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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, "Stymied on the Green." In the early 19th century, the oldest golf club in the world almost disbanded over a simple rules dispute. On the 18th of July, 1807, 16 finalists competed for the gold medal in the Royal Burgess Club Championship.
One of their past captains, Francis Braidwood, was declared the winner. However, a formal complaint was lodged by some of his fellow members at the champion's dinner that evening. To avoid frivolous disputes, members were required to pay a fee that would be held by the club secretary. The money would be returned if the complaint was deemed valid, and if not, the deposit was forfeited to the club.
The members lodging the complaint paid the club secretary the required fee, who then notified the captain of the dispute. The issue at hand occurred on the green, where Braidwood was accused of removing his competitor's ball, which was blocking his putting line to the hole where he was stymied. Up until 1952, there were no unified rules of golf.
In the early 19th century, most of Scotland's private golf clubs adopted their own rules. There were regional variations, and in Edinburgh, there were two sets of rules: the Brunonian system, which didn't allow the ball to be removed from an opponent's line of play, and the Leith system, which did. The Brunonian system was traditionally used by the Royal Burgess, who played on Bruntsfield Links, but Braidwood had followed the Leith system, which allowed him to remove his competitor's ball from his line of play.
The captain ruled that the match would be replayed under the Leith rules, but that didn't settle the matter. In fact, it only made things worse. The club eventually split into two divisions, each with its own captain and officers. It remained divided until April of 1809, when Alexander Simpson of the Royal Bank brokered a peace agreement between the parties.
We'll never know who won the rematch, as all records from the 25th of July, 1807, through the 1st of April, 1809, were ordered to be destroyed. In an attempt to forever set aside this difficult chapter in the club's history, 21 pages were removed from the record book, and the members agreed—some no doubt reluctantly—to let bygones be bygones.
Thanks for listening to this special edition of the Secret of St. Andrews podcast.