Swilcan Burn - A seven letter word ending in splash at St Andrews Index of Articles Swilcan Burn - A seven letter word ending in splash The Swilcan Burn is surely the most famous water hazard in golf, while the stone bridge that traverses it is the most recognisable of its kind in golf. Michael Flannery and David Hamilton investigate its history From the first tee, its presence is sensed in the dark cut across the links. Its features blend into the flat landscape of the Old Course – a thin channel of water winding sinuously across the 1st and 18th fairways. Nestled between banks flush with the fairways and first green, the ancient burn waits placidly, its patience honed by the passage of countless centuries. It was there long before man settled the nearby town, dedicated to the memory of Saint Andrew. Rabbits, rodents, wildfowl, and later, sheep, were the original inhabitants. Sometimes, charged by gales, this insignificant waterway carried great fish and strange creatures inland from the depths of the sea, and left them to their fate on what is now hallowed golfing ground. The ancient burn has witnessed half a millennium of laundry spread to dry along its banks.

Countless balls from fiercely-contested matches of futeball and shinty have rolled into its cool waters. Generations of fearless lads – unable to resist a dare – have jumped into it and splashed in its silted bed. Yet the innocuous burn has a dark side. The capricious currents where it flows back into its source – once known as the German Ocean – have claimed many victims, men and boys who couldn’t resist the water’s cool charm and fatally underestimated its deadly hidden strength. Swilcan – A Burn Protected by Parliament A Victorian historian informs us that, in bygone times, legislation was enacted to preserve the integrity of the ‘Wee Burn’: ‘which has played its part so thoroughly and drastically at times of great competitions’. No other golf stream is protected by an Act of Parliament in the way that this one is, and its high dignity is unimpeachable. We are warned, under the usual penalty of a fine or imprisonment, that no one shall wade in the Swilcan Burn, so far as it flows through the Old Course, nor shall any one, except players or caddies in search of their ball, do anything to cause its waters to become discoloured or muddy.

‘There are surely times when we feel that we could not do anything to make the Swilcan Burn appear uglier than it does at those times’. Caddies, being caddies, missed no opportunity to stir the muddy bottom with their toes, sending clouds of silt down stream to cover errant balls; only to return later to fish them out and pocket them for re-sale to the players. These days, tamed by man and mechanical devices, its flow is languid, its water clear, Swilcan no longer responds to the eternal cycle dictated by moon and tides. There were times when its unchecked tidal flow surged with fury into the narrow burn, overflowing its banks and spilling vast masses of water onto the flat ground that is now the 18th fairway, across to the land behind the Road Hole green where, year after year, Gypsies migrated to make their camp. In bygone days, the water was murky, brackish, a useless brew laced with salt and sown with weeds wrenched from the dunes and ocean, ferried back and forth in an incessant rhythm. Some of the detritus remained, leaving mounds and slopes on what are fairways, today.

In practical terms, the Burn, set in links land granted in 1123 by King David to the people of St Andrews, serves no purpose. Its briny water is an enemy to the fragile grass that surrounds it, nourished by underground irrigation and nature’s rains. Its haphazard path is serpentine and inconvenient. Before emptying into the North Sea at the southern end of West Sands, the watercourse meanders across the 1st and 18th fairways, requiring small bridges to traverse it. And yet, of all the world-famous hazards of the Old Course – Hell Bunker, Beardies, Coffins and the Road Hole Bunker – none nears the importance of this narrow, placid burn, the only water on the links. Unlike other famous Old Course trouble spots, there is no line of approach that takes Swilcan out of play. The Ultimate Test of Playoff Nerves As a hazard, it brings both physical and psychological pressure to bear – nevermore harrowing than when the first hole is enlisted in a championship playoff.

Leslie Balfour (later - Melville) a gifted all-round sportsman and in 1895, British Amateur Golf Champion, won his last three matches on the 19th hole. His first two opponents, Willie Grey and Laurie Auchterlonie, both hit their second shots into Swilcan Burn. In the final, against John Ball, both players drove short of the burn. Balfour-Melville pitched safely over, but Ball’s approach went almost straight up in the air and landed in the water, sealing his fate. The eminent golf historian Dr David Malcolm considers: “The proper and original spelling (of the Burn) was ‘swilkin’. Swilcan, and much else (spelling) arrived with the Victorian toff mob. The Golfers Bridge (to give it its proper name) was built in the late 18th Century, sometime between 1740 and 1780. This was the conclusion drawn after lengthy studies by Mr Scott (local architect and advisor to the National Trust) in 1965.

