Visit to Muirfield is one of golf's top treats - it would be wrong to make any changes as Open wait goes on

I am referring to Muirfield, home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and, in my book anyway, the best course in the world, having fallen in love with it a long time ago and never being swayed, even though Royal Portrush now comes a close second on my list.

As a young reporter for The Berwickshire News & East Lothian Advertiser, I covered my first Open Championship at the East Lothian venue in 1987 - the first of Nick Faldo’s two triumphs there - and still remember walking into the Press Tent and feeling in awe to simply be in the same space as the likes of Norman Mair, Raymond Jacobs, Jock MacVicar, Alister Nicol and Ian MacNiven.

Imagine what a huge thrill it was to follow in their footsteps by becoming a full-time golf correspondent and even more so to have been able to call them friends along with many others who were in that tent, including the likes of Michael Williams, Michael McDonnell, Dai Davies, Peter Corrigan and Colm Smith.

It was at a media day for the 2013 Open that I embarrassed myself by having a fresh air shot on the first tee after battering out a piece from a press conference and discovering that I didn’t even have time to hit a single practice putt far less have a proper warm up.

“We’ll be reading about that then in The Scotsman tomorrow?,” said a voice as I tried to blank it out walking off the tee, looking up sheepishly to see George Smillie, the starter at the time, standing there with a huge smile on his face and, unsurprisingly, he enjoyed sharing that story a fair bit.

‘No air shot on first tee this time - thankfully’

As I discovered, for example, the following day when I had to phone the pro shop at North Berwick about Carlos Tevez, who was a star in the English Premiership at the time, being spotted playing there and, before I could ask him about that, head professional Martyn Huish saying: “So tell me about your tee shot at Muirfield!”

Though I’d been back for a hit a couple of times since then, most recently for a media day for the 2022 AIG Women’s Open, my return last week, having kindly been invited by assistant secretary Andrew Travers, came on the back of a couple of games that, quite frankly, were absolutely horrendous.

Hence why three visits were made to my home club in the early part of the week to either play a few holes or just to hit balls into a practice net and, much to my relief, that paid dividends as I actually managed to play okay, helped by hitting a good opening tee shot on this occasion and starting with a solid par.

From start to finish and it helped, admittedly, that we enjoyed a decent day for December even allowing for East Lothian’s much-talked about micro-climate, it was a truly wonderful experience because every single hole provides a challenge but, at the same time, one you always feel is fair.

The greens are tricky enough without being funky, the bunkers are punishing and, for me anyway, it has the best collection of par 3s on any course, the majestic 13th being the pick of the bunch but the fourth, seventh and 16th being equally impressive tests and appealing on the eye as well.

In 2026, Muirfield will stage The R&A Women’s Amateur Championship for the first time and, as was the case with their professional counterparts in 2022 in that AIG Women’s Open won by South African Ashleigh Buhai, what a treat lies in store for some of the top amateurs in the world next June.

The big question, of course, is when The Open will be back there, having last been held in 2013 and, quite frankly, a return is now overdue. This particular visit wasn’t a time to be asking any questions, so I didn’t. On bumping into Douglas Connon, a former Scottish Golf Union chairman who has served on the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’ board, on completing our round, though, it was encouraging to hear him say that the “feelgood factor is the best I’ve seen in more than 30 years as a member”.

It’s no secret that so-called ‘pinch points’ on courses have become a bigger factor for The R&A than in the past due to increased attendances in recent years at The Open and you don’t have to be a genius to work out that there is one such spot at Muirfield due to the close proximity of the fifth and 11th greens and the 12th tee.

Why it would be wrong to make any changes

For me, though, and I have to stress that this is very much a personal opinion, I think it would be wrong if any change, even if it was the repositioning of a green, for example, was made to such a great golf course just in order to allow more fans to be in attendance. And, let’s not forget, The R&A’s new target figure of 250,000 for the world’s oldest major is astronomical compared to the 142,000 attendance for Phil Mickelson’s Claret Jug triumph 13 years ago.

I was lucky enough to enjoy the full ‘Muirfield Experience’ on this visit and, yes, the legendary lunch in the clubhouse is every bit as good as people rave about. It’s a treat as well to learn so much about the history of the club thanks to the splendid efforts of a Heritage Committee.

Here’s hoping I’ll make that walk through the giant iron gate a couple more times before my journey in life ends.