Course of a Century 1896-1996

Great Changes

There must have been considerable gloom at not being able to extend the much loved Clubhouse now 30 years old, and it would have been a particular blow to the Ladies having had such high hopes for better facilities and having raised much of the projected cost. Dr Cowie was now to make a suggestion that was to indirectly change the whole character of the course as well as providing a site for a new Clubhouse.

Over the fence beyond the 1st green were some derelict gardens, part of some old farm cottages known as Auchgorum. This already had a good water supply and suitable drainage to take a cesspool. His suggestion was to clear the site and build the Clubhouse there. A building committee thoroughly inspected the site and decided it was indeed a good site for a clubhouse.

Mr Leslie Dawson kindly arranged to prepare plans and also suggested that the building should not be in the gardens but in the field itself.

A meeting with Dr Cowie discussed this point and the Building Committee took the initiative of suggesting that the Club could possibly rent the entire Auchgorum field provided a reasonable rent would be charged. Dr Cowie was agreeable to this and instructed his agent, Alex Morrison & Co, Edinburgh, to offer the Club the whole of the Auchgorum field, as well as the Fittie field and the top field Viewfield for £50 pa. This however was considered too high by the Club who had asked for £40 and for the lease to be for 15 years. Major Gordon proposed a compromise of £45 and this was eventually accepted by Dr Cowie. In March 1927 a draft of the new lease was received from the agents, now acting on behalf of the Trustees for the Misses Cowie. The Club turned its attention to raising sufficient money to allow both the Clubhouse to be built and the course extension work to be carried out.

The recent disagreement with the Ladies Committee was to herald a shift in influence within the Club, away from male dominance of club affairs. In a few sentences in a council meeting on 27 March 1927 the decision is recorded that all Ladies paying the full subscription of 10 shillings could attend the Annual Meeting, the same to apply to the gentlemen paying the full subscription of 15 shillings.

Within a year a bazaar had been organised which was to raise £276, about half of the eventual cost of the new Clubhouse. The main credit for this achievement must be given to the Ladies of the Club. A public meeting was chaired by Dr Cowie in August 1927 and amongst the Committee appointed were Mrs Cowie, Mrs Macpherson, Priestwell, and Mrs John Grant, with Major Gordon as secretary. A later report and balance sheet of the bazaar held in August 1928 was as follows:

The secretary was instructed to write to the Ladies thanking them on behalf of the Club and a notice was also inserted in the Dufftown News thanking all who had contributed to the success of the bazaar. From that point on the Ladies were to be included as equals on most aspects of the Club's affairs, although it was to be 1931 before the Ladies Section of the Club was formally adopted and Miss J S Cumming and Miss Grant, St Margarets, were elected to the Council.

The only discordant note at the Club was the theft of wallets in the locker room. A meeting of the Golf Club Council was held in the Burgh Chambers on 18 August 1927 when complaints were heard from Mr Hector Symon that his pocket book containing £2 and a motor licence, also another pocket book and motor licence belonging to Eddie Yeats had been stolen from jackets in the Clubhouse. It was remitted to the captain to report the matter to the police to have it investigated, but nothing more is recorded of the outcome.

Eddie Yeats is now the oldest member of the Golf Club and was in business most of his life with Watt Bros, whose family association with the Club goes back to the first days, when Wm Watt was secretary, and James Watt a councillor.

With the coming of the motor car life had taken on a new dimension, and likewise the Club in 1927 became the owner of its first motor mower. The old horse mower was showing its age and the estimate obtained of the cost of having it overhauled by the makers Shanks & Sons Ltd was £25. Dr Cowie offered the Club the loan of a motor mower with the option of buying it for £15. However Mr James Watt was able to obtain a new mower at less than the listed price, the Club duly accepted his offer and so the latest state of technology was to grace the fairways for the first time. Stones on the course were a continuing problem and a certain greenkeeper was taken to task when the bottom plate of the mower was found to be damaged. A decision was then taken to have the fairways rolled to eliminate the problem, a solution which at the time seemed sensible, but would not find favour with the divot shots of today's golfer.

The prizes presented in 1927 and values of vouchers presented were:

The General Meeting of 1929 recorded many changes, the death of Rev J B Cumming who was the first Club Captain and actively involved himself in Club affairs for almost 30 years. Also the death of Mrs Cowie, Glenrinnes, wife of Dr Cowie, who had been the driving force in raising the funds from the bazaar. The new officers and councillors were:

• President - Mr C M Gordon
• Vice-Presidents - Provost Macpherson, ex Provost Stewart, Dr A M Cowie
• Captain - Mr J B Macdonald
• Vice-Captain - Major Gordon
• Treasurer - Mr George Duncan
• Secretary - Mr A Paul
• Councillors - L Dawson, A Gordon, B Gray, C J Macpherson, B Symon, J Watt, P Wilson and Rev G P Shaw

The Trustees for the new lease were:

• Charles Joseph Macpherson, solicitor, Dufftown; James Watt, merchant, Helenslea; William Innes, retired distillery manager, Tomintoul.

The Club now arranged with Mr George Smith, professional, Moray Golf Club, to lay out the course extension for which Dr Cowie paid the fees. The course was duly laid out in 1929 ready for the opening of the new pavilion on 14 May 1930.

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