It is interesting that it is in every respect (other than width) the same as the bridge unearthed over the condie at Kingsbarns which was built at the same time. The Swilkin bridge is more extensive than it appears today as it was semi-covered when the burn was finally banked in 1870 by Tom Morris.” The burn, also, variously known as Swile, Swilkan, Swilken and Swilcen, is crowned by a small grey stone structure known as a Packhorse Bridge. In Scotland such bridges are rare, although similar ones are found in northern England. In distant Galicia, a kindred medieval packhorse bridge crosses the Almofrei at Cotobade. The nearest Swilcan-style Scottish neighbour can be found seven miles away in Ceres, where the oldest free Highland Games in Scotland have been held every year since Bannockburn in 1314. If you plan to get in a round of hickory golf on the charming course at the Hill of Tarvit, you’ll pass by the bridge.

The Game’s Greats Mug on the ‘Lourdes of Golf’ David Hamilton aptly refers to Swilcan Bridge as the ‘Lourdes of Golf’. Allan Robertson, Tom Morris, Andrew Kirkcaldy, Dwight Eisenhower, Bing Crosby, Danny Kay, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer are but a few of the greats who have mugged on its modest hump. It was here that Jack Nicklaus, the ‘Golden Bear’, took his farewell to the Open Championship. The bridge, golf’s most famous icon, has been painted, sketched, photographed, replicated, hugged, kissed and caressed by visiting pilgrims, all seeking to take away a small bit of its unique magic. Itinerant pastors have been glimpsed (as requested by their ex-owners) scattering ashes over its parapets. But the star appeal Swilcan Burn and other notable Old Course hazards exude today for golfers and tourists was notably lacking in 1898, when Garden Hilton’s The World of Golf was published.

“The holes have been so arranged that the very towers and spires of the town, which might otherwise have proved distracting, are utilised as line guides and direction posts, while the hazards, from the sinuous and dirty ‘Swilcan’, all the way round to the station-master’s garden, are horrid and repellent to the eye.” Middle Age Fairs and the World’s Most Famous Packhorse Bridge The origins of the bridge are lost in time. Many attribute it to the Romans, but that seems unlikely since by the mid-5th century they had pulled up stakes to put out fires on the Eastern European front and quell rebellions closer to home. Still, the adjective ‘Romanesque’ isn’t far off the mark. Other tentative dating places the small stone bridge to the High Middle Ages, some 800 years ago, when St Andrews, which enjoyed ‘burgh’ status from the 12th century on, was also a flourishing market town and hosted a famous annual fair. Like those of Bruges, Reims, Frankfurt, Provins, Troyes and Florence, St Andrews – famous for its fish – attracted buyers and sellers from distant lands.

Swilcan Bridge was apparently built to meet the related need; that of providing a practical link for travellers, their beasts of burden, and livestock between the important Eden estuary harbour and the ancient town market. Typically, such bridges are designed for trade routes (packhorse routes), where they permit packhorses (i.e. horses loaded with sidebags or panniers) to cross rivers or streams. They consist of one or more narrow (one horse wide) masonry arches, with low parapets that don’t interfere with the panniers. Before the road-building efforts of Napoleon, all crossings of the Alps were on packhorse trails; travellers’ carriages were dismantled and transported over the mountain passes by ponies and mule trains. Britain’s packhorse bridges are exquisite and rare architectural constructions with proportions of simple and satisfying beauty – an enduring tribute to the stonemason’s art. Swilcan is no exception. Its importance to St Andrews golfers is reflected in Club Minutes of 7 September, 1810, when the Society (The St.

Andrews Society of Golfers was still 24 years away from being anointed ‘Royal’) authorised the Secretary “to employ tradesmen to repair the Golfer’s Bridge on the Links, which is at present almost impassable, and to pay the expense thereof”. It was still called the Golfer’s Bridge on an 1854 map, and the first hole, the ‘Bridge Hole’, until the 20th century. Swilcan Burn and its Famous Victims But our story is not about packhorses and bridges and Romans and architecture and the caprices of the ‘German Ocean’. It’s about golf, and how the aqueous thread known as Swilcan Burn has played a decisive role in golf history. The only water on the Old Course is a subtle and special danger. For centuries, the innocent, brave, unlucky and foolhardy have all suffered at its hands. Its more famous victims include Old Tom Morris, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino, who failing to understand his caddie’s warning, drove into it.

Not overly in-tune with the Scots patois, ‘Super Mex’ afterwards raged: “That’s not a burn, it’s a damn creek.” Swilcan Burn was widened two feet in 1933 – the year the American, Craig Wood, drove it on his way tying his fellow countryman, Herman Densmore ‘Denny’ Shute. In the subsequent 18-hole playoff, Wood made a jittery start, driving into Swilcan, which he followed by landing in a bunker on number 2, putting him four strokes down to Shute, to whom he ultimately lost by five. Swilcan, however, provided only part of the drama that year. The most unusual episode of a dramatic 1933 Open took place on the green of ‘Tom Morris’, the 18th hole. Much has been written of Doug Sander’s missed short putt there in the 1970 Open, which led to a playoff loss the next day to Jack Nicklaus. That pales into insignificance with Leo Diegel, who could (should) have joined Wood and Shute in their playoff.

