Willie Park Jr. was born in 1864 in Musselburgh, the second of four sons belonging to (Old) Willie Park, the four-time Open Champion. Young Willie would win the Open twice himself, becoming one of five Musselburgh golfers to do so. In fact, of the first twenty-nine Opens played, eleven were won by men from the Honest Toun.

When he turned sixteen, Willie served under his uncle Mungo Park (the 1874 Open Champion) at Tyneside Golf Club in Northumberland, acting as assistant greenkeeper and club professional. His father, Willie Park Senior, was asked to design a course at Innerleithen in the Borders in 1886 but was unable to do so, allowing his son Willie Junior to step in and do the work on his behalf. He took over as greenkeeper from Mungo when he moved to Alnmouth in 1892 but he returned to his father and the family business in Musselburgh soon after.

From now on, his career followed three different paths simultaneously.

His playing career blossomed to the extent that he would win the Open twice in three years (1887 at Prestwick and 1889 at Musselburgh) and his golf course design business also flourished, with Willie Jr. laying out new 9-hole courses or revising and lengthening others.

Back in Musselburgh, Willie transformed his father’s club and ball making business into a thriving small factory, employing forty people in the workshop and twenty in retail branches in Edinburgh, Manchester and London.

He invented a number of new clubs, such as a lofter, a mashie cleek and a bulger. He also patented a diamond design for the cover of a gutta percha ball in 1894 and “The Royal” ball that he sold had a unique cover of small hexagonal facets.

Within the British Isles, Willie Park Jr. is probably best known for laying out the original course at Sunningdale and for his involvement with the groundbreaking project at Huntercombe, even though the failure of a proposed real estate element with this development was something of a financial disaster for him.

There’s no doubt that Willie Park Jr. was a main figure in the spread of golf to the rest of the world. He travelled overseas occasionally on assignments in Austria, Belgium, France and Ireland but it’s North America where he really made his mark, having moved there after the Great War.

Willie Park Junior – The man who took Golf to the World

, the author writes about Willie Park Jr. working on the other side of the Atlantic: “With a base in Montreal, and offices in New York and Toronto, he threw himself into course construction on a big scale... involved with major suppliers and contractors in building courses.”

The author notes 60 courses across sixteen US states and five Canadian provinces that are attributed to Willie Park Jr. though the list may be incomplete and a few of the original layouts have not survived. When added to more than 100 courses that he designed closer to home in the early part of his career, it’s a phenomenal body of work.

 by Keith Cutten the author states: “In 1901, when both Sunningdale (Old) and Huntercombe opened to rave reviews, Willie Park Jr significantly elevated the standard for inland golf course architecture in Britain. With these works, located west of London, Park had broken new ground. At Sunningdale, Park became one of the first to select a site densely covered with brush because of the material underneath.

Indeed, Park understood that sand was a common thread of all great courses; and it was this element, as a feature, that he exploited when exploring golfing possibilities in the area which would be famously known as the ‘heathlands of England. At Huntercombe, a course laid out over an ancient, turf-established common, Park again broke the mould by crafting large greens, supported by by rolling fairway contours, plus boldly constructed hazards.

Contrasting the previous benchmark for inland British courses, everything appeared to be natural. These two projects secured Park’s success, enabling him to become one of the first full-time golf course architects.”

Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten sum up his contribution to golf design in

 called him the ‘doyen’ of course architects and credited him with setting the standards adhered to by the countless designers who followed. Willie Park Jr. was surely one of the virtuoso golf architects.”

It’s said that Willie Park Jr. worked himself to death. In 1924, he suffered some sort of a nervous breakdown and his brother Mungo closed down his business operations in North America and took Willie back to Musselburgh. Sadly, he died the following year in an Edinburgh hospital, aged sixty-one.


 (1896) by Willie Park Jr. is reckoned to be the first book about golf written by a professional player. Apart from a number of chapters covering how to play the game, chapter ten (Laying Out and Keeping Golf-Links) is one of the earliest written descriptions about golf course architecture.

