. It is the greens, which are large, contoured and quick, and the wind, which on the seaward holes is the same wind Muirfield gets a mile away.

Eight editions of the Scottish Open have given the course a public record that most 2008 layouts do not have. It holds up.

What players say about it

This is a private club, and the Scottish Open has put it in front of the golf press every summer since 2019. The points below summarise what recurs. These are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favor

• The stretch along the Firth of Forth is rated with the best on a coast that has Muirfield and North Berwick on it.
• Doak’s greens are singled out constantly: large, tilted, and the whole defence of the course.
• Conditioning for the Scottish Open is described as tournament standard, and the club keeps it close to that.
• Tour players speak of it as good preparation for the Open the following week.
• The variety between the wooded and the exposed holes is the feature reviewers say they did not expect.

What comes up against

• Access is the main complaint: a private club with limited visitor play on a coast where the great courses take visitors.
• It is new, and some reviewers hold that against it on a coast of nineteenth-century links.
• The inland holes divide opinion, with a minority finding them out of place.
• Tournament weeks close the course.

Getting there and when to go

The club is at Dirleton in East Lothian, thirty minutes east of Edinburgh and five minutes from North Berwick. Edinburgh airport is about fifty minutes away.

The season runs roughly from April to October, and July is Scottish Open week. Visitor play is arranged in advance.

Green fees

Visitor conditions are set by the club. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, the club’s published information and encyclopaedic entries for the 2008 opening and the Doak design, and tournament records for the Scottish Open and for both scorecards. The opinion section summarises public reviews and tournament coverage read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations.

We have not played this course, and this page is no substitute for a round. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.