An R&A history recounts the remarkable story: “[Diegel] left the first putt [on the 72nd] virtually stone dead and crouched over the ball in his familiar style with elbows splayed wide, forearms parallel with the ground. Renowned golf correspondent Bernard Darwin reported that he missed ‘by the widest possible margin’. He had, in fact, missed the ball completely. An air shot with the putter.” Six Ways to Get on the First Green Looking down the first tee to the gently descending, then flat fairway, players are confronted with a critical decision – should I go for it (rare); drive close to the burn for a short chip across; or leave myself a firm pitch to the centre of the green from50 to 80 yards out? What they are certainly not dwelling on are backdoor routes based on bounces and ricochets – rubs of the green – that have punctuated championship play over the past century and a half. History shows six ways that players have managed to get onto the first green: 1. Driving the burn. The first green is 345 yards from the tee.

Craig Wood, a Herculean ball striker, managed to drive it in 1933. His reputation was further burnished on the par-five 5th hole where his drive landed in a bunker on the face of the hill, only 100 yards short of the hole, after carrying an incredible 430 yards. But being able to drive the first green doesn’t mean you’ll always manage to do so. Despite his previous success in carrying the Burn, in the playoff with Denny Shute, Wood drove into the slow waters. Even though he managed to play out, it cost him strokes. 2. Bouncing off the fairway on to the green. This is a tactic that the extra long hitters like Tiger or John Daly might consider. Fred Couples managed it in a practice round in 1984. 3. Driving short of the burn and chipping or pitching over. This is the most common practice, favoured by (among others) Peter Thomson, five-time Open Champion. 4. Bouncing out of the burn. Today, the deep walls make this impossible. 5. Playing out of the burn. In the old days, this was always on the menu.

According to the golf historian, Dr David Malcolm: “The burn has dried up many times and many people have played out of it. The burn is now kept clear but that was not always the case. Tom Morris had to plough it out regularly with a horse and plough.” As hard as it is for us to believe today, the virtuoso feat of getting up and down from the flowing waters of a stream or burn was part of Victorian and Edwardian golfers’ repertoire. The Irish champion, Mary Linzee ‘May’ Hezlet, was representative of skilled golfers who could accurately strike a mashie 120 yards or more from flowing water. Outside the United Kingdom, the ‘splash shot’ evoked wonder. In 1895, the New York Times published an account of a classic scramble from Swilcan. The hero was the Victorian artist, George Glennie, who as a school boy was so talented as a golfer that his fellow students allowed him only a single club, described as a “very battered and disreputable-looking middle spoon”, for all his shots. Even this drastic measure didn’t work.

In George’s artistic hands “this unpromising implement proved effective… and he was too good for his field”. One day, playing the Old Course with another eminent golfer, George powered his gutty floater into Swilcan Burn, where it was found merrily bobbing along, “pursuing its career seaward on the ‘drumlie (muddy or troubled) current’. The artist went downstream to a point where he could manage to play it, ‘on the wing’, an inspiration crowned with success. As the newspaper tells us, “Splash went the niblick; away went the ball, and finished dead at the hole”, which he won. 6. Ricocheting off, or rolling over the bridge. Reporting on the Ladies final of 1908, Mabel Stringer wrote: “Maude Titterton’s ball hit the stone bridge over the Swilcan, bounded over it, and she thus secured the hole and the match.” In 1939, a second simple bridge in line with the tee and green was moved to the 2nd tee to stop drives going on the green. Swilcan Burn – A kingmaker in the 2010 Open Championship?

To what extent will Swilcan Burn play a role in 2010 Open? Has modern golf, with its space age equipment and consequent gargantuan drives, rendered it obsolete? Colin Montgomerie, who rates the first as about a par-three, would have us believe so. But even if the pros settle for a drive near the Burn and a short pitch onto the green, shooting a birdie, as Lee Westwood found out on his initial drive in the 2005 Open, isn’t automatic. “You want to get off to a good start anywhere but knocking it into the stream at the 1st is not the way to do it. I hit the wrong club, a sand-wedge; it was only 99 yards but it was into the wind.” Ah yes – forgot about the wind. And Monty? The celebrated Scotsman, too, managed to find water with his drive, something he had never done before. “God almighty”, he said, “that’s the first time I have done that in 20 years of playing here. It just got a big old bounce and just ran out of room.

