The Kings Park has been a Royal Park for the Kings and Queens of Scotland dating back over 800 years, and was initially used for hunting. However the Accounts of the Lord Treasurer record that, on 22nd February 1505, James IV, King of Scots, purchased 12 golf balls whilst staying in Stirling Castle, for his games in the Royal Park. In 1869 Stirling Golf Club was formed, at a meeting in the town’s Golden Lion Hotel, which had been built almost 100 years earlier and included Robert Burns as one of its famous guests. In 1873 the Club made its first appointment of a professional. Tom Morris Jnr., four times Open Champion and then at the height of his fame, came from St Andrews for the month of April and his terms were 30 shillings a week plus travelling expenses. The original course had consisted of only seven holes, and competitions were played three times round the links. Then, in 1892, Tom Morris was asked to come through from St Andrews and his adopted plan for nine holes was the first major alteration to the original course. At the same time a proper clubhouse was built, and the Members sought to make their dress worthy of their new premises and from the summer of that year all players could be seen in the new Club uniform, a red coat with green facings and a green cap of flannel embroidered with ‘S.G.C.’.
