1820 Leith Thistle Scorecard
(Earliest Documented)

A couple decades ago, there was a once-in-a-lifetime discovery of early Leith Thistle artifacts from the 1820s. This impressive haul included nearly 20 scorecards from the 1820s, which are each still considered the oldest original golf scorecards in existence. Each and every scorecard from that collection is coveted by collectors, and routinely sell for $5,000-$10,000 each.

Offered here is the crème dela crème – one of the oldest of the old.

This is one of the earliest of the Leith Thistle scorecards and, therefore, among the earliest original golf scorecards known to exist. We do not make that statement lightly.

This card is dated December 2, 1820, for two players who agreed to meet and play the 5 hole course within the Musselburgh race track (and play it twice.) The weather must have been in question, as the golfer, John Cundell, Secretary of the Leith Thistle Golf Club, bestowed a summary of his round at the bottom of the card. It reads:

 “Dreadful Storm of wind and rain, the atmosphere quite yellow, just like the Tyrillius Regions of Pandemonium”.

But the golfers played on. And Cundell was not just any golfer. He was one of the most important golf figures of the early 1800s - best-known for producing one of the first formal Rules of Golf four years after this scorecard in 1824: http://www.ruleshistory.com/rules1824.html

Just how early is this 5 hole scorecard (they played twice) in relation to golf history? Well, the first-ever mention of a golf course being 18 holes wasn't until over two decades later when the newly-named Royal & Ancient released its own set of rules.