IT is a Friday afternoon in late summer, the sun is glinting off the Firth of Forth and we are scratching our heads trying to work out how to negotiate a stone wall in front of us that divides the fairway from the green.

We are at North Berwick, and if there is anywhere we would rather be at this precise moment then none of us can think of it.

The West Links is an ancient course that combines idiosyncrasies with undiluted class. Yes, there are holes here that have never, could never and would never be repeated elsewhere, the 13th I’ve just described among them, but there are many more where you walk off the green knowing your game has been put to the test in the most entertaining yet fair fashion possible.

It’s such a simple course – you play eight holes out, one across the far end then nine back towards the town. Going downwind, you have to play short of burns that your ball is bounding towards (7th), or carry them having struck your approach well enough to make sure you hold the green (6th).

In the opposite direction, 380 yards can seem like a lot longer, particularly when the green at the end is shaped like no other you have ever seen (as at the 16th) or located out of sight down by the beach (14th).

Perhaps the best thing about North Berwick is that, in reasonable conditions, it does give you a chance to record some decent scores, even though come the end of your round there will only be one real winner.

In an age of obsession with championship-length and championship-difficulty courses, it can be forgotten that most golfers enjoy playing to their handicaps every now and again.

Admittedly, we have been lucky to catch a warm, sunny afternoon, and luckier still to play the front nine downwind then for the breeze to drop when we turned for home. But two of us scored better than 36 points, which is the kind of thing you remember over long winters.

We are halfway through a five-day visit to the East Lothian area, and although North Berwick will prove the undoubted highlight, the real glory about this blessed region is that you could play somewhere different every morning for a month and not encounter a single course less than excellent.

Whisper it quietly, but there is a school of thought that East Lothian has even more to offer than St Andrews for a golf trip.

Certainly, for most of us it is more accessible. And starting at Musselburgh, in Edinburgh’s eastern suburbs, you could pretty much go all the way along the coast to Dunbar, 30 miles away, playing from one course to the next. We begin our trip, in typically ill-organised fashion, with nine holes at the former and end the day with a round at the latter.

The Old Course at Musselburgh hosted six Opens in the 19th century, then being the home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

It is the world’s oldest course still playing on its original site.

The nine-hole layout is in the middle of the town’s racetrack and the members eventually decided to seek a new home with room for 18 holes to the east . They settled in Gullane, Muirfield to be precise, and took the Open with them.

The course is now a municipal facility and nine holes costs just £12, which makes it by a margin of the best part of £100 the cheapest Open venue you can play.

Many visitors choose to hire a set of hickory clubs to get the full 19th-century experience, and so it was that we found ourselves on the 1st tee with an old bag full of mashies, niblicks and cleeks. We did not use the old feathery balls, however, and after some initially ineffective swishing, we soon got to grips with the equipment. With hickory, it is all in the hands, and a question of timing. Make a good swing and you can propel the (modern) ball a good 200 yards. The course itself is understated in parts and excellent in others. The best hole is surely the 4th, Mrs Forman’s. Here you must hit two of the best with modern clubs, let alone hickory, to reach the green.

With a brand-new clubhouse, this is a great time to sample Musselburgh’s charms.

Dunbar, a venue for Final Qualifying when the Open was at Muirfield in 2002, occupies an almost impossibly thin strip of land squeezed between the North Sea and an old Deer Park.

Beginning modestly, it is the 4th before you really get a taste of what Dunbar is all about. From there, the sea is never out of view until you leave the 17th green.

This is timeless linksland and if the background to the outward nine was not a distant power station, the view would be every bit as good as at, say, Kingsbarns.

The most memorable holes going out are the 7th, where the green is squeezed between a wall and a stone barn, and the par-5 9th. Here a long drive is rewarded with a view of the green. After the 10th you turn 180˚ and head for home, changing direction only to play the 13th, Pot, where the green takes the form of a sunken bowl.

After a quick pint it is back to base at Aberlady, near Gullane. Friendly owner Malcolm Duck, a keen golfer himself, is always on hand to offer advice on anything from where to play the following day to how to arrange a taxi back from North Berwick.

The next day we barely spend five minutes in the car in total. The day begins at Luffness and ends at Gullane No 1. Considering the courses are almost intertwined at one stage, this leaves plenty of time for lunch in between at the lively Old Clubhouse pub. 

Luffness is established, well-groomed and august. Relatively short by modern standards, the par is a stingy 70. 

It has a feel of a scaled-down Muirfield, what with the white clubhouse and perfect, springy turf. Designed by Old Tom Morris, there are several long par 4s, not least the last – 455 yards and into the wind for us.

With only one hill to climb, at the short par-4 7th, this is a gorgeous place to play, with a personal highlight being the 14th. Here you must decide from the slightly elevated tee whether to play safely left and aim to pitch on with your third, or take on the corner of the dogleg and bring the green into range.

Gullane No 1 begins with a gentle par 4, and the 3rd is a tempting par 5. In between, you must negotiate a perilous two-shotter up the hill where the fairway gets progressively narrower until it resembles a corridor that a fourball would struggle to walk down shoulder to shoulder. 

Famously, from the 7th tee, all three of Gullane’s courses as well as Luffness, Muirfield and The Renaissance Club open up below you. Across the Firth of Forth is Fife. A special spot.

Around the turn, we find ourselves near the sea for the first and last time all day – amazing considering we have spent eight hours playing links golf.

Our journey the following morning is even shorter, believe it or not, to Kilspindie. This will be the shortest course we play and in some ways the most fun. 

There are several short par 4s, the sea is never out of view and it gives high and low-handicappers alike the chance to mark down a few three-pointers before retiring to the wonderful old clubhouse.

Saturday afternoon takes us back to Gullane, and this time No 2. It begins and ends in similar style to No 1, although it must be said negotiating the hill to access the linksland on the other side is not done as stylishly.

Some actually prefer it as a whole to No 1 and certainly most of the holes are of a comparable standard. 

The highlight comes as you plunge down towards Edinburgh and the Forth Bridge in the back nine before climbing back up for the last two flattering holes.

The following morning, conditions have changed dramatically for our final round, at Gullane No 3. 

Mercifully, this course is much shorter than its siblings and just as well, because the wind is gusting up to 40mph. At the highest point, it is hard to stand up, let one wield a driver. 

No one manages to card more than 30 points.

We will be back though, not least because there are so many great courses that we haven’t even set foot on. Before the week, we would have thought fanciful claims that there is more fun to be had in this area than St Andrews. Now we’re not so sure.

THE perfect base for a golfing holiday in East Lothian, Ducks at Aberlady has 23 rooms and a variety of dining options.  

Aberlady is between Longniddry and Gullane – right in the middle of this golfing region. You are guaranteed a warm welcome and can be sure of eating well. Duck’s Restaurant offers formal dining with fresh seafood a speciality, while in Donald’s Bistro (can you see what they’ve done with the name?) you can enjoy a steak washed down by a glass of red wine or a couple of pints in the bar.