Written by the author of ‘Tom Morris of St Andrews, The Colossus of Golf, 1821-1908′, Dr David (Doc) Malcolm with co-author Noel Terry, this book took me years to put together, design, and get to print.
Shortly before he died in 2011, Doc handed over his finished text to me, along with dozens and dozens of untitled images and asked me if I could design and publish the book. I promised I would. However, it all took a while for me to get my head around, sort out the unnamed images, and put it all together in an order Doc would have approved. Noel Terry lives in Australia, so all liaison with him was through emails.
However, long story short, it all came to fruition in June 2022 with the printing of two editions – 300 cloth and 65 leather – 65 because Andrew Strath won the 5th Open in 1865.
The leather-bound books are co-signed by Doc’s widow, Ruth and Noel Terry. As Ruth lives in London and Noel in Melbourne, Australia, the 65 endpapers were sent to both locations to be signed, before returning to Scotland for insertion into the books.
Doc had definite ideas on how he wanted the book to look, and both he and Ruth saw and approved my initial visuals before the project got heavily underway. I hope he would have been happy with how it ended up.
The book tells the story of how Alexander Strath left his Buchan home to live and work in St Andrews, where he and his wife Mary would raise a family of golfing sons who would make their mark in a game which was fast becoming nationally popular.
One of those sons was Davie Strath, who, alongside Young Tommy Morris, would popularise the early game, with their exciting matches for larger and larger prize money.
During the research and writing of this book, Doc Malcolm and Noel Terry were responsible for locating the unmarked grave of Champion Golfer Davie Strath, who died in Melbourne in 1879, and organised a headstone to be erected in his memory.
The book is a great story of one St Andrews family, their varying golfing skills and experiences, and their influence on golf at home and abroad.