Freemasonry and golf?

Question

Masonic history and the history of golf, how to they overlap?

Answer 1

"The main reason that the members of early golf clubs were Freemasons was because virtually all middle class men of ability in Scotland in the century after 1717 were Freemasons from senior law officers to skilled artisans as well as poets and writers. (Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott were masons). This was apparently because, from 1717, the Scottish 'stonemason' Freemasons, called Operative Masons, began to allow merchants and professional people, termed Speculative Masons, to join Lodges or create their own. This practice spread elsewhere in the world. For example, in France Voltaire and Napoleon were Masons as were the luminaries of the American Revolution such as George Washington who was buried with full Masonic honours."

"GMM stands for Grand Master Mason. The St Clairs of Roslyn were hereditary patrons of the Masons in Scotland for centuries and William St Clair was the first elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736. He was Captain and prominent member of both the Leith and the St Andrews golf clubs. Apart from laying the foundation stone of the world's first golf clubhouse, his name is on the St Andrew’s minute shortening the Old Course to be eighteen holes in 1764. He died in 1778 and is buried in Roslyn Chapel."

"'Freemasons invent Golf Club' - Reuters", Scottish Golf History : http://www.scottishgolfhistory.net/freemasons_early_scottish_golf.htm

Answer 2

Masonic Golf

Answer 3

Freemasonry was started by Scottish Freemasons and the Scottish started the game of golf.

Answer 4

Scotsmen invented them both.

Answer 5

What inspired this question?