Our History Timeline

On 15th September 1858, Allan Robertson, playing with Mr Bethune of Blebo, completed his round of the links in 79 and became the first player to break 80. Tragically within a year Allan, a stalwart member of the Club from its early days, was dead. It was reported that ‘In the Spring, Allan had an attack of jaundice, proceeding, we believe, from an abnormal state of the liver. He never rallied, and after six months’ weakness, he gradually sunk and died on the first of September. God rest him. He was forty four years old.

Concern over the state of the links at St Andrews following the death of Allan Robertson led to Tom being headhunted by the R&A to come back to his home town ‘on the understanding that he shall have the entire charge of the golf course and be responsible for it being kept in proper order’ with a salary of £50 a year. His return was welcomed in the Fifeshire Journal 24th November 1864 ‘The green is in excellent condition, and many gentlemen are daily practising their favourite game.

A band of Gypsies arrived in St Andrews led by the Gypsy King Mr Thomas Reynolds of Norfolk . It was reported that “Their dignified behaviour, cleanliness and apparent respectability have already established them in good graces with the inhabitants of the town”. The friendly relations were cemented when the “Gypsy King” Mr Thomas Reynolds offered the gift of a timepiece to be played for by members of the St Andrews and Rose Golf Club. The winner was Mr William Ayton.

In November the Clubs first Captain passed away at his home in South Street from apoplexy at the age of 57.

The golfing world paid tribute to the memory of Tommy Morris. Several hundred people made their way to the Cathedral Cemetery where the distinctive memorial Stone was unveiled by Miss Phelps on behalf of Mrs Hunter Tommy’s only sister. Underneath the figure is the following inscription, composed by Principal Tulloch: In memory of Tommy, son of Thomas Morris, who died 25th December 1875 aged 24 years, deeply regretted by numerous friends and all golfers. He thrice in succession won the Champion Belt, and held it without rivalry, and yet without envy, his many amiable qualities being no less acknowledged than his golfing achievements. This monument has been erected by contributors from sixty golfing societies.

Alexander “Sandy” Herd became the first winner of the R&A gold Medal in May. He was born in North Street, had been a member of the club from March 1886 and was a staunch supporter of the club all his life. He got his first job in golf when he was appointed Club professional at Royal Portrush Country Antrim and he was their first professional.

The club participated in a match perhaps unique in the annals of golf when it took on a county in a match. The challenge came in the form of a letter from Monifieth Club for Forfarshire to play the St Andrews Golf Club home and away with 25 players each a match to be played in single scratch matches. To understand the task set The St Andrews Golf Club had a membership of 94 members and Forfarshire had 23 clubs and about 4000 players to choose from. The first match took place at Monifieth on 19th June and the return match 7th August. After the match both teams dined and a pleasant hour was spent. Over the two matches The St Andrews Club won by a notable score 123 holes to 30 holes.

Victoria was succeeded by her son Edward whose coronation took place in 1902 to commemorate this event it was agreed to get up a subscription list for the coronation cup. In the end a Mr Hugon provided the cup and he give it to be the property of the club. The cup was called the Hugon Cup and the first winner was Joseph Mackie.

Sum of £7.10 is set aside from the subscription fund to provide a proposed Diamond Jubilee Medal.

The Long saga of the search for a Club House came to an end. At a special meeting held on 16th February about a property coming unto the market in Golf Place, the property committee duty met on 2nd March to consider acquiring the property as a club house. At a special meeting on 14th March it was agreed to pursue and purchase and on the 20th March came the words the members had waited to hear for over fifty years “This day the property in Kirk Place was acquired by the Club at the price of £800. Thereafter the Club met in the Clubhouse. The first drink order recorded was for a whisky it was unanimously agreed that an order for a 10 gallon cask of “OH” quality should be placed with John Walker Kilmarnock.

James Robb brought honour to the Club when he won the Amateur Championship.

The last link with the very earliest days of the Club was broken with the death of Old Tom Morris on 24th May. He had wandered along to the New club (of which he was an honorary member) about four o’clock in the afternoon to chat with some friends. A few minutes after his arrival he left the club-room, and almost immediately the noise of someone falling was heard from the vicinity of the passage. Old Tom was found in an unconscious condition at the foot of the cellar stair. he was examined by Doctor Paton, who found that the base of the skull had been severely injured. At the cottage Hospital he passed away a few minutes after being admitted.

The Club came into possession of a new trophy when Mr Guy C Campbell intimated that he intended gifting the Club with a medal and Cup. The committee agreed as to the name of the medal and suggested that the Cup be called the Guy Campbell Cup. The medal was to commemorate the Coronation of George V Edward VII who died 6th may 1910. Later that same year the Club was gifted another trophy when a letter was sent from Captain Roland Haig asking the committee to accept a silver Cup.

