Thomas Carruthers was a household name in the 1860s, widely known in the world of sport as Scotland's Champion professional sprinter. Remarkably, he went on to become equally well known as a golf club maker. He lived beside Bruntsfield's famous links in Edinburgh for 60 years and his life as a golf club maker, which began in the 1880s, is set in an age of unprecedented experimentation and inventiveness. His invention of the through-bore short socket for metal golf clubs, patented in 1890, was to catapult him into the ranks of the best makers alongside such names as Forrester, Park and Simpson. It is regarded on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most important golf patents of the nineteenth century. His clubs regularly appear in the catalogues of the major auction houses. Every one of the early United States manufacturers sold Carruthers' designed iron clubs and club manufacturers used his design long after the patent had expired.