Scotland & UK Links

North Berwick (West Links): The Cradle of Strategic Links Architecture

Home to the original Redan and the stone wall at the 13th, North Berwick remains the purest, most whimsical examination in seaside links golf.

North Berwick (West Links): The Cradle of Strategic Links Architecture
Photo courtesy of The Golf Edits Field Archives • Championship Links Series

On Scotland’s East Lothian coast, the West Links at North Berwick stands as proof that strategic golf is inherently playful, unpredictable, and deeply bound to natural terrain. While modern architects obsess over laser-leveled fairways, North Berwick celebrates knolls, sunken gullies, and stone walls built two centuries ago.

The Original Redan: 15th Hole

No single par-three has been replicated more across the globe than North Berwick’s 15th. The concept is pure genius: a green tilted right-to-left and front-to-back, shielded by a cavernous bunker guarding the right shoulder.

TheGolfEdits

Senior Course Architecture & Tour Correspondent for The Golf Edits. Covering championship golf, Golden Age design, and equipment architecture.