54 PETER GUTHRIE TAIT 



side glance of the golfer to the all important view of Professor Tait as the 

 great scientist. It was not far from the fitness of things that the Professor 

 who was so full of Scottish character and was so well equipped as a 

 mathematician and a philosopher should have found in the national Scottish 

 game a field agreeable alike to his physical and mental recreation. Some 

 recollection of him from the golfers' standpoint is therefore suggested, and 

 is indeed the object of these reminiscences. 



The Tait connection with golf is dual ; for the Professor is known to 

 many by the title he was wont, with his keen sense of humour, most to 

 delight in, "The father of Freddie Tait." The Professor was a well- 

 known figure at St Andrews from 1868 onwards to the end, and golf was 

 his favourite recreation long before the prowess of his sons connected the 

 name of Tait so closely with the national game ; but it was not until his sons 

 were beginning to show signs of great aptness for the sport that the father 

 began those experiments which have not only been of importance to the 

 student of natural philosophy but have intimated to the golfer the fact that 

 he was playing a game which was a science as well as an art. It is reported 

 of Freddie that, in reply to a question addressed to him by the Czar of 

 Russia, he stated that he " took seriously to golf when he was eight years 

 old" ; of the Professor it may be said that he never took to the game 

 seriously ; by this I mean that his interest in the game was athletic and 

 philosophical rather than competitive. 



About 1860 the Professor made his beginning as a golfer in early 

 morning rounds on Bruntsfield Links ; golf is still played on the historic 

 ground but the fair way is intersected by paths, and play is now allowed only 

 at holes of a mean length. However, in these days of the early sixties the 

 course was of sufficient importance to warrant its being the scene of an open 

 tournament, to which came such heroes as the late Hugh and Pat Alexander. 



For many years after this the Professor was in the habit of taking his 

 pleasure at Musselburgh, and was a member of the Honourable Company 

 of Edinburgh Golfers until that society removed to Muirfield. At Mussel- 

 burgh he was in the habit of playing with Lord Inglis, with Mr A. D. Stewart, 

 and with others who had long been accustomed to fight furiously with 

 feather-stuffed balls in the depths of " Pandy." In 1868 the Professor 

 began those visits to St Andrews which were continued without intermission 

 until the year of his death. Being a regular glutton for play his daily 

 rounds often amounted to five ; and though his strength was equal to the 



