Prominent People
“Finding golf connections among Scotland’s influential sons and daughters doesn’t prove too difficult. ”
Mary, Queen of Scots was an avid golfer as was most of her immediate family, King James IV, V, and VI. Eager to keep in with the royals, most of the Scottish nobility took to the game. Mary was perhaps not the most gracious of players. In 1567, her husband, Lord Darnley was murdered and days later Mary was seen striding the links at Musselburgh, further fuelling rumours that she’d had her husband assassinated. A few months later, she married the Earl of Bothwell, chief suspect in her husband’s demise. .
Mary was perhaps a cheat in marriage, but a paradigm of honour on the links.
ANDREW CARNEGIE
Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist who rose from humble beginnings in Dunfermline to become one of the wealthiest men in history, 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 ROOTS
“The first man of the US has his Scottish roots and love of the game. ”
Donald Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born near the town of Stornoway on the Western Isles and in 1930, at the tender age of 18, emigrated to New York to escape the economic hardships of her Hebridean home. Six years later, she married one of the most successful property tycoons in the Big Apple, Frederick Trump.
Perhaps reflecting on his roots and his favourite sport, President Trump has invested plenty of time and money into his mother’s homeland. He has restored Turnberry to the magnificent facility it should always have been and now offers two of the finest courses, Trump Old & New at Trump International, just north of Aberdeen.
You can read our full interview with him here.
SIR SEAN CONNERY
The late, great Sir Sean Connery grew up in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh. There’s a plaque on a modern building commemorating the site of the actor’s childhood tenement building at 176 Fountainbridge, which was demolished in the 1960s.
Before becoming the cream of the Silver Screen, Sean’s teenage years were focused on delivering milk and morning rolls to the people of Fountainbridge.
On a nostalgic visit to the 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. “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 golf with ‘Big Tam’, as Connery was sometimes known. He recounted that by the 18th hole, Connery was so disgusted with his personal 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 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!
