CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4
The Annual General Meeting held on 21st March 1919 signalled a fresh start to the life of the Club.
Meetings had tailed off as the Great War progressed, there being only an AGM in 1917 and again in 1918. The minute of the latter gave a view of affairs when:
"It was agreed, to prevent the greens being destroyed, to approach Mr Mitchell, Dunrobin Castle, to let the Club have the services of Mr John Melville the late Greenkeeper for a few days in order that he might take a run over them with the mower."
This concern was reflected at the 1919 AGM when it was noted that the Duke of Sutherland had donated £25 for improving greens and tees ".... which had been very much neglected during the War."
In early April 1919, Charles Stage was re-engaged by the Club at a wage of 36/- per week. It was also decided that:
"... the main object was to proceed with work on the old course, keeping in view the new extension when time and labour permitted."
In the event, three new holes came into play in 1921. The addition of Paradise, Lochy and the Tinkers' Camp became the last substantial addition to the layout of the course.
However, there was a continued push to seek yet another major review of layout of the course. At the instigation of Alfred Macaulay, the Club commissioned Mr H Abercromby, a Golf Architect from Addington in Surrey, to carry out a survey of the course. His report carried a strong recommendation to further extend the course towards Littleferry. This report was presented to the 1922 AGM which remitted it to Committee which in turn ".... let it lie on the table".
Debate continued and, in October 1925, a Special General Meeting agreed to seek the advice of James Braid. Braid was, by this time at the height of his architectural fame, having completed work at Gleneagles the previous year. Events moved rapidly, Braid carrying out his survey of the course on November 18th and 19th of that year and submitting his written report within a week.
Braid's report carried detailed suggestions for each hole within a framework of offering two options to the Club. The first option involved working on the layout as it then existed, adding a substantial number of bunkers and relocating four greens. The second option sought to create a new hole of about 190 yards from beside the present 9th green (Paradise) towards the rifle range. The Lochy would then have become a longer dogleg hole.
The Club took up the first option and arranged for the necessary works during 1926. Before doing so, it amended Braid's proposals a little. He had suggested relocating the Fleet green some 60 yards to the left and creating a dogleg hole. The Committee did not adopt this proposal. The other three new greens were to be constructed along the lines set out in the report. The Cup green which had existed in the hollow short of the present-day 13th green was set out where it now lies. The holes following the Cup had previously been of substantial proportions, with the Fields and the Tattie Pits measuring about 500 yards apiece. Braid's report aimed to move the Fields green to its present position and set the Tattie Pits tee so that the Tattie Pits influenced drives, rather than second shots. The final change of green was at the Cairngorms, where Braid envisaged a two-tier green behind the previous green. All three holes are still in play in the form set out by Braid.
In seeking to raise funds for this project, the Club resorted to another bazaar. It was held over two days in August 1925. Preparations started at a Special General Meeting of the Club in September 1924 and the build-up continued right through to the event. It is difficult to fully convey the scale of these bazaars, as they seem to have been all-consuming events for the organisers and very substantial social events in the life of the village.
Certainly, when it came to reporting the bazaar, the Northern Times devoted a great deal of column space to a detailed account of each day's proceedings in two successive editions of the paper. The speeches given each day were recounted verbatim, the stallholders were listed fully, as were the various entertainers who added to the event and all the various prize winners. The first day's proceedings were opened by the Duchess of Sutherland, while the noted lady golfer Joyce Wethered did the honours on the second day.
"The Lochy", Golspie Golf Course.
A Special General Meeting in October 1925 heard that the bazaar had realised a net sum of £963/ 16/11 for the Club. This was, to say the least, a considerable return for the efforts of the Club and was the equivalent of 3-5 years' gross income for the Club. Accounts presented to AGM's over subsequent years show that the bulk of the work on Braid's revision was carried out in 1926, when £546/5/- was expended, and the project was tidied up in 1927 at a cost of l00/4/ 10. During the next two years, the Course Improvement Fund was drawn on to make good any deficit on the year's workings. Thereafter, it continued in existence until the 1950's.
This continued drive to improve the course not only follows on from early developments before 1914, it also reflects the Club's involvement in the playing of the game as golf, aided by royal patronage, experienced a boom. Golspie, in common with many Clubs in the north of Scotland, housed many fine players. Certain observers would argue that in golfing terms this was a halcyon period in the Club's history.
If conversion to the ranks of professional golf is a measure of standards, then a case might be made for such an observation. The drift to the United States was steady, with the departure of such fine players as John Sutherland, holder of the course record of 71, Robert Sutherland and Willie Campbell. Willie Campbell had been Captain of the Club in 1919, taking on the load of restarting Club life after the Great War, and left for the USA in 1927. Sanders Sinclair, who became an Assistant to Gordon Lockhart at Gleneagles, was the last of this generation to transfer to the professional ranks. This movement did not, however, diminish greatly the quality of player at home.
