Club History

Haddington Golf Club is The 19th Oldest Golf Course in the World !

Located a half-mile (1 km) northeast of Haddington, Amisfield Park is today the home of Haddington Golf Club. It was once the estate of the infamous gambler and rake Colonel Francis Charteris, whose daughter married James, 5th Earl of Wemyss (1699 - 1756).

This was once the site of Amisfield House, regarded as the finest example of Orthodox Palladianism in Scotland, which was built c.1755 by Isaac Ware for Francis Charteris of Wemyss, who inherited the estate, but not the title, from his father. It was extended in 1785, but was demolished in 1928.

Some of the sandstone from this house was reused to build a school at Prestonpans, the Vert Hospital (in Haddington) and Longniddry Golf Clubhouse. The land was sold to Haddington Town Council in 1960 for £49,000 and houses were built at Amisfield Mains and, on the edge of the park, a small estate also called Amisfield Park.

Originally part of the lands of a 12th Century Cistercian Nunnery, the estate had been used for the Tyneside Games held annually for 20 years from 1833. Haddington Golf Club was established here in 1865.

The park was occupied by the military during the Jacobite Rebellion (1745) and the Napoleonic Wars (1793 - 1815). The house was used as officer's quarters during the First World War and the estate once again as a camp during the Second World War.

A modern clubhouse for the Haddington Golf Club now occupies the site of the house, but the stable-block by John Henderson (1785) remains, although is in poor condition (2001), along with an ice-house, temple, walled garden and grand gate piers situated at the west entrance from Haddington.