An Astounding Brush With Golf History

Just returned from a golf trip to Scotland, and wish to share an amazing moment from an outstanding trip. Our final round was at Prestwick, birthplace of the Open Championship and a course I feel should be on any golf nut's "must play" list. It was the place where Old Tom Morris did his first course design and was also his first "Keeper of the Greens" job. It is where Young Tommy grew up and honed his skills to become an exceptional player. The course itself is what I call a "captivating cluster of quirkiness", an incredibly fun and rollicking round of golf. But this post isn't about the course, it is about what happened afterwards.

We finished our round and had some time before lunch, and donned our jackets and ties to explore the clubhouse. While looking at some memorabilia, a member came up and introduced himself as the club's archivist, and offered a tour. Of course I said yes, expecting a little historical perspective and a stroll around the clubhouse. He showed us places like the member's locker room and gave little description of some of the memorabilia including a print of St. Andrews that has been signed by every single Open Champion ever, from Willie Park in 1860 to Molinari last year (picture below).

Then our little tour became much more than we could have ever wished for. He took us upstairs to some locked rooms with archives, and opened a huge archival document safe and pulled out some amazing documents. There was the original member's weigh-in journal, where they would record the weight of each member (in stones) which was used to tweak assigned handicaps (it was believed that being heavier helped hit the ball better). We read letters where the formation of the club was proposed, and minutes of the very first meeting at the Red Lion Inn. There were minutes of club meetings in the earliest days, including discussions of starting the tournament that became the Open Championship. In the minutes they recorded the names of the first competitors and their scores, the only known written record of that 1860 Championship.

There were pay receipts signed by Old Tom, acknowledging receipt of his 9 pounds for his 13 week pay period. And then our host produced what he called "the holiest of holies", the original scorecards from those first 12 Open Championships which Prestwick hosted. Old Tom Morris struck the very first shot in Open history, and there was his card with his pencil strokes recording each shot. There was the card where Young Tommy had the first hole in one in Open history in 1868, along with his card where he had a 3 on the 575 yard opening hole, an albatross as the hole was considered to be a par 6. _And I got to hold these in my hands!_ Some of the most priceless artifacts in golf, right there in my humble (and slightly trembling) little hands.

We were told afterwards by another member that almost no visitors have every been given the opportunity, and some of the members have never seen the original documents either. It was an amazing moment, and we felt so honored to be given the privilege. Even before this visit, Prestwick was one of my favorite courses in the world, and now holds a truly special place in my golfing heart.

Great post, thx for sharing

Golfing equivalent of getting your hands on the Magna Carta- Awesome!

Wow! Fantastic story/pics. Thank you for sharing.

Wow! Just wow. Thanks for sharing!

Wow, that's truly an amazing experience!

> @sailfishchris said:

> Golfing equivalent of getting your hands on the Magna Carta- Awesome!

>

Well. I’ve seen the Magna Carta. But I think this is cooler. ?

> @dlygrisse said:

> > @sailfishchris said:

> > Golfing equivalent of getting your hands on the Magna Carta- Awesome!

> >

> Well. I’ve seen the Magna Carta. But I think this is cooler. ?

> I guess ...... Just the fact that Clam saw what could be considered some truly wonderful artifacts that are the beginnings of golf. The Magna Carta is considered by some the beginnings of modern govt. I guess it was to lofty/abstract of a comparison for some grasp. Either way, pretty cool documents to see.

>

I've seen the Magna Carta too, and seeing these Prestwick artifacts was cooler. :) Clearly the Magna Carta is far more important historically and seeing it appealed to one's sense of logic and history. But the Tom Morris artifacts went straight to emotion and passion. I'm glad to hear others share my sense of awe from experience!

A golf history hole-in-one. Amazing.

What a nice thing for the archivist to have done. A memorable trip made even more memorable.

Don’t live far from st Andrew’s so have visited a good few times, it’s a special place, especially for avid golfers, the history is amazing.

Amazing, I send a thank you your way for sharing this.

Not nearly as exclusive, but I always get a big thrill walking down the hall in the clubhouse at Pinehurst. A friend that has a buisness partner that lives in Pinhurst was helping him go through the contents of an attic in an old servents quarters/guest house and they found about 50 old rolled up documents that turned out to be drawings of golf holes signed by Donald Ross. He said they were pretty brittle, and was going to take them to a museum to find out if, or how they can be preserved. Anyway, you must have made a very good impression on the member of Prestwick. What a great experience.

Wow. Can I have your autograph :) . That's amazing. I would almost kill to be in that room. Great stuff.

Friggin UNREEEAAAAAALL

The stuff that awesome memories are made from.

What a way to cap an amazing round of golf. I played prestwick years ago, and like you, I was completely enamored with the history. To see it like you have is amazing.

A few other photos from Prestwick during my visit.

Awesome! Scheduled to play there end of July - this just exponentially ramped up the anticipation! Thanks for posting.

> @Hawkeye77 said:

> Awesome! Scheduled to play there end of July - this just exponentially ramped up the anticipation! Thanks for posting.

Are you doing the Experience with lunch in the dining room, or just playing? Either way it is an awesome place, but if you get the chance to do their fine lunch it is a wonderful way to see a bit more of the club and interact with some members. Enjoy!

> @Clambake said:

> > @Hawkeye77 said:

> > Awesome! Scheduled to play there end of July - this just exponentially ramped up the anticipation! Thanks for posting.

>

> Are you doing the Experience with lunch in the dining room, or just playing? Either way it is an awesome place, but if you get the chance to do their fine lunch it is a wonderful way to see a bit more of the club and interact with some members. Enjoy!

>

Unfortunately, with other plans we couldn't make a Wednesday or Friday work, so couldn't arrange that. That was the original idea, but then it wasn't once I found out it was limited to those days.

I may email ahead and see if the day we play or some other day we are in the area the archivist will be at the club and interested in sharing some of the course history. If not, no problem and would understand, but looks like it would be well worth the ask just in case.

That's awesome. Great story.