It’s an awful start to have at a hole which is a three, three-and-a-quarter hole.” Two primary factors will determine how often we hear the soothing splash of new balls visiting the ancient burn. The first is pin placement. If the hole is near the front of the green, approach shots will require consummate delicacy and accuracy. Too short means H2O country, while approaches that are too long, risk rolling onto the heavily-sloped back of the 1st green. The second key element, however, is the weather. If St Andrews has its defences – rain and constantly shifting wind – in place, Swilcan Burn will, yet again, play a key role in determining the outcome of the most venerable and greatest of golf championships. Reproduced with kind permission of Golf International Magazine Tom Watson Says Goodbye To British Open At St Andrews | Golf.com Photo: Getty Legendary American golfer Bobby Jones is pictured in his special golf buggy after receiving the Freedom of St Andrews In 1936, six years after he retired from competitive golf, Jones was sailing across the Atlantic to attend the Olympic Games in Berlin.

He was persuaded to take a side trip to Gleneagles, and then Jones insisted on one final round, at St. Andrews. Word spread of Jones’ surprise visit and by the time he teed off, 2,000 spectators lined the first fairway. He posted 32-40, with a birdie at the final hole. He returned one last time in 1958, when he was presented with the Freedom of the City award, making him an Honorary Burgess of St. Andrews, the first American to earn such status since Benjamin Franklin. At the ceremony, he famously remarked, “I could take out of my life everything except my experiences at St. Andrews and I would still have a rich, full life.” Though nearly immobile due to the crippling effects of syringomyelia, a rare spinal-cord disorder, Jones toured the Old Course over the following days – via the first electric cart ever to be seen at St. Andrew – as captain of the U.S. team at the World Amateur Team Championship, now known as the Eisenhower Trophy.

Arnold Palmer: 1995 Photo: Getty Raymond Floyd, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus sit on the Swilken Bridge on the 18th hole at the 1995 British Open at St. Andrews golf course in St. Andrews, Scotland After capturing the first two legs of the modern Grand Slam in 1960, Arnold Palmer was convinced by friend and business manager Mark McCormack that he needed to enter—and win—the British Open, which happened to be at St. Andrews that year. So low was the prize money, so arduous the travel, and so archaic the qualifying procedures that few Americans ever ventured there. Palmer didn’t win that year, finishing second by one stroke to Australia’s Kel Nagle, but he reinvigorated the tournament, elevating it back to major status. Palmer won it the next year, and again in 1962. He never would triumph at St. Andrews, but established the classic farewell gesture when he posed on the Swilcan Bridge in 1995, ending his British Open career with a missed cut on rounds of 83-75.

Jack Nicklaus: 2000 Photo: Getty Jack Nicklaus on the Swilken Bridge on the 18th waves to fans during Second round of the British Open Golf Championships at the Old Course. The Golden Bear compiled the greatest British Open record since the Great Triumvirate (Vardon, Taylor and Braid) by finishing in the top five every year from 1970 to 1980. Only once from 1963 to 1980 did he finish out of the top six, a 12th place finish in 1965. Nicklaus won three British Opens, two of them at St. Andrews, in 1970 and 1978. He couldn’t make the cut in his final appearance, shooting 77-73, but he did finish in style with a birdie at 18 in his final competitive round. Sam Snead: 2000 Photo: Getty Sam Snead dances on the Swilken bridge during the final practice round of the British Open Golf Championship at the St Andrews Links Old Course, in Fife, Scotland Slammin’ Sam made just five appearances in the British Open.

One of them, however, was a four-stroke victory at St. Andrews in 1946. It wasn’t love at first sight with the Old Course. While on the train, he remarked to another passenger as they were passing it for the first time, “Say, that looks like an old abandoned golf course.” His final appearance was in 2000, when he competed in the four-hole Champions Challenge exhibition, ahead of the Open. ever the limber fellow, He danced a farewell jig on the Swilcan Bridge—at age 88. Tom Watson: 2010, 2015 Photo: Getty Tom Watson poses on the Swilcan Bridge as he marks his final round in any British Open on day two of the 2015 British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland, on July 17, 2015. At age 60, Tom Watson bid farewell to St. Andrews. Then he did it again five years later. Beloved by the Scots, Watson captured five British Open titles, one away from Harry Vardon’s all-time record, but he never did win at St. Andrews.

