The Open Championship – 19th – 22nd July 2018
Carnoustie is known as one of the world’s most challenging links courses and this will be the eighth Open Golf Championship to have been held there. The modern game of golf is generally considered to be a Scottish invention and golfing enthusiasts from all over the world will be flocking to Carnoustie this July to see who will lift the famous Claret Jug.
The first documented mention of golf in Scotland appears in a 1457 Act of the Scottish Parliament, an edict issued by King James II of Scotland prohibiting the playing of the games of “gowf” and football as these were a distraction from archery practice for military purposes. Bans were again imposed in Acts of 1471 and 1491, with golf being described as “an unprofitable sport”. Mary, Queen of Scots, was accused by her political enemies of playing golf, after her second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was murdered in 1567. George Buchanan subsequently wrote that she had been playing “sports that were clearly unsuitable to women”. Golf was banned again by parliament under King James IV of Scotland, but golf clubs and balls were bought for him in 1502 when he was visiting Perth, and on subsequent occasions when he was in St Andrews and Edinburgh.
The East Coast of Scotland boasts many beautiful houses, of which a select few are available to rent for the Championship. If you would like to secure your accommodation for the Open we would recommend you book as soon as possible.
The beautiful Angus and Perthshire countryside holds some of the most beautiful privately owned lodges and houses in Scotland, some of which will be available through George Goldsmith to rent for the Open.
For those who perhaps would like a day off from the Championships, it is easy to travel directly into the beautiful cities of Edinburgh or St Andrews where you can spend an enjoyable day exploring the historic Old Towns, museums and art galleries, together with many shopping opportunities.
