Prominent People
“Finding golf connections among Scotland’s more illustrious sons and daughters is not too difficult. ”
Mary, Queen of Scots was an avid player as was her immediate family, King James IV, V, and VI. Andrew Carnegie, the wealthiest man in the world at the time, tried his hand at the game, not very successfully so we are told and had a 9-hole practice course built beside his Scottish retreat, Skibo Castle.
DONALD TRUMP
“Even the first man of the US has his Scottish roots and love of the game. ”
The ‘Donald’s’ mother was born near Stornoway on the Western Isles. At 18 in 1930, Mary Anne MacLeod emigrated to New York to escape the economic hardships of her Hebridean home. Six years later, she married one of the most successful property tycoons in the Big Apple, Frederick Trump.
Reflecting on his native roots and his favourite sport, President Trump invested time and money into his mother’s homeland. He restored Turnberry to the magnificent facility it should always have been and built one of the finest facilities at Trump International, Aberdeen. You can read my interview with him here.
SIR SEAN CONNERY
The late, great Sir Sean Connery grew up in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh. There’s a plaque on a modern building commemorating the site of the actor’s childhood tenement building at 176 Fountainbridge, which was demolished in the 1960s.
Before his rise to the cream of the Silver Screen, Sean’s teenage years were focused on delivering milk and morning rolls to the people of Fountainbridge. On a nostalgic visit to the neighbourhood, Sean impressed the taxi driver by naming all of the streets. “How do you know this?” the Google-oriented driver asked, eyeing his fare’s affluent attire. “I used to be a milkman here!” Sean told him. “Oh!” said the curious cabby. “What do you do now?”
Connery was known for having a rambunctious temper. Visiting the Aloha course near Marbella, Spain, I partnered with a chap who had often played with ‘Big Tam’ as Connery was sometimes known. He recounted that by the 18th hole, Connery was so disgusted with his performance, he threw his golf bag into a pond. On stepping back into the clubhouse, he realised he’d left his car keys in the bag, so he strode manfully back, fished the bag out, retrieved his keys and slung it back into the water.
Sir Sean was a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and regularly played the Old Course. His ashes were scattered on a Scottish golf course - but not St Andrews! Bruntsfield Links, near to where he grew up, is where Bond found his permanent greenside pasture.
LOAD OF BALLS
I lived in Fountainbridge for a spell, enjoying regular walks along the Union Canal. I was intrigued to learn that an old building still standing between the waterway and Dundee Street was once the headquarters of ‘North British Rubber Products’, one of the city’s largest employers that made everything from rubber boots (to avoid ‘trench-foot’ during WWI), tyres, golf bags and balls.
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
“Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Dr Watson, were the super-sleuths based at 221B Baker Street, Marylebone. ”
In his books, there’s no mention of either of his heroes playing golf, but their creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, another Edinburgh denizen, was an addict of the game!
Conan Doyle entered this world at the top of Leith Walk near Edinburgh’s city centre, opposite the pub that now bears his name. An avid sportsman, the young Edinburghonian played football, cricket and billiards and was even an amateur boxer.
Most of all, he loved to golf! In 1910, Conan Doyle became captain of Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in Sussex. The following year, his wife Jean captained the club’s ladies’ section.
Previous to this, he had been instrumental in the establishment of Hindhead Golf Club, an hour southwest of London. In an area known as ‘Little Switzerland’ due to its clean air, Sir Arthur lent a hand in designing the course and became the club's first president (1905-07).
In 1914, during a tour of Western Canada, Conan Doyle suggested a site for the first golf course in Jasper National Park but the Canadian course architect, Stanley Thompson rejected the author’s ideas for the site by Pyramid Lake as he thought it was too difficult to work with and went on to design Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club, one of Canada’s finest tracks. Maybe this was one clue his detective alter ego got wrong.
