Antique Golf Clubs from Scotland: Clubmakers

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Clubmakers

Willie Dunn snr
Musselburgh/Blackheath

Born in Musselburgh in 1821, Willie was the father of two golfing greats, Willie Dunn jr, the first US Open Champion (the championship of 1894 at Newport which was "un"recognised as a result of jealous rivalry with the St Andrew's club), and Tom Dunn, a prolific though, in light of modern ideas on golf architecture, often disparaged course designer.

Willie himself played in the Open Championships of 1860 and 1861,1866-68 and, when it first cane to Musselburgh, in 1874, but was better known, on the playing side, for his partnership with brother James and their foursomes against Old Tom Morris and Allan Robertson.

Both he and James began as apprentice ballmakers to W & J Gourlay and then set up making their own featheries and long nose clubs.

He went to Blackheath in 1850 and remained there until 1865 before returning north to Leith as clubmaker to the Thistle Club. He first appears in the Edinburgh Directory in Primrose Street in 1867, which was the same address the Thistle Club had. In 1869 he moved to 7 Vanburgh Place which the club had leased as its clubhouse and provided him with a workshop. In 1872 he moved again, to Janefield Place. Douglas Seaton’s article on the Dunn family states Wille stayed in Leith for ten years but there are no more records of him in the Edinburgh directory after 1872-3. To put the capital city’s place in clubmaking in perspective, at the end of the 1860s Dunn, Alexander Greig and Douglas McEwan were the only clubmakers living in Edinburgh (and McEwan was making his clubs in Musselburgh).

So, at some point after 1872 Dunn moved back to Musselburgh. During the summer season he also spent time in North Berwick.

Willie died in Musselburgh on 14 February 1878 at the age of 59 ‘after a painful illness’. His obituary recorded that ‘as a golfer he was in his day one of the most proficient, while his uniformly civil and courteous manner gained him many friends’.

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