Long time, no tee

Dumbarnie Links, located on the east coast of Scotland, near St Andrews, only opened for play this decade. However, reports of golf meetings at the venue dating back almost 200 years have recently been unearthed.

Dumbarnie Links, a premier daily-fee links course located in Fife along the north shore of the Firth of Forth, which opened for play in 2020, has a surprisingly rich golf history dating back to at least 1837. The course, crafted by former Ryder Cup player Clive Clark, is built upon land that is part of the historic Balcarres Estate and it is 345 acres of genuine sandy links.

Details have been recently unearthed that members of Hercules Golfing Club played next to what is now one of Europe’s newest golf courses in that year, and the club, by the end of 1837, had enrolled 47 members, comprising almost all of the landed proprietors in the neighbourhood. Often the meetings would commence with rifle shootings and conclude with formal dinners. Meetings would take place two to three times per year with the purpose of the club being to embrace a great variety of games and exercise.

The club also joined forces with the East of Fife Gymnastic Club to take part in athletics, rifle shooting and golf, in events that were called the ‘Colinsburgh Games and Golf Meeting’.

In one report of this meeting from 1845 it states that there was official prize money of up to ‘200 sterling’ (the equivalent of more than £30,000 today) for the ‘running high leap’. It is also reported that up to 8,000 people assembled at Dumbarnie Links for the Hume Medal golf competition, and refreshment tents and live music was offered. A media report described the scenes as “imposing and happy”.

The last record of the games is from 1870.

Commenting on the club’s heritage, Dumbarnie Links general manager David Scott said: “While we are a new golf course, it is most interesting to learn that just a stone’s throw away from the land where Clive Clark’s design is blossoming, was once a fine golf course where notable gentlemen of their day enjoyed many matches. We are proud of the club’s rich history and felt it was important to tell the Dumbarnie story.”

Today Dumbarnie Links is rated one of the best new courses in the world.  It hosted the Scottish Women’s Open just one year after opening, in 2021, and was named ‘World’s Best New Golf Course’ at the World Golf Awards 2021. It was also named Scotland’s ‘Best Golf Experience’ and the ‘Best Golf Course (£151 and over)’ at The Scottish Golf Tourism Awards 2022.