Kilspindie Golf Club was originally nominated as a Top 100 Gem by Richard and was added to the site on 17th February 2006. Kilspindie has since become a ranked course in our Scottish Top 100. Below is Richard’s original nomination:

Kilspindie is a quiet, fairly short, magnificent little links course hidden near the great courses of Muirfield, Gullane No.1, and North Berwick. The course doesn’t quite reach 6,000 yards, but the narrow undulating fairways and the strategic bunkering make this course anything but a pushover. This is an absolute first class links course that deserves consideration when travelling in this area.

Kilspindie Golf Club is situated beside Aberlady Bay in East Lothian. The 1439-acre bay was made the first British Nature Reserve in 1952 and its salt marshes and mudflats support a large variety of plants – such as rushes and sedges – which provide breeding grounds and resting places for many birds, including waders, ducks and geese. 

Kilspindie is one of the oldest clubs in the world (35th oldest to be precise) having been formed in 1867. The game of golf has been played in these parts for hundreds of years; one of the first courses in the world was created along the coast at Musselburgh where Mary Queen of Scots is reported to have played in 1567.  

King James V was a frequent visitor to Aberlady in the early 16th century when he came for "the archery and golfing” though his attention for the ladies of nearby Gosford was also known to be another reason for his presence in the area! The former course at Aberlady was a short, 5-hole layout known as the Wanster course and it was built on holes seven to eleven of the present 18-hole layout. The club moved here four years after the breakup of Luffness Golf Club in 1894, when some members broke away to form Luffness New.

Kilspindie measures only 5,480 yards from the medal tees. Although the par is 69, the Standard Scratch Score is 66 so that lets you know you should not be in for too torrid a time when playing here, weather permitting! There is one par five and four par threes on the course. Only three of the par fours are greater than four hundred yards in length –indeed seven of the thirteen par four’s are less than three hundred yards, so length off the tee is not a major factor. 

From the opening 167-yard par three (“The Point”), to the 252-yard short par four final hole (“Home”), you will find a charming, old fashioned, traditional Scottish links course which is only one of the many golfing pearls to be strung out along the southern shores of the Firth of Forth. With a small, private road that winds its way from the main Gullane road, alongside Aberlady Bay to the clubhouse, Kilspindie literally is one of those much quoted “hidden gems” of Scottish golf.  

This small corner of the country is golfing nirvana, where the great game of golf always has been, and in all probability always will be, in safe hands. Put simply, you owe it to yourself to sample golf in its simplest form at Kilspindie and also many of the other courses in the local area.