The Birthplace of Golf - Scotland's Greens

Special thanks to Michael Anderson, Head Coach of Radford Men's Tennis for these Scotland course photos and for much of the information in this article.

Click on the images to view the larger photos.

Golf, or "gowf" was born In 15th century Scotland and around 1744, the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, which was established in Edinburgh, then codified the first rules of play. And the world has never been the same since. Golf has since grown to be one of the most popular sports in the world; played in countries as far flung as Mexico and Ireland, South Africa and China. And, of course, Scotland. Today Scotland still has some of the most highly rated and most beautiful courses in the world, especially the Old Course at St. Andrews.

St. Andrews is known as the birthplace of golf (and many would argue the best course, period) - the game was invented and evolved at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland.

To get an idea of how amazing this course is, listen to what the experts have to say – Jack Nicklaus said about St. Andrews, "I fell in love with it the first day I played it. There's just no other golf course that is even remotely close." And Tiger Woods lauded, “Without a doubt I like it the best of all the Open venues. It's my favorite course in the world." With opinions like these from two top golfers, you can see why this one is not to be missed.

While golf may have been invented at St. Andrews, there is evidence that Musselburgh Links is the oldest course. Documentation shows that golf was played on the Musselburgh greens as early as 1672, and it is even thought that Mary, Queen of Scots played on them in 1567. The Old Course originally consisted of seven holes. Today, it is a nine course hole that is actually inside a racetrack!

It is no surprise that Scotland hosts some of the finest golf courses in the world. One of the finest of the finest is Cruden Bay. Some say that golf was played on Cruden Bay as early as 1791.

Today the course offers many unique challenges to golfers and is set against a gorgeous panoramic view, it was even voted as number 52 in the world by “Golf Magazine.” The course is actually set over the North Sea pipeline – so while you play over their contoured greens, much of the U.K.’s crude oil supply is running beneath you!

Peterhead is a nice course where you can avoid tourists and meet with some of the locals. Peterhead is the "whitefish" capital of the UK, so it is a fishing village as well as the site of Scotland's version of Alcatraz!!

Mike Anderson comments that it is "a great course that seldom sees tourists..very friendly folks and a true windy north sea course... it's in the northern part of Scotland... and although the locals say they play year round..we doubted them!"

If you want a spectacular view of the Scottish highlands, then make a stop at Kingussie. Here you can play against the backdrop of the Cairngorm Mountains amongst the sounds of chirping birds, rolling rivers, and rustling leaves on this non-link course. If you take the road from Peterhead to Kingussie, you'll get to see the "Whiskey Trail' which is dotted with all of the Scotch whiskey distilleries.

Another great course, especially for tourists, is the Stromness Golf Club located in Orkney. It is not as challenging as many other top golf courses, and it is not even as attractive as most, but is it located just minutes away from the 5,000 year old burial mound Maes Howe. You could make a day of historical sightseeing and golfing all in the same area.