Willie and the Old Man

“Find Me as Fine a Gentleman”

By 1895, Crockett was no longer a novice. Willie Auchterlonie — the 1893 Open Champion — had opened his shop in St Andrews that year and made Crockett a set of left-handed clubs. These were kept at the shop, since Crockett played golf only in St Andrews. Auchterlonie and Old Tom Morris, four-time Open Champion and the most celebrated figure in the game, both became golfing partners and friends.

The friendship with Auchterlonie in particular was not without friction — not between the two men, but around them. When Crockett was made a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, a fellow member questioned why he played with professionals and caddies instead of gentlemen. Crockett’s response was unequivocal: “find me as fine a gentleman as Auchterlonie and I shall be glad to play with him.” The exchange tells us something about both the social politics of 1890s golf and Crockett’s instinctive democratic sympathies.

Crockett wrote to his friend Wellwood from the R&A on 18th June 1898. giving feedback on some work.  It seems St Andrews was never really a holiday in those days. 

Willie's son Laurie Auchterlonie later reported Crockett's daily routine in terms of golf:  two rounds of eighteen holes every day, the first at eight in the morning, the second in the afternoon. It clearly paid off because in  August 1897, the Manchester Guardian took note, reporting that Auchterlonie had broken the St Andrews course record with a round of 71 — played as a three-ball match alongside Crockett and a Mr J.J. Wilson. The paper suggested that “Mr Crockett has a great opportunity to clothe it with the flesh of picturesque descriptions, and the sporting public is a very large one.”