History The game of Golf is thought to have been brought to England from Scotland by James I in 1603 and first played at Blackheath by his Courtiers and probably informally at other places by lesser mortals. Without doubt the Scottish influence persisted for the next 150 years until one Alexander Carlisle from Edinburgh visited David Garrick at Hampton and demonstrated his prowess by driving a ball into the Thames from a great distance, thereby impressing the assembled viewers and enthusing them to take up the game. Thus it is known that the game was being played at Blackheath in the 17th century and at Hampton in the 18th and it is also believed that it was being played informally on Wimbledon Common in the early nineteenth. It is on record that in 1864 some members of the London Scottish Rifle Volunteers, who were posted near-by, met on Wimbledon Common to form the London Scottish Golf Club, which was duly sanctioned by the C.O. Lord Elcho and a committee was formed. By 1867 the club was playing Monthly Medal competitions and a match against Blackheath and it is also on record that a certain Private Cheyne won the 'Elcho and Hope Grant' Medal in 1868 with a score of 53 strokes beating Lieut. Col. Lord Elcho and others by nine shots. A year later in 1869, membership of the Club was opened to other Officers of the Army, Navy, Militia, Yeomanry, members of other Golf Clubs and local residents living within three miles radius of Wimbledon Windmill.