Nine Days Of Christmas: John Rattray Statue Fundraiser

Any golfer who has made the pilgrimage to Edinburgh's Leith Links have undoubtedly been a bit underwhelmed to find a fairly simple park where many important traditions and the rules were born in the mid-1700's.

A wild imagination can picture early battles with stick and ball, and annually a competition is held on makeshift greens to commemorate the most historic golf ground outside of St. Andrews and Musselburgh.

With the locations' importance in mind and perhaps aware that Leith's significance isn't apparent, a movement is in motion to change that. The first rules of golf were born out of an appeal made to the Town Council of Edinburgh for a Silver Club to be awarded  to the annual winner of an Open Golf Competition. The Council only agreed to offer such a prize if rules of play were drawn up, prompting John Rattray to pen those rules.

And now, with a little help from golf friends, a group wants to erect a statue of Rattray at Leith Links.

To kick off nine days of Christmas, where I'll highlight gifts you wouldn't normally expect hearing about for friends or yourself, I'd suggest a gift in the name of a golf buddy or yourself to the statue effort for links.

You can donate here.

The explanatory video: