Royal Dornoch Winter Newsletter 2024

WINTER NEWSLETTER 2024

Captain’s Report 

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and 

prosperous 2024. For Royal Dornoch, I hope that 2024 will be 

as successful as 2023 has been. 2023 is my only full calendar 

year as captain. I’m now beginning to feel like the end of the 

road is in sight when I will be handing over to Gary. 

Certainly 2023 has been an eventful year for Royal Dornoch. My 

personal claims to fame have been that I have held more Special 

General Meetings than any previous captain: I am also the first 

Captain to have had a Members’ Weekend almost completely 

washed out. 

My 2023 started with a trip to New York for the members dinner 

at the Sidecar restaurant. Our US and Canadian members treated 

David Bell 

us so well that we are sending over a bigger contingent to New 

York this year. I had not been to the USA since before the pandemic and I was slightly apprehensive about 

the trip. I seem to have got over my reservations, because I visited North America three more times in 2023. 

Next was a visit to the RAC club in Pall Mall, London, for the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society 

125th dinner, where I discovered how close the links are between the R&A and our most prestigious 

higher education institutions. Soon after, Royal Dornoch hosted the 134th Oxford-Cambridge match, 

one of the oldest amateur events in the world. Inspired by Calum Mackenzie, son of our Council of 

Management member, Ken Mackenzie, the light blues and the dark blues escaped from deepest England 

for only the second time in their history. A great series of matches in fairly tough conditions was enjoyed 

by all the competitors and spectators, with the dark blues coming out on top in the men’s senior match. 

Our Championship Course passed its first test of the year with flying colours even though it was held 

very early in the season – from 23rd to 25th March. This was the first of several examinations for the 

Championship Course this year. Thanks to Eoin and his team for keeping both courses in excellent 

condition throughout the 2023 season. 

On 14th April, I had the privilege to spar with Paul Lawrie (verbally, not on the golf course) as we 

presented him with honorary membership of Royal Dornoch. He will be a great ambassador for the 

club, especially with his commitment to junior golf. 

Next up was the opening of the new 8th hole on 17th April. The new tees and extension to the fairway 

were put together over the winter and have subsequently stood up well to the many players who have 

found the 8th a much more formidable challenge than its former layout. I was privileged to join Willie 

Skinner – our past professional, Wilma Murray – the lady captain and junior captain, Jamie Riordan, 

in hitting the first drives from the new tees. I hit a high draw from the white tee which flattered to deceive 

as I would have needed a miracle to make a four from where it landed. 

3

In June, we celebrated the centenary of the Struie 

Course. It comprises holes from a variety of eras, 

but June 2023 marked the centenary of the 

unveiling of the “Ladies Course”. I really enjoy its 

variety of holes and probably play as much golf on 

Struie as I do on the Championship Course. 

Towards the end of the year, we made significant 

progress on the potential development of Struie. 

Hopefully I will be able to share some more detail 

with members soon. 

Also in June we had the honour to host the 

Vagliano and Junior Vagliano Trophies. These 

competitions brought the best European and 

British Isles amateur ladies and girls to Royal 

Dornoch under the auspices of the R&A and the 

European Golf Association. It was an exciting few 

days, with some fabulous golf played in challenging 

conditions from both the ladies and girls. Both 

teams were fulsome in their praise of the course 

and our staff. Once again local volunteer members 

surpassed themselves in helping the tournament 

run smoothly. 

4

The next auspicious tournament was the Scottish 

Amateur Championship. It was won by Cameron 

Adam from Royal Burgess who set a course record 

for the new layout of 63 on the way to winning the 

championship. Chris Mailey (Chippie) reached the 

semifinals, one of the best results for a local 

member for many years. 

Unfortunately I missed this event because I was again 

on the other side of the pond, this time at the Royal 

Montréal 150th celebrations. Great hospitality and 

a fabulous event spread over three days. It gave me 

both some ideas for our 150th coming up in 2027, 

but also an appreciation of some of the challenges 

we have to confront! Appealing to my vicarious 

Canadian background, I also enjoyed spending time 

with Royal Dornoch members in Ottawa and 

Montréal, as well as some exploration of the wineries 

in Prince Edward County. 

