carnoustie

If St Andrews gave golf a Home then Carnoustie gave the game its first Ambassadors. As the game of Golf became ever more popular and spread out from Scotland, a small army of golfers left the town of Carnoustie to seek golfing fame in many far-flung lands.

A great number went to the United States, taking their talent as Players, Club makers, and Golf Course Designers with them. These sons of Carnoustie were missionaries spreading the Golfing Gospel to those willing to embrace the faith.
Allan Robertson is credited with the layout of the first formal holes (10) at Carnoustie around 150 years ago although with little in the way of recorded history it is known that Golf was played as early as the sixteenth century, and local parish records confirm the game existed there in 1560.

The original 10 hole course was subsequently extended to 18 holes by Old Tom Morris in 1867. James Braid, five times Open Championship winner, was called in to revamp Carnoustie in 1926. Five years later Tommy Armour a Scot from Edinburgh, who had emigrated to the United States won the the first ever Open Championship staged at Carnoustie. In 1937 Henry Cotton the great British player took on a field, including the entire United States Ryder Cup Team and beat them all. His final round 71 which at one point was in danger of being abandoned due to the appalling weather conditions, is ranked as one of the great rounds in Open Championship history.

Carnoustie remains the true test of would be champions, and one of the greatest challenges in World Golf. It is an undeniable fact that four rounds of 72 during Open Championship week is a standard which only the greatest players of the game have managed, proving that Carnoustie is where the cream always rises to the top.

The great challenge at Carnoustie is the ever changing nature of the course. There is no such thing as an easy hole at Carnoustie, and the most difficult are among the fiercest to be found anywhere. With the wind against, the 1st hole is played to a blind green over a high mound, often requiring a long iron to reach the green. From here on Carnoustie only gets tougher with a demanding drive at the 2nd, now even harder with the addition of a new bunker on the right side of the fairway. The 3rd demands a delicate pitch over a stream to a small and severely sloping green. A stream known as Jockie’s Burn comes into play on four of the first six holes, the infamous ‘Barry Burn’ giving the course its famous finish.

The great Walter Hagen winner of 11 major championships, once described Carnoustie as the ‘Greatest course in the British Isles’, need we say more.