Willie Park Junior – The Man who took Golf to the World

World Golf Hall of Fame – Class of 2013: Willie Park Jr. was one of golf’s first true Renaissance men – two-time Open champion, golf equipment maker, golf writer and one of the world’s best golf course architects… “A man who can putt is a match for anyone.”

Willie Park Jr.

​Willie Park Jr. was born in Musselburgh, the second of four sons of (Old) Willie Park, four-time Open Champion. Young Willie won the Open twice himself, becoming one of five Musselburgh men to do so.

Archie Simpson was born to brick masons and weavers in Earlsferry in Fife in 1866. “Though the world of golf in general may have been but a small one in 1870,” wrote Bernard Darwin in James Braid’s biography, “Earlsferry was a very busy little golfing world on its own account… There were doubtless some who were fine golfers though little known outside their own parish, but there were other’s who carried the fame of Earlsferry far and wide, in particular the Simpson family, six brothers, headed by Jack and Archie.”

Archie’s older brother, Robert Simpson (fifth eldest of the six boys), moved to Carnoustie in 1883 when Archie was seventeen and opened 

, which has been trading continuously ever since and is believed to be the second oldest golf shop in the world. Archie joined his brother in Angus, where he quickly became an expert player, club maker, teacher and golf course architect.


Jack Simpson (Archie’s other older brother) won The Open in 1884 at Prestwick, the only one of the six male golfing siblings to lift the Claret Jug. However, Archie Simpson’s record in The Open is remarkable. In sixteen consecutive Open appearances (1885 to 1900) he came runner-up twice and never finished outside the top twenty. “And then there was Archie Simpson…” continued Darwin, “he had one of the most graceful swings of all players of his day.”

, takes up the story: “As a teacher, Archie was the model for the famed ‘Carnoustie Swing.’ Youngsters would follow him like puppies around Carnoustie, trying to copy his swing. That swing was then exported around the world, including by a young professional named Stewart Maiden, who emigrated to the States, and eventually and famously passed on Archie’s swing to a young man named Bobby Jones. As a clubmaker, he was highly competent, although not as prolific or creative as his brother Bob. That being said, he custom-made the driver which Arnaud Massey used to win the Open in 1907, and his clubs are avidly sought by collectors today.”

Archie Simpson’s chronology as a golf course architect is not crystal clear, but in 1886 Archie and his brother Robert were commissioned to lay out the new Balgownie links for the club that was founded in 1780 and would later become the world-renowned Royal Aberdeen Golf Club. The Balgownie course opened for play in 1888 and was subsequently revised by a number of architects, including 

. So the Balgownie is unique in that a trio of Simpsons helped to shape the course that’s in play today.

Some historians believe that Archie may also have assisted 

 in his trailblazing work at Dornoch, but there is no doubt that Archie Simpson laid out the links at Nairn soon after the club’s formation in 1887.

“Then, in 1891, aged 25, Archie abruptly left Carnoustie, to become the pro at a relatively new club almost as far away as possible while remaining in Britain – Royal Isle of Wight, at Bembridge [NLE],” continues Richard Goodale. “One can only speculate why he moved there (possibly because there was no place for him in brother Bob’s business), or why he moved back to Scotland six months later (to be an assistant at Prestwick), under the legendary Charlie Hunter, or why he moved back 15 months later to work again with his brother Bob at Carnoustie in 1892. These were to be the first of many flits by our Archie. The next one was to become keeper of the green and professional at Balgownie in 1894.”

Archie joined forces with Old Tom Morris after being commissioned by the Great North of Scotland Railway Company to design the links at Cruden Bay, which opened for play in 1899. Old Tom usually receives the lion’s share of credit for the original Cruden Bay design, but the club’s centenary book, 

, provides Archie with credit where it’s due.

