Carnoustie is another of those quaint Scottish seaside towns where golf was played long before a community evolved. Historical records prove that "duntin' the gutty" had begun on the links by 1527. Believe it or not, it was almost the nineteenth century before a long sleep on the Carnoustie links (forced on an exhausted joiner who was making his way home to Barry after a long day's work in Arbroath) kick-started the growth of the town.
Centuries later, Carnoustie is widely acknowledged as the hardest links in the world. Seven Open Golf Championships have been staged at Carnoustie - Padraig Harrington won the last one in July 2007. Although there have been countless moments of golfing drama in every one, the near-pantomime at the 18th hole in Jean Van de Velde's final round in 1999 will never be forgotten. Carnoustie's finishing stretch is recognised as the stiffest in the British Open rota; there is no point within any of the six closing holes at which a golfer can allow himself the slightest feeling of complacency.
Carnoustie's famous Barry Burn, of course, has a lot to do with that, just as it did when the commercial and industrial heart of the town was being created in the nineteenth century. Its positive influence in the creation of the linen industry is in stark contrast to the devastation it has caused countless golfers - from the novice to the top professional - over the years.
The reputation of the Carnoustie Championship course goes before it. Alongside these ferocious links, however, lie a terrific supporting cast. First of all, there is the Carnoustie Burnside course, a wonderful test of links golf, shorter than its big brother, of course, but much tighter in places, with potential heathery graves everywhere - and the Barry Burn interfering on at least five occasions. Buddon Links opened as an eighteen hole course in 1981 and is an ideal foil for its neighbours. It is tailor made for beginners to golf, or those whose aspirations are not course records but relaxation.
The finest exponents of the game, as well as those of us who attempt, but regularly fail, to defeat the challenge of these wonderful links, have had much to say about the Carnoustie golf courses down the years. Criticism of the enormity of the task has, on occasion, over-shadowed the magnificence of the location, design and - almost without exception - the untold pleasures which thousands have derived from this charismatic place. Legendary status ought to be hard to achieve and never accepted with any degree of complacency by those who attain it. Carnoustie and its links meet both of these conditions admirably. It always encourages, then awaits the arrival of golfers with a mischievous twinkle in its eye.
