Prominent People
“Finding golf connections among Scotland’s influential sons & daughters didn’t prove too difficult. ”
Mary, Queen of Scots had a lot to do with the establishment of golf in the 16th century. She was an avid golfer, as were most of her immediate family—Kings James IV, V, and VI.
Mary was perhaps a cheat in marriage, but a paradigm of honour on the links.
“Mary was perhaps not the most gracious of players, nor the most cautious when it came to keeping up appearances. ”
Eager to keep in favour with the royals and to mirror their pastimes, much of the Scottish nobility soon took to the game as well, making golf not merely a pastime but a marker of courtly culture and prestige.
In 1567, her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was found murdered in Edinburgh under circumstances that were both shocking and suspicious—his body discovered outside a house that had been destroyed by an explosion, though he himself 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 a 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 instead 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 in her husband’s death.
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 by crime. For Mary’s enemies, it was all the proof they needed. For her supporters, it was a reckless gamble that placed their queen in 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 the wealthiest men in the world, was not only known for his steel empire and generous charitable works, but also for his varied personal interests — golf among them. Though Carnegie’s prowess on the links was modest at best, his enthusiasm for the sport led him to incorporate it into his leisure life.
After achieving financial success and retiring from active business in 1901, Carnegie devoted much of his time to philanthropy and travel, but he also enjoyed the genteel pastimes of the wealthy.
At Skibo Castle, his luxurious Highland estate overlooking the Dornoch Firth in Sutherland, Scotland, Carnegie commissioned the creation of a private 9-hole practice golf course. This was not because he was an accomplished player — indeed, by contemporary accounts, his golf game left much to be desired — but rather because he appreciated the sport’s growing popularity and the social opportunities it afforded.
The course at Skibo allowed Carnegie and his guests, including visiting dignitaries and fellow industrialists, to enjoy a round of golf without leaving the estate’s expansive grounds. While Carnegie never became a celebrated figure in the golfing world, his inclusion of the sport in his personal retreat reflects both the leisure culture of the Edwardian elite and the game’s increasing international prestige during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
DONALD, WHERE’S YOUR TROOSERS
“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 struggled 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 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 changed 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 the Trump 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 him 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, 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, near to where the Bond 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 sidekick, Dr Watson, were super-sleuths based at 221B Baker Street, Marylebone, in the heart of London and miles from the nearest golf course. ”
In his books, there’s no mention of either of his heroes playing the game but their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, another Edinburgh denizen, was a complete addict!
Conan Doyle entered this world at the top of Leith Walk near Edinburgh’s city centre, opposite the pub that now bears his name. An all-round, avid sportsman, the young Edinburghonian played football, cricket and billiards and was even a good amateur boxer.
“Most of all, Conan Doyle loved golf! ”
In 1910, Conan Doyle became captain of Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in Sussex. The following year, his wife Jean captained the club’s ladies’ section.
Previous to this, the author had been instrumental in the establishment of Hindhead Golf Club, an hour southwest of London. In an area known as ‘Little Switzerland’ due to its clean air, Sir Arthur lent a hand in designing the course and became the club's first president (1905-07).
In 1914, during a tour of Western Canada, Conan Doyle suggested a site for the first golf course in Jasper National Park but the Canadian course architect, Stanley Thompson rejected the author’s ideas for the site by Pyramid Lake as he thought it was too difficult to work with and went on to design Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club, one of Canada’s finest tracks.
This was one piece of circumstantial evidence his detective alter-ego got wrong!