A fourth course was opened on the Links on 2nd July 1914. Following the opening ceremony a match between the townsmen and the R&A members took place, the precursor of the annual R&A V Town match. While this happy event was taking place, the incident which led to World War I had already occurred. Inter club matches were put on hold.

The long standing inter club matches with Carnoustie and Leven Thistle were reinstated.

A new trophy came into the possession of the club in August 1920 when a letter from Mrs Kilgour of the late Mr Charles Grieve offering a present a Cup to the Club in memory of her late father to be called the “Charles Grieve Cup”.

On 8th March it is agreed as in 1910 to extend the courtesy of the Club to players in the Open Championship. Among the professionals in St Andrews for the Open was Jock Hutchison. After the final round Hutchison was in a tie on 296 with Mr R.H. Weathered, the thirty six hole play off was something of an anti climax Hutchison finishing nine shots ahead of his opponent. Hutchison who died in 1977, became an Honorary Vice-president of the St Andrews Golf Club to which he presented the Jock Hutchison Trophy in 1935.

In March this year it was decided to run a local Boys Golf Championship in connection with the St Andrews Golf Club. In June it was reported that the Boys Championship organised by St Andrews Golf Club was a very successful event and 49 boys had played. It was won by W.Auchterlonie with a brilliant 79.

In 1925 a letter was received from Mr Geo. Bayne the secretary of the St Andrews United Services Association asking the St Andrews Golf Club would accept custody of their Silver Cup and run a competition. The Cup was to be known as the United Services memorial Cup.

W.S.Thomson suggested that a Club Championship be instituted. The Secretary intimated he had had an interview with Mr Denys Kyle who informed him that his mother would like the Club to accept a Cup in Commemoration of Dr Kyle who had been an Honorary Vice President of the Club. The winner of the first Club Championship was Laurie Auchterlonie.

During 1931 the General Committee made a brave and audacious move to secure a new Clubhouse, Links House in its prestigious location overlooking the eighteenth green on the Old Course. On 4th August a letter was read from Mr Cantley intimating that the offer of £2700 for Links House had been duly accepted. On Thursday 25th August the members held an EGM to confirm the action of the General Committee in purchasing Links House.

In December 1935 a letter dated 15th November from Joch Hutchison intimating that the cup which he had promised the Club for competition was now ready for despatch. Also included was an autographed portrait of himself for the Club.

The Captain introduced Mr James Stewart and Mr John Macdonald for the presentation of the Cups which they had presented to the Club. Mr Stewarts Cup to be known as the Stewart Coronation Cup and Mr Macdonalds as the Seniors Cup.

In September that year the Club decided on a new Club Badge.

In October 1946 the club received a trophy from the family of Mr LB Ayton to commemorate the long connection of the family with the Club since its inception. In April 1947 the Ayton Trophy which had been gifted by Alex Ayton was presented to the Club

A piece of golf history came into the hands of the Club in June 1947 when the Secretary reported that Mr Jack White had very kindly offered to send us for our Trophy Case the Haskell Ball with which he had won the 1904 Open. This was the first time that the 300 strokes had been broken – 296.

The first move towards the provision of a blazer badge appears to have come in February 1951, when an application was received from Mr A L Jannetta to obtain a Badge for a Blazer, on design similar to our old lapel badge.  This was agreed to on the stipulation that a design be previously submitted to Committee for approval.  In June 1951, it was reported that a Mr A L Jannetta had now obtained the badge for his Blazer from Messrs A. Caird & Sons and it had been found in order.  Secretary was instructed to inform Messrs Caird that the design had not to be departed from.

Moves began with a view to procuring a trophy for the inter-club matches between the St Andrews, Carnoustie and Leven Thistle clubs. At the AGM in 1953 ‘This beautiful trophy presented to the club by the family of the late James Lindsay was on view. It will be competed for annually in the triangular contest between St Andrews, Leven Thistle and Carnoustie Golf Clubs. In 1953 St Andrews defeated Carnoustie, as a result the Club became the first holders of the James Lindsay Memorial Trophy. Mr Lindsay had been a golf professional from St Andrews and was the father of Mr J.L. Lindsay who had captained the University Golf Club.

The 1970s saw of a run of success in both Scottish and British Police Championships by Robert ‘Bob’ Thomson. He joined the Club in 1960 and went on to win the Club Championship five times between 1969 and 2007.

In 1974 the Ian Ritchie Memorial Trophy was presented for an annual competition between the St Andrews Golf Club and the University of St Andrews Golf Club. The inaugural match took place on 25th October 1975.