In mid-August, I refereed the final of the Carnegie 

Shield. It was won by Ewan Cuthbert, who is a 

member both at Nairn and Royal Dornoch. My job 

was not too demanding, with Ewan winning 7&5. 

5

He is a student at the University of the Highlands 

and Islands (UHI). Our relationship with UHI 

continues to yield benefits for both parties. 

In late September I was across the pond (again), this 

time in North Carolina, being hosted by our 

friends from the Country Club of North Carolina 

(CCNC). Ziggy - take a bow! This was a “Road to 

Damascus” event for me: I was bowled over by the 

friendliness and hospitality of our welcome at 

CCNC itself, at Pinehurst village, and also at 

Raleigh Country Club (look out for the steaks at 

the nearby Players Retreat). CCNC gave me a 

personalised gift from Tom Watson which is now 

on display in the clubhouse. Another revelation was 

the reverence for Dornoch’s Donald Ross, which 

exists throughout American golf, but is particularly, 

and understandably, concentrated in Pinehurst. 

2023 has marked a significant strengthening of 

Royal Dornoch’s ties with Pinehurst. In late 

September, John Strickland, the Pinehurst mayor, 

joined with Dornoch’s provost, Paddy Murray, to 

sign a document which will both promote our joint 

honouring of the memory of Donald Ross and also 

strengthen the ties between our two communities. 

The only slight hiccup was that I had to remind 

John that the correct way to refer to Dornoch, at 

least according to my mother (a true Dornoch 

native), was as a “Royal Burgh”, not a “town”, 

“village” or worst of all, a “hamlet”. It was made a 

Royal Burgh in 1628 by Charles 1st – that’s the one 

who lost his head – not the present King Charles. 

The end of the season brought rain and wind of 

biblical proportions. The Friday and Saturday of the 

Member’s Weekend were washed out, as was the 

David Urquhart Memorial tournament. The bad 

weather has continued to the end of the year. This 

has left Struie and the practice area more 

waterlogged than I can ever remember. The green 

staff have struggled with the conditions, making it 

more difficult to make the changes they had planned 

in their winter programme for both Struie and the 

Championship Courses. As I write this on the 

shortest day of the year, there is no sign of a reprieve. 

Running alongside the golf events, Neil’s team and 

the Council of Management have been working on 

a range of important issues. We have established 

Royal Dornoch Foundation (Junior Golf) as a 

Scottish Charity and are exploring plans to use it 

to establish Royal Dornoch as a hub for high 

quality junior coaching and golf development. 

We have been making progress on our celebration 

of Royal Dornoch book, with the intention of 

having it published well before our 2027 

celebrations. Thanks to Christine Callingham, 

Eileen Macrae, David Maclean and Christine 

Murray for their dedication to the task. The 2027 

celebrations have also been a focus for the 

Marketing team who are starting to compile a 

range of interesting ideas for the event. 

I have attended several meals in the Clubhouse 

this year, including some of the social events that 

run through the winter which helped to keep the 

local members engaged. Although this has not 

been good for my waistline or my bank balance, I 

must say that I have been consistently delighted by 

the quality of food and service that our hospitality 

team have presented, both to members and to 

guests. Even with a somewhat limited kitchen and 

less than ideal serving conditions, the quality of 

the food has been of the highest standard. 

The Captain’s charity, Kayleigh’s Wee Stars, which 

is particularly close to my heart, has already 

benefited substantially from members’ generosity. 

6

This has been reinforced by the Ladies section also 

adopting it as its chosen charity. Unfortunately, it’s 

CEO, Fiona Heinonen, has missed both 

opportunities to come to Royal Dornoch, once 

through family misfortune and once because our 

appalling weather made the trip from 

Oldmeldrum to Dornoch impossible. We are 

hoping she can finally manage to come to the 

Captain’s Weekend in May. 

