The James Braid Lothian Golf
Trail
Duration: 4 days
History in the Shadow of the
Capital.
It is in the Lothians that much of the
very earliest history of golf is contained. The ghosts of ancient
golfing combat still roam the links on the shores of the Firth of
Forth and it is here that Braid has added his own special legacy to
golf in the shadow of Scotland’s capital city.
Braid created two courses at
Dalmahoy, the East and West, with the former the
slightly better known having hosted many important events and
championships including the 1992 Solheim Cup.
At Mortonhall Braid made changes
to an original design by his Great Triumvirate partner, J.H. Taylor
while at Ratho Park Braid began from scratch and
created a delightful parkland layout close to Dalmahoy.
His work at Royal Burgess was
largely a refinement of an original Tom Morris layout, but at
Royal Musselburgh he was given a free hand on a
new site at Prestongrange.
He attended the opening on the new course in
September 1926, playing in a famous match in which he partnered
Sandy Herd for Scotland against the English pairing of Harry Vardon
and J.H. Taylor.
