Golf was first played at St Andrews in Scotland over 600 years ago, so it is little wonder that this venue is steeped in wonderful stories. According to Sporting Life’s Golf News some of the sand traps have very individualistic names relating to ginger beer, spectacles and the best spot to catch a lassie. One large bunker and two nearby smaller ones at the 10th hole have a historic link to South Africa and the Anglo-Boer War. The large one is the Kruger bunker, nearby is Mrs Kruger and Kruger’s mistress.
The story goes that when war broke out Lt. Frederick Guthrie Tait, “the man who could smack a golf ball further than anyone else in the world,” was the darling of St. Andrews. Freddie an officer in Scotland’s most famous regiment, The Black Watch, was the British amateur golf champion in 1896 and 1898. In 1899 he was given a grand send-off at St Andrews when he left for the war in South Africa under the leadership of Major-general Andrew Wauchope, affectionately known to his men as “Red Mick.” Shortly after they arrived Wauchope was killed and Freddie Tait wounded in Battle of Magersfontein. A few months later, in February, 1900, Tait was killed on a battlefield near Kimberley. When his fans back home heard this news it is said they built an effigy of Kruger and burnt it on this bunker.