Our links to the community through our charity 

and outreach activities have never been stronger. I 

opened the multi-use games area at Dornoch 

Academy, funded by Royal Dornoch, earlier this 

year. I am told that it is extremely popular – I was 

tempted to join in a five-a-side game but luckily 

wisdom prevailed. We also won the Crown Estate 

Prize for Outstanding Supporter of Coastal 

Communities at the SCDI Business Excellence 

Award Dinner in Inverness in September – 

illustrating how uniquely Royal Dornoch is 

embedded within the local community. 

Also running alongside the golf activity has been 

the clubhouse saga. The amount of work that some 

of our members have put into this project has 

simply been astounding. Mike Ross has taken most 

of the technical weight, ably assisted by Gordon 

Davies. Rob Murray has put a huge effort into the 

general wheeling and dealing, with help from 

Willie Mackay and Jim Campbell, who also has 

made significant contributions to the 

environmental efficiency of the building. Neil, of 

course, has done a sterling job in liaising with the 

multitude of parties who have to be kept in the 

loop throughout the project so that it runs 

smoothly, both in a physical and financial sense. 

first turf on 20th December. My digging was fairly 

restrained because I wasn’t sure how strong the 

“silver” spade was. But I did manage to dig up a 

golf ball, unfortunately not an antique. 

As you will see from the Finance Report, our 

income has already significantly exceeded 

expectations for 2023. Martin Lynch and I have 

been working on fine tuning our five-year forecasts 

so that we are as well informed as possible about 

the potential timetable for making the 

developments that will allow us to realise our longterm 

vision. 

Setting aside these somewhat mundane issues, I 

would like to finally share my view about what 

makes Royal Dornoch such a great golf club, aside 

from having one of the great links courses 

anywhere in the world. Royal Dornoch also has no 

equal among other world class golf clubs in the way 

it mixes its own members, whether they be local, 

from other parts of the UK or from overseas, with 

visitors from all over the world. On the course and 

in the clubhouse, we are all just golfers with no airs 

or graces. Royal Dornoch is unique. 

David Bell 

Captain 

Morrison’s took over the site on 4th December 

and work is scheduled to take 76 weeks. We cut the 

7

From The General Manager’s Office 

This year I can start this report with great 

excitement about the new clubhouse now that it is 

going to be a reality – finally. 

For many at the club, members and staff, this has 

been a long awaited moment with several false 

dawns and so it is very pleasing to look out the 

window and see all the work being done. As we 

know it is not always possible to please all of the 

people all of the time, and some are not convinced 

about the look of the building while some are not 

happy with the cost, but the feeling I get is that 

almost everyone knows that we need a new facility 

if the club is going to progress and be the world 

class venue we all think it is. 

With a projected build time of 76 weeks it should be 

completed by the summer of 2025. As you can 

imagine, that would not be the easiest time to move, 

and so we will have to make plans as the build 

progresses and the finish line becomes more defined. 

Whenever that is I am confident that we will have a 

building of quality that we will all be proud of and 

will reflect well on the club as well as all the 

contractors and consultants who helped achieve it. 

We have now handed the project over to these 

professionals to deliver what we have asked for. 

That is a rather simple statement but getting to this 

point has taken 7 years of work from the club’s 

project team, almost all of whom are members who 

volunteered to help. The club is lucky to have such 

a committed group of people who could easily have 

walked away at any moment but stuck to the task 

and gave their all. The club has recognised the time 

and effort of Rob Murray with a nomination for 

Vice President and to Mike Ross and Gordon 

Davies with a recommendation for Life 

Membership. I hope that you will all give 

unanimous approval at the AGM in August 2024. 

These are by no means the only ones involved as 

Alan Ramsey has been part of the team from the 

beginning and as you know he is now our 

President. Tony Bartlett played his part and only 

stepped down when Covid stifled the project in 

2020. The team has been joined in more recent 

times by our Captain, David Bell, and Gary 

Bethune our Vice Captain. Both of them have 

important roles as figureheads for the club during 

these times, with David having some especially 

important inputs into the proposal and running 

of the two special general meetings we had for the 

clubhouse in 2023. 

I have been with them during all of this and so 

know just what they have done for the club, and 

the time they have given, so I hope you will let me 

thank them for all of this on your behalf. 