He came whisker close in 1984, losing to Seve Ballesteros. Most, including Watson, felt 2010 would be his final St. Andrews Open, which ended in near darkness with a missed cut on rounds of 73-75. Watson, however, had kept his skills so competitive that he would make cuts in three of the next four years. And so, one final goodbye in 2015, alongside son Michael, his caddie. In the typically wild weather where Watson once thrived, he came up short, on rounds of 76-80. Nick Faldo: 2015 Autumn Swilcan Bridge Old Golf Course St Andrews Fife Scotland - YouTube Autumn Swilcan Bridge Old Golf Course St Andrews Fife Scotland Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Nov 8, 2012 Tour Scotland Autumn video of Swilcan Bridge on the Old Golf Course on visit to St Andrews, Fife. The most famous bridge in all of golf, Category Our History: A Timeline | St Andrews Golf Co. Our History: A Timeline Go to the shop Our History: A Timeline The St Andrews Golf Company is the only golf club manufacturer at the ‘Home of Golf’ and the last club maker in the world retaining the traditional skills to hand craft playable sets of hickory and modern state-of-the-art golf clubs. We offer a unique opportunity to see how clubs have been made for 600 years since golf was first played at the “Home of Golf.” Our history at the St. Andrews Golf Co. Ltd’s dates back to 1881. We are the last remaining Scottish golf club manufacturer, a result of the major consolidation that has gone on in the industry in Scotland. The company is home to three of Scotland’s most famous club making brands: George Nicoll, Tom Stewart, and of course, St Andrews Golf Co. Visitors are welcome to see what we do in person.

For those of you visiting us online, we offer you the following timeline to help you understand how we have become what we are today. 1881 George Nicoll, a blacksmith by trade, began the manufacture of hand forged iron heads or “cleeks” Nicoll’s designs were innovative and included in 1895 a swan neck putting cleek which created the same effects as a modern center-shaft putter. The designs attracted some very large orders–one being placed in 1898 by the Forth Rubber Company for 10,000 clubs. Among Nicoll’s many staff players were three-time Open Champion Henry Cotton, Brian Huggett, Dai Rees and Vivien Saunders. The company remained owned and distributed worldwide by the same family until 1982. Nicoll’s famous cleekmark–an outlined depiction of an upright, palm-facing hand–first appeared in 1905. The St Andrews Golf Company (which owns the George Nicoll brand) still incorporates the cleekmark on every Nicoll-branded product it produces. 1893 Tom Stewart Jr.

opens his “cleekworks” on Argyle Street St Andrews Tom Stewart had learnt his trade as a blacksmith with his father in Carnoustie where cleeks were sometimes made (George Morris, older brother of Tom, was a client of renown). Stewart went to work in St Andrews with the well-known clubmaker Robert White in 1890 and three years after started business for himself, using the famous pipe-brand cleekmark previously used by his father in Carnoustie. His cleeks found favor with many famous golfers including US Open winner Francis Ouimet and Grand Slam winner Robert T Jones Jr. Over the years, millions of pipe-brand clubs have been produced. Out of respect to Bobby Jones, St Andrews Golf Company reproduces exact copies of the clubs supplied to the legend during his 1930 “Grand Slam” year. The pipe brand and Tom Stewart Company are now part of the St Andrews Golf Co. 1906 St Andrew Golf Company, Dunfermline and Glasgow, starts production. Company designer Willie Ogg comes up with the “Oggmented” clubs–a very early method of producing a balanced set.

Notable players to use these clubs were Densmore (Denny) Shute 1933 Open Champion, Gene Sarazen and Johnny Farrell. 1907 Arnaud Massy Becomes the First Overseas Winner of the Open Championship The 1907 Open took place at Hoylake. Arnaud Massy and Walter Toogood were the first-round leaders with 76 each in terrible weather. At the end of 36 holes, Massy held a one stroke lead over J.H. Taylor and Tom Ball. Tom Williamson and George Pulford were two behind. Harry Vardon was down the field, eight behind and James Braid was ten strokes off the lead. In the third round, Taylor shot a 76 while Massy went around in 78 and the Englishman now led by one shot. In the final round, Taylor sliced his second shot at the 3rd hole into the long grass and he ended up with a seven, which cost him dearly. He reached the turn in 41 and came home in 39 for a total of 314.

Massy’s 38 for the front nine took him into the lead and then, like Taylor, he came home in 39 for a total of 312. Massy won with a set of George Nicoll irons. 1926 George Nicoll produces the revolutionary new set of clubs called the “Indicator” series. This set was to radically change the market for clubs. They were the first matching set of irons. Each was stamped on the back with the approximate distance the club should achieve, thereby helping golfers with club selection. Each club was also made with the same weight of shaft and flex. Wee take that for granted today, but this was breakthrough thinking at the time. 1930 Bobby Jones Pulls Off the Grand Slam Robert Tyre Jones Jr. completes the Holy Grail of golf, winning the Open and Amateur championships of Britain and the USA in the same calendar year–a feat never achieved before or since. “Bobby Jones” was fanatical about his clubs. On his retirement from golf, which followed soon after completing the slam, he stated, “I was very proud of my clubs.

