Patrick's Blog

2010 marks the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship, and we’re extremely honored that an image from the Stonehouse Golf Collection has been selected to help recognize this important milestone:  A special Limited Edition gicleé of our “Rainbow” image of hole #17 on the Old Course will be signed by all of the players and hung in the St. Andrews clubhouse.

I personally oversaw the print’s production and numbering – 1 of only 125 editions – and I believe this is the first time a photographic image has been selected for this purpose, so I’m very grateful.  It’s the best of all possible scenarios for Stonehouse.  We’re here to create and preserve lasting memories of golf, and this image, with its panoramic view of the 17th green, Swilcan Bridge, the 18th “Tom Morris” tee and fairway, and the historic R&A clubhouse overarched by a delicate rainbow, is a fitting tribute to the game’s oldest and most revered Championship.

This week, as you watch the drama of the Open Championship unfold, you might give a thought to the fact that you’re seeing more than a golf tournament.  You’re witnessing the continuation of a historic tradition, a tradition in which the world’s most talented competitors have displayed their skills – a tradition now celebrated, in part, with the help of the Stonehouse Collection.

Best regards,

Patrick

In honor of the spookiest holiday of the year, we are offering free shipping on our Haunted Courses Collection, which includes prints from golf courses with good ghost stories as well as all of our old world prints from England, Scotland, and Ireland. Check out our discounted prints in the Haunted Courses Collection. This offer is running now through October 31st. To take advantage of this giveaway, simply enter HAUNTED in the promo code box during checkout.

Everyone has felt the twinge of fear on the golf course, whether it be a competitor gaining a few strokes on your lead, a tough shot out of the bunker or a long putt for birdie. But we found a few frights of a different sort. Check out some of our favorite golf, ghost stories below:

The White Lady of St. Andrews:
This legendary, six-hundred-year-old course boasts many ghost stories. Probably the most popular is the story of the White Lady. A ghost-like image that often appears near the ruined abbey. The White Lady beckons those that see her to come closer, then she lifts her veil. Those that look upon her disfigured face are instantly driven insane. The legend states that the White Lady was a nun in the convent that occupied the abbey. This actually fits with the description of the apparition because many who have witnessed the ghost of the White Lady say that she has a veil over her face. It is thought that in life she became so badly disfigured that she became a nun so that she could hide away from people.
Another one of St. Andrews’s frights is Martyrs Monument, behind the 18th hole. The monument commemorates five 15th- and 16th-century Protestant martyrs who were burned at the stake there and it is said that their ghosts still roam the coarse in search of justice.

For more information on St. Andrews’s haunts, check out the Haunted Castles St. Andrews page.

The Cemetery Beneath Lincoln Park Golf Course:
The breathtaking Lincoln Park Golf Course of San Francisco offers views of the San Francisco skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge and, according to some, ghosts. A wide variety of ghosts have been seen at this public course. They may be the souls of those buried in the old Golden Gate Cemetery. This cemetery housed more than a thousand corpses and it lies directly beneath the Lincoln Park Golf Course.

The land that now makes up this lovely course, had been in use as a cemetery since the mid 1800s. In 1909, the land was re-purposed by the expanding city of San Francisco to make way for the Lincoln Park Course and several other development projects. Many of the wealthier families were able to move the remains of their deceased, but the large “potter’s field” or public cemetery for poor residents was left unmoved.

Read more about the haunting of this course and the graveyard that it covers here.

Have a happy Halloween and enjoy free shipping on the Haunted Courses Collection!