Moving on to golf related matters we once again 

played host to major events in 2023. The R&A 

took the Vagliano Trophy and Junior Vagliano 

Trophy to visit in June and like the Seniors in 2022 

the weather wasn’t as kind as we would have liked 

with rather inclement conditions. Nevertheless, 

the feedback from the both the officials and the 

players was of the highest order with everything 

going to plan. Even the rain couldn’t dampen the 

enthusiasm of them all for some music and dance 

on the 1st tee after the closing ceremony. 

Our congratulations to the ladies of Europe who 

managed to retain the trophy with a tight 13½ – 

10½ win against GB&I. But much bigger 

congratulations to the junior girls of GB&I who 

managed to draw 9 – 9 with their European 

counterparts, the first time in the events history 

that they have not lost! 

8

Scottish Golf also came to visit as we hosted the 

Scottish Amateur Championship for the fourth 

time in our history. Cameron Adam from Royal 

Burgess was the wire to wire winner, setting out his 

stall early in the qualifying rounds with a new 

course record of 63 on the Championship Course 

and the repeating the feat at Tain the next day. He 

was never headed in the matchplay and won the 

final 5&3. All our previous winners – Dean 

Robertson (1993), Steven O’Hara (2000) and 

Grant Forrest (2012) have gone onto successful 

professional careers so we will watch Cameron’s 

progress with interest. 

All these events have meant we need a new 

honours board to list them all and so a second one 

has been made and both are now on the wall of 

the landing of the main staircase. Please take a few 

moments to stop and take in the many great 

events, and champions, that Royal Dornoch has 

produced. 

The golfing exploits were not just from these major 

events but the many that the club runs itself, one 

of the main reasons we are here, so congratulations 

to all our winners and especially our club 

champions, Alan Murphy and Cara Thompson. 

For Alan this is his first and for Cara her fifteenth 

which shows that the course suits both the young 

stars as well as the older campaigners! 

Bob Grant, our new match and handicap 

convenor, will report more fully on this year’s 

events, as well as some comments on the world 

handicap system. 

Apart from a couple of weather incidents that 

Wilma has noted in her report on the ladies and 

the rather dreadful rain at the Captain’s Weekend 

in October it was another full season of club 

competitions and so the annual prize giving was 

another glorious affair of celebrations. There were 

some serial winners who collected several trophies, 

a few old faces who always pick up something and 

some new ones who we hope will be spurred on 

for more next year. The full list was circulated in 

the weekly newsletter and here is a photo of all the 

happy people. 

9

Cocktails, canapes and dancing followed and a 

great night was had by all. Hopefully this continues 

in years to come and will be a time for many 

celebrations. 

As you are aware we had large number of golfers 

playing this year, both members, guests and 

visitors, which meant great results on the retail side 

both in the pro shop as well as food and beverage. 

These will be reported on in the finance report but 

my thanks and congratulations to the managers 

and staff in both these areas in coping with the 

numbers and also making them feel so welcome. 

This year was quite unique in the history of the club 

with two special general meetings taking place. One 

in April and one in September and both were to 

do with the new clubhouse project. It was great to 

see so many members present at each one and 

voting to make the clubhouse a reality. The minutes 

of the September SGM are later in this newsletter. 

As always, well almost if you ignore the Covid years, 

the annual general meeting took place during the 

week of the Carnegie Shield. There was just one 

retiring Council Member this year, Tony Gordon, as 

he had filled in the final year for those that had 

resigned in the previous year. I am delighted that Tony 

enjoyed it so much that he stood for election again. 

This year’s new Council members are David 

Diracles, Sandy Fraser and Tony Gordon, which puts 

the Council of Management back to full strength 

after a couple of years without the requisite quota. 

This AGM was also unique in that it was the first 

time that a living President has stood down from 

office. At the suggestion of Gordon Lawson the 

rules of the club were amended so that the 

President and Vice Presidents only serve a 

maximum of two 3 year terms. Gordon, having 

served two terms, stood down and made way for the 

unanimously proposed and elected Alan Ramsey. 

