The second part of our Tour Film from the Cookie Jar comes from the Scottish Highlands. This one is a cracker! It’s longer than a typical English soap-opera, and twice the entertainment! In this episode, we head down to East Lothian for the second leg of our trip, playing at the Renaissance Club, Gullane No.1, Muirfield (The Honorable Co. Edinburgh Golfers), Kilspindie and Musselburgh Old Links. All of this in 3 days, with a late night barstool putting tournament at the epic Duck’s Inn, Aberlady with our host Malcolm Duck (aka The Duck)!We have a cameo appearance from Steve Elkington talking about his win at Wentworth over Monty, swimming pools in locker rooms, broken golf courses, broken clubs, and even a car that gets broken into! We’ve got a ‘what’s in the bag’ with a twist, courtesy of friend of the pod – Sam Cooper (aka @links_from_the_road), some secret and [...]

The first ever Tour Film from the Cookie Jar comes from the Scottish Highlands. This is a new style of film, and we hope you love it! In Part I from our tour, we make the stupidly long, nine hour drive north en-route to Boat of Garten, only to find out that the course was fully shut due to inclement weather in recent weeks. Luckily, things worked out ok in the end as you can probably tell! We’ve got footage in here from Castle Stuart, Royal Dornoch, and Brora! After all that, it’s down to East Lothian for another onslaught of great links golf! Club-twirls, hozzle-rockets, plenty of birdies, even more bogeys and a lot of great fun around some of the very best links golf you can find in the world! We joust on the links of Brora with club professional Malcolm, Mills stays awake all night [...]

The story of Castle Stuart is, in many ways, the story of Mark Parsinen… In the early 2000s, Mark began planning the design of a golf course on the Moray Firth. He had been closely involved with the creation of Kingsbarns near St Andrews, which opened to critical acclaim in July 2000. To create his Highlands masterpiece, Mark enlisted the support of the American architect, Gil Hanse.  Although Mark was given an undeniably picturesque landscape from which to carve this links, his meticulous attention to detail certainly maximised the natural beauty of the surrounding environment. Both loops of nine begin on the craggy shoreline, and you gradually climb to the upper shelves which provide panoramic views across the region. On almost every tee-box, Mark and Gil Hanse capture your attention, pointing the golfer towards some of the most important and historic monuments in the area: such as the [...]

Story of a Golf Club: Royal Dornoch Golf ClubVery few courses evoke the same, mystical aura as Royal Dornoch. Its remote location and rich history have combined to make Dornoch a site of pilgrimage for golfers, and it is perennially ranked as one of the Top 10 courses in the World.The earliest records suggest that golf has been played on the links at Dornoch since 1616, when Sir Robert Gordon spent a few pounds on bows, arrows, and golf clubs and balls for the young schoolboy, the Earl of Sutherland.The club itself was founded in 1877, but stood as a nine-hole course until Old Tom Morris extended the layout in 1886. The young secretary at the time, John Sutherland, was self-taught in the art of green keeping, and gradually refined the work by Old Tom. Sutherland would become Dornoch’s own ‘father of golf’, writing articles for the London Daily [...]

Story of a Golf Club: Brora Golf Club To kick start our new Scotland 2020 tour series, we’re bringing you ‘Story of a Golf Club’ from the remote town of Brora. Situated a short drive north Dornoch, along the beautiful coastline sits this (previously lesser known) James Braid classic, which is untouched and natural as almost any course you will visit. We say ‘previously’, because the charm, and magical aura surrounding the course and the club has become famous worldwide, with thanks to a number of famous visitors from the US, who left feeling exactly like we did when our time at Brora came to end.  Founded in 1891, benefitting from the influence of John Sutherland of Royal Dornoch, it was redesigned by James Braid in 1923, and very little has changed to the layout since then. It’s a simple out and back links; forgiving off the tee, [...]

A short teaser film for the upcoming CJG series in Scotland! 8 courses, in 5 days, across 3 counties! It was one hell of an adventure, rich in club twirls, sandy and acidic soil and breathtaking courses! Great and mediocre golf in equal measure, without a blister in sight! We're going to be bringing you 7 story of a golf club episodes and a special full length Tour Film in the coming weeks and months! Big thank you to Ecco Golf for the footwear which kept us dry and comfy, and Scotland Where Golf Began for laying on an outstanding and trip and mouth watering itinerary! Hit subscribe to keep up to speed as we drop content, and follow us on @cookiejargolf for podcasts, photography and more!

Our latest Story of a Golf Club episode, we stay put in England’s Golf Coast, this time at the historic and hallowed links land of West Lancs. This side of the Mersey, it is the oldest course you will find. Founded in 1873 by seven members of Royal Liverpool Golf Club, looking to expand the 'Scottish national game', as it grew in popularity and when you walk the fairways at West Lancs taking in the coastal views that are integral to its design, you quickly realise that mother nature is responsible for the layout we fundamentally enjoy. Whilst many architects over the years have changed the routing and its been adapted over time, including the likes of Tom Dunn, Harold Hilton & James Braid, the current layout is the work of CK Cotton in the 1960’s, when the club also installed its current clubhouse.  Interestingly, Harold Hilton also [...]

Story of a Golf Club: Formby Ladies Golf Club In our latest episode of our ‘Story of a Golf Club’ series, we are back on England’s Golf Coast to visit the lesser known of the two Formby courses, Formby Ladies. We wanted to spend time at Formby Ladies given its unique standing in the game. The only Ladies only golf club in the UK with its own 18 hole course (the nearest example would perhaps be the Himalaya’s putting course at St Andrews), the fact that it has only one set of tee’s and plays over a short distance at approx.. 5,300 yards.  Formby Ladies was formed back in 1896 when a flourishing and forward thinking ladies section decided they wanted their own course, to run their competitions and formed their own club. Considering the era, this was a bold and brave decision and testament to the foresight [...]

In Episode 5 of our ‘Story of a Golf Club’ series, we return to the famous Surrey sand-belt to visit the youngest member of the great quartet of clubs in the area: The Berkshire. This heathland was once a dense forest which hosted the Royal hunting trips organised by Queen Anne in the 18th century, along with nearby Swinley Forest. After much of the timber was cleared in 1916 to support the British effort in the First World War, Herbert Fowler surveyed the 400-acre estate on horseback, and his two designs were finally brought to life in 1928. He paid homage to the land’s military heritage by simply naming them The Red and The Blue, symbolic of two opposing sides in battle. Although Fowler had little experience in course design prior to 1904, his work on Walton Heath brought him huge plaudits across Europe, prompting Bernard Darwin to [...]

#savegolfonthehill The next episode from our ‘Story of a Golf Club’ series is  sad one, but it’s a story we have to tell. Golf has been played on Cleeve Hill common from as early as 1891, and the course was originally laid down by Old Tom Morris, consisting of dramatic views and blind shots with huge elevation change, but sadly its days are numbered. The layout was symptomatic of the location of the hill; sitting on top of a Limestone escarpment in the Cotswolds, 5 miles north of Cheltenham, and the club owes much to the stone its sits on, giving it the character it enjoys today. The limestone also means the soil drains like a colander, and therefore the ground is springy, and firm removing the need for man-made irrigation. Furthermore, the local area has benefitted hugely from the hill. Quarrying in the early 1900’s produced the [...]