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THE Solheim Cup, the women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup, is generally recognized as one of the most important golf tournaments in the world. It has been played three times in Scotland since its inception in 1990, and each time Europe has won.
Fortunately, top female professional golfers are now receiving the lucrative rewards they deserve, but still not as much as their male counterparts. The awards, however, have come a long way since the first recorded women’s golf tournament, where the winner received a fishing creel and two silk handkerchiefs from Barcelona.
It was of course held in Scotland, another example of this nation’s pioneering efforts in the sport we gave to the world.
This week, 214 years ago, the first recorded golf tournament held for women took place at Musselburgh Links, which the Guinness Book of World Records recognizes as the oldest golf course in the world. During the first week of January 1811 – the exact date is disputed – some 55 local women, all apparently fishwives, played against each other on the Links course, which then had only seven holes.
We don’t know how many rounds they played, and we have no record of the order of play or scores, although this was probably the traditional type of tournament in which the lowest scorer was declared winner. Here’s the saddest part of the story – despite my best efforts, I have to admit defeat in the quest to name the winner.
This first women’s tournament was largely the work of Musselburgh Golf Club, later to become Royal Musselburgh, which awarded the prizes. The club’s minutes from December 1810 stated: “The club decides to present by subscription a new Creel & Skull to the best female golfer who participates in the annual occasion on January 1st next, in the old way (January 12th new) , to be” the club officer suggested to the fish ladies.
“Two of the best silk handkerchiefs in Barcelona, to add to the above bounty from the Creel.”
The Fish Ladies were a vital part of East Lothian industry and society at this time. As their name suggests, they were usually the wives of fishermen, but they also played an integral role in the fishing industry, distributing the catch from the different ports, usually transporting their fish in traps which were baskets hand-woven.
Musselburgh Links Ladies Club says on its website: “It was a strangely informed decision for the times. Local fishwives were invited to participate in a tournament and to ensure exceptional participation from the hardworking women of the fishing community, a brand new trap was also given away as a prize.
This was not, however, the first time women had played on Musselburgh Links. Mary, Queen of Scots, is said to have played there and elsewhere in Scotland during her reign in the 1560s, and legend has it that she played a game against her lifelong friend Mary Seton – one of the four Marys who accompanied the child queen to France. – who lived at Seton House, not far from Musselburgh Links, and having lost, the Queen gave Mary Seton a necklace.
Regardless, Queen Mary’s enemies condemned her for playing golf or “pall mall” at Seton House, after the assassination of her husband, Henry, Lord Darnley, in February 1567.
Women definitely played golf in the Lothians in the 18th century.
The excellent site scottishgolfhistory.org reports: “A few years ago, a new first definitive reference to women playing golf was discovered in the Caledonian Mercury newspaper. On 24 April 1738, two married women are said to have played a match on Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh, their husbands acting as caddies.
“The Edinburgh newspaper reported that the match attracted a large crowd and gambling. The women are praised for their “dexterity” in entering as well as the manliness with which they “angled” the balls. The event was won by “lovely Sally”, although apart from her first name her identity is not known.
“This story was also reported in newspapers in London, Pennsylvania and Carolina, but, surprisingly, it remained unnoticed for almost 300 years. This contemporary story makes the “charming Sally” the first “named” female golfer, although she is only known by her first name.
There is an undeniable source of women playing at Musselburgh some years before this inaugural tournament in 1811.
The famous theologian Alexander “Jupiter” Carlyle was a local minister in the late 18th century. In his contribution to the Statistical Account of 1791-92, he wrote of the fishwives of Musselburgh: “As they do the work of men, and their strength and activities are equal to their labor, their entertainments are also of the masculine type. During the holidays, we often play golf and on Shrove Tuesday, there is a football match between married and single women, where the former are always the winners.
Musselburgh Links plays a huge and often uncredited role in golfing history. Written evidence begins a century after Mary, Queen of Scots, apparently played it.
The East Lothian Council website for the Links course states: “Authentication of the record is the documentary evidence found in the account book of Sir John Foulis of Ravelston. Among several of his entries relating to golf, the following dated March 2, 1672 validates the Musselburgh Links record:
‘March 2, 1672 – For 3 golf balls 0 152 0
‘Lost at Musselburgh Gulf with Gosfoord, Lyon etc, 3 05 0
‘For a horse there, 0 18 0
“This passage is referenced in The Golf Book Of East Lothian, compiled and documented by John Kerr, MA, FRSE, FSAScot, Dirleton’s minister, published in 1896.”
The Links were developed into a nine-hole course in 1870, just in time for the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, then based at Musselburgh, to play their part in the agreement between themselves, Prestwick Golf Club and the Royal And Ancient Golf Club. of St Andrews to host the Open Championship – first held in 1860 at Prestwick and won by Willie Park Sr of Wallyford near Musselburgh – on a rotating basis.
This is how Musselburgh Links hosted the Open six times between 1874 and 1889.
These Opens and this first women’s tournament confirm the Links course as a national treasure.
