Mortonhall Golf Club

Mortonhall Golf Club sits at the foot of the Pentland Hills in south Edinburgh, at an elevation of around 400 feet — the highest of Edinburgh's private parkland courses, and the most exposed when the weather comes in off the hills. The club was founded in 1892. The course was designed by James Braid, who was engaged to revise and extend the layout in 1911, and the Braid routing remains substantially in place. The proximity to the Pentlands gives Mortonhall a marginally moorland character on its upper sections that distinguishes it from the lower-lying city courses.

The course plays as a genuine members' test. Par 71, 6,200 yards, with tree-lined parkland corridors on the lower ground and more exposed hillside holes where the wind off the Pentlands becomes a genuine factor. The 10th is the most talked-about hole on the upper section — a par 4 that plays directly into the Pentland wind, slightly uphill, to a green that gathers nothing short and rejects anything wide. The 11th immediately turns the player around and offers the yardage back with assistance, but the angle to the green is narrower than the wind-aided approach makes it appear. Edinburgh's rooftops and the Arthur's Seat volcanic plug are visible to the north from the high points; the Pentland Hills run along the southern skyline for most of the round.

Several holes use the natural slope of the hillside in ways that Braid was particularly good at — approach shots played slightly uphill to a green that can't be directly seen, or downhill to a target that runs away from a short pitch. The closing three holes descend back to the clubhouse, which is the original Victorian stone building that has been extended sympathetically over the decades without losing the coherence of the original.

Visitor green fee is £55–£75. Midweek access by advance booking. In winter, Mortonhall's elevation means conditions the lower city courses don't see — frost when Braid Hills is clear, wind when Duddingston is calm. Bring an extra layer regardless of the Edinburgh forecast. Pairs with Braid Hills No. 1 (twenty minutes north) for a contrasting day: private parkland with Braid's strategic intelligence in the morning, open municipal moorland in the afternoon.