Welcome to the Leith Rules Golf Society website

Last update to site:  16 December 2020
 

The first recorded rules of the game of golf were created by the golfers playing at Leith Links in 1744.  Leith is the famous port of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, the country called the "Home of Golf". The Society seeks to ensure that this important milestone in the history of golf is appropriately recognised today.  

Jim Scanlon MBE ....
Jim has been a member of our Society for many years and has actively supported our events and Committee. Additionally, he is the Chair of Leith Links Community Council and is passionate about Leith. He has been awarded the MBE in the latest Honours List "for services to the community in Leith". Congratulations Jim, thoroughly deserved and entirely appropriate that people like you are recognised for the voluntary work they do.

Our 2020 events ....
Our calendar has been affected by COVID-19 with all our golfing events, including our annual play at Leith Links in July, cancelled.

Statue Update

The unveiling took place on 11th September 2019, the culmination of ten years work. Please click here for a report on this historic event.  
 

September 2020 - the fencing protecting the Rattray Precinct has been removed and Rattray is free at last. The firm foundation at the explanatory plinths has also just been completed. The City officially takes back responsibility for the parkland area on 1st October 2020 and the Statue and Plinths passed to the City in mid-February.  John Lessels Landscapes will maintain the site for the City for a further year as it is handed over to the Parks Dept.

There are over 20 varieties of wildflowers in the mounds. The site inspection with the City’s Parks Department included in the consulting team, Dr Heather McHaffie, consultant to the Royal Botanic Gardens; she was impressed with the density and variety of the native flowers and grasses and even identified one she thought was extinct – Lady (Sweet) Bedstraw.

Dr McHaffie has provided a complete list of the wildflowers and grasses (PDF document)

Miniature Statues Available

Miniatures of the Rattray Statue set on a polished wooden base (11”) or on a slate base (16”) are available to purchase from David Anderson at www.golfandthistle.com   Profits from the sale helped significantly in funding for the Statue and Precinct.  Future profits David is continuing to dedicate to Leith Rules Golf Society for support of the history of golf in Leith.

Further details can be seen in an update to our original film, which can be viewed through this link

Tim Bell, one of our founder members, recently interviewed our Secretary, Brian Graham, on his regular radio show.
Please click here for the show
Tim has also written various articles for magazines - 
The Leither (Pages 16-17)
Insiders Edinburgh

Background information on the Society
Find out more here
 

Become a member of the society ?
Join here. Our membership encompasses much of the world, from Australia, USA, Japan, as well of course from all over Britain.

The first rules of golf created by the golfers at Leith in 1744 tell us something about the challenges faced by these early golfers and the society they lived in. View them here.