Golspie Golf Course played on 31 August 2020

If you get the idea that something  is wrong, you are right. It is 13 days since we played Golspie and we have played about 10 courses since then.

I am usually publishing the reports following the day after we played. But for some reason my notes about Golspie kind of disappeared. But here you are.

In common with many places where golf clubs are found, golf was played on the Golspie Links prior to the formation of Golspie Golf Club.

 As I have learned many golf clubs are starting as a golfing society. A group of people who didn’t have their own course.

In this case Golspie Golf Club grew out of the Sutherland Golfing Society,  but the golf course existed years before that society formed the golf club.

There is proof that the first competition for a silver medal was played in October 1878. But it was in the Spring of 1889 that the members of the Sutherland Golf Society decided to form the Golspie Golf Club.

From their website you can read:

“By 1895, The Golfer’s Guide for the United Kingdom was publishing its description of Golspie in the following terms:
“There is an excellent course of nine holes, and with a little time and care and money, will no doubt be made still more worthy of its charming Highland situation.”
In 1905 the course was extended to eighteen holes the formal opening ceremony being undertaken by the Duchess of Sutherland driving off the first hole.

But then again, more efficient golf clubs were invented and then a new type of golf ball, made the course too short and who do you then call to help?

James Braid – of course. On the website you can read:

“Subsequently there was pressure for a major review of the course and the club invited James Braid who was at the height of his golf course designing fame in 1925 to submit proposals to improve the layout of the course.  
Braid’s report carried detailed suggestions for each hole within a framework of offering two options to the Club. The option involved working on the layout as it then existed, adding a substantial number of bunkers and relocating  some greens.”

Since then there haven’t been any major changes to the course.

When we came from Wick in the north and got closer to the Golspie and Dornoch area we could see an enormous kind of statue at the top of the hill.

At first I thought that is was a 3G or 4G antenna. You can see it from miles away. But closer on I learned; it isn’t.

This is what I learned asking some of the locals and consulting Wikipedia:

It is a statue of the first Duke of Sutherland. George Leveson-Gower (1785-1833).

A statue that has been subject to vandalism due to the Dukes controversial role in the Highland Clearance.

Very short. The purpose of the Highland Clearance was to make the ground ready for planting (among other things) potatoes and sewing grain.

In the belief that the peasants could get a higher turnover, compared from what they got from raising sheep. This of course was of a great interest to the Duke, while he was the landowner and got tax from the turnover that the peasants made.

But unfortunately it didn’t went very well.

The clearing work progressed very slowly and unfortunately a famine started with the result that the peasants starved and the tax to the Duke decreased substantially for a long period of time.

As far as I understand, there are still disputes about the reason for the famine – whether is was due to the Clearance or was caused by other natural reasons.

Anyway, the Duke was not popular among his subjects.

But then, after his death, his wife took over and erected the statue to his honour and pushed on to finish the Clearance. Therefore the statue, the vandalism and the controversies.

I can tell you; it is a massive statue and even if you are miles away you cannot avoid seeing it. That seems to be the Countess’ revenge.   

And now; back to golf.

As you can see from the above and the following pictures a mix between heath land and links land. A beautiful landscape.

Facts about the golf course

I haven’t found information on the architect of the original course, but we know that the legendary James Braid put his hands on the course in 1925 and that the course is more or less the one we played today.

Course record

Sorry, no information.

My game

Honestly, I have the scorecard with the scores, but basically only clearly remember how I played hole 8.

Not because of a double bogey, but because of the beauty and layout of the hole. Great with the trees in horseshoe shape around the back of the green.

Evaluation of the Golspie golf course

Your questions, comments and recommendations are welcome.