The Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh

The Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh was instituted in 1735 and is widely recognised as the oldest golf club in the world. It played first at Bruntsfield Links, moved to Musselburgh in 1874, and in 1894 bought land at Barnton, on the western edge of Edinburgh.

Tom Morris laid out the Barnton course, which opened formally on 3 May 1895; Willie Park Junior later gave it the shape it has now. In 1929 a royal edict of George V added the Royal to the name. It plays as a par 71 of 6,531 yards.

What it asks of you

This is parkland golf, not links, and that surprises visitors who come for the history. The fairways are tree-lined, the bunkering is placed rather than scattered, and the greens are smooth and true.

At 6,531 yards the course does not defend itself with length. It defends itself with position: Park’s bunkers sit at the distances a good player drives the ball, and the trees narrow the corridor further than the fairway lines suggest. The player who takes an iron off several tees will score better than the one who does not.

The ground at Barnton rolls gently, which on a parkland course means the lie is rarely dead flat and the yardage on the card is rarely the yardage to play.

What players say about it

This is a private society with visitor access. The points below summarise what recurs in public reviews and visitor accounts. 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 age of the society is the draw, and it is a claim few can contest: 1735, continuously.
• The course is described as an excellent example of parkland golf, with lush tree-lined fairways and smooth greens.
• The Park design is admired for placing its bunkers where they matter.
• The clubhouse and the society’s records are part of what visitors come to see.
• The location, fifteen minutes from central Edinburgh, makes it easy to combine with a city visit.

What comes up against

• Visitors expecting links golf in Scotland find parkland, and some say so with disappointment.
• At 6,531 yards the course is short by modern championship standards.
• Visitor access must be arranged, and the society is formal in its arrangements.
• It stands within a few miles of several celebrated links, and is rarely the course visitors are trying to play.

Getting there and when to go

The society is at Barnton, on the western side of Edinburgh, fifteen minutes from the city centre and ten from Edinburgh airport.

The season runs roughly from April to October. May, June and September give the best conditions. Visitor times must be arranged in advance.

Green fees

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

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, the society’s published history and Scottish golf history archives for the 1735 institution, the moves to Musselburgh and Barnton, the 1895 opening and the 1929 edict, and public course records for the architects, par and yardage. The opinion section summarises public reviews 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 society 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.