On Top of the World
As stroke after stroke brings us closer to either proverbial victory or personal demise, we become intimate with this great game. We take tons and tons of golf lessons with one thing in mind: to improve our golf swing; but ultimately our true ability cultivates from our deep-seeded love for the game, bred out of growing up in it, appreciating its beauty. To learn golf one does not study books and guidelines, memorizing golf rules and techniques, but, rather, engulfs himself in the game, immerses himself in its splendor. Morning by morning spent beating the dew to the tee box.
The truth about the beauty of the game can be found in the admirable history of it. Perhaps the oldest game played today, it has been around since 1297; in the Netherlands, men hit a small, leather ball with sticks into a hole that was hundreds of meters away. A bit rudimentary, but merely the fetus of the glorious game we play today. The true history of the game, though, can be found in Scotland. Musselburgh Links, or Old Links, is the oldest known course that has been in continuous play.
Documents exist stating that people were starting to learn golf as early as 1672, making it the oldest recorded course around. It is also claimed that Mary Queen of Scots played there in 1567, but there is no substantial evidence to support this. Its location in East Lothian, near Edinburgh, causes its popularity to waver in lower numbers, considering that Scotland is not a tourist hot spot. Additionally, only consisting of nine holes provides for limited play, and thus limited interest.
However, the historical beauty of the links is woven throughout the nine holes. Originally, the course consisted of only seven holes, but two more were added in years later. Its nine are still the holes originally put in.
Every golfer that has ever played has lipped out a would-be-amazing putt and nearly thrown his club, crying out to the heavens for all his worth, wondering for the life of him, why the hole is not just one-millionth of an inch bigger. Who in the world decided on four and a quarter inch diameter, anyways, right? Is it part of the golf rules? Well, the answer to this question is a bit of random, unplanned happenstance that occurred at this fabled golf course.
The people building Musselburgh invented one of the first hole-cutters ever used, which in fact is still on display there. The hole-cutter implemented a cutter sized, of course, 4.25 inches. Not for any practical reasons, though, but just because that is the way it happened. When the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews decided to release a new issue of rules in 1891, they discussed their options. Deciding that they quite liked the size used by those folks over at Musselburgh, they made that diameter the official and required size for all holes of golf. Thank you R & A.
Further history was made here when, in 1885, a club was needed to play back to the course once the golfers had sliced their balls over onto the main road. Yet again, invention grew out of necessity: the ‘brassie,’ or a wooden club with a brass metal plate on the face, was invented at Musselburgh to handle such shots. The first metal in the golf club was utilized at Musselburgh.
The second hole, ominously known as ‘the graves,’ has quite an interesting legend behind it. The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, fought near Musselburgh in 1547, is known as Black Saturday in Scotland because of the catastrophic defeat the British dealt them. The British used naval artillery, easily destroying the Scots. The multitude of deaths that the Scots encountered presented a predicament: numerous bodies to bury. Allegedly, and because golf was frowned upon at the time, the Scottish government buried the dead bodies at the Old Links to discourage golf. Thus, the second hole is supposedly a war burial ground. I’m not sure that thought will do anything to improve your golf swing.
Over by the fourth green, you can still find Mrs. Foreman’s Inn. The old inn and shop from the earliest days. A small hatch is open at eye-level, out of which Mrs. Foreman served refreshments to many a passing golfer. The next three holes turn and follow along the coast line, with the sea lapping against the shore as you tee up. On a cool morning, early with the rising sun, the mist from the ocean in the air, the smell of salt in your nose, the taste of complete perfection in your mouth, and that club loosely clasped in your hands, you are truly on top of the world on hole number five.
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