The Lundin Golf Club was founded
on the 8th May, 1868. In that year the Leven Clubs had
extended their links from the Mile Dyke eastwards towards Lundin
Links. This extended course occupied the narrow strip of land
lying between the railway line
and the Firth of Forth.
The
first captain of the Lundin Golf Club was Mr Rintoull of Lahill who,
as immediate Past Captain of the Innerleven Club, had been
influential in the decision to abandon the Dubbieside Links in
favour of 'the popular green at Leven'. The Lundin end of the
links was described in 1868 as 'benty, tussocky and ripe with whin',
with which description the errant driver of today might still agree.
It would appear that the club had
great difficulty in establishing itself. Despite the efforts of the
Innerleven Club who offered prizes to encourage play, the Lundin
Club went out of existence some nine years after its formation.
The club was resuscitated in 1889
with an annual subscription fixed at 2/6 and an entry fee of like
amount. A two-roomed clubhouse was built costing £70 and the Club
quickly became established as a healthy constitution. The
course was administered by a Joint Links Committee made up of
members of the Innerleven, Leven Thistle, and Lundin Clubs. The
Leven end of the links was leased from Mr R Maitland Christie of Durie and the Lundin end from John Gilmour
of Montrave (later Sir
John and Captain of The Royal & Ancient).
By 1893 the membership of the
Lundin Club had risen to 130 and the original Clubhouse had become
inadequate. Plans were drawn up for new premises, and in 1896 Sir
John Gilmour opened the new Clubhouse.
The shared links, with the Leven
and Lundin golfers starting from their respective ends, inevitably
became congested as the popularity of the game increased. By 1907
the membership at Lundin was approaching 400 while the Leven golfers
numbered almost 1000. On 11th November of that year a petition wa
s
presented to Sir John Gilmour requesting that he consider the
establishment of an 18 hole course on his estate. Sir John was
evidently in sympathy with the petitioners, for within a few months
plans had been drawn up and submitted to the legendary James Braid
for his observations. On 27th March, 1908, Braid came to Lundin Links
and in October of that year work began on the laying out of
the new course.
The course was made up of nine
holes on the existing links together with nine on ground formerly
occupied by the Lundin Ladies Golf Club to the North of the railway
line. Sir John made available to the Ladies the Standing Stanes Park
and a field adjacent thereto. One suspects that the Ladies may have
required some persuasion to relinquish their tenure, but Sir John
provided appropriate encouragement by having Braid design their new
course as well! The new 18 hole course was completed by the Autumn
of 1909 (at a cost of £143.2.6) and on 29th November, 1909, Mr B C
Cox, Captain of the day, drove the first ball using a 'Dreadnought'
club donated by Sir John. The original layout did not prove wholly
satisfactory and, after a few years, modifications were made,
resulting in the course we know today.
The Clubhouse, course and practice
ground were purchased from the Montrave Estate in 1951. The railway
line was closed in the 1960's and the Club purchased that ground
from the Railway Company in 1971 together with the old station which
had stood sentinel over the 17th green for so many years. Part of
the railway embankment was regraded to allow re-alignment of the
18th fairway and extend the practice ground. The Club's private
water supply saw the introduction of an automatic sprinkler system
in 1974. Agricultural crop spraying, however, has made it necessary
to look for an alternative and the drilling of a bore hole is
currently being investigated.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the
course remains largely as laid out by Braid some 100 years ago.
The first five holes are in classic links tradition proceeding from
the Clubhouse to the Mile Dyke. Players then cross the now extinct
railway line and play the nine 'new' holes on what one might
describe as a cross between links and parkland turf. Back across the
railway, the last four holes revert to the genuine links tradition.
Not long by modern standards, Lundin nonetheless presents a thorough
test of the golfer's skills.
Today Lundin Golf Club offers some of the finest
examples of links holes in Scotland and for many years has been a worthy participant in
the Final Qualifying stages of The Open prior to its staging at St.
Andrews.