Old Tom Trails - Carnoustie Golf Links
BY MURRAY BOTHWELL
IMAGES BY MARK ALEXANDER
6 MINS READ
Golf has been played on Carnoustie’s links since the mid-16th century. The Edinburgh author and publisher, Robert Chambers, laid out a rudimentary course in 1834 and in 1838 the railway arrived in the town and cut right through it. The local golfers needed to find a new home. Around that time there was reported a stretch of five holes further east of Chambers’ Balskelly course on newly reclaimed land, and these were played out and back. The holes were short in length, reflecting the clubs and balls used in the day, and the greens were used twice.
Allan Robertson from St Andrews, with his young assistant Tom Morris, is said to have had a hand in designing these holes. Regardless of Allan’s earlier involvement, he certainly returned to upgrade the course to 10 holes which crossed and recrossed the Barry Burn, still an integral feature and hazard snaking its way through today’s Championship course. These original 10 holes were usually played twice as a round of 20. Tom then returned again around 1867 at the request of the Dalhousie Golf Club who initiated a redesign of the course, resulting in the opening of the 18-hole golf links which by now had become the standard number to play. The detail of laying out this course of 4,565 yards after Tom’s high-level involvement fell to George Low, the assistant professional, and was the first course which knowingly had the standard white and red flags for the outward and inward nine holes. Previously, the holes on the Carnoustie course had been so difficult to find that even if you were standing just yards from them, they remained elusively inconspicuous.
Carnoustie features tight fairways and small greens, compared to the apparent expanse of St Andrews’ Old Course. Its collection of 18 holes, played in a large clockwise arc before the 11th swings your way back towards the clubhouse, is immensely challenging. Unlike the traditional out and back routing, this unique arrangement ensures the wind comes at you from every possible direction, never allowing the golfer to settle into any sort of rhythm.
Carnoustie was a classic design of Tom’s near the beginning of his golden era in course creation, but as technology improved both the dynamics of the ball and the club, the length of courses had to respond. The ability to design or alter the shape of a course using the horse, and not the hand, meant that opportunities to significantly upgrade Carnoustie’s Championship course were becoming feasible and in 1926 James Braid laid his hand on top of Tom’s. It was this meld of Morris and Braid, put to such great effect in other courses across the UK, that created these treacherous links nicknamed "CarNasty."
The ability to walk across the evidence of Tom’s natural and successful designs in the golf courses of the early 20th century will certainly have influenced the detailed topographic creativity of James Braid. Identifying traces of the original 18 holes which Tom laid out here can be a challenge today as Braid lengthened, added and shifted many of their features. Yet there are elements which can be seen that are also recognisable at Prestwick, St Andrews and others. Like many of Tom’s course designs, the influence of the natural landscape is often found in the playing of the holes. The 1st hole at Carnoustie features one of the few blind shots to a pin on the course, unless you play dangerously left. The 4th, Hillocks, dog-legs away from a ditch: whilst Braid is largely attributed to the use of this design shape, the original dog-leg is said to have been a Tom Morris inspiration from today’s 4th hole at Prestwick where the fairway curves along the bank of the meandering Pow Burn. The 4th at Carnoustie also features a double-green, seen in so much of the St Andrews estate. The 14th hole has its Spectacle bunkers, a term now common in golf for a pair of protective bunkers in line with the green. The final three holes of the current Championship course were built prior to the 1937 Open, re-designed by local golfer James Wright, and including the infamous 18th hole with its card-wrecking Barry Burn flowing across the fairway in full fear mode when any golfer of any standard steps onto the tee and looks towards the clubhouse.
The foundation which Tom Morris built upon the links of Carnoustie in the mid-19th century created the inspiration for today’s world-class Championship course and its siblings, The Budden and The Burnside. His vision, and honest designs, embraced nature’s best assets and are surely testament to his legacy in the world of golf.