Craigielaw is the modern arrival on the East Lothian coast — opened in 2001 to a Donald Steel design on the strip of land between Aberlady village and the Firth of Forth. Steel's brief was specific: build a course that holds its own among the historic Gullane and Muirfield neighbours, but with a contemporary playing experience and modern visitor facilities. The result is a links that feels older than its 25 years, in part because the underlying ground is genuine seaside fescue and in part because the design borrows the strategic intelligence of the better Open-rota courses.
What you play is a wider, more forgiving links than Muirfield or North Berwick — fairways are generous, greens are large, and the bunkering is well-placed rather than penal. The wind off Aberlady Bay does the defending, and on a typical East Lothian afternoon with a 25 mph westerly the course becomes a serious test. The 13th, played alongside the bay with the Pentlands as the backdrop, is the photographed hole; the 18th plays back to a green a wedge from the lodge bedrooms.
Visitor green fee is £65–£105 depending on season — comfortably the best value premium-quality links in East Lothian. The on-site Craigielaw Lodge is a 22-bedroom golfers' hotel with rates that work out cheaper than most Edinburgh hotels once you factor in proximity. Buggies permitted; club hire excellent; practice facilities the best in the immediate area. Train to Drem and a 10-minute taxi.
Donald Steel is one of the most consistently underappreciated figures in British golf design. His other courses include Walton Heath's redesign and work at Royal Porthcawl — he does not build courses that draw attention to themselves. At Craigielaw, the signature of the design is how little you notice it: the routing feels organic, the bunkering logical, the green shapes natural. That restraint is difficult to achieve on a new-build in 2001, when the temptation to feature every technical element available was high. Steel resisted, and the course is better for it.