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The Secret of St. Andrews podcast is for golf enthusiasts, history buffs and patriots.
Welcome to a special edition of the Secret of St. Andrew's Podcast: St Giles' Steeple and Arthur's Seat. In 18th and 19th century Scotland, golfing wagers didn’t just play out on the course. Some of the wagers resembled steeplechase more than links golf, while others were played right on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.
The Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh is the oldest golf club in the world, and it seems only fitting that they were the source of many of golf’s most unique wagers. St. Giles' Cathedral, founded in the 12th century, sits next to Edinburgh Castle along the Royal Mile. In 1798, bets were made that no two members of the Burgess could both drive a ball over the church’s steeple, which stood 161 feet high.
Each member was allotted six balls to complete the task. The bets were on, and early one morning, to avoid the crowds, the parties teed off on the southeast corner of Parliament Square. It’s said that the two men cleared the steeple with ease, their balls landing opposite the Advocate’s Close.
The shot, as it turned out, wasn’t that difficult after all. Other wagers, however, weren’t as easy. Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano, sits approximately a mile and a half away and 800 feet above Bruntsfield Links, where the Royal Burgess clubhouse once stood. On May 13, 1815, multiple bets were made between Burgess members that they could play a ball over Arthur’s Seat in 45 strokes or less.
This was no small feat and required both endurance and athleticism to negotiate the hedges and ditches along the way. At stake was a gallon of whiskey. Five members set off from Golf House, accompanied by four caddies and attendants carrying much-needed refreshments. One of the five members, a Mr. Brown, completed the task in 44 strokes and happily collected his winnings from his fellow members.
Whether it was playing over Arthur’s Seat or the steeple of St. Giles' Cathedral, all bets were recorded in the club’s matchbook. For matches played on the golf course, the losing side would deposit their losses in the "bet box," which funded the club, usually for group dinners.
The Royal Burgess had a saying: “All matches pay or play,” which meant that the club funds benefited from every bet made, whether the match was played or not. Thanks for listening to this special edition of the Secret of St. Andrew's Podcast.