William Campbell, Club Captain 1919.
During the 1920's, success in the County Cup and in Open Tournaments was regularly enjoyed by members of the Club.
Following the founding of the Scottish Golf Union, the Sutherland County Cup was inaugurated in 1922. At that time, each Club held a 36 hole qualifying competition for a 12 man matchplay event. It was the matchplay section of the Championship which rotated round the courses from year to year.
Golspie had the honour of hosting the first playing of the County Cup and, indeed, Alex Macdonald of Golspie became the first County Champion. In defeating Dornoch's H Sutherland by 5/4 at the final stage. Macdonald, an employee of the Northern Times, thus enjoyed the considerable pleasure of having his name as the first engraved on the new 30 inch high trophy which was valued at £80.
Play in progress at the Lochy green in an early County Cup.
His example was followed by Sanders Sinclair in 1928 and Robert (Bobba) Macrae in 1934. The format of the Championship was changed to 36 holes of medal play in 1937 and RE Sinclair became champion in 1938. As well as these winners, Golspie members also contested five of the fifteen matchplay finals which had taken place up to 1936.
The success enjoyed by Sanders Sinclair in 1928 came as part of a notable season when he also won the Tain Four Day Tournament. Sinclair thus provided the Golspie Club with a hat-trick of winners in Tain, as Richard Mennie had been successful in each of the previous two years.
By all accounts, Mennie was blessed with a classic golf swing. In 1927, he had also won the Carnegie Shield at Royal Dornoch, accounting for W Ross of the host Club by 2/1 in a final played in perfect weather before a large gallery. Following a distinguished golfing record at University, Mennie's career in medicine took him to Liverpool. Sadly, this fine player did not survive the Second World War.
Alex McDonald, Golspie, first winner of the County Cup in 1922.
A combination of the playing quality of that generation and changes in course layout led to the establishment of a series of course records. In the Annual Tournament of 1921 John Sutherland, a scratch player, set an initial mark of 73 shots for the post-War layout. In the July Medal of 1922 he lowered this to 71 strokes. Sutherland was employed on the course but he in turn joined the drift to North America.
Following Braid's visit and alterations to the course, the return of 73 shots by Donald Macdonald in the July medal of 1928 became recognised as a new course record. In the same medal four years later D (Arlie) Sutherland combined halves of 33 and 35 to compile the first sub-70 record in the Club's existence. It was to be a considerable time before this mark was bettered although Chris Danks did match it in the 1938 Annual Tournament.
Dr BS Simpson, Club Captain 1923 -1952, Club President 1953 - 1961, Club Secretary 1962, Club President 1967 - 1972.
During the 1920's, there was a well-established annual programme of Club fixtures. The match between Captain and Secretary, the Duke of Sutherland Cup, a Singles matchplay competition, several mixed foursomes and the Open Tournament were integral to this, along with matches against neighbouring Clubs and the monthly Captain's Prize which had been introduced by John Baillie in 1920.
RF Sinclair (right) with John Sutherland, Club Secretary of Royal Dornoch for many years. RF Sinclair was Club Secretary and Treasurer 1919 - 1951.
One such match caught the eye on perusing the score books. In 1928 Golspie played Brora in a twenty man singles match. The result? Golspie 18 1/2 - Brora 1 1/2.
While it must be said that R (Bobba) Macrae does not want the identity of the sole loser to be revealed, results sixty years later on would not give cause for such reticence.
The matches between Captain and Secretary were characterised by the fact that the holders of these offices carried tenure for many years. Dr Bertie Simpson, whose father had been President of the Club until 1918, assumed the Captaincy in 1923 and was to hold office for three decades. RF (Bert) Sinclair became Secretary/Treasurer of the Club in 1919 and he also gave thirty years of service in office.
Bert Sinclair combined his administrative commitment with a notable playing career. Considered by observers as a good but not stylish player, Sinclair was an excellent putter and formidable match player. This last characteristic came into its own in the Tain Tournament of 1935. Sinclair had a two hole lead over FL Levick of Eastwood coming to the short 16th. He proceeded to hole his tee shot, thus finishing the match and accomplishing a feat which was recorded in the Gofers' Handbook for many years after it happened.
The contributions in Office made by Simpson and Sinclair provided the Club with a bridge across the inter-war years. The latter part of this era, the 1930's, were perhaps best characterised by two themes. There was a marked growth in Club competitions and there were a number of developments in course maintenance.
A number of competitions which are familiar features of the golfing calendar of the 1980's have their origins half a century ago. The donation of the Macaulay Cup in 1930 started this phase off.
