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1929: Spectators and players crossing the Swilcan Bridge during the final of the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship
Crossing St Andrews’ famous Swilcan Burn—with its iconic bridge traversed by how many legends over time—once was a wild thing, twisting and turning at the whim of the tides and floods, and shaping the Old Course as it went
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t wasn’t until April of 1835 that it was tamed, with a Robert Goodfellow using trash (the burn was a dumping ground for a bit) and bricks to create a retaining wall. Three decades later Old Tom Morris himself re-banked the burn, burying nearly half of an old stone bridge that crossed it—the same bridge, in fact, that we all know and love today, which apparently remains half-concealed underground. The Swilcan Bridge, also called the Swilcanth, and for hundreds of years referred to as “The Golfers’ Bridge,” is said to be more than 700 years old. How many lost balls, lost wagers and brilliant afternoons it must have witnessed, even half-sunk in the glorious Home of Golf. Long may the burn flow to the future, and long may the bridge stand, connecting generations.