As noted in the minutes of the AGM, which are 

later in the newsletter, Gordon has served the club 

in almost every capacity, and we should all applaud 

and thank him for giving of himself and his time 

to Royal Dornoch over so many years. I know that 

I have benefited often from his knowledge and 

advice, as have many others, and that we are all 

extremely grateful. Not quite sure how Kate is 

taking having him at home more often? 

We now look forward to having Alan in the 

President’s parking space and being the only 

person, so far, to captain the club twice I know he 

has much to offer the current Captain and 

Council as well as myself. 

10

In last year’s newsletter I talked about the final 

piece of the jigsaw on the Championship Course 

being the new tees at the 8th hole and now that 

we have all had a chance to play from them I hope 

that you are enjoying the new challenge that they 

make the hole into. I certainly enjoy playing from 

the top of the hill and purposely try and put my 

ball there rather than driving over the top. At the 

start of the year into the strong east wind it played 

very tough and many questioned the stroke index. 

We are looking into that and will analyse the data 

before making any decisions as changing the 8th 

has knock on effects to other holes as well as the 

practicalities of changing the scorecards and tee 

markers – 4 on each hole that you want to amend! 

Our team don’t ever seem to rest when it comes to 

construction and despite some very poor weather 

have made good progress with the new par 3 on 

the Struie Course. You will have been following it 

in the weekly newsletter and by the update from 

the Greens Convenor in this newsletter. It will be 

an excellent addition to the Struie Course and we 

look forward to more in the coming years, 

enhancing what is already an excellent test of golf. 

At this time of year it is only right to finish with 

thanks to those who make our golf club what it is 

– the best in the world. 

You all know how busy a year it has been, both on 

and off the courses, with the clubhouse project 

being a major part of it. I have mentioned the 

project team earlier and my thanks also go to the 

other volunteers at the club who serve on the 

Council and the various subcommittees. We 

always try and make the meetings fun as they are 

giving up their own time to participate. 

We must also recognise the team of staff who 

continue to deliver on every front and go above 

and beyond to ensure that everyone gets, almost, 

all that they want. They are all a joy to work with 

and I hope that you also enjoy meeting and getting 

to know them. 

Finally, to you, all our members. You are all 

individuals but yet have a common desire and that 

is for our courses, club and town. Please keep 

coming to see us and ensuring that we have as 

strong a purpose now as we did before. Together 

we have created something that is admired around 

the world. 

Neil Hampton 

General Manager 

11

Finance Convenor’s Report 

We previously noted in our Annual Report that we 

had budgeted for an operating surplus of £1.74M for 

the year to 31st March 2024. We are pleased to provide 

an update that the likely out-turn for the year is an 

operating surplus in the region of £2.67M, leaving a 

surplus after depreciation and tax of close to £1.75M. 

Once again, the major contributors to the positive 

variance have arisen from greater than expected green 

fee revenues and also greater than expected sales and 

margins in the Pro Shop. In addition, this year, we 

have been able to benefit from the background of high 

interest rates, with our cash deposits earning the club 

over £300,000 interest in the full financial year. All 

indications are that the trend for strong growth in 

revenues and good cost control is set to continue. 

At the time of writing, the Finance Subcommittee are 

engaged in the preparation of the Club’s budget for 

the year to 31st March 2025. Council of Management 

will give their approval to the document in early 

February, so forgive me for not going into the detail 

before it is finalised. That being said, it is important 

to note that next year’s budget forms part of the clubs 

rolling five-year financial plan, a plan that not only 

includes spending on the new clubhouse but also on 

other capital commitments such as the irrigation 

systems and the cost of the purchase of expansion 

land, both of these for the Struie course. Additionally, 

the plan makes allowance for the cost of ending the 

long running dispute over grazing rights on the 

Championship Course as well as providing for the ongoing 

equipment replacement programme. 

All in all, the club has planned capital expenditure 

between now and 31st March 2028 totalling £15.8M. 

As you will be aware, the club has put in place a 10- 

year bank loan facility of £5M to assist with the 

funding of the new clubhouse. Our updated cash flow 

forecasts confirm that the remainder of the spend will 

be covered comfortably by the Club’s own resources. 