Two years later the Club Championship was instigated and the Bell Cup acquired as a trophy for the event. The initial conditions for the competition consisted of 36 holes stroke play qualification with the leading eight players then engaging in a matchplay phase to determine the champion.
The first qualifying rounds took place on 27th-28th July 1932, with the following outcome:
| 147 | D Sutherland | 70, 77 |
| 148 | AW Mackay | 71, 77 |
| 149 | D MacDonald | 73, 76 |
| 154 | R Macrae | 79, 75 |
| DJ Macloed | 75, 79 | |
| 155 | RF Sinclair | 77, 78 |
| 159 | BS Simpson | 80, 79 |
| 164 | J Macdonald | 87, 77 |
The matchplay stages produced the following results:
| First Round | DJ Macloed | bt | J Macdonald | 6/5 |
| BS Simpson | bt | RF Sinclair | at 20th | |
| R Macrae | bt | AW Mackay | ||
| D Sutherland | bt | D Macdonald | 2 Holes | |
| Semi-Finals | DJ Macloed | bt | BS Simpson | 2/1 |
| R Macrae | bt | D Sutherland | ||
| Final | DJ Macloed | bt | R Macrae | 4/3 |
Macleod, proprietor of a shoe shop in the village, thus had the distinction of becoming the first Club Champion.
Possessed of a swift upright swing, Macleod's game was apparently suited to the format of the competition as during his golfing career he won the Duke of Sutherland Cup outright on three occasions. The Duke's Cup was a handicap competition with the same format as the Bell Cup and was traditionally awarded outright to a member who won it thrice. Following DJ's third such success in the early 1950's, this element of the conditions ceased.
Between 1932 and 1939, only three other members won the Bell Cup. Macleod was succeeded in 1933 by AW Mackay, a local schoolmaster, who accounted for the defender by 5/4 in the final. RF Sinclair prevailed on three successive occasions between 1934 and 1936. In the first of these, Sinclair took three games to account for D Urquhart Sr., while in the following years he defeated D Macdonald and then CA Danks in the final.
Danks then went on to win three successive championships in the years 1937-39. He had moved into the area to work on the development of the A9 road and quickly made his mark in golfing circles. Those who recall golfers of that era proffer high praise of Danks's game, even so far as to suggest that he was the finest player in the Club's history. Notwithstanding the hazards of attempting comparisons between golfing generations, there is no doubt that Danks commands the respect of time.
Northern Counties Cup Final 1936.
Rear (L to R) - AW Mackay (Golspie); J Mackay (RDGC); H Sinclair (Golspie).
Front (L to R) - RF Sinclair (Golspie;) D Murray (RDGC); JA Thomson (RDGC); DJ Macleod (Golspie).
Danks was the only one of those early champions who was not in the Northern Counties Cup team of 1936. Harold Sinclair joined Macleod, Mackay and his brother Bert to form the Golspie quartet for the competition at Tain.
After a bye in the first round, Golspie accounted for Royal Aberdeen and Inverness 1 en route to a final match with Royal Dornoch. In that final, RF Sinclair and AW Mackay secured a two hole victory over James Mackay and JA Thomson, but DJ Macleod and H Sinclair went down by six holes to James Macrae and D Murray.
Royal Dornoch had thus merely added to what was an incomparable club record in that competition. However, for the Golspie team, there was the satisfaction of being the first Golspie four to reach that stage of the event. Indeed, as history has unfolded, Macleod, Mackay and the brothers Sinclair have retained the distinction of being the Club's only such team.
With the Club Championship quickly established in the calendar and a concomitant surge in the playing of the game, other trophies became included in the fixture list. The St Abbans Cup was donated in 1936 when it was a one round net competition won by Harold Sinclair after a play-off with BS Simpson. The following year, the trophy was attached to the singles matchplay format that has continued ever since.
The Niall Chaplin Cup was donated to the Club in 1938, as was the Aliens' Trophy. This latter donation was first intimated in the minutes of a Committee meeting in October 1937 when the Secretary tabled a letter which stated that:
"There has been for some time a feeling among that section of the Club so aptly dubbed the `Aliens' that they would like to present a trophy to Golspie Golf Club for annual competition among the members."
The Aliens were people who had moved to the area to work on the reconstruction of the A9 road and who had formed a particular association with the Club. While Chris Danks was perhaps the most notable player among them, the list of subscribers to the trophy included 21 other names. Their lasting memento to the Club not only recalls what was obviously a happy association, it forms a unique style of trophy donation in the Club's history.
The second clear theme of the 1930's was the conditioning of the course. After the developmental work of the 1920's, culminating in Braid's visit and subsequent works, the course entered a period of consolidation. The AGM of 1932 put the increase in green fees income during the previous year down to:
".... the fine condition of the course, which had largely been brought about by the introduction of the tractor."
