350 years of Musselburgh Golf
This year Musselburgh Old Course at Musselburgh Links celebrates its 350th anniversary. The course is the oldest continually played course in the world.
To mark the occasion, the archive service have curated a small exhibition. This is available to view in the museum foyer at the JGC museum but we’re also sharing it here.
History
Play at the links was first documented in the account book of Sir John Foulis where he records on March 2nd 1672 that he “lost at Golfe at Musselburgh with Gosfoord, Lyon etc £3 5s 0d”
There is a myth that Mary Queen of Scots played the course but any real evidence has been lost to the mists of time so a myth it must remain.
DID YOU KNOW?
Musselburgh Old Course is the home of the first women’s golf competition
In the Statistical Account of 1791 the Rev Carlyle reports on fishwives playing golf and football. However it was a few years later that the first competition was recorded.
In 1811 The Royal Musselburgh Club (or the Musselburgh Golf Club as they were known then) put up a prize of a new creel and skull (fishing basket) and silk handkerchiefs to the winner of the ladies competition held at the Links.
The Golden Age
The course experienced something of a golden age in the second half of the 19th century.
Many of the most prominent clubs in the game made their home at the Links.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club, Bruntsfield Links & the Royal Burgess all had clubhouses that lined the course. No 6 Balcarres Road (now a nursery) was home to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.
The archives hold papers and correspondence relating to the building of this clubhouse including a copy of the rule book.
Number 6 Balcarres Road
DID YOU KNOW?
Musselburgh Old Course has hosted The Open 6 times
Between 1874 – 1889 the course welcomed golfers to contest for The Open on the Links.
In the six contests held at the course, the claret jug was won four times by Musselburgh men – Mungo Park, Bob Ferguson, David Brown and Willie Park Jnr.
The Course
Initially the course was just seven holes. An eighth was added in 1832 and the ninth and final hole in 1870. When The Open was played they had to go round twice.
A famous feature of the Course was Mrs Forman’s. The pub, situated beyond the third green, was particularly popular in the days when you cold stop for a ‘refreshment’ mid round and you would be served through a hole in the wall!
DID YOU KNOW?
The standard size for a golf course hole was initiated in Musselburgh
A standard hole on a golf course measures 4.25 inches in diameter. In 1829 the Royal Musselburgh golf club ordered a hole cutting tool to make creating holes easier.
Why 4.25 inches? It may have been as arbitrary as the maker using spare pipe to make the cutter which just so happened to measure 4.25 inches. When the R & A incorporated the measurement into the rules in 1891 it was adopted on courses the world over.
The original cutter is on display at The Royal Musselburgh Club.
As clubs moved away from the Links at the end of the 19th century, the Town Council took over the running of the Course.
At this point the links suffered from a lack of attention. Grass was allowed to grow, bunkers went untended and football and cricket were played on the course. These bye-laws for the links published in 1948 include the provision that no other game but golf be played on the course.
There were also a number of plans across the history of the Course to expand it from 9 holes. Many of these ultimately failed attempts are detailed in the council minutes.
Happily the Old Course has been restored to it’s former glory. Managed nowadays by Enjoy Leisure on behalf of East Lothian Council, the course is home to two clubs – Musselburgh Old Course Golf Club and Musselburgh Links Ladies Golf Club.
SOURCE: John Gray Centre