Historic 1823 Leith Thistle Golf Club Scorecard

(One of Oldest Known Scorecards)

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 golf scorecards in existence. Each and every scorecard from that collection is coveted by collectors.

This is one of the earliest of the Leith Thistle scorecards and, therefore, one of the earliest original golf scorecards known to exist. This also happens to be one of the most important. We do not make that statement lightly. This scorecard from May 1823 belonged to none other than John Cundell, the secretary of Leith Thistle Golf Club. This Cundell scorecard was apparently from a "Gold Medal" match, which was the club's championship held in the Spring. 

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 only a year after this scorecard: 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.