This step had its origins at the 1930 AGM when a fund was set up to purchase a triplex mower. At that time Triplex referred to gang mowers for the fairways, rather than the units nowadays available for cutting greens. The setting up of a separate fund simply continued existing Club practice.
The Moran's Tractor Truck bought in 1931, the Club's first tractor. "Bobbie" Macrae is at the wheel.
However, in January 1931, a Joint Meeting with the Ladies Club took place, when:
"The business of the meeting was to discuss the advisability of purchasing a tractor. The new Triplex mower was too heavy for a horse when the three units were in use. Last season we were only using two units and even then the horse required frequent rests."
The meeting quickly agreed the purchase of a tractor, the establishment of a Tractor Fund and an enabling loan from the Course Improvement Fund. Two dances, a Jumble Sale, several donations and only part repayment to the Course Improvement Fund saw the task completed. The Moran's Tractor Truck (Ford Engine Model) had cost £139/ 1/6.
That same year, sleepers were removed from bunker faces. This method of shoring up bunkers had become increasingly discontinued and the removal of the sleepers was regarded by Committee as evidence of the Golspie Club being in tempo with contemporary greenkeeping practice. This view was further evidenced that October when Committee decided not to ask for a visit from a representative of the Board for Greenkeeping Research.
The contribution of Charles Stage to the development of the course is perhaps set in context when it is recalled that all the changes in layout from the first extension to eighteen holes right through to Braid's alterations were effected under his stewardship.
During the 1920's, the nature of the post changed from being seasonal to being full-time, although the winter work was largely financed by the Course Improvement Fund. The work was augmented by 2-3 seasonal assistants who were engaged for the summer.
The use of the Course Improvement Fund to enable extra staff to be hired to respond to an initiative provided the avenue through which Robert Macrae was first employed by the Club.
A group of golfers on the Clubhouse veranda in the early 1930s. Included in the group are Charles Stage (2nd left) and Alex Campbell (4th left).
The Clubhouse and first tee in the 1920s with Charles Stage watching play. The person driving off would now be beyond the shoreline, such has been the progress of erosion.
His name appears first of all in the Accounts for November 1926. By June of the next year, Bobba was an Assistant Greenkeeper, paid from the Club's General Account. His earliest memories recall Stage using a hand mower to cut the greens prior to 1926 and the first purchase of a two-stroke motor mower. The horse-drawn gang mowers took three weeks to cut all the fairways before the time when the Club bought a tractor.
If anything, these recollections serve to underline the nature of toil which Charles Stage had undertaken on the course. His work ended when he expired, aged 73, in November 1936 and the minute of a Committee meeting called in response to his death carried full appreciation of ".... his long and faithful service".
That same meeting also decided to offer the post of Head Greenkeeper and Professional to Robert Macrae. Thus began a tenure of post which was to match its predecessor in commitment and longevity.
As well as continuing to maintain the course, Bobba and the Committee faced two recurring problems. Rabbit damage to the course was pernicious in nature and the Committee had periodically addressed the problem by granting the "let" of rabbits to various individuals and by discussing the matter with Sutherland Estates. Indeed, the last item of business at the meeting which appointed Bobba was this very issue, with the right to trapping rabbits on the course being given to a Mr A Matheson.
The second problem was of much graver potential. Erosion by the sea of the coastline which formed the eastern flank of the course had progressively become more threatening. In 1929, the AGM had noted the problem and seven years later, the minute of the AGM recorded that: "The question of coast erosion at the golf course and particularly at the Clubhouse was brought up."
That meeting agreed to approach Sutherland estates to initiate discussions on the matter, but concerns were re-expressed at the 1938 AGM.
This latter threat, especially to the Clubhouse was to feature largely in Club life for a number of years. The 1938 AGM did receive a report that a New Clubhouse Fund had been established, a donation of £10 from the Ladies Club setting things in motion. The next AGM heard that the Ladies has donated a further £20 to this fund but the onset of war late in the 1939 season put that particular venture in abeyance.
As had happened a quarter of a century before, wartime saw Club meetings dwindling down to the AGM required to keep matters going. In 1940, the AGM adopted the following resolution:
".... that members of the Club in the armed forces retain their membership during the war whether or not they paid their subscriptions."
By September 1941 R Macrae had taken up duties as Coast Watcher and was retained by the Club on a part-time basis. It was July 1945 before he was again available full-time. The intervening AGM's had simply received a financial statement, recorded obituaries and elected Office Bearers. The record book of competition results states:
"No competitions held between 16th August 1939 and 8th May 1946 owing to World War II."