In summary, we are pleased to report that the financial 

year to 31st March 2024 is set to be very successful and 

that 2025 should indeed be even better! 

12

Key Points to Note: 

Income 

• Total income forecast for the year to 31st March 

2024 - £6.89M (Budget - £5.81M) 

• Visitor Green Fees – Forecast for the year at just 

over £3.1M. Note that at the end of November, the 

Club already held cash advances of almost £1.4M 

in respect of green fees for 2024/25. Green fees 

expectation for FY 2024/25 is £3.5M 

• The Pro Shop will exceed sales of £1.4M in the year 

to 31st March 2024 

• The result for Bar & Catering is expected to be 

significantly better than budgeted for the year, but 

as always, the operation is conflicted between the 

competing demands of members’ service levels and 

cost control. 

Expenditure 

• Costs have been tightly controlled across all areas 

of the operation and at the six-month point to 

October were broadly in line with budgeted levels. 

• The commencement of works on the new 

clubhouse acts as a trigger point in the new 99-year 

lease on the course, whereby the club will be paying 

a sum of £50,000 into the Dornoch Common 

Good Fund on an annual basis. 

Cash Position 

• Total bank balances at the end of November sat at 

£9.4M. 

Subscriptions 

Council of Management has approved an increase to 

membership subscriptions for 2024/25 in accordance 

with the Club rules and current inflationary pressures. 

The increase in the full subscription will be £50 with 

other categories increasing by the same percentage. 

As always, a huge thanks is due to the staff behind the 

scenes in the office, with Donna, Emma, Fiona and 

Jean providing sterling support to you the members, 

as well as to Claire and Neil. 

David Bell for the Finance Committee 

13

Match & Handicap Report 

The 2024 season proved to be one with 

outstanding performances, closely fought matches 

and an exciting mix of new and existing talent 

coming to the fore. 

The Ladies, Men, Juniors and Senior Champions 

are respectively: Cara Thompson, Alan Murphy, 

Alex Innes (boys), Rhianna MacKay (girls) and Paul 

Dolton. Congratulations to them all and it is 

encouraging to see Alan Murphy triumph as he is 

the first to do so whilst studying through the 

University of the Highlands and Islands BA (Hons) 

Professional Golf degree. 

Special mention should also be made of Chris 

Mailley who made it through the tough qualifying 

rounds of the Scottish Amateur Championship 

and only succumbing in the semi-final. Given the 

full-time golfing status of many of his competitors 

this was an outstanding achievement. For those of 

us lucky enough to watch the amateurs battling it 

out, we were treated to some outstanding play and 

Cameron Adam of The Royal Burgess Golfing 

Society was a worthy winner securing course 

records on both the Championship Course and 

Tain on route to his success. I’m sure we will see 

his name feature in the Professional ranks in the 

not too distant future. 

The Carnegie Shield too provided some fine 

matches and a high standard of golf. Well done to 

Inverness’s Ewan Cuthbert in winning The Shield 

for the first time – another emerging talent from 

the University of the Highlands and Islands BA 

(Hons) Professional Golf degree. Congratulations 

too to Graeme Bethune for triumphing in the 

Davidson Trophy and Lee Finn in the EC Fraser. 

All three winners are Royal Dornoch members. 

The year wasn’t without its challenges too, 

particularly from the weather. Fog delayed the 

Fraser Gardner with lack of daylight being a real 

concern. Thankfully the last group made it in 

without recourse to torches. Lightning featured 

during the Sinclair Cup but, again, everyone was 

able to complete their rounds. Horrendous 

weather also curtailed the Captain’s Weekend 

which was reduced to one round rather than the 

normal three but still proved a very enjoyable 

experience, albeit convivial activities had to be 

undertaken indoors. Sadly, the David Urquhart 

Memorial had to be cancelled completely due to 

the storm. On a positive note we had no plague and 

have so far avoided locusts. 

