Golf in Scotland

A Swing Through Time: Golf in Scotland 1457-1744. The origins of golf are a matter of mystery and controversy. Little, if any, evidence of the game in the form of golfing equipment or recognisable images survives from earlier than the mid 18th century. And so, for the 'Dark Ages' of golf, before the formalisation of the game with the establishment of the first Golfing Societies and Clubs, it is to written sources that we must turn for reliable information. This book takes a close look at the earliest records of the game in Scotland, from the 1457 Act of Parliament banning golf to the first printed book devoted entirely to the game - Thomas Mathison's poem "The Goff", published in 1743. The original documents and books, many from the collections of the National Library of Scotland, are reproduced, while transcripts, commentary and interpretation of the sources illuminate not only the early days of golf, but also the society which gave rise to the world's most internationally popular game. A Swing Through Time: Golf in Scotland 1457-1744.

Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris

The tale of Tom Morris, winner of golf's first Open Championship in Scotland in 1860, and his son, Tommy Morris, who won the Open three years in a row, is not only one of sport's great stories but also a compelling saga of near-Homeric proportions. Like Mark Frost in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2002), about Francis Quimet's unlikely triumph in the 1913 U.S. Open, Cook tells the story of Tom Sr and Tom Jr. with his eyes on multiple balls: golf history, personal drama, and the larger societal concerns that the young game reflected. The son of a weaver and a maid, Tom Morris went from apprentice golf-ball maker to the Grand Old Man of St. Andrews, the home of golf. Along the way, he won the Open Championship four times and fathered a son, known as Young Tom, who broke all his father's records yet died in his twenties at the height of his fame and only a few months after his wife died in childbirth. Golf history claims Young Tom died of a broken heart, and while Cook sets the record straight on that point, the heartbreaking essence of the story will not be reduced to pulmonary embolisms. Beyond telling a tragic story of supreme athletic accomplishment and premature death, Cook shows how golf, though quickly claimed by the aristocracy, had its roots in the working classes. Golf history at its absolute best. Tommy's Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son.

A Season in Dornoch

In 1977, Lorne Rubenstein, an avid golfer, first travelled to Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands. Young and adrift in life, he sought to uncover an authentic sense of self and turned instinctively to a place where his beloved game was purest. The experience had a profound effect on Rubenstein. Twenty-three years later, in 2000, now an established golf writer, Rubenstein returned to Dornoch to spend an entire summer. He rented a flat with his wife close to the Royal Dornoch Golf Course and set out to explore the area on many levels. Rubenstein writes about the melancholy history of the Highland Clearances, which left stunningly beautiful landscape sparsely populated to this day. He writes about the friendly and sometimes eccentric people who love their town, their golf and their single malt whiskey and delight in sharing them with visitors whom they recognize as kindred spirits, but most of all he writes about a summer lived around golf, in a community where golf is king and the golf course is part of the common lands where townspeople stroll of an evening. Playing here, Rubenstein gradually begins to relax, to return to golf as play, as opposed to a game of analysis and effort. A Season in Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands (Mainstream sport).

Secret History of Golf in Scotland

This story about golf takes place in 16th Century Scotland and is inspired by the earliest historical records about "the greatest game". In it Ian MacPherson, a dirt poor farmer and so-so golfer, decides he must win his town's annual golfing tournament or face financial ruin. Galbraith, the Scottish Laird who rules the area, has financial problems of his own and also has designs on the tournament. He hires a golfing "ringer" from Edinburgh, Black Bart, to try and steal the tournament from the locals. Along with fascinating descriptions about early golf, there is plenty of earthy humor, cruel deception and local Scottish color. The author is a descendant of the MacPherson clan and swears at least some of what happens is fact, passed down to him from family stories. Secret History of Golf in Scotland, The.

In Search of Burningbush

In Search of Burningbush is a beautifully written true-life story of an unlikely friendship between two men with nothing in common except a consuming and abiding passion for the links. In Search of Burningbush.

A Wee Nip at the 19th Hole

A thoroughly delightful and spirited romp through the subculture of St. Andrews's caddies, it fondly chronicles how toting bags at the game's hallowed birthplace grew from the province of scoundrels, some of whom literally fell down drunk on the job, to a corps of thoroughly knowledgeable professionals. Written with flair and obvious affection by the links' current caddie manager, Richard Mackenzie, A Wee Nip at the 19th Hole is both a history and reminiscence and, despite its wealth of photos and lore, it is a volume easily light enough to shoulder on your own. A Wee Nip at the 19th Hole.

Pilgrimage to the Courses of Scotland

The joy of heather, gorse and salt air blowing down the sand dunes. From the isolated Macharanish on the Kintyre penisula of Western Scotland to the blue collar resort courses of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Blasted Heaths and Blessed Green: A Golfer's Pilgrimage to the Courses of Scotland.

Scottish Golf Links

Along the rugged eastern coast, from St. Andrews up to Montrose and Cruden Bay and Royal Aberdeen, "from heather, whin and sand, to points north," to Nairn and Dornoch. Then to the west coast, to Prestwick and Troon. It's not only the courses themselves that Lowe illuminates along the way, but the winding roads, the ancient villages, the farms and whiskey distilleries, and the people who call this land their home as well. Scottish Golf Links: A Photographer's Journey.

The Finest Golf Courses of Scotland

The greatest links and in land courses of Scotland and Ireland, known for their character, sparkle, fascination, challenge, and history. Filled with more original photography than anyone has seen in eons, and written in the wonderfully impassioned voice of a legendary golf raconteur, the book provides not only on the course secrets but also off the course ideas for the full luxury golf holiday experience, in person or armchair. Where Golf Is Great: The Finest Courses of Scotland and Ireland.