There were some sixteen which I considered to be on the active list.” Five of those clubs were made by Tom Stewart and George Nicoll. 1933 Denny Shute Logs Another Win, With St Andrews Golf Co. Clubs From the middle of the pack American Densmore Shute returned his fourth round of 73 and found he was sharing the clubhouse lead with fellow Ryder Cup player Craig Wood. It looked certain that they would be joined by a third member of the team, when Diegel played a fine second shot to the last hole and needed two putts for a tie. He left the first putt virtually stone dead and crouched over the ball in his familiar style with elbows splayed wide, forearms parallel with the ground. In reference to the result of that putt, renowned golf correspondent Bernard Darwin reported that Diegel missed it “by the widest possible margin.” He had, in fact, missed the ball completely. An air shot with the putter. In the subsequent play-off Shute clinched the championship by five shots over 36 holes. Denny Shute went on to win two consecutive US PGA titles later in the decade. Shute played with St Andrews Golf Company clubs.

1934 Henry Cotton Wins His First Open The decade of American domination in the Open Championship finally ended at Royal St George’s in 1934. Opening rounds of 67 and 65 by Henry Cotton left all opposition so far adrift that it was almost as if he was playing a lone exhibition. The second round of 65 was seized on by the Dunlop company and their best-selling golf ball bore the magic number for many years. A third round of 72 brought a little reality to Cotton’s situation, but with one round to play he still held a ten-shot lead over the field. That lead quickly unraveled during the first twelve holes of the final round. The momentum gathering around Cotton’s collapse, left onlookers feeling grave doubt that he could hang on for the title. In common with Bobby Jones, Cotton suffered badly with nerves and found it difficult to cope with the pressures of tournament golf. Unable to eat properly before the last round he suffered stomach cramps and reached the turn in 40. Three more shots were spilled over the next three holes before he was able to stem the flow.

Short of the green in two at the 13th, Cotton chipped to four feet and holed the putt, steadying his nerves sufficiently enough to get him home in 79. Cotton’s final score was still good enough to give him a five-shot margin of victory and his first of three Open Championships. Henry Cotton played George Nicoll clubs throughout his career, right up to his retirement in the mid 1970s. 1937 Cotton Wins Second Open The 1937 Open Championship was played at Carnoustie. Ed Dudley, one of the American Ryder Cup team members playing in The Open, was the first round leader with a score of 70. Reg Whitcombe moved into the lead after the second round, holding a two-shot advantage over both his brother Charles and Dudley. Henry Cotton was tied for 6th, five shots adrift. The final two rounds of the Championship were played in a steady, cold, downpour. A third round score of 74 saw Reg Whitcombe maintain his two-stroke lead over Charles while Cotton moved up to third place, three shots behind. During the fourth round, Reg seemed very concerned about how wet the grips of his clubs were getting.

At the 7th tee, his driver seemed to slip out of his hands in the middle of his down-swing, causing him to top the ball. It slithered all of about 40 yards and finished in the rough. He ended up taking a six at the hole, which would ultimately prove decisive. He finished the round on 76 for a total of 292. Cotton, who was playing behind Whitcombe, was aware that he needed a 72 or better to take the lead. Playing excellent golf despite the conditions, Cotton made up the necessary ground and arrived at the 18th needing a six to win. His second shot found the bunker at the edge of the green, but he was down in five to post a total of 290. Only Charles Whitcombe could realistically catch Cotton if he shot a 72, but he could manage no better than a 76. As the afternoon wore on, the greatest danger to Cotton was that the course would be declared unplayable due to the amount of water lying on it and the round cancelled. The course remained playable – only just – and Cotton was declared The Open Champion.

1948 Cotton’s Third Title When he won his first Open Championship at Royal St George’s in 1934, Henry Cotton set a new record 65 in the second round. At Muirfield in 1948, his second-round score of 66 lacked the resonance of his earlier record, but it propelled him towards another five-shot winning margin and his third Open title. 1968 Brian Huggett Tops the European Order of Merit Huggett turned professional in 1951 and won 16 events on the European circuit, including two after the formal start of the European Tour in 1972. He topped the Order or Merit in 1968 and was the third highest money winner in the first season of the formal tour. Huggett was a George Nicoll player during the ’60s and ’70s. 1977 Old Course St Andrews Golf Tour, Corporate golf breaks The Old Course Tour, St Andrews (3 day) Day 1. Meet and greet at Edinburgh airport by chauffeur/guide. Transfer by luxury car to the five star Old Course Hotel or Rusacks Hotel in St Andrews overlooking the world famous Old Course.

Check into the hotel then lunch will be served in the Links Trust Clubhouse. Golf on the New or world famous Old course. Welcome cocktails and dinner in the evening. Day 2. Breakfast overlooking the Old Course then golf on the Jubilee or Old Course. Sightseeing and shopping in St Andrews and visit the British Golf Museum. Farewell cocktails and prizes with dinner in one of St Andrew's excellent restaurants or dine in the hotel. Day 3. Book out of hotel then take a scenic drive to Edinburgh for shopping and Sightseeing. Transfer to Edinburgh airport for home. Bon Voyage. (An extra night's stay can be arranged on request).

