Originally the winner of the Silver Club became captain, a practice that ceased after 1837. Today the winners name is engraved on a silver replica golf ball of the day, which is attached to the silver club shaft. The event was matchplay since strokeplay was in its infancy and was played over Leith's five-hole layout. A forbidding test with holes measuring 414, 461, 426, 495 and 435 yards, respectively. The long game was the thing in those days, putting did not play such a dominant role until the invention of the mechanical mower.

In 1865 the use of the gutty ball for the Silver Club competition was made compulsory and that was the official end to the feathery ball. During the late 18th century as Edinburgh expanded, Leith Links became overcrowded and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers decided in 1836 to move to the nine hole course beside the race track at Musselburgh.

This ground was shared by a number of other golf clubs and the Honourable Company would also play the West Links at North Berwick during the summer months. Again overcrowding forced them to move further down the coast, eventually settling on another racecourse, the site of the East Lothian horse races on the Hundred Acres Park at Muirfield owned by the Rt. Hon. Nisbet Hamilton.

Mr. B. Hall Blyth is credited with securing the transference of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers from Musselburgh to Muirfield. He carried through the arrangements for the lease of the property and in recognition of his services was given the honour of playing the first match on the course. This was emphasised by his being pitted single-handed against Mr. A. Stuart and Mr F. V. Hagart.

Benjamin Hall Blyth was an engineer by profession and a consultant engineer to the North British and Great North of Scotland Railway companies. He was associated with the reconstruction of Waverley station at Edinburgh, the rebuilding of the Tay Bridge and the expansion of the North Berwick branch line to include stations at Aberlady, Luffness and Gullane. He was a life member of the Royal and Ancient Club and his name will always be associated with the acquisition of the Braid Hills as a municipal golf course by the citizens of Edinburgh.

The name Muirfield is shown on Roy's map of 1754, and derives from a period when it was the practice for the tenant farmer to identify each field with a descriptive name. The word 'muir' in Scotland means a track of unenclosed and uncultivated land often affected with marshy areas. During the 1892 Open played over the new links at Muirfield, still in primitive condition, the course was described by the sardonic professional Andrew Kirkaldy as 'an auld water meadow'. Which aptly reflects the name originally given to this track of land called the 'muir-field'.

In those bygone days curling and golf where old allies and the Muirfield Links was also the site of the Dirleton curling pond used by the neighbouring villagers. The outline of the banks and bed of the pond can still be seen between the fourth green and the wall where a supply of water ran into a narrow drain which they used to flood when the frost came. On this pond the farmers in the district and the members of the Honourable Company held their curling tournaments.

Henry Buchan was appointed golf club-maker to the Honourable Company at Musselburgh. In 1892, James H. Hutchison was golf club maker and ball maker to the Honourable Company at Muirfield with his workshop on the West Links at North Berwick. That year Muirfield hosted the Open Championship for the first time when the amateur Harold Hilton lifted the claret jug. The first greenkeeper at Muirfield was Bobby Brown and he later moved to Troon. In 1901 the second hole was lengthened to avoid the danger of driving into players on the putting green. The seventeenth, originally a blind hole was particularly dangerous as the putting green was on a slope within reach with an iron club from the tee. A new green was laid well to the right beyond the former green which then necessitated a new teeing ground and line for the eighteenth hole. Head greenkeeper Alex Gow and his staff carried out the alterations forming the present seventeenth and eighteenth holes which have seen so much drama over the years.

In 1901, the Championship was played at Muirfield on the 5th and 6th June. Two rounds were played each day with any competitor 20 strokes behind the leading score at the end of the second round was compulsorily retired. The winner was James Braid (229) who received the Championship Gold Medal, valued at £10 and £50 in money, while Harry Vardon (234) in second place received £20.

The Honourable Company organised the Open Championship until 1919 when the day to day running of the event was handed over to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. Many historians are convinced that Muirfield did not become a truly great course until Harry Colt, and Tom Simpson were brought in to make the changes in 1928. After Walter Hagen won the Open of 1929, during which he birdied the long par 4, 8th hole twice on the last day, bushes were planted to prevent a repeat of his short cut to the green.

In 1948 Henry Cotton won his third title, Gary Player won in 1959 and Jack Nicklaus in 1966. Perhaps the most dramatic Open in Muirfield's history came in 1972 when Lee Trevino holed his famous chip shot from the edge of the 17th green and in the process stole the title from Tony Jacklin. Tom Watson won in 1980, Nick Faldo 1987 and 1992, Ernie Els in 2002.

The biggest challenge is the four par-3s with raised greens, making them a tight target and a missed shot will inevitably end in a deep bunker. The 182-yard fourth hole, surround by four bunkers is a particularly difficult test. The 156-yard seventh is similar to the fourth but runs in the opposite direction, into the prevailing wind and offers an exposed elevated green guarded by four bunkers.

Jack Nicklaus regards the 146-yard 13th as a great par-3. It runs uphill to a narrow green with deep bunkers on both sides. The final par-3 is the 186-yard 16th with seven bunkers to contend with and the slope gathers any shot played to the left side into the traps.

In addition to the short holes, Muirfield demands accuracy everywhere else, especially on the 436-yard, par-4 sixth, which dog-legs to a split-level fairway. The 443-yard eighth has 12 bunkers and starts a run of three very challenging holes. The ninth (460-yards) has out of bounds all along the left and a bunker called 'Simpson's Folly' 40 yards short of the green.