Winterfield

Located close to Dunbar it’s an easy course to access from the A1 for those travelling from England to Scotland or vice-versa. It’s nowhere near the quality of Dunbar Links but neither is its green-fee. Winterfield offers accessible golf at a modest price.

The opening hole can only be described as bizarre. It is in a lovely, albeit exposed, setting and is played along the North Sea coastline with craggy cliffs to the left of the green but at almost 250 yards, most of which is carry, it doesn’t make for a good par three. I suspect most players will be unable to reach the green and as a result will face a blind second shot from more than 60 yards to the green at the top of a steeply faced banking of thick rough. It’s certainly an interesting hole and the first of eight ‘short’ ones during the round.

I sarcastically emphasis the word short because the average length of the seven longest par three’s is a whopping 224 yards! Only the 4th at 140 yards requires anything close to a mid or short iron.

The second is a reasonable hole, bordered by a nice wall down the left-hand side and behind the green, as you play towards the far corner of the property. However, the remainder of the front nine is largely forgettable. The seventh is the best hole on the outward half with a superb sloping green before you start a run of four consecutive one-shotters!

The run of holes from the 12th to the 16th are the best on the course. Not only are they closer to the shore and played over more undulating ground but they also offer more strategy than the rest of the course put together. The pick of the bunch is the 14th, named ‘The Point’, which is played over a bay to a peninsula green that slopes towards the water and is protected by a large bunker at the front-right.

With so many excellent links courses in East Lothian, dubbed ‘Scotland’s Golf Coast’, Winterfield falls some way short of a very high standard but having said that it is reasonably priced and has a few strong holes which should make visiting it a consideration. It also has some wonderful views from its cliff top location on the front nine. If par 3’s are a forte then enter one of their many open competitions and you could clean up!