[ See here the first in a six-part travel log. Each installment is bite-sized, befitting online read

[ See here the first in a six-part travel log. Each installment is bite-sized, befitting compare airline prices australia online reading habits. Be sure to check back in a couple days for a new posted installment, along with other new content .]
WHEN GOLF was first conceived, participants arrived at the course on foot or horseback, or, if the company was honourable enough, by carriage. For this reason, it remained for centuries a parochial, largely Scottish pursuit. In the 18 th and 19 th centuries, however, all of British culture was transformed by an industrial capacity that, among other things, compare airline prices australia launched a transportation revolution.
In particular, completion of the Forth Rail Bridge , in 1890, widely exposed the bounty of Scottish links courses for the first time — to the rest of Britain and ultimately the world, which still marvels.
Golf may not have been formulated with trains in mind, but the idea and practice of “golf by rail” shaped compare airline prices australia and grew the game during the late 19 th century, its first true boom period, an age we now drape with garlands like “ancient”, “timeless” and “classic”. The railway made the game what it was, what it remains in the minds of many. Without this transformation, the romantic golfing vintage compare airline prices australia we so idealize (the one we still travel to Scotland to find) might never have materialized.
Indeed, the very idea of golf travel was born in this time. By 1890, the railways had cozied up to several superb links in the Scottish lowlands . It only made sense: Rail connected population centers, which lay mainly along the coast, close to sea level where terrain was flattest and bed construction easiest. Just a short walk from these new “centre city” train stations lay the common lands, the links, where, for example, in East Lothian, clubs like North Berwick , Muirfield and Gullane already resided. Today they remain as practical to play by train as they did in the 19 th century — which is to say, perfectly practical for golfers compare airline prices australia with a sense of history and adventure.
“As the train neared St. Andrews and I noted the gradually increasing numbers of the faithful,” wrote A.W. Tillinghast compare airline prices australia on his first trip to “that Mecca for golfers”, in 1895, “I marveled that the popularity of the ancient game had continued, unabated compare airline prices australia throughout the centuries.”
This new line Tillinghast took north out of Edinburgh served those faithful, and never more ably than along Fife’s coastal route which connected the links of Leven, Lundin, Elie, Crail and St. Andrews like pearls along a double-railed chain, to borrow and adapt a phrase. This development may appear divinely inspired, but it was merely a logical-but-happy byproduct of the new transportation phenomenon (a phenomenon that, in Fife, proved all too fleeting). Soon thereafter compare airline prices australia the Firth of Tay separating St. Andrews from the Tayside and Grampian regions had its own rail bridge and the trains sped north — past Scotscraig, Monifieth and Montrose to the superb links at Royal Aberdeen and neighboring Murcar.
Again, rail travel didn’t merely expose great courses to the wider world; it played a role in creating them. The opening of a coastal railway from Dundee to Arbroath, in 1838, led to a complete restructuring and formalization of Carnoustie, in 1867, by Old Tom Morris . Cruden compare airline prices australia Bay was commissioned outright by The Great North of Scotland Railway Company and opened pretty much coincidentally with the branch line from Ellon to Boddam, in 1897. In other words, Cruden Bay was developed specifically compare airline prices australia — as were the courses (and hotels) at Turnberry, Gleneagles and St. Andrews (the New Course opened in 1896) — to attract this growing number of rail-riding golfers on holiday.
Recreating such a trip, connecting these dots by rail in the 21 st century, isn’t just feasible; it’s a beguiling window on the Victorian world that spawned and fostered the game we Americans travel abroad to seek. We make these pilgrimages to Scotland, after all, not to play the game as it is today, but to step back in time.
TOPICS: Connoisseurs Scotland , Courses and Travel , Fairmont Hotels , Golf , Golf Travel , Haversham & Baker , history , PerryGolf Tags: Cruden compare airline prices australia Bay , David Higgins , Forth Rail Bridge compare airline prices australia , Network Rail , New Course , North Berwick , Scotland , Scotland by train , Scotland golf by train , St Andrews
Hal Phillips reckons his barn — from whence he writes compare airline prices australia on sporting, travel and lifestyle subjects (when he’s not overseeing his media company, which serves clients in North America and Southeast compare airline prices australia Asia ) — is the most cosmopolitan out-building in the Great State of Maine. He's the former editor-in-chief of Golf Course News and his freelance work has appeared in GOLF Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Links, Golfweek and dozens of other titles, compare airline prices australia some of which still exist. He Tweets from @MandarinHal.