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The Secret of St. Andrews podcast is for golf enthusiasts, history buffs and patriots.
Episode 11: The Birth of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) was formed in 1754 as the Society of St. Andrews Golfers. It shared the Old Course, which was then played at 22 holes, with other golfers and used local pubs as meeting places. It would not be known as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews until 1834, when King William IV agreed to the club's requested designation.
There were 22 founding members, and their names are recorded on page three of the original record book. The two nobles were listed first, with the first name being The Right Honourable Charles Bruce. Bruce would become the Grand Master of Scottish Freemasons in 1761.
Like other golfing societies of the time, the R&A was built upon a Masonic foundation. William St. Clair had been the first Grand Master of the Scottish Freemasons in 1736 and joined the society shortly after it was formed. Below the names listed was the club's charter, which begins as follows: "The noblemen and gentlemen above, named being admirers of the healthful exercise of golf, and at the same time having the interest and prosperity of the ancient city of St. Andrews at heart, being the alma mater of golf." The founders were creating a social club, but there was something more. The founders were obviously very civic-minded and seemed to understand from the start the role they could play in the rebirth of St. Andrews and the growing game of golf. The civic-minded charter was no doubt influenced by founder James Lumsdane, who had become the town's provost in 1753, and two of his co-founders, David and John Young, who were brothers and professors at the University of St. Andrews.
There were other sets of brothers among the original 22 founders, and they were on opposite sides of the delicate political divide. The second noble listed was the Right Honourable James Weems, who had three sons, two of whom joined him as founding members: Francis Weems Charters and his younger brother James. Their older brother David, the only non-member, was a Jacobite rebel living in exile in France. On the other side were Thomas and James Leslie. Thomas had been an army captain for the Hanoverian government and had once been wounded and captured by Jacobite rebels. There was no doubt a political and patriotic tension within the society.
The Weems family had significant grievances with the Hanoverian government. In addition to Thomas Leslie, Lieutenant General James St. Clair and the Clan St. Clair, to which he belonged, supported the British Hanoverian government. Some of the founders were closely associated with one of the most notorious and hated men in Scotland, known as the Rape Master General, Colonel Francis Charters.
Charters was a Scottish military officer whose considerable wealth came from his shady gambling, predatory lending, and market manipulation. He was also convicted of rape but later pardoned after a financial agreement was said to be reached. He was so despised that at his funeral in Edinburgh, his grave was covered with manure and dead cats.
Charters' daughter Janet was married to the Right Honourable James Weems and mother to Francis and James. Francis was named after his notorious grandfather, and when Charters died, his grandson adopted his mother's maiden name, sullied as it was. Like other societies, the first order of business was to host a competition, and the competition was open to non-members from Great Britain and Ireland.
On an annual basis, they would compete for a silver club, and each year the winner would append to the club a silver ball signifying his victory. This was a similar tradition to the silver arrow, which was awarded by the University of St. Andrews to the champion archer, who would then attach a medal signifying his victory.
Archery was a shared passion and pastime for many of the founders. Many were champion archers, attended the university, and had their medals affixed to the silver arrow. The Honourable James Weems served as the Captain General of the Royal Company of Archers from 1743 to 1756 and was said to much prefer archery to golf.
In the Masonic tradition, the golfing competition was highly structured. The club adopted the original 13 rules of golf established by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, with one exception to Rule 5. In St. Andrews, if your ball came to rest in water, the players were to throw their ball behind, while the golfers in Edinburgh were allowed to tee the ball.
The entry fee was five shillings, and the winner would collect the entire pot. It was not a stroke play competition, but the record book states that "the player who shall appear to have won the greatest number of holes shall be declared the winner." Fifteen players signed up for the first competition, and the winner was a local merchant by the name of Bailey William Landale, who collected the prize money and affixed a ball to the club signifying him as the winner.
Captain of the Golf James Lumsdane, the town's provost, and Professor David Young were to govern the competition, and as you'll learn in later episodes, they both played an instrumental role in the secret of St. Andrews. The early competitions didn't all go as planned. In 1757, only three players were present, so the competition was postponed until the next spring. The same thing happened in 1760 when the competition was postponed until September of 1761. The first stroke play competition occurred in 1764, and the winner was 64-year-old William St. Clair, who carded a 121 over the 22 holes played. The club had close ties with the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith.
James Leslie was a founding member of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and no doubt influenced the society's decision to adopt the rules governing play. William St. Clair, who won St. Andrew's Silver Club three times, was an influential founding member of the Honourable Company and even laid the foundation stone for their new clubhouse in Leith.
For clubhouses, the Society used two places. The first referred to as Golf House, and the second was Bailey Glasses Inn. The exact location of Golf House is unknown, but it's thought to have been a small parlour located where the Hamilton Grand Hotel rests today. Bailey Glasses Inn was at the corner of South Street and South Castle.
The Society of St. Andrews Golfers had much in common with their predecessors at the Royal Burgess Golfing Society and the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith. The founders were nobles, wealthy landowners, military men, and academics. They were also Freemasons, archers, and many blood relatives. The most notable difference was their civic-minded mission—a mission that would lead some of their founders to create the secrets to come. Up next: Jacobite golfers, secret codes, and British spies.