THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is a reminder of how much of the evolution of a game, which is now worldwide, is rooted in Scotland's past.

To many in the sport, the Old Course at St Andrews is Mecca. Similarly, such holes as the eighteenth at Muirfield, the fifteenth at Carnoustie, the Postage Stamp at Royal Troon, and the splendidly scenic ninth on the Ailsa Course at Turnberry, peopled as they are by the shades of golfing greats, remain collectors' items in the tales told by devout golfers.

They are apt, too, to indicate vividly the part played by the weather on the traditional links of the so-called Home of Golf. So far, also, they have withstood the threat posed by the power of today's tournament professionals equipped with the very latest inventions of the manufacturers' boffins.