Gillian Kirkwood possesses a wealth of golf knowledge and business experience and is a past Ladies Golf Union (LGU) Councilor and past Chairman of the Scottish Ladies’ Golfing Association. She is also a highly experienced rules official and, reflecting her keen interest in the history of ladies’ golf, chaired the Board of Trustees of the Women Golfers’ Museum.

She had the distinction of serving as President of the LGU during the time of its merger with the R&A in 2017. Together with her husband, David, she owns and operates the Heritage of Golf Museum in the pro shop of Gullane Golf Club in East Lothian.

I invited Gillian to reminisce about the early era of women's golf in Scotland and the British Isles, and to touch on the myriad projects she has had under her guidance seemingly every day since she was a lass. Her legacy in support of women's golf may be unparalleled in the modern era, and I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with her.

Gillian was also Captain of Midlothian County Ladies Golf Association from 1991-1993 and was the Ladies Captain of Broomieknowe Golf Club from 1982-84 and from 2004-2006, and was most recently Vice-Captain of Gullane Ladies' Golf Club.

Researcher, author, and historian, Michael B. Morrison, published an exhaustive account in 2022 of the rise of golf in England which is a must-read for those who wish to better understand the origins of the modern game. In this episode, we speak about the process Morrison subjected himself to— over many years— in order to assemble the most complete record of the growth of the game in England, ever.

During the course of his work, Michael became able to draw conclusions about the advancement of the game that differs from conventional wisdom, and is based on empirical data that, while perhaps painstaking to amass, provides the foundation for the evolution of the sport within the changing social demographics, geographies, and economic circumstances between the years 1864 and 1914.

I feel confident that golfers everywhere will want to stop what they are doing, read-up on the fascinating and, in some ways, parallel development of the game to that in Scotland, and get to England as soon as possible to embrace the wealth of styles and historic golf courses that are today the envy of nations the world over.

To order his book (which is self-published), you may contact Michael directly, details for which occur at the 1-hour-6-minute mark in our episode. I hope you enjoy this insight into the Great English Golf Boom!

To see the BBC News interview with Michael on the course at Cambridge University, click here.

Since 2013, the Happy Hickory Golfers in Japan have been a force in hickory golf. We've seen them represented with great joy at the World Hickory Open, for instance, and marvel at their event photos from countless outings in their home country. Alex Bruce— a native Scotsman— is one of the founders of the group, and a deeply dedicated advocate for hickory golf, worldwide. "How dedicated?" one might ask. So dedicated that he has one of the world's only hickory golf retail stores and he has been a guiding hand in supporting the World Hickory Open and St. Andrews Golf Company, organizations with long associations to his home turf in Scotland.

In this episode, I speak with Alex about his upbringing, his second life in Japan (where he has lived and worked and grown his family for decades now), and the challenges of growing a national hickory organization to scale over nine regions, 47 prefectures, and in a country of more than 2,300 golf courses, the oldest of which (Kobe Golf Course) dates to 1903. We speak about the first-ever AsiaPAC Open, as well, which debuts September 3-5, 2023, in Australia. Alex is a joy to spend time with and our conversation makes it obvious why his endeavor in Japan is covered in nothing but enduring success.