ANDREW’S TROPHY UP FOR GRABS

HEAD professional Andrew Skinner is thrilled to see Royal Dornoch maintaining the proud tradition of encouraging local youngsters to make tracks for the historic linksland on their doorstep.

While the bucket list Championship Course lures golfers from around the world in their droves to the Highlands, grassroots development is integral to the club’s future development plans.

PGA teaching professional Ally McNaughton and his predecessor Gary Dingwall have enjoyed success with an initiative encouraging local schoolchildren to enjoy an introduction to the sport which has put Dornoch on the world map and Andrew confirms golf runs through the town’s DNA.

Tomorrow (Friday) the latest crop of Junior players will be competing for the AB Skinner Cup over the Struie Course.

It is among many trophies on display in the new clubhouse bearing the Skinner name.

“Past captain Jim Campbell was convener when he asked if I would like to put up a trophy for a new competition for our Juniors,” recalled Andrew.

“We pair up the A and B Sections in foursomes to create a bit more connectivity between the two groups. That’s why it’s called the AB Skinner Trophy – and not because I have a middle name beginning with a B!

“My father has a couple of trophies here – for the Tuesday seniors section scratch and handicap winners every September – and with my background, and following on from him as head professional, I was delighted to sponsor a trophy.

“That was about 20 years ago so it’s great to see it still being presented at the end of the season.”

“Even when I was a kid growing up here back in the late 1970s and early 80s, there was a proper structure in place to encourage youngsters into golf,” Andrew recalled.

“We had a Junior convener who was hands-on and keen to take the section forward.

“The evening with the A and B Sections was always on a Friday back in the days when the Struie Course was just the nine holes.

“Older boys and girls with proper handicaps would go out first and play two nines, while the younger ones would head out with a parent as a marker, and play nine holes.

“Everyone would head back to the clubhouse afterwards, where the junior room was downstairs off the hall. There was a little bar there for the Cokes and crisps after the competition, and there would be a little presentation, with golf balls in wrappers in those days.

“It was very much family orientated and a real social night in the golf club, with the adults making an evening of it upstairs.

“Going back to my time at school, 90% of the kids would be junior members.

“With my father Willie being head pro here, it was like a second home for me, but also for many others.

“It’s great to see Gary and Ally taking the Juniors Section forward. It has been going from strength to strength.

“Any kid that lives in Dornoch has the opportunity to come here through the school and get lessons from our coaches.

“We also have a membership deal for former juniors who are in full-time education further afield, maybe at university in Glasgow or Edinburgh, so they can retain their ties to the club.

“Often, they’ll be caddying when they come back over the summer.

“The golf club is pivotal to life in the local community, year-round. Dornoch is a genuine golfing town and the new clubhouse has been warmly embraced.”

Andrew admits the world class links challenge on their doorstep was under-appreciated by rookie golfers when he was growing up.

“When I was a youngster we took the Championship Course for granted,” he said.

“It was only when I got to play further afield in competitions that I began to appreciate just what we had here on our own doorstep.”

*The Skinner names also feature on trophies that father and son have won, with Andrew claiming the Caddies’ Cup in his younger days and Willie – a six-times club champion between 1959 and 1971 – winning the Carnegie Shield in 1958.