Montrose Golf Links (1562)

Did you know that Montrose Golf Links is considered to be the seventh oldest course in the world? Records state that golf has been played here since 1562, but the first golf club wasn’t formed until 1810. In 1845 Prince Albert granted the club royal patronage. Royal Montrose Mercantile is the 3rd oldest existing royal club in the world; only the Royal Perth Golfing Society and the R&A predates it. There are now two separate golf clubs playing over these ancient links, overseen by the watchful eye of the Montrose Links Trust.

Over time, no fewer than four separate areas (Mid Links, South Links, East Links and North Links) have been involved individually and collectively in the development of the golfing grounds in Montrose. There were seven holes in play around 1810, with the course starting in the middle of the town. By 1849 there were eleven holes, played as a round of seventeen holes.

Old Tom Morris fashioned an 18-hole layout in 1863 (making Montrose the 2nd oldest 18-hole course in the world, after the Old course at St Andrews) and this layout was subsequently altered by Willie Park Jr. in 1903 before Harry Colt was engaged to make further modifications in 1913 (having designed the Broomfield course six years earlier). Apart from Martin Hawtree re-aligning the 2nd in 2008, the course as it is today is the one that Colt laid out more than a hundred years ago.

The course is a traditional Scottish links course with delightful crisp turf, dunes, whins (gorse to southerners), deep bunkers and tall wavy grass that changes colour and dances in the wind. The holes are laid out in an unusual T-shaped configuration. The front nine plays mainly along the shoreline and offers excellent views across the North Sea. Holes 10 to 13 turn inland before you head back home, towards the sea.

A golfing trip to Scotland would not be complete without playing this nostalgic links course. It represents a fine golfing challenge; Montrose hosted the Scottish Professional Championship in 1967 and 1970 and Final Qualifying for the Open Championship held at Carnoustie in 1999 and 2007.

In July 2018, the former name of the current 18-hole layout (“Medal”) was dropped and the links was re-branded "The 1562 Course" to mark the return of the Open Championship to Carnoustie. The “1562” refers to the year James Melville, son of a local minister, was recorded as being taught the game at the age of six by the Reverend William Gray, giving Montrose its claim as the 4th oldest golfing ground in the world.

In November 2019, Royal Montrose Golf Club merged with Montrose Mercantile (formed in 1879) to become Royal Montrose Mercantile Golf Club. The Montrose Caledonia Golf Club, founded in 1896, has a separate clubhouse nearby.