Carnoustie golf exports that shaped the global game

The Herald Scotland

6 hours ago

They included the Smith brothers - Willie, Alex, and Macdonald - who won three US Opens and countless other titles among them, having first learned the game at Carnoustie from the respected professional and legendary clubmaker Robert Simpson. His grandson Trevor Williamson now holds the title of "Keeper of the Carnoustie Way", a reference to the style of play taught by the town's natives which is regarded as a template for the modern golf swing.
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"Alex was a foreman with my grandfather," Mr Williamson said, "and if my grandfather got a letter from a company saying we need a man in America to work at our golf shop, if he recommended somebody, well that was the fellow's career changed, you know?
"That was a different life ahead of him, and that's the truth – wealth and fortune and all sorts of nice things.'
It is said that between 1898 and 1930 more than 150 professional club posts in North America were held by Carnoustie expatriates. The town's native sons were also instrumental in establishing the Professional Golfers Associations (PGA) of America and Australia, and won major championships in those countries as well as the UK, South Africa and Canada.
"You've got to remember that at that time they were ahead of the working American golfer, if you like, so they could win the US Open, they could win tournaments at clubs and professional tournaments, but they also had the ability to make clubs very well, which they would pass on to other makers," Mr Williamson said.
Simpsons Golf Shop with its iconic dome sits between the Caledonia and Carnoustie golf clubs opposite the links (Image: NQ Staff) "The same skills that they had here in Carnoustie and in other towns, they took with them and passed that on, which was great. Then time passed and the Americans got better at it and started to beat us, but in the early days I think that was the secret."
The business set up by Robert Simpson is the world's second-oldest golf shop and operates across the road from the modern Carnoustie Golf Hotel & Spa and the Championship, Buddon and Burnside courses.
Earlier this year Simpsons Golf was taken over by course custodian Carnoustie Golf Links. This was around the same time that Carnoustie Golf Links, which had been publicly owned since 1890, was acquired by a private investment group called the Carnoustie Golf Heritage and Hospitality Group (CGHH).
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A spokesperson for the group said Links executives are still working out the plans for the future of the shop. Mr Williamson has his own thoughts on the matter.
'The shop is a listed building so it kinda has to stay, if you know what I mean, like it is – it has to stay with the roof, it has to stay with the windows," he said. "It has to stay like that and I'd like to see that being the case without any alteration – that would be wonderful.
"You've got to remember the coloured roof, the dome, the umbrella – it's got a great significant importance.
"Peter Aliss used to love talking about that roof. He would sometimes say it on television oh there's the famous roof, you'll never get another roof like that, and all that sort of stuff, so that was quite fun."