History Montrose Links is undoubtedly one of the oldest and most historic links in Scotland, golf having been played here for more than 400 years. To a young Montrose lad by the name of James Melville goes the credit for recording the existence of golf at Montrose as early as 1562, so the game was obviously being played on these links prior to that date. While Montrose cannot boast the permanency of the Old Course at St. Andrews for instance, there are still parts of the Montrose Champion-ship course which have been played over for more than 350 years.