Between 1832 and 1892, Musselburgh stood at the heart of the golfing world. Five major golf clubs operated there, supported by skilled club and ball makers and caddies. While the game’s early elements were rooted in Musselburgh, the codified version emerged in Leith in 1744, later refined when The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers relocated […]

Stephen Proctor has served as a senior editor at The Baltimore Sun, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Houston Chronicle. He is an avid golfer and has spent the past decade studying the history of the royal and ancient game. He is the author of Monarch of the Green (Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book […]

Elmer Nahum, the author of Practical Clubmaking: A Guide to Long Nose Era Clubmaking, is a retired interventional radiologist who has a passion for traditional woodworking and golf history. Playing Bobby Jones’ home course of East Lake in the 1980s, which served as his college team’s home course, spawned Elm’s interest in golf history. Over […]

Roger McStravick is a golf historian, writer, editor and speaker, specializing in St Andrews, Old Tom Morris, and golfing legends from 1800 to 1920. His book, St Andrews-In The Footsteps of Old Tom Morris won the USGA’s Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 2015. The author’s book, St Andrews – The Road War Papers won […]

Wisonsinites are known for their kindness, right? Think Bon Iver, Steve Stricker, Gene Wilder—you get the idea. Well, Clark Willard, now the head golf professional at The Lido Golf Club, part of Sand Valley Resort in Wisconsin, has that positive vibe. Though not native, it makes him a great fit for the State. Willard found […]

Gillian Kirkwood possesses a wealth of golf knowledge and business experience and is a past Ladies Golf Union (LGU) Councilor and past Chairman of the Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association. She is also a highly experienced rules official and, reflecting her keen interest in the history of ladies’ golf, chaired the Board of Trustees of the […]

Researcher, author, and historian, Michael B. Morrison, published an exhaustive account in 2022 of the rise of golf in England which is a must-read for those who wish to better understand the origins of the modern game. In this episode, we speak about the process Morrison subjected himself to— over many years— in order to assemble the […]

Since 2013, the Happy Hickory Golfers in Japan have been a force in hickory golf. We’ve seen them represented with great joy at the World Hickory Open, for instance, and marvel at their event photos from countless outings in their home country. Alex Bruce— a native Scotsman— is one of the founders of the group, and a […]

One of the great things about national and international hickory golf events, is that one never knows whom one might meet along the way. In 2021, I flew out to Wisconsin to play in the Wisconsin Hickory Golfers Whistling Straights Hickory Challenge, as I had always wanted to see the course. Well, one of the […]

When I contacted Jim McCormick to see if he would allow me to view his heralded private collection in Chicago, he was explicit. “Budget three hours for the tour,” he warned, “four to five, tops.” I’m embarrassed to say that I stayed seven-and-one-half hours— taking him away from his charming wife, Laura, for far too […]