Historic club honoured with 16th tee tribute

Bater feature at Carnoustre Chatpronshrp course tarks club’s 150th annrversary

Dalhousie Golf Club’s legacy has been etched into the very fabric of Carnoustie’s Championship course.

An engraved water feature was installed on the 16th tee to mark the club’s 150th anniversary.

The unveiling happened prior to a special tournament to mark the anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the 20 original members who formed the club in 1868.

Yesterday’s tournament was the first of a six-month series of events which have been organised by Dalhousie Council to celebrate the anniversary.

The courses at Carnoustie are laid out on land largely acquired from the Earls of Panmure and Dalhousie and, in lesser measure, from Carnoustie House Estate.

As membership of the new club grew rapidly in the early months of 1868, the promoters wrote to Lord Dalhousie for permission to play golf on Carnoustie Links and choose an adjacent site for the clubhouse.

From the date of Lord Dalhousie’s approval to the present day, successive Earls of Dalhousie have held the title of Patron of the Club.

Captain Donald Ford said: “The club has been fundamental in the organisation of golf across the links and I think that is the aspect of which members are so proud.

“Although we’re a small golf club our history is exceptional.

“We led the way in greenkeeping and clubmaking and golf in the town hugely benefited because of that.

“The club was a founder sponsor of the Amateur Championship and a succession of our members have played a huge part in the development of the courses in Carnoustie, since Old Tom Morris was invited to upgrade the links in 1872.

“In 1930, James Wright, the then captain of the Dalhousie Club, proposed further changes to Carnoustie’s four closing holes – now recognised as the hardest finish in Open golf.

“Wright was a chartered accountant, with no design knowledge at all, yet (in only six months) he changed the face of the course forever.”

gstrachan@thecourier.co.uk

Picture: Kris Miller. Pat Sawers, Links chairman, and Donald Ford, club captain, with the water feature.