Golfing News & Blog Articles

We may tee up our ball in front of the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse for one of the least calming tee shots in existence. In front of stretches a vast flat plain, and unless we slice the ball outrageously on to the sea beach, no harm can befall us. At the same time we had much better hit a good shot, because the Swilcan burn guards the green, and we want to carry it and get a four. It is an inglorious little stream enough: we could easily jump over it were were not afraid of looking foolish if we fell in, and yet it catches an amazing number of balls. BERNARD DARWIN

From Gullane Hill to the Luffness Clubhouse is one huge stretch of turf, and such turf! The finest, smoothest and most delicate that was ever seen. It has been said of various people—I do not know who was the original subject—that nobody could be so wise as so-and-so looked; likewise, it might be said that no greens could be so good s the Gullane and Luffness greens look. Never they are are very good indeed, and so is the golf. BERNARD DARWIN

Gullane Hill, untouched by the invading ploughshare, has left stretches of the most beautiful golfing country in the world. Turf of exceptional closeness and elasticity, natural sand bunkers of endless shape and variety, sierras of benty dunes and saharas of sand alternating with oases of verdure make the place a veritable golfers paradise. Here surely, if anywhere, must have been the home of our first golfing parents, for nowhere else in the world is the golfing prospect so expansive and enticing. Nowhere does the pursuit of the game seem so inevitable. JOYCE WETHERED

Gullane Hill, untouched by the invading ploughshare, has left stretches of the most beautiful golfing country in the world. Turf of exceptional closeness and elasticity, natural sand bunkers of endless shape and variety, sierras of benty dunes and saharas of sand alternating with oases of verdure make the place a veritable golfers paradise. Here surely, if anywhere, must have been the home of our first golfing parents, for nowhere else in the world is the golfing prospect so expansive and enticing. Nowhere does the pursuit of the game seem so inevitable. JOYCE WETHERED

Gullane Hill, untouched by the invading ploughshare, has left stretches of the most beautiful golfing country in the world. Turf of exceptional closeness and elasticity, natural sand bunkers of endless shape and variety, sierras of benty dunes and saharas of sand alternating with oases of verdure make the place a veritable golfers paradise. Here surely, if anywhere, must have been the home of our first golfing parents, for nowhere else in the world is the golfing prospect so expansive and enticing. Nowhere does the pursuit of the game seem so inevitable. JOYCE WETHERED

From Gullane Hill to the Luffness Clubhouse is one huge stretch of turf, and such turf! The finest, smoothest and most delicate that was ever seen. It has been said of various people—I do not know who was the original subject—that nobody could be so wise as so-and-so looked; likewise, it might be said that no greens could be so good s the Gullane and Luffness greens look. Never they are are very good indeed, and so is the golf. BERNARD DARWIN

From Gullane Hill to the Luffness Clubhouse is one huge stretch of turf, and such turf! The finest, smoothest and most delicate that was ever seen. It has been said of various people—I do not know who was the original subject—that nobody could be so wise as so-and-so looked; likewise, it might be said that no greens could be so good s the Gullane and Luffness greens look. Never they are are very good indeed, and so is the golf. BERNARD DARWIN

Take a narrow tableland, tilt it a little from right to left, dig a deep bunker on the front side, approach it diagonally, and you have the Redan. At North Berwick, of course, all these things were done in the beginning by nature. The only original thing that the greenkeeper did was to place the tee so that the shot had to be played cornerwise, so to speak, instead of directly down the tableland. C.B. MACDONALD

Take a narrow tableland, tilt it a little from right to left, dig a deep bunker on the front side, approach it diagonally, and you have the Redan. At North Berwick, of course, all these things were done in the beginning by nature. The only original thing that the greenkeeper did was to place the tee so that the shot had to be played cornerwise, so to speak, instead of directly down the tableland. C.B. MACDONALD

All the great mass of golfing history and tradition—principally, perhaps, the latter—clusters lovingly within sight of the grey towers of the old University town; and, to most, the very name St Andrews calls to mind not a saint nor a city, nor a castle nor a University, but a beautiful stretch of green links with a little burn, which traps golf balls, and bunkers artfully planted to try the golfer’s soul. HORACE HUTCHINSON (1890)

This is the origin of the game, golf in its purest form, and it’s still played that way on a course seemingly untouched by time. Every time I play here, it reminds me that this is still a game. ARNOLD PALMER on the Old Course