Rabbits, St. Andrews, and the most valuable tee time in golf history
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Here’s a tale of how a horde of rabbits brought one family the most valuable prize in golf history. True story, but like most Scottish stories, it starts ages ago and takes a while to get to the point.
The courses of St. Andrews have hosted golf for at least five centuries, much of that time as the property of the town of St. Andrews itself. But back in 1797 – around the time that the United States was old enough to drink – the powers-that-be in St. Andrews had run the town into so much debt that they had no choice but to sell a portion of the property.
A local farmer by the name of Erskine bought the land for £805 (roughly $100,000 in current dollars), although the city made the sale on the condition “that no hurt or damage shall be done to the golf links nor shall it be in the power of any proprietor to plough up any part of the said golf links in all time coming but the same is reserved entirely as it has been in all times past for the comfort and amusement of the inhabitants and others who shall resort thereto for that amusement.” In other words, golf at St. Andrews, forever and ever, amen.
Problem was, the farmer leased the land to a crew of rabbit farmers who weren’t much for golf. The rabbit farmers used the esteemed links as running and breeding grounds for their rabbits. And you thought slow players were annoying.
This arrangement was all well and good for the rabbits, yes, but what of the golfers still trying to get in rounds? They weren’t pleased. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which managed the links, did what golf authorities do best and made a local rule allowing relief from rabbit-related issues at the course. Golfers decided to take a more direct route, going on a one-day rampage of clubbing, shooting, and otherwise decimating the rabbit armada. This, naturally, inspired bad feelings amongst families that existed for decades afterward.
Finally, in 1821, one of St. Andrews’ wealthier golf aficionados, one James Cheape of nearby Strathtyrum, had had enough, and bought the property for himself. The rabbits were rousted, though you can still see a few lingering about on the edges of fairways and in the gorse that covers the rough.
So long, rabbits; hello, new problem. The Cheape family in 1893 sold the property to the St. Andrews Links Trust for £5,000 (around $200,000 in present dollars), but there was a stipulation: the family received six tee times on the Old Course – three in the morning, three in the evening – every single day, in perpetuity, without exception.
Think about that for a second. The Cheape family had in its possession an asset of incalculable value. Golfers pay hundreds of dollars for a single tee time at the Old Course, and here the Cheape family had the right to 24 of those every single day. Plus, there was no stipulation that the tee times didn’t apply during the Open Championship; in theory, the Cheapes could have bumped Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods on a championship Sunday to sneak in a few holes for themselves.
Fortunately for the Old Course, the Cheapes weren’t golfers, and apparently never used the tee times. But the rights accompanied the family’s estate, and as St. Andrews grew in popularity as a tourist site, the town of St. Andrews realized that it had a real problem on its hands. One late-1980s rumor held that a Japanese corporation was looking to purchase the family estate just to get access to those precious tee times. This was golf’s equivalent of the 1993 Mets contract that still pays Bobby Bonilla $1.2 million a year through 2035 or the NBA deal that paid the owners of the long-gone Kentucky Colonels a share of the league’s TV revenue – agreements that mushroomed in a way no one involved could have expected.
Finally, in 1992, the Cheape family sold the playing rights for a fee of £245,000 (roughly $750,000 in today’s dollars). The Cheape family, as it turned out, was anything but. All that remains of their legacy now at the course is Cheape’s Bunker at the second hole … and, of course, a few rabbits.
Thanks to George Peper’s “St. Andrews Sojourn” for the background info.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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