Was the year for trophies to be presented to the Club. Mrs G.C Auchterlonie supplied a trophy for the John F. Auchterlonie Memorial Trophy which would be played for annually for the Club Junior Championship. The Hamada Trophy was gifted by Zenya Hamada from Japan made from a very fine Norwegian pewter. He had gifted £100000 in 1973 to be used by the benefit of the town. The Rotary International Golf Committee presented a cup for an annual competition between the New Golf Club and ourselves. By mutual agreement with Monifieth a salver engraved with both club badges was played for firstly in 1976

1978 saw the first player inducted as an Honorary Member since Bobby Jones in 1958, that being Jack Nicklaus, a letter of acceptance was received on 4th July 1978. At the end of the second round in the Open Championship Jack went straight to the Golf Club to be presented with his scroll, Nicklaus went on to win the Open that year becoming the first member to win golfs oldest major since Jock Hutchison in 1921. In that Open John Richardson a member of the St Andrews Golf Club finished tied 16th which put his name in the headlines and a toast of the Club.

In 1984 two members Mr A. Smith and Mr I.Highley donated a Silver Salver to the Club for the winners of the mixed foursomes which was named The Musselburgh Salver.

Mr W.J.M. Lamond, a highly respected member, long serving Honorary Treasurer of the Club and later Honorary President, died suddenly on 12th January. His family decided to present a trophy to the Club in his memory, the trophy to be presented as the Club Championship Silver Section open to second class players only.

John Cairns a club member and former art teacher painted a portrait of the Clubs first Captain, David Todd to be hung in the entrance hall of the Clubhouse. The Royal Burgh of St Andrews Community Council presented a specially commissioned 150th Flag to the Club on 27th March.

The Club entered into an informal association with Akitsubara Golf Club a new Japanese Golf Club near Osaka.

2003 would be the 50th anniversary of the Lindsay Shield being introduced as a trophy for the annual match against Carnousite and Leven Thistle Golf Clubs. A special commemorative medal was struck. The Captain made a special presentation of a hand engraved glass to Alastair Johnston who had played in both the inaugural and 50th anniversary matches.

The Club committee provided two trophies. Cast in bronze, they depict two of the club’s most seminal and respected 19th century characters who helped shape the sport in St Andrews and forge the town’s indisputable reputation as the home of golf. The stunning 17 inch-high mounted portrait figures of David Todd the first Captain and Allan Robertson the first professional. The David Todd Trophy will go to the leading handicap qualifier in the “Jock Hutch” and the Allan Robertson Trophy will be awarded to the leading two-round scratch qualifier in the Club Championship. Armed initially with only with the grainy, monochrome images of the duo – photographic studio poses from the 1850s Angela Hunter the Sculptress set about her task. The end result are two of the most fantastic trophies anywhere in the world to be awarded for amateur golf.

The 175th Anniversary Committee, chaired by Past Captain John Devlin, arranged a number of special events throughout the year to celebrate the Clubs 175th Anniversary:

• 30th March – Members Anniversary Dinner Dance in the New Golf Club
• 19th May – Inter Club team Stableford on the Castle Course, made up of teams from Leven, Carnoustie, Monifieth, Stirling, Montrose, Crail, The R&A, New, St Regulus and St Rule Golf Clubs making up half of the field, with the other half being St Andrews Golf Club members.
• 24th June & 5th August – The Club members played an extra day on the Old Course in an individual strokeplay event, on a Sunday when the course is normally closed, adjacent to our Spring and Autumn meetings the day before.
• 26th June – The Seniors over 60’s took on the Strathtyrum in an individual Stableford.
• 28th June – A presentation “History of The St Andrews Golf Club – St Andrews For Ever” took place in the British Golf Museum.
• 11th July – A local Clubs Junior event took place on the Jubilee Course
• 14th July – A local Clubs Shotgun Texas Scramble competition on the Jubilee Course, with The St Andrews Golf Club members being joined by members from The R&A, New, St Rule, St Regulus, St Andrews Thistle and Leuchars Golf Clubs plus the Links Management Committee and Links Trust.
• 22nd September – The last golf event was a Member/Guest four-ball better ball competition on the Old Course
• N.B. All participants throughout the year playing in the inter club team events received a commemorative ball marker and all those playing in the individual events received a commemorative bag tag.
• 23rd September – A members photograph was taken on the steps adjacent to The R&A

The final act of the celebrations was the commissioning of the book “St Andrews For Ever – A History of The St Andrews Golf Club 1843 – 2018”, put together by Keith McCartney, Mike Ciesla and Chic Harper, as shown in the adjacent photograph.