Every golfer has stood on a tee box and wondered where this brilliant, maddening game truly began. The question of what was the first golf course? isn't just a trivia point, it's a look into the soul of the sport. This article gets straight to the answer, exploring the official and unofficial claimants to the title and explaining how the very first courses shaped the way we play, think, and strategize on the links today.
Pinpointing the exact first course is a bit like trying to find the first person who ever kicked a ball. People have been hitting objects with sticks across open land for centuries. But when it comes to a formal course, continuously played and documented, two legendary Scottish links stand out: The Old Course at St Andrews and Musselburgh Links.
Most golf historians and governing bodies give the title to The Old Course at St Andrews. While evidence suggests golf was played on the linksland at St Andrews as far back as the 1400s, its claim is solidified by its immense influence and evolution. Most importantly, St Andrews is where the 18-hole standard was born, setting the blueprint for virtually every course that followed. It’s not just the oldest, it’s the original template for the game itself.
However, you can’t ignore the case for Musselburgh Links. The Guinness World Records officially recognizes it as the oldest continuously played golf course in the world, with documented evidence of play from 1672 (though it's understood to be much, much older). Musselburgh was a host for The Open Championship six times and was the original home of the esteemed Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. While St Andrews gets the fame, Musselburgh has the gritty, historical receipts.
So, who wins? For most, St Andrews holds the title as the spiritual "home of golf" because of its role in standardizing the game. But the debate is a fun reminder that golf didn't just appear one day, it evolved organically from the windswept coastal lands of Scotland.
To truly understand the first golf courses, you have to forget everything you know about pristine, manicured fairways and perfectly sculpted bunkers. The first courses weren’t designed or built, they were simply found.
The game originated on what the Scots called "linksland." This was the seemingly useless stretch of sandy, firm, and gorse-covered ground that connected the fertile farmland (the "inland") to the sea. This land was perfect for a few reasons:
Early golfers didn't play on a plush blanket of green. They played a running game on a firm, brownish-gray canvas shaped by nature. The challenge wasn't just hitting the ball, it was navigating the land, using its humps and hollows to steer a fragile "featherie" ball toward a roughly-cut hole.
The genius of St Andrews wasn't in creating the land, but in how they adapted it. For much of its early life, The Old Course wasn't 18 holes. It originally consisted of 22 holes, laid out as 11 holes going "out" from the clubhouse to the edge of the Eden Estuary, and the same 11 holes played in reverse coming "in."
The turning point came in 1764. The members of the Society of St Andrews Golfers (which would later become The R&,A) decided that the first four and last four holes were too short. So, they simply combined them into two longer holes, both on the way out and on the way in. This decision cut the total number of holes from 22 down to 18 (nine out, nine in). They likely had no idea at the time, but they had just created the global standard for the game of golf. Every course you play today with 18 holes owes that structure to this practical decision made over 250 years ago.
This layout is also what gave us the iconic features still legendary today. Golfers must navigate the dreaded Hell Bunker on the 14th an play over a portion of the old course buildings, now a hotel named after the old course, on the 17th or the “road hole,” to reach the green protected by the even more terrifying Road Hole Bunker. And of course cross the simple but iconic stone Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole. These weren’t artificial challenges, they were natural obstacles that have tested golfers for centuries.
Learning about the origins of golf isn’t just an academic exercise. Understanding a bit about how the past shaped the game is one of the best ways a player can simplify their swing thoughts when on the course. Players such as Bobby Jones and Ben Crenshaw have talked about how much they grew by playing and thinking about golf at St. Andrews. Let's see how our own game can be influenced as well.
On early links courses with feather balls and basic equipment, a high, soaring approach shot just wasn't possible or practical. The ever-present wind would swat it out of the air. Instead, golfers mastered the "ground game," using the firm contours of the land as an extension of their golf clubs.
Actionable Advice:
The next time you're facing a tough, windy day or playing on a course with firm greens, stop thinking you have to fly the ball all the way to the hole. Instead, think like a St Andrews original.
Early golfers didn't expect perfection. They embraced imperfection. A bad bounce from an unforeseen mound or a tough lie in a scraped-out bunker wasn't a reason for frustration, it was simply part of the game. They were adaptable strategists, not just swing technicians.
Actionable Advice:
Shake off the modern obsession with the "perfect" swing or the "perfect" lie. Embrace the authentic roots of golf by changing your mindset.
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While St Andrews and Musselburgh may have started it all, others quickly followed, adding to the rich fabric of golf history. Here are a few notable pioneers:
The story of the first golf course doesn't have a single, tidy answer. Instead, it’s a tale born from the windy, rugged coast of Scotland, where St Andrews set the 18-hole standard we follow today and courses like a Musselburgh have laid testament to that.
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