Royal Golf- Falkland Golf Club
Play the course of Kings.

Further entries in 1503, less than a year after the king's first recorded purchase of clubs, reveal the continuation of an ancient French tradition of playing a peaceful club and ball game as an adjunct to Candlemas, the celebration of the purification of the Virgin Mary. February 3, James on a visit to Falkland Castle, is recorded to have played a game of golf with the Earl of Bothwell in which he lost 'iij Franch crounis' (three French crowns, or forty-two shillings). Only two days later on February 5, royal accounts record, 'an item, for golf clubbes and balles to the King that he played with', which cost nine shillings. James, no doubt, was already hooked and convinced that if only he had the right equipment his permanent companion off the tee - a life-threatening slice - would disappear.
There is no record that any purpose-built course existed in Scotland earlier than the eighteenth century. Rather, play as at Falkland Castle, was on private parkland or estates, or surfaces such as the common land set aside near all towns for recreation
Reproduced from: Golf the true history – By Michael Flannery Michael Flannery is the author of 'Golf Through The Ages • 600 Years of Golfing Art' and a member of St Andrews Golf Club The common land at Falkland is known as “The Myre” now the home of Falkland Golf Club