The Impact of Muirfield's Trademark Routing

Very few golf courses can claim to have created their own genre of routing. The Old Course at St. Andrews is one, with its widely imitated out-and-back configuration. Cypress Point could be considered another; the way it seamlessly connects different landscapes of cliffs, dunes, and forest into one elegant golf experience influenced Bandon Trails, Friar’s Head, and others. Likewise, the routing of the links played by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers deserves its own category. 

The Muirfield routing consists of two nine-hole loops traveling in different directions, one nested inside the other. The front nine skirts the perimeter of the property in a clockwise manner, while the back nine explores the interior, generally moving counterclockwise. As a result, no more than three straight holes play in the same direction, and 14 of 17 holes play in a different direction than the hole before. 

On a windy site like Muirfield’s, these continual shifts do wonders for the variety of holes and shots required. For example, on the back nine, players face a prevailing westerly summer wind directly from the left on Nos. 10 and 11, but they had better not get used to it. The next five holes (Nos. 12-16) feature winds into from the right, down from the left, into from the right again, straight into, and straight down, respectively. 

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Muirfield’s routing has developed a legendary reputation over the decades, presenting challenges to the best players in the world during the 16 Open Championships the club has hosted. The nested nine-hole loops have been emulated, knowingly or not, by many golf architects around the world.

While Muirfield’s trademark routing is usually attributed to Harry Colt, its basic identity has been present since the course was originated in 1891 by Old Tom Morris. Morris’s layout established the clockwise/counterclockwise ethos, albeit with different sequencing. Nos. 1-5 and 9-11 headed clockwise around the perimeter, much like the current front nine, while Nos. 6-8 and 12-18 occupied the middle of the property, both sets of holes heading counterclockwise.

By 1912, the club had purchased additional land to the northeast, added two holes on it, and established a more consistently clockwise front nine, now returning to the clubhouse. The back nine was split into two interior counterclockwise loops, Nos. 10-12 and 13-18.

Before Muirfield’s next Open in 1929, the club brought in Colt to renovate the course and make use of yet more land to the northeast. Colt kept the essence of the front-nine routing, but by moving Nos. 3-5 farther north, he gave the back nine more room to breathe. Nos. 10 and 11 could now both head north; Nos. 12, 14, and 15 east; and Nos. 16 and 17 west, forming a rough circle that mirrored the front nine. Only two par 3s, the seventh and 13th, violate the general directions of their nines.

Colt’s revisions clearly satisfied members, as only subtle changes to the routing have been made since. Comparing the sketch of the course from 1928 to the contemporary aerial above, there are remarkably few differences. Muirfield is a case study in golf course preservation.

Like all foundational masterpieces of a genre, the Muirfield routing has its copycats. At Quaker Ridge Golf Club (1918) in Scarsdale, New York, A.W. Tillinghast laid out a counterclockwise front nine around the perimeter, and a clockwise inside back nine. Today’s routing was finalized by Tillinghast in 1925 after a land purchase. Tillinghast may have seen Old Tom Morris’s original Muirfield during his multiple trips to Scotland around the turn of the 20th century.

William Flynn also had an affinity for Muirfield-style routings, even though he never saw the original. Both Lehigh Country Club (1927) and Huntingdon Valley Country Club (1928) employ an exterior, counterclockwise front nine and an interior, clockwise back nine. Since portions of Huntingdon Valley’s property are narrow, more holes have to run in the same direction, but Lehigh boasts an exceptional example of a Muirfield routing, with constant changes of direction around and across Little Lehigh Creek.

Lastly, around the time Colt was finalizing his version of Muirfield, he laid out 18 holes at Kennemer Golf and Country Club (today’s “B” and “C” nines, 1927). This was another Muirfield routing, with the C nine traveling counterclockwise and the B nine looping clockwise inside of it. (Frank Pennink added an “A” nine in 1985, based on Colt’s unrealized drawings.)

Other courses with this basic layout include Seth Raynor’s Blue Mound Golf and Country Club in Wisconsin (1926), Sam Whiting and William Watson’s Sonoma Golf Club in California (1928), and Mike Clayton’s Ranfurlie Golf Club in Australia (2002). While not as well known as the out-and-back pattern established by the Old Course, the Muirfield routing has proven remarkably useful for many golf architects.