All aboard
For centuries after golf was conceived, players arrived at the course on foot, horseback or, if the company were honourable enough, by carriage. Trains changed golf forever, making real golf travel possible. In particular, the 1890 completion of the Forth Rail Bridge, which provided a quick route from Edinburgh north to the Kingdom of Fife, exposed the bounty of Scottish links courses to the rest of Britain and ultimately the world.

On his first trip to golf’s homeland, in 1895, A.W. Tillinghast passed over this bridge. “As the train neared St. Andrews and I noted the gradually increasing numbers of the faithful,” he wrote, “I marveled that the popularity of the ancient game had continued, unabated throughout the centuries.”

Rail travel also spurred course construction in Scotland. Shrines like Carnoustie, strategically laid out on the train line between Dundee and Aberdeen, and Cruden Bay farther to the north, were developed to attract rail-riding golfers on holiday to Scotland’s northeast coast. That same formula also produced the New Course at St. Andrews, Gleneagles in the foothills of the Highlands and Turnberry on the west coast.

Part of the fun of the golf-by-rail experience is the old-fashioned nuts and bolts: coordinating with train schedules, the anticipation of disembarkation, checking of superfluous luggage with a station porter and, in the case of our first stop, the jaunty half-mile walk through town to the first tee at North Berwick Golf Club, home to the original Redan hole and more rock walls in the line of play than one ever thought possible.

While North Berwick is eminently walkable from the station of the same name, Gullane, Muirfield and the new Archerfield (36 holes recently built on the site of an ancient links) require short cab rides from either Drem or Longniddry station. For a base of operations, Trevor and I chose Kilspindie House in Aberlady. In addition to providing proximate lodging and superb dining, the Kilspindie offers on-call transportation to various clubhouses.

We had hoped to include Muirfield on our itinerary, but the infamously exclusive club couldn’t accommodate us. “Aye,” one cabbie commiserated. “I’m not sure anyone actually from Scotland is allowed to play Muirfield.” No matter. The No. 1 and No. 2 courses at Gullane were spectacular, Archerfield proved an elegant, canny mix of links and Carolina Lowcountry, and North Berwick was, as advertised, a delight. Next door, The Glen earned best-kept secret honors.

In other words, East Lothian provided plenty to keep us busy before reboarding at Drem, settling down with a good book (Ian Nalder’s Golf in the Age of Steam) and heading north over the Forth Rail Bridge into Fife.