The Art of Scottish Golf, by Martin Dempster review: 'a love letter to the game'

This paean to Scottish golf is a more than worthy addition to the sport's literary canon, writes Graham Bean

David Law plays his second shot on the first hole during day two of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews, October 2024 | Warren Little/Getty Images

Martin Dempster’s The Art of Scottish Golf is a love letter to the game Scotland gave the world, written by someone who fell head over heels with the sport as a kid and never let go.

Stretching over 250 beautifully illustrated pages, it manages to distill all that is good about golf in this country, from history to high achievers, from grassroots to glory days.

No one in the UK covers the sport more assiduously than Dempster, The Scotsman's golf correspondent, who is as at ease reporting on the Dispatch Trophy for amateurs on Edinburgh’s Braid Hills as he is speaking to Tiger Woods at the Open Championship.

He nails his colours to the mast on page one, declaring golf to be Scotland’s national sport and brooks no argument on this matter. "Forget football. Forget rugby. In fact, forget any other sport you can come up with. Because golf is what most people around the world think of when Scotland is mentioned in a sporting capacity."

But Dempster is no monomaniac. His near 40-year career in journalism has seen him cover football at the highest level, reporting on Scotland at a major championship. He is also known to visit Murrayfield on occasion but it is golf that was his first love. Introduced to the game by his father at Eyemouth on the Berwickshire coast, he retains an enthusiasm for the sport which comes shining through in his crisp prose.

He traces the game's roots, interviewing leading historians, and notes the pivotal role St Andrews, Musselburgh and Leith Links played in the game's genesis. While the claim that Mary Queen of Scots played golf at Musselburgh in 1567 is treated with scepticism, there is definitive evidence that Sir John Foulis, an Edinburgh lawyer, had a game there in 1672.

Golf's origin story goes deeper than that, however, with David Hamilton ("regarded as the Godfather of Golf History") arguing that it evolved from shinty which was played from Columba's time. Hamilton also happily scotches suggestions that the game was invented in the Netherlands.

There is reference to golf in St Andrews as early as 1552 and the Fife town is, of course, more synonymous with the game than any other.

The forming of golfing societies was pivotal in its development as a sport and laid the foundations for the golf club. Competition followed and Scots blazed a trail in the Open, the oldest “major”. The likes of Old Tom Morris, Young Tom Morris and Willie Park Snr are given due deference but it's the way Dempster weaves in contemporary interviews with the history which brings the book to life.

Scottish golf greats such as Sandy Lyle, Paul Lawrie, Catriona Matthew and Colin Montgomerie share their stories and there is also a valuable contribution from Robert MacIntyre, our latest global superstar and this year's Scottish Open winner.

Their achievements are rightly lauded with Matthew's feat in winning the 2009 British Women’s Open 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter arguably the most remarkable.

All this is pulled together in an engaging style which makes Dempster’s paean to Scottish golf a more than worthy addition to the sport's literary canon.

The Art of Scottish Golf, by Martin Dempster (Black & White, £16.99)