How Musselburgh Old Course celebrated its 350th anniversary - 'a very special place Scottish golfing history'

It was race day at Musselburgh. Horse boxes were arriving in the East Lothian town and some spit and polishing was taking place at the entrances.

By the time the first race was underway and the stands packed with punters, the golf action in the middle of the track had ceased on what was a special day.

Though some swinging clubs on a brisk morning might not actually have known it, Musselburgh Old Course was celebrating its 350th birthday.

On 2 March, 1672, golf was officially recorded as being played there for the first time through a match involving prominent Edinburgh lawyer Sir John Foulis of Ravelston.

He might actually have been following in the footsteps of Mary Queen of Scots if reports of her picking up a club on the same piece of links land in 1567 are accurate.

With that being unofficial, though, it’s that date in 1672 that has been used to determine a milestone year for the historic course.

It’s the second oldest in Scotland behind the Old Course in St Andrews, where there is evidence of golf being played as far back as 1552.

Musselburgh was an original Open Championship venue, hosting one of the game’s most-recognised events on six occasions between 1874 and 1889.

Having also spawned no less than five Open champions and been home to some of the world’s first members’ golf clubs, the town is rich in golfing history.

It has also left a lasting legacy. The accepted diameter of a golf hole - four-and-a-quarter-inches or 108 mm - was the width of the piece of drainpipe used at Musselburgh to cut the holes.

This was adopted by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1893 as the official measurement requirement for all golf holes as they standardised the rules of golf.

“I like to think it’s a working piece of history,”