The Old Course Tour, St Andrews Includes Meet and greet at Edinburgh airport by chauffeur/guide with luxury transfers 2 nights five star twin room hotel accommodation with full Scottish breakfast daily 2 rounds of championship golf with green fees and tee off times Shopping & sightseeing in Edinburgh Lunch in the Links clubhouse restaurant Group photo on The Old Course Visit to the British Golf Museum Farewell cocktails and golf prizes Price per person from £1,275 inc Taxes To Book Your Tour Now, Please contact info@execgolftours.com EXECUTIVE GOLF Tours are Members of SIGTOA (Scottish Incoming Golf Tour Operators Association ) The 2010 Open Championship - Humble Swilcan Bridge one of golf’s great attractions The famed Swilcan Bridge has witnessed a steady parade of golf history over the years. (Getty Images) Old Course's humble Swilcan Bridge one of golf's great attractions The short, sturdy stone bridge across the Swilcan Burn might be unremarkable anywhere else. Because it's at St. Andrews, though, it has become a touchstone for every golfer fortunate enough to experience the Old Course.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent It’s a humble little bridge made of large, well-worn stones -- a low Roman arch-type construction that dates back 700, maybe 800, years. No one’s quite sure. It’s not long. About 8-10 paces from end to end. Simple. Sturdy. Masons built it so shepherds could move their sheep and cattle across the stream that meanders through what is now the first and 18th fairways of the famed Old Course on their way to the North Sea. Today the Swilcan Bridge – with the Royal and Ancient and Hamilton Hall as a backdrop -- is one of the most iconic settings in golf. Few rush across it -- Tiger Woods on Friday in 2005 was an exception -- these days. Instead, golfers crossing the bridge that spans Swilcan Burn pause for a moment in the middle. Not to reflect on its place in history or the year 1502, when Scotland’s James IV lifted the ban on golf. Rather, to wave. To sit for a moment on the edge.

To have a friend -- or a gaggle of professional photographers -- snap a picture for posterity. Or maybe just your family, your friends, a tweet and your screensaver. There are no rules, other than you can’t camp out there. You must observe -- for the most part -- pace of play. Dawdle a few minutes, strike your pose. Get creative if you want. Sam Snead, for example, just had to do a little tap dance across it. Complete with a straw fedora. Paula Creamer cut loose and celebrated the first Women’s British Open there by doing a cartwheel in front of it. Margaret Hamilton, a contestant in the Ladies British Open Amateur, propped her clubs on the bridge, dangled her crossed legs over the water, lit up a cigarette and posed for her iconic black-and-white signature moment in 1929. Bob Martin, who stepped over it on the way to the 1876 title, might have been one of the most fitting champions to cross the bridge. He was a shepherd, after all. St. Andrews starter James Johnstone got engaged on it.

Ian Poulter once passed it up -- not in an Open, of course -- to jump the burn. Walker Cup and Curtis Cup teams -- and a rugby or soccer team or two -- have gathered for a trophy shot on it. Hollywood celebrities have not been immune to the bridge’s siren call, either. Bill Murray, Dennis Hopper, Hugh Grant, Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Kevin Costner -- that’s right, Tin Cup -- have all had their photographs taken there. So has Donald Trump. No word on whether he inquired about buying the bridge. There’s also a YouTube video in which a woman scatters the ashes of her husband -- who introduced her to the game -- under the bridge into the Swilcan Burn. The “man who taught me golf in the home of golf,” she explains. And some of the greatest in the game have said goodbye on it. Arnold Palmer in 1995. Jack Nicklaus twice -- first in 2000, then again in 2005. And no, he’s not going for a third. Both waved.

But they’ve also posed seated -- alone, with each other and with Tom Watson -- as well as with their pairing and caddies, with their family, with … well, you get the idea. The two most popular backdrops are with the subject/subjects centered between the R&A and Hamilton Hall (the latter replaced by a grandstand if it’s Open week) or simply with just the imposing R&A behind them. Another shot? Straight across pointing toward the North Sea. As for the weather? Driving rain, snow, a wee dreich -- it doesn’t matter. They stop. This is the bridge. And, just in case you’re wondering, the bridge has been featured on a whisky label, been captured by just about every golf photographer and golf artist and we’re pretty sure if you look hard enough you can find a company to build a replica for you. There is, after all, one at the World Golf Hall of Fame for the perfect photo op. The Golfer’s Bridge, as they called it back in 1754 when King James IV gave it -- and the course -- a bit of a makeover has become a spot to stop and snap. And if it’s a Hall of Fame goodbye?

