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The Secret of St. Andrews podcast is for golf enthusiasts, history buffs and patriots.
Welcome to this special edition of the Secret of St. Andrew's podcast. Charming Sally, Maggie’s Houff, and Mary, Queen of Scots. An article was recently found from the old Caledonian Mercury newspaper in Edinburgh. The article was dated the 24th of April 1738 and had been buried in the archives for nearly 300 years.
The article described a big-money golf match played across Bruntsfield Links. The match drew such a large crowd and generated so much interest that the story was republished, not only in the London papers but also in colonial papers as far away as Pennsylvania and Carolina. So what made this match so special?
Well, the match featured two married women who used their husbands as caddies. The article complimented the women on their dexterity in holing out and how manfully they tilted the balls. The winner was identified only as Charming Sally. Her full name remains a mystery, as the article only referred to her by her first name.
This was the first documented record of women playing golf. But Charming Sally was not the first legendary lass of Bruntsfield Links. That title belonged to Maggie Johnston. Maggie ran one of the pubs frequented by Bruntsfield golfers in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The pub was called Maggie’s Houff, and it was referenced in a popular poem of the time that went, “When we were wearied at the goff, Then Maggie Johnston’s was our Houff.”
Long before Charming Sally and Maggie Johnston, Mary, Queen of Scots, was known to frequent the links around Edinburgh, particularly the course at Musselburgh. In fact, the Earl of Moray accused her of playing golf shortly after the murder of her husband, so her love of the sport was well-known. Legend has it that Mary, who grew up in France as part of the French royal family, had young military cadets carry her clubs, which, some say, is where the term “cadet” originated.
Whether it was Charming Sally with her husband as caddy, Maggie Johnston serving up pints to Bruntsfield golfers, or Mary, Queen of Scots, chasing the ball around Musselburgh, Scottish women have an important place in golf history. Thanks for listening.