SHARING FOND MEMORIES ON AND OFF THE COURSE
TWO of Royal Dornoch’s longest serving members got together for the latest in our “Monday Memories” series of interviews recalling times past at the golf club.
Cousins Sander Macdonald and former pro Willie Skinner sat down with past captain Willie MacKay for a chat covering everything from their earliest memories of golf with hickories and cast-off clubs to competitions like the Northern Counties Cup, the advent of Thursday Stablefords on the traditional half-day for shopkeepers in the town back in the 1960s and the “Geriatrics” group getting together in 1979 for a weekly gathering which continues to the present day.
The pair have seen Royal Dornoch transformed from the far-off days when £500 raised at the annual jumble sale in the clubhouse was regarded as “a fortune” and Willie teamed up with the local tourist association to introduce a September Golf Week aimed at extending the golfing season, through to the international golfing magnet it has become in more recent times.
While Sander recalls braving the elements to begin an ill-fated round on the Championship Course with club historian Dr John Macleod – and being forced to retreat to a shelter by the 5th green as the snow quickly enveloped their golf balls – Willie recalls an amusing tale when his chum Murdo Bain was giving a helping hand with the odd summer job on the golf course.
“He came in this day and told the greenskeeper he had done all the jobs he had been asked to do. The greenkeeper looked at his watch said and said‘you might not have much time, just rake half the bunkers,’” said Willie.
“The next day in the pro shop, after checking the course the ranger – a popular police sergeant – asked if the golf course had a new policy now. ‘Why? I asked.’ Because I went out and all the bunkers had been only halfraked!”
Join Sander and Willie in their stroll down memory lane on our YouTube video below.