It might bring pace of play to a screeching halt. You can bet Wednesday’s Open Champions Challenge will be a Swilcan Bridge showstopper. Players like Peter Thomson, Roberto de Vicenzo, Bill Rogers, Tom Weiskopf and Bob Charles haven’t crossed the bridge in a while -- and definitely not in the digital age. If only Seve Ballesteros was there, too. This will be one wave of great shots after another -- welcome-backs and good-byes in the same moment. Talk about history on parade. The queue for fan-photographers at the wall along the fairway might start on Tuesday night. So far, nothing has equaled the emotional farewells of Arnie and Jack, though. The moments are etched in our minds. Jack waving, then pulling Tom Watson and Luke Donald -- and their caddies -- up there with him. Arnie in gray pants and a dark shirt waving goodbye in 1995. No official goodbyes are set for this, the 150th Anniversary Open Championship, but some might happen anyway.

Three-time champ Nick Faldo is safe -- he doesn’t turn 60 until 2017 -- so assume he’ll keep playing. Watson is exempt through 2014, but would need a bit of help to extend it to 2015, when we expect the Open will return to St. Andrews. Greg Norman needs a little help, too. He’ll turn 60 in February 2015 and would have to finish top 10 before that to extend his exemption. Faldo will likely take a simple stroll. But -- just in case -- two-time winner Norman and five-time winner Watson are bound to bring down the house on their walks across the famous stone arch. And Colin Montgomerie? Chances are the European Ryder Cup captain -- who once observed, “There's only one hill to climb at St Andrews and that's to cross the Swilcan Bridge” -- will likely take his final bow this year. Not only has Monty never won the Open, he isn’t playing at the level that once made him a seven-time Order of Merit champ.

The age of the bridge remains a mystery, but it was there in some form for shepherds in 1457 when King James II banned golf -- and soccer -- because it distracted his soldiers from practicing archery. Almost five decades later -- in 1502 -- James IV took up golf and lifted the ban. Fast forward some 350-plus plus years and St. Andrews was well on its way to hosting the Open Championship and being known as the cradle of golf. Over the years, all the great ones have gathered on or walked across the Swilcan Bridge. Old and Young Tom Morris. Harry Vardon, J.H. Taylor and Henry Cotton. Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson and … well, just about every one but Ben Hogan. His only trip across the pond was to play -- and win -- at Carnoustie in 1953. Nelson played there once -- in 1955. Lee Trevino called it a “lousy creek” but always stopped for a photo op. Or two. Or 10. And his old Scottish caddie Willie Aitchison hopes he’ll be there for one last picture.

Aitchison won in 1967 on de Vicenzo’s bag (Hoylake) and in 1971 with Trevino at Muirfield. According to Golfweek, he may be the oldest living Open-winning caddie. “I have no right to be there but the Open has been a big part of my life,” he said. “This is a celebration of golf and it would be nice if I was part of it. “… It would be very special to see Lee one last time and I am hoping the R&A will allow me to walk the four holes with him and his son.” And, of course, pose for one last picture on the Swilcan Bridge. St Andrews Old and Jubilee Courses Golf Tour, Scotland UK The Old Course & Jubilee Tour (4 day) Day 1. Meet and greet at Edinburgh airport by chauffeur/guide. Transfer by luxury car or coach to the five star Fairmont St Andrews -and hotel of the year 2008, the Old Course Hotel or Rusacks Hotel overlooking the world famous Old Course. Check into hotel then lunch will be served in the Links Trust Clubhouse.

Golf on the championship New, Jubilee, Old Course or Kittocks Course, St Andrews. Welcome cocktails and dinner in the evening. Day 2. Full Scottish breakfast then golf on the, New, Jubilee, Old Course or Kittocks Course. Sightseeing and shopping in St Andrews and visit the British Golf Museum. Dine out in one of St Andrews popular restaurants. Day 3. Warm up on the driving range then golf on the New or Jubilee courses. Lunch in the Links Trust Clubhouse. Shopping and sightseeing in St Andrews. Farewell cocktails. Day 4. Book out of hotel and golf on the Old or New courses. Lunch in the Links clubhouse then take a scenic drive to Edinburgh for last minute shopping and sightseeing. Transfer to airport for home. Bon Voyage The Old Course and Jubilee Tour Includes Meet and greet at Edinburgh airport by driver/guide Luxury transfers throughout the tour Welcome cocktails in the hotel One round of golf on Old Course, Jubilee & New Courses Three nights accommodation in 3, 4 or 5 star hotel, sharing a twin or double room.

Full Scottish breakfast daily Three course dinner in your hotel on one evening Transfers each day to and from golf course including full bag transfer service Visit to British Golf Museum with shopping and sightseeing in St Andrews Souvenir photograph on the first and 18th holes on the Old Course Full use of the St Andrews Links Clubhouse Support of tour guide

Question: The Swilkin Bridge is a famous feature of which Scottish golf course?
Answer: ST ANDREWS