Golf People!
“Finding golf connections among Scotland’s influential sons & daughters doesn’t prove too difficult. ”
Mary, Queen of Scots played a notable role in the rise of golf during the 16th century. An enthusiastic player herself, she was part of a royal line with a clear passion for the game. Her father, James IV of Scotland, her son, James V of Scotland, and her grandson, James VI and I, were all keen golfers. Golf, you could say, was in the royal blood!
Mary was perhaps a cheat in marriage, but a paradigm of honour on the links.
Scottish nobility took to the game as well, making golf not merely a pastime but a marker of culture and aristocratic prestige.
In 1567, Mary’s first husband, Lord Darnley, was found murdered under circumstances that were both shocking and suspicious. His body was discovered outside a house that had been destroyed by an explosion, though, apart from being very dead, he bore no injuries from the blast.
Scotland buzzed with speculation, and whispers spread through court and kirk alike that the young queen may have been complicit in the plot to rid herself of her troublesome spouse.
Rather than retreat into mourning, Mary appeared in public only days later, striding confidently across the links at Musselburgh. What might have been, in another context, an innocuous pastime became a gesture laden with scandal. To her critics, it confirmed what they already suspected: that Mary lacked both the propriety expected of a grieving widow and perhaps even the innocence she claimed as to her husband’s demise.
Barely three months later, she scandalised Scotland once more by marrying James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell—the very man most widely suspected of orchestrating Darnley’s murder. The hasty union looked to many less like romance than conspiracy, a brazen declaration that the pair were bound not only by marriage but in crime. For Mary’s enemies, it was all the proof they needed. For her supporters, it was a reckless gamble that placed their queen into ever-deepening peril.
ANDREW CARNEGIE
Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist, rose from the most humble of beginnings in Dunfermline, Fife to become, at the time, the wealthiest man in the world. He was not only known for his steel empire and generous charitable works, but also for his varied personal interests — golf included.
At Skibo Castle, his luxurious Highland estate overlooking the Dornoch Firth in Sutherland, Scotland, Carnegie commissioned the creation of a private 9-hole practice course. This was not because he was an avid player — indeed, by contemporary accounts, his golf game left much to be desired — but because he appreciated the sport’s growing popularity and the social opportunities it afforded.
The course at Skibo allowed Carnegie and his guests to enjoy a round of golf without leaving the estate’s expansive grounds.
DONALD, WHERE’S YOUR TROUSERS?
“The first man of the US has Scottish roots and a deep love of the game. ”
Donald Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in the windswept village of Tong, near the town of Stornoway on the Western Isles. Life in the Hebrides during the early 20th century was marked by hardship—crofter families struggling against poor harvests, limited opportunities, and the lingering effects of the First World War.
“Like many young Scots seeking a better life, Mary Anne left her island home in 1930, at the tender age of 18, emigrating to the city of New York. ”
There she joined thousands of other Scots who had crossed the Atlantic in search of work, stability, and the promise of the American dream. Six years later, her fortunes shifted dramatically when she married Frederick Trump, one of the city’s most successful property tycoons.
Perhaps reflecting both on his mother’s humble Hebridean roots and his own deep passion for golf, President Trump would later invest heavily in Scotland, the land of her birth. His most celebrated project was the restoration of Turnberry, transforming the historic links into the magnificent world-class facility many believed it was always destined to be.
In addition, he established Trump International Golf Links just north of Aberdeen, offering two championship courses—the Trump Old and New—both of which now stand among the finest golfing experiences in Scotland. For Trump, the ventures were more than mere business enterprises; they were also, at least in part, a statement of personal heritage, tying his global brand back to the rugged, windswept landscapes from which his mother once departed in search of a better future.
You can read our full interview with the US President here.
SIR SEAN CONNERY
Before becoming the cream of the Silver Screen, Sean’s teenage years were focused on delivering milk and morning rolls to the good people of Fountainbridge, a working-class district of Edinburgh where he grew up. There’s a plaque on a modern building commemorating the site of the actor’s childhood at 176 Fountainbridge, which was demolished in the 1960s. Each dawn found him pushing his barrow through the cobbled streets, long before the world would come to know him as James Bond.
On a nostalgic visit to his old neighbourhood, Sean impressed the taxi driver by naming all the streets. “How do you know this?” the Google-oriented driver asked, eyeing his fare’s affluent attire. “I used to be a milkman here!” Sean told him. “Oh!” said the curious cabby, clearly from another continent. “What do you do now?”
Connery was known for his rambunctious temper. Visiting the Aloha course near Marbella, Spain, I once partnered with a chap who had played with ‘Big Tam’, as Connery was sometimes known. He recounted that by the 18th hole, Connery was so disgusted with his performance that he threw his golf bag into a pond. Stepping back into the clubhouse, he realised he’d left his car keys in the bag, so strode manfully back, fished out the bag, retrieved his keys and slung the hapless golf bag back into the water.
Sir Sean was a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and regularly played the Old Course. We are told his ashes were scattered on a Scottish golf course - but not St Andrews! Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh, near to where the actor grew up, is more likely where Sean found his permanent rest.
A LOAD OF BALLS
I lived in Fountainbridge for a short spell, enjoying regular walks along the Union Canal. I was intrigued to learn that an old building still standing between the waterway and Dundee Street was once the headquarters of ‘North British Rubber Products’, one of the city’s largest employers that made everything from rubber boots, as a protection against ‘trench-foot’ during WWI to tyres, golf bags and balls.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“Sherlock Holmes and his loyal companion Dr Watson were master detectives at 221B Baker Street, in the heart of London, miles from the nearest fairway.”
Golf barely earns a passing glance in the Holmes canon. There is no record of either sleuth ever swinging a club. Yet their creator, Edinburgh’s own Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was utterly captivated by the game.
Born at the top of Leith Walk, near Edinburgh’s city centre opposite the site where a pub now proudly bears his name, Conan Doyle grew up an energetic and accomplished sportsman. Football, cricket and billiards all featured in his repertoire, and he was even a capable amateur boxer. But above all, golf held his heart.
By 1910, Conan Doyle’s passion had carried him to the captaincy of Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in Sussex. The following year, his wife Jean followed suit as captain of the club’s ladies’ section — a formidable partnership both on and off the course.
Earlier still, the author had played a pivotal role in establishing Hindhead Golf Club, situated in the picturesque Surrey countryside known as “Little Switzerland” for its bracing air and rolling terrain. Conan Doyle not only assisted with aspects of the course design but also served as the club’s first president from 1905 to 1907.
His enthusiasm for golf travelled far beyond Britain. During a 1914 tour of Western Canada, he proposed a site for what would become the first golf course in Jasper National Park. The renowned Canadian architect Stanley Thompson, however, rejected Doyle’s suggested location near Pyramid Lake, deeming it impractical. Thompson instead went on to design Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club, now regarded as one of Canada’s finest courses.
It seems that on this occasion, the master of deduction might have misread the clues.
