Braid's Brawest is the "braid Scots" tor Braid's Best, brawest being the superlative of "braw" which means handsome, or beautiful or very good; surpassing in every respect. A well-known Scottish song begins "The brawest an' the best o' men the warld has ever seen."

The term "braw" is in constant use in Scotland where we speak of "oor braw and bonnie Hielan' laddies," and of "the braw, braw lads on Yarrow braes,"nor may we omit the Lauderian phrase "It's a braw, bricht, munelicht nicht, the nicht," descriptive of a beautiful starry night when the moon shines bright. The choice of the superlative in the present connection recalls an earlier romantic Perthshire choice chronicled in the old song "The Lass o' Cowrie," and when it is remembered that from Gleneagles the visitor may look northwards across the famous Carse o' Gowrie a quotation comes in with singular appropriateness -

I praised her beauty loud and lang, Then round her waist my arms I flang, And said, " My lassie, will ye gang

To see the Carse o' Gowrie, I'll take ye to my father's ha' In yon green field beside the shaw, I'll make ye leddy o' them a',

The brawest wife in Gowrie."

There is indeed a gallant ring about "braw" that finds expression in many delightful poems. We find the air of gallantry in verses such as Allan Ramsay's -

And Mary's locks are like the craw,

Her e'en like diamonds glances, She's aye sae clean redd up and braze,

She kills whene'er she dances.

It is at "Braid's Brawest" we find the Auld Nick bunker, named after his Satanic Majesty, and recalling the amusing finish to I lector M'Neill's lively ballad " Come Under My Paidie "that tells of the disappointed wooer whose suit was rejected in favour of the offer from a wealthier lover

He wander'd name weary, the nicht it was dreary, And, thowless, he tint his gait 'mang he deep snaw,

The howlet was screamin', while Johnnie cried "Women Wad marry Auld Sick, it he'd keep them aye braw."

Braid, when the Golf Course was completed, was asked to say which hole should bear his name and so commemorate his splendid work. He chose the thirteenth, an unexpected choice you may think, considering the superstitions lingering round that particular number. Braid's Brawest was, however, the original fourteenth when the course was first open, and thus the superstition may be said to have no influence. Indeed, to many players, this is the luckiest hole in the round, affording as it does such room for a tine, tree open game and the delight of getting "a long ball" well away. It is indeed "the brawest o' the braw and bonnie forbye," answering delightfully to the Scots lassies' favourite proverb "O, but it's bran: to be bonnie and weel thocht o'." Appreciation of beauty in that sense finds expression in the old song "Doon the burn, Davie, lad" -

Noo Davie was the brawest lad That dwelt on this burn-side,

And Mary was the bonniest lass Just meet to be a bride.

No fairway or green, even admitting the excellence of the others, is held in higher regard by lovers of the game than Braid's Brawest.