Golf and the World at War

 

I’ve been working on this project for several years, using golf history books, personal interviews with golf course managers and historians, and special golf club centenary or anniversary publications. Part of my Scottish material used here was previously published in Highlander Magazine (May/June, 2006).

Scottish and Welsh Golf and the World at War  

War and golf in Scotland and Wales are not inextricably linked, but their paths have crossed several times. One of the very earliest records for “gowf” was King James II’s decree in 1457 to ban the game, so that soldiers and noblemen would spend more time practicing archery to better defend the homeland against English invasion. James III and IV convinced their parliaments to affirm that ban. 

Though that ban was unenforceable, the most important connections were forged during the two World Wars, 1914 to 1919 and 1939 to 1945. These were times of extreme crisis, in which the game of golf was but one of the victims. Golf courses suffered the ravages of war through damages to courses and club finances. At the same time, golfers incurred losses to their own games. 

Anne and I became aware of the golf-war relationship as we played courses with town or parish monuments to those lost in the War-to-End-All-Wars (the names of locals who gave their lives in other wars have been added to many of the monuments). Maybole Golf Club in Ayrshire has such a monument beside the sixth green. 

Maybole GC, Ayrshire, Scotland

Also in Ayrshire, Turnberry displays a monument just to the right of the twelfth hole. While other courses, such as Anstruther on Fife and Bucky Strathlene on the Moray coast, have monuments near greens or tees, Abernethy GC in Nethy Bridge (Highlands) has a monument in-play on the eighth hole. 

Abernethy GC, Nethy Bridge, Highlands

Knowledgeable golfers aim to the left of the monument to find the fairway on this blind par-four. The Birnam War Memorial was a special case. The old Birnam course closed and was sold in 1920 because without transportation nearby it was too far out for players to get to. Some money from the sale of the course was used to build a war memorial and stone from the new Birnam & Dunkeld course was used in the memorial. Whereas monuments, whether in-play or not, are reminders of the casualties of war, golf courses were themselves casualties. 

During both world wars, the MOD (Ministry of Defense) needed golf course land for its own purposes. In 1914 the Old Birnam and Dunkeld course along Scotland’s River Tay was dug up in practice trench digging exercises. The  course didn’t reopen until 1927 in a new location. At Tenby in southwest Wales the defense demands started early. The MOD made a compulsory buy of four holes of land for a training facility early in the century, and then demanded a further two holes in World War I. The course never did get any of the land back, and today Tenby still has a target range next to several of the beginning holes. Local defense volunteer forces used Southerndown GC in southern Wales for training and gunnery practice during the Great War. The west end of North Berwick West Links was used for RAF (Royal Air Force) target practice, and weapons pits and defensive bunkers were built along the sea edge of the course. Also just off the seaward edge of the course, the MOD anchored the HMS Ludlow which was then used as a target for bombing practice. Numerous courses, including Boat of Garden, 

Boat of Garden GC, Highlands

Cardross, and Banchory, were used by the Home Guard for training. 

In World War II Aberdour GC in Scotland became home to Heavy “A” Batteries (air defense), 

Aberdour GC, Firth of Forth, Fife

while nearby Balbirnie Park GC was heavily damaged by placement of ack-ack guns and search lights. Trenches, barbed-wire, and mines were placed on many seaside links courses such as Crail Balcomie, 

Crail Balcomie Links, Fife Ness

Elie, Dunbar, and Peterhead. On the seaward side of Leven Golf Links in Fife you can still see the cement blocks used as tank traps in the Second World War. At Tenby, the dunes on the seaward side of the fairways were fenced and mined. Much of Royal St David’s GC, sited just below impressive Harlech Castle on Wales’ west coast, was torn up as a training ground for tank drivers. Not far away,  Pwllheli GC didn’t suffer as much damage because it was only used as a local officers’ training facility. Golfers at Fraserbugh GC in northeast Scotland continued to play around large poles placed in fairways to thwart enemy glider landings. At St Deiniol GC in Bangor, Wales, the same type anti-glider poles were placed on fairways, which seemed to us a silly decision because when we played the hillside course we couldn’t find a level enough place to land a golf ball, let alone a troop carrying glider. It was the RAF which exacted the biggest toll when it dug up historic Turnberry 

Turnberry GC, Lighthouse, Ailsa Craig, and the North Irish Channel

and the Ladies’ Course at Dornoch to build areodromes or landing fields. 

Golf course land was also in heavy demand for food production. Victory or Friendship Gardens were integral to the domestic war effort. Duff House Royal on Scotland’s Morayshire coast was ploughed up twice, once for each war, and rebuilt twice, as was Hopeman GC to the west. 

Hopeman GC, Morayshire, Scotland

The original course at Portfield Racecoiurse in Haverfordwest (southern Wales) was ploughed up for corn fields in World War I. Haverfordwest GC opened after the war in a new location. In World War II Balfron GC near Loch Lomand was ploughed up for agricultural use. Not much information remains about the old course, but a couple of old trophies turned up recently in a local bank attic.  

Monument at Kirriemuir GC, Angus, Scotland

Powfoot GC on the Solway Firth lost five holes to the plough (today, those rebuilt holes are still the flattest on the course), 

Canmore GC, near Dunfermline

while Canmore GC near Dunfermline lost more land which led to a complete redesign of the course in 1946. In World War I Pwllheli was reduced to nine holes, while the 9th and 10th holes at Baberton in Edinburgh became known as Baberton’s Potato Patch. Many courses, such as Shiskine, 

Third Hole, Shiskine GC, Isle of Arran

Kinghorn, Muirfield, and Aboyne, avoided the plough, but were used to graze sheep and cattle. At the difficult Cruden Bay GC near Aberdeen it is said that the sheep toughened the course even more by enlarging the bunkers. At Panmure GC on Scotland’s east coast, local authorities during the First World War demanded that the course be opened for sheep grazing until the shepherd reported his sheep were starving because of the sparse grass on the links course. In the next war the experiment was tried again with the same results. Panmure is a great links course, but what is good for a long drive isn’t necessarily good for little lambs. 

It fits with Sir Winston Churchill’s words to Hitler, “You can do your worst, and we will do our best” that clubhouses and other golf course buildings found uses in the war effort, as well. Troops were billeted at Boat of Garten, Royal Troon, Alloa, and Lundin Ladies’ Links 

4000 Year Old Standing Stones on the 2nd hole at Lundin Ladies' GC, Fife

(the only time men have been allowed in that clubhouse). At Aberdour on Fife the Polish armed forces billeted from 1942 until 1947 when the clubhouse was given back to the club.  The experience at Panmure was typical of most courses. Even though more than 100 soldiers were billeted for much of the second war, the clubhouse was returned to the club in pristine condition. Not so at Crieff GC in central Scotland. When the MOD took over the Crieff Clubhouse, the club moved its historical records to an equipment shed. 

Small 3000 Year Old Stone Circle on Crieff GC, Central Scotland

Those records were lost when the shed was destroyed in an accidental fire caused by troops staying there. Part of the opulent Gleneagles Resort Hotel, the host club for the 2014 Ryder Cup competition, became the headquarters for Tom Johnston, Scotland’s Secretary of State, and the rest of the hotel served as a convalescent hospital. In 1944, 

Gleneagles Queen's Course, Central Scotland

Southerndown GC in Wales became a safe haven from Hitler’s V1 and V2 rocket attacks for more than 100 mothers and children from the east coast of England. The club’s lounge became a dormitory and the good weather that summer allowed the children acres and acres of playground complete with natural sandboxes.

Next: Second half of the project.