History Of Strathtay Golf Club - pt VI
In order of priority, the committee decided to concentrate on providing new tees, of a good proper size, and guaranteed to be level. This overdue process in itself transformed the experience of a round at Strathtay - especially at the second hole, which got a teeing-ground for the first time in its existence. The soggy areas of fairway were addressed with drainage works. The second green was found to have been installed without any drainage system - a remarkable discovery, and this was promptly rectified. The fifth green, whose increasingly boggy texture had threatened to cost thousands to put right, was inspected carefully. The culprit was a small underground spring, a steady trickle rather then a flood; and once this was piped into a drainage ditch, the problem was solved. The committee also came to the conclusion that it was about time, in the year 2000, that the club had its first professional greenkeeper. It is no small tribute to the work and character of previous amateur incumbents that this matter had never previously been raised as a necessity; or perhaps it is a reflection of a simple and self-reliant philosophy of course management at Strathtay which had eventually to come to an end. An age of innocence was over; but the ministrations of a trained greenkeeper led to a steady improvement in the greens, and in the general presentation of the course. Strathtay Golf Course had become a venue that could be appreciated for what it was as much as for what it wasn't. It was gratifying to hear compliments from our regular summer visitors, or to understand that the customary remarks from members of neighbouring clubs (with whom we played inter-club friendly matches each year) on the "fine condition of the course" were now sincere rather than diplomatic. It was good, too, to know that all this had taken place without raising capital through bank loans, with the inevitable burden of debt to service. This, however, had been a matter of necessity rather than policy. The Tulliepowrie estate had passed through various hands since Captain Steuart's day, and the subsequent owners understandably had some cause to regret that gentleman's decision to make over a desirable section of the land rent-free to a local golf club. In 1983 the committee was approached by the then Trustees of Tulliepowrie with a proposal that was at once hard-headed and generous. They suggested that the golf course ground should pass from the estate's ownership to the club's, on payment of the sum of £14,000. Written into their proposal was a stiff proviso. If the club could not sustain itself from year to year as a going concern, then the course must revert to the ownership of the estate for the same sum of £14,000 (which would not be paid to the defunct club, but be distributed to other clubs in the area). The committee were also bound to run the club entirely as a golfing business: it was forbidden, for example, to attempt to raise money by selling or letting any part of the course for non-golfing purposes such as house building. The committee at the time were reluctant to take up this offer, believing that it would be impossible to raise such a sum within the club membership. One member, however (Tom Clark, then owner of the Grandtully Hotel), felt it was both necessary and possible to raise the money. He argued that it could only be a good thing for the club to own its course; that it was better to take up a good bargain than to rely on the status quo being maintained indefinitely if it was declined; and that the community as a whole, and not just club members, could be persuaded to contribute. He was correct in assuming significant support from non-golfers. People in and about Strathtay grasped the point: the golf course had been an economic as well as a sporting asset to the area, and it was alarming to think what might happen if it ceased to be a golf course. There might be no reason to doubt the good faith of the ownership of Tulliepowrie estate, or to suppose that Captain Steuart's provision that part of it should always be a golf course could be challenged; but any uncertainty over the intentions of the present or future owners was removed at once if the club could take over formal possession of the ground. Tom Clark's energy was rewarded, and the committee were able to meet the purchase price. Happily, Strathtay Golf Club has contrived to remain solvent, and perhaps the very peculiarity of the purchase agreement has contributed to this. If a committee had ever been tempted, for instance, to borrow a substantial sum to finance some grand project - expansion to 18 holes, build a handsome new clubhouse, etc - it was constrained by the fact that the equity of the entire club was, legally speaking, no more than £14,000: pretty poor collateral against a big loan. And indeed, it has become noticeable that some clubs which went down this ambitious road have had cause to regret it. Popular as golf is in Scotland, and in the UK as a whole, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. During the 1980s and beyond - partly as a result of the international success of British professionals such as Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam - there was an apparent surge of interest in golf as a sport. New golf courses appeared, or clubs fell over themselves to improve and expand. Suddenly there were too many golf courses chasing too few members or visitors: our very own Scottish Golf Union got its fingers very badly burned. Projected income in the wake of expensive improvement did not always materialise. Strathtay Golf Club, forced by circumstances to do little more than smarten itself up when other clubs were busy innovating, found that this had after all been the best policy. Complacency is always dangerous; but for the present the club is debt-free, with an annual income exceeding expenditure by a modest amount; we have the course looking and playing pretty much as well as it can, without having altered its basic nature as an engaging and picturesque wee nine-holer. We even got round to flattening out that terrible eighth green, which now plays far more tamely as a par four -although this improvement is offset by the addition of a strategically-placed bunker, which claims (as bunkers always do) its regular quota of victims.
As Strathtay's centenary year of 2009 approached, the committee had to consider how best to celebrate this landmark in the club's history. Mindful of how much the club's survival was due to the efforts of previous committees and individuals over the decades, the present committee believed that expenditure on this occasion should be directed to some permanent benefit to the course, rather than spent on a round of events that could seem too self-congratulatory. They hit upon the idea of a further improvement which would provide a greater variety and challenge in the nine holes. It was decided to install alternative tees at each hole, situated 39 as to alter - in some cases completely - the perspective and the usual choice of club. It is not an original concept: a number of nine-hole courses have adopted this method of cutting out the predictability or monotony of just playing the same holes twice. But our new tees have been chosen with a great deal of imagination - even if they sometimes make an extra demand on both golfing skills and physical stamina. Older members cannot help noting that some holes are awkwardly lengthened, or that the new tee may be installed in an elevated position half-way up a hillside; but ageing legs that can still make their way twice up Spion Kop in a normal round can surely manage a few extra paces, some additional yards of ascent, for the sake of the increased interest in playing familiar holes in a new way. In any case, it is not mandatory to use the new tees on every occasion. They will be in play in competitions and medal rounds, but otherwise the original tees can be used at all times by members and visitors. The committee wished to have them only as an option for the second nine, an enhancement of interest, and an inducement to try out some different golf shots over the course - or to see the beauty of a little Highland golf course from some previously unfamiliar angles.