The Linksland Bargain: Why Scottish Golf’s Best Secret Isn’t Where You Think It Is

After 35 years covering professional golf, I’ve noticed something interesting happening on the European Tour beat: the conversation about linksland has gotten unnecessarily elitist. Mention links golf and most casual fans picture themselves walking into St Andrews or Turnberry—taking out a second mortgage just to tee it up. But here’s what I’ve learned from decades of chasing stories across the British Isles, and from my days caddying for Tom Lehman when he was competing on links courses: some of the most authentic, challenging, and affordable seaside golf on the planet sits just a few miles away from the famous names nobody talks about.

The source article does something important—it democratizes linksland. And that matters more than you might think.

The Real Links Experience Isn’t About the Pedigree

What strikes me most about this selection is how it reframes what makes links golf special. It’s not about hosting majors or appearing on every bucket-list article. Real linksland—the kind shaped by ocean winds and sandy soil rather than course designers with massive budgets—teaches you something fundamental about golf that you can’t learn at a championship venue where every penny gets reinvested into maintenance.

Consider this description of Gullane No. 3:

“Just to play golf in this neck of the woods feels special and to make the journey up and over the hills is terrific fun. In all directions you see golfers swinging and yet you rarely hear them such is the isolation.”

That’s the authentic links experience right there. I’ve walked those hills—literally, caddying for Tom in Scottish Opens—and that isolation is intoxicating. You’re not distracted by galleries or the infrastructure of professional golf. You’re playing golf the way it was meant to be played, with fairways that run fast because of the wind, not because a greenskeeper watered them differently.

And the pricing? A weekday round at Gullane No. 3 starting at £70? That’s not just affordable—that’s an invitation to experience something most serious golfers never will because they assume quality costs what Pebble Beach charges.

Five Courses That Prove Geography Isn’t Destiny

What’s clever about this piece is that it doesn’t just give you Scottish options. Here’s the full menu:

• Gullane No. 3 (Scotland) – £70 weekday
• Perranporth (Cornwall) – Starting at £60
• Elie (Scotland) – £60 weekday, £75 weekend
• Newbiggin (North East England) – Starting at £30
• Borth (Wales) – Starting at £43

In my experience covering the professional game, I’ve learned that the best golf stories don’t happen at the marquee venues—they happen in places like Newbiggin, where

“the north-east coast of England is all too often overlooked by golfers despite having plenty of rugged splendour.”

There’s something about discovering a gem that nobody expects you to find that changes how you approach the game.

Newbiggin particularly intrigues me. Thirty pounds to play a legitimate links course? The fact that the early holes head toward Lynemouth Power Station might sound like a drawback, but having caddied in industrial areas of Scotland, I can tell you that contrast—between the raw power station landscape and the quirky, legitimate golf challenges—creates character. It’s not polished. It’s real.

The Philosophy Behind the Value

Here’s what I think is happening beneath the surface of this article: these courses understand something that championship venues sometimes forget. They’re not trying to be St Andrews. They’re trying to be the best version of themselves—which, paradoxically, makes them more authentic than many famous layouts that have been reshaped repeatedly to host tournaments.

When you read that Elie

“was the club’s 150th anniversary in 2025”

you’re dealing with institutional memory. A James Braid design that’s weathered a century-and-a-half of golfers means something. The submarine periscope the starter uses isn’t cutesy marketing—it’s a practical tool born from decades of managing a tight urban layout. That’s linksland heritage operating at street level.

Having covered 15 Masters tournaments and countless PGA Tour events, I’ve sat in press centers with architects and course managers who’ve admitted the same thing privately: championship golf and golfer golf aren’t always the same thing. These five courses—especially Gullane, Elie, and even quirky Borth—are optimized for the latter.

A Broader Trend Worth Watching

What this article really signals to me is a healthy correction in how we talk about golf travel. For years, the narrative has been “save your money for one big trip to somewhere famous.” But the real move—the one savvy golfers are making—is taking multiple weekday trips to places like these, where you get authentic links golf without the championship course premium.

The margins might be thinner for clubs like Newbiggin and Borth, but they’re surviving and thriving because they offer something genuine. And in a sport sometimes overly concerned with credentials and rankings, that’s worth celebrating.

If you haven’t played true linksland golf, start here. Not at the famous names. Here.