In 1903, during Archie’s seventeen-year tenure at Balgownie, the club received royal patronage becoming the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club. In parallel to his job as professional Archie continued to design, including the little known but architecturally significant course at Stonehaven. In 1908 he added nine new holes to Willie Park Junior’s original nine at Peterhead and the following year fashioned the renowned links at Murcar, situated immediately next door to his pro shop at Royal Aberdeen.

Archie created further courses at Aboyne and Duff House Royal. The latter was formed in 1910 when the Duke of Fife, Alexander Duff, provided land from his estate and it opened when a match was played between two of the great golfing “triumvirate” – J.H. Taylor and James Braid.

In 1911 Simpson left Scotland to become the head professional at the Country Club of Detroit. The club was growing rapidly when Archie arrived and the following year it purchased new golfing land at Weir Farm. England’s 

 was commissioned by the club to fashion the new Weir Farm course for the members. One may assume that Archie may well have had some input into the layout that Colt envisioned, which was subsequently remodeled by his partner 

Richard Goodale should, quite rightly, conclude the story:

“Archie stayed at CCoD until 1921 and then came back to Carnoustie for a couple of years. Why? Nobody knows. He worked for brother Bob, shot a 72 in his last round on the course (aged 56) and then flitted back to America in 1922. From there the trail gets colder and warmer and colder and more poignant.

We think he was the head pro at Vincennes GC in Indiana from 1922-1926, but it is unclear whether or not that club still exists. His son Archie Jr became head pro at Clovernook CC, in Cincinnati, in 1924, while Archie moved around, staying a few years at Tam O’Shanter (as the club pro to Tommy Armour’s touring pro). When his son died early, in 1932, Archie took over at Clovernook for two years. After that, there is no information other than he died ‘of old age’ in Detroit in January 1955, aged 88...

How could the man who worked with Old Tom Morris, made Royal Aberdeen what it is today and designed Murcar fade away so completely and for so long? Somewhere out there, there is more of this story to be told…”

Archie Simpson is the player, teacher, clubmaker and golf course designer that nobody remembers. Bernard Darwin reckoned, “He had one of the most graceful swings of all players of his day.”

Archie Simpson

Archie Simpson was the player, teacher, clubmaker and golf course designer that nobody remembers. Bernard Darwin reckoned, “He had one of the most graceful swings of all players of his day.”

North East Scotland

Scotland

Peterhead Golf Club was founded in 1841, making it one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. Their present day Old course was originally created as a 9-hole affair, designed by two times Open Champion, Willie Park Junior in 1892. It was extended to 18 holes sixteen years later by Archie Simpson, then a New course was added fifteen years after that in 1923. The New course was reduced in size to its present 9-hole layout when it fell into disrepair during the early 1940s.

Laid out among the sand hills that lie to the north of where the River Ugie meets the North Sea, the Old course at Craigewan is a natural links with contours that owe little to the hand of man and everything to the assistance of Mother Nature – old-fashioned layouts like this are discovered and never manufactured, of course.

Two of the best holes on the card are found back-to-back at the furthest point from the clubhouse. The outward half ends with “St.Fergus,” the 460-yard, par four, bunker-free 9th where the fairway runs along a valley between dunes to a green that requires a very precise approach to hit and hold. The back nine then starts with “Cottage,” the 133-yard, par three 10th hole which has a burn in front and five bunkers surrounding a green that slopes from back to front.

Peterhead constructed a new clubhouse in 1996 and it was here that Butch Harmon – well known American golf instructor – declared to those members present when he visited in 2005 that the course was a real “hidden gem” which he had really enjoyed playing. Praise indeed from a respected figure who has walked many a fine fairway around the world!

Peterhead (Old)

Murcar Links

Britain & Ireland

Butch Harmon declared to those members present when he visited the golf club in 2005 that Peterhead Old course was a "hidden gem" which he really enjoyed playing.