Factfile
Archerfield Links
Archerfield House, Dirleton, East Lothian, EH39 5HQ, Scotland
Location: Archerfield Links is just 18 miles from the centre of Edinburgh with easy access from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports and the nearest railway station is North Berwick.
Contacts:
Pro Shop: 01620 850714
Restaurant: 01620 850780
Sales Suite: 01620 850542 and 850552
Email: Archerfield
Web: Archerfield Golf Club
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St Andrews may be the home of golf but many consider East Lothian to be it's heart. There are many great courses peppering this stretch of land - Muirfield, North Berwick, Gullane to mention only a few - and now a new name has been added to the illustrious list... Archerfield. But while Archerfield is a new course - well two courses actually - the name is not and there is a real sense of history. Why Archerfield? The name comes from the English archers, who camped there during the King Edward I invasion of 1298. It is thought that golf has been played on this land for over five hundred years. There is record of a six-hole course owned by the Earl of Gowry, the keeper of the privy purse, and he once welcomed Mary, Queen of Scots, as a visitor. What is certain is that a thriving links was in play during the mid-19th century. Enjoyed by the inhabitants of Archerfield House, their guests and selected members of staff, the 13-hole course was run on democratic grounds with local tenants given responsibility for the upkeep of individual holes. Constituted as a private club in 1869 it was extended to 18 holes with the help of Ben Sayers of North Berwick but following the Second World War, Archerfield House and its course fell into a state of decay. In 1988 a plan emerged for a leisure complex with courses designed by Peter Alliss and Clive Clark but that went into receivership and then John Ashworth, best known for his golf clothing business, became involved as did the architect Tom Doak. And then when it seemed as if Archerfield would remain a lost opportunity, Caledonian Heritable, bought the 500 acres and enlisted David J Russell, who lives in East Lothian, to design two courses. The result is the Fidra and the Dirleton, two courses with infinite potential and great beauty. The Fidra course is an inviting mixture of pine forest and a fast running Scottish links. A formidable par 72 featuring four sets of tees, the greens are generous in size but subtly contoured. It measures nearly 7,000 yards off the back tees and many holes are played through imposing avenues of pine trees. The bunkering can be punishing if you're out of position off the tee and the course winds its way out to the beach at Yellowcraig, where the views of the Firth of Forth and the coast of Fife are superb. On the fourth green you can see Fidra Island, the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and although the Firth of Forth is often hidden from view by the trees, there's a spectacular emergence on the par five 11th when Bass Rock frames the green. The course is more of a links on the back nine and some of the approach shots need to be played in the traditional bump and run mode as they are on the Dirleton, which is a more traditional Scottish links with sweeping fairways, deep bunkers and undulating sand dunes bordering the fairways. The Dirleton which opens this year is around 6,994 yards but four sets of tees means it can be a short as 5,529. The restoration of Archerfield House will soon be completed and a new club house will open for use along with the second course, and expectation is a composite links of around 7,400 yards will be good enough to stage either a European Tour event or Open Championship qualifying. "It was never my intention to build a monstrously long course," said Russell, and the beauty of having 36 holes here is that it offers a number of routings. We have four loops of nine which centre off the clubhouse. "Using holes from all four nines adds up to a championship length course of 7,400 but we have plenty of tee options if we needed a slightly shorter course for a ladies event." There are 100 lodges and cottages planned for the estate - plots cost from £250,000 to £800,000 - and membership is in the form of an interest-free debenture of £15,000 and an annual subscription which ranges from £1,000 for a local member to £500 for a UK member and £250 for an overseas member, while green fees (with a member) are £33 at the time of writing. | 
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