Kingsknowe Golf Club

Kingsknowe Golf Club sits on Lanark Road in south-west Edinburgh, a parkland course originally laid out by Alec Herd — the 1902 Open champion — and later revised by James Braid. It plays as two loops of nine from the clubhouse over gently rolling hills, lined with cherry trees that the club rightly points out make the place particularly inviting in spring. Around 650 members call it home, and the atmosphere is that of a working city members' club rather than a visitor operation.

Par 69 at 5,950 yards off the whites, and the club's own course notes are honest about where the difficulty lives: finding and holding well-guarded, relatively small greens, plus the dogleg par 4s that are a Braid signature. The round opens with a 167-yard par 3 defended by four bunkers — a cold-muscles examination — and the four par 3s are all proper holes. The 460-yard 16th from its elevated tee is the club's own pick for signature hole, and the downhill 144-yard 11th is the photogenic one. You finish on a driveable par 4 back to the clubhouse, which is exactly the right way to end a city round.

The green fee moves with the calendar more than most: £80 weekday and £100 weekend at summer peak, but £25–£35 through the winter months on the same eighteen holes — one of the sharper season splits in Edinburgh, and the winter figure is honest value for a Braid-revised course ten minutes from the bypass. Weekend visitor times are after 2pm in summer, the club asks for a handicap of 28 or better for men (36 for ladies), and rounds are expected inside three and a half hours. Club sharing is not permitted, so bring or hire a full set.