Sir John Lavery's Golfing at North Berwick (below, about 1920) is just one of the beguiling artworks and rare items of memorabilia on display in the Scottish National Gallery's exhibition ‘The Art of Golf-The Story of Scotland's National Sport' at The Mound, Edinburgh (July 12-October 26, 0131-624 6200; www.nationalgalleries.org).
Charting the rise of the game, from its origins in the 17th century as ‘kolf', the exhibition includes paintings of early links courses at Bruntsfield, Leith and Musselburgh and aerial artworks of Scotland's renowned courses at Carnoustie, Muirfield and Gleneagles, culminating with arguably the greatest golf painting of all time, Charles Lees' The Golfers (1847), which depicts a match being played on the windswept Old Course at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews.
* Follow Country Life magazine on Twitter
* Subscribe to Country Life and save
-
Five frankly enormous mansions, including one with its own private swimming lake, as seen in Country LifeSometimes bigger really is better.
-
Playing the fool: The rich history of tarot and how it satisfies our desire for transcendenceOnce an elaborate art form that entertained 15th-century Italian nobility, tarot cards have evolved into a tool of divination. A new exhibition shines a light on their history.
