The Early Years
Golf was first recorded at Montrose in 1562 when a 6-year-old schoolboy called James Melville recorded in his diary that his schoolmaster, the Reverend William Gray, was teaching him how to play many different sports, including archery and “how to use the glubb for goff”.
If a 6-year-old schoolboy was being taught golf in 1562 one can only assume the game was played in Montrose long before then, although there are no records to confirm this. Nevertheless, this still makes Montrose the 5th Oldest Golf Course in the world and one of the earliest and most important courses in the history of the Royal & Ancient game.
On 1st January 1810, four businessmen, led by founder Captain George Bertram, formed The Montrose Golf Club. This makes our Club the 9th Oldest Golf Club in the world.
The Montrose Golf Club was soon joined by the very exclusive Keithock Club, formed of members of the local aristocracy, some miles away near Brechin, but playing all their golf competitions on Montrose Links. In 1823, two members of the Keithock Club, Lord Kennedy of Aberdeen and James Cruickshank of the local Langley Park Estate, after wining and dining, challenged each other as to who was the better golfer. Instead of waiting until next day, they insisted on playing a shoot-out there and then in the dark. Records show they played three holes, recruiting local youths to line the fairways with lanterns and place a lantern on each flag stick. Whilst the winner of the shoot-out is not recorded, what we do know is that the wager was £500 per hole, the equivalent of £30,000 today!
Before becoming unified by the R&A & USGA in 1890, the Rules of Golf were formulated at some early Scottish Golf Clubs, including Montrose (1830). A copy of the 1830 rules is displayed in our History Room and still form the basis of golf rules today.