The success of our Juniors and particularly the 

Junior Team are elaborated on in the Junior 

14

Convenor’s Report. It is heartening to see their 

success which shows the future of the Club is in 

good hands. Turning to the other representative 

teams, well done to the teams representing the Club 

in the Dornoch Firth Festival Match and the Jimmy 

Miller Quaich. Special mention should also be 

made of the annual match against Nairn where we 

have now been successful three times in a row – the 

first time we have achieved that particular feat. 

The club match play competitions were very well 

supported this year and we have made some 

alterations to the timing of rounds in 2024 to 

ensure that reasonable time is given to arrange and 

complete matches. I would encourage members to 

try and ensure ties are played as early as possible in 

each round and only enter if you know you are 

available throughout the course of the competition. 

Special mention must go to the final of the Bagott 

Trophy which is the pairs better ball stableford 

knock-out over the Struie. The final was played a 

few days after one of the heavy storms which meant 

the 16th & 17th on Struie were closed. So, 1st and 

3rd were substituted as they had a similar stroke 

index. The match was tied and extra holes required 

which prompted a phone call “what do we do now” 

bearing in mind they have just finished on the 3rd 

hole. Andrew told them to come back up and play 

the normal extra holes where Kerry & Sinclair 

Mckay eventually prevailed. 

We are all getting to grips with the World Handicap 

System (WHS) and from an administrative 

perspective it is encouraging to see the operating 

systems on either side of the Scottish Border now 

being more able to talk to each other, and indeed, 

the same holds true across the Atlantic. 

Golf Genius too is bedding-in and we trialled 

online scoring in both a ladies and gents medal 

towards the end of the season. Thanks to all who 

took part in this trial which proved very 

informative. Whilst the general direction of travel 

is to move towards this method of scoring, fear not 

if you find this difficult to use or don’t have a smart 

phone. In 2024 paper cards and entering scores on 

the tablet will still be available and, unless all 

partners are happy with electronic scoring, cards are 

likely to the norm rather than the exception. 

Finally, a thanks to all the members and staff who 

volunteer to support events throughout the season. 

It is very much appreciated and ensures their 

smooth running. 

Bob Grant 

Match & Handicap Convenor 

15

Greens Convenor’s Report 

While work on the new clubhouse has just begun, 

our greenkeeping staff operating in tandem with 

Tom Mackenzie of Mackenzie and Ebert, are 

currently pressing ahead with groundworks to 

create a new Par 3 hole on the Struie Course. 

Mackenzie and Ebert have previously and 

successfully carried out work on 3rd, 7th and 8th 

holes on the Championship Course. While most 

of the material being used for the new hole is on 

site, the shaping is taking account of the low lying 

topography with the tees, infinity green and 

fairway all have to be raised up. It was hoped that 

it would be completed by Christmas but the 

extremely wet weather has played its part in slowing 

down progress. 

The weather over the last couple of months has 

been terrible, with the highest rainfall on record 

for October, plus the storms at the end of October 

and start of November causing many problems for 

the team. As an example, over one weekend 40mm 

of rain was recorded. Eoin and Team had the 

green site prepared by the middle of December and 

they will be building tees, pathways, bunkers and 

installing the irrigation to all of these areas. This 

Par 3 hole will be in keeping with our other Par 3 

holes at Royal Dornoch, relatively short but a 

challenging shot with tees ranging from 137, 154 

and 174 yards. When completed this will be our 

new 9th hole, with stunning views towards 

Dornoch Point and looking over to 

Portmahomack. 

Struie Irrigation 

We are now investing in a £1.5 million irrigation 

system to be installed at the end of the 2024 

season, which was approved by the members at the 

August AGM. The irrigation system on the Struie 

Course has been showing its age for many years 

and the Greens Team have been nursing it along 

using the bowser during all the extremely hot and 

dry conditions in the Summer. The new irrigation 

system will adequately be able to cope with any new 

holes which may be created further down the line 

once the membership has been consulted on any 

potential configuration. In the short term we may 

have 19 holes on the Struie and this will be 

beneficial during the construction phase of the 

new clubhouse. In the longer term, the potential 

plan is to start at the 3rd hole and finish at the 

New par 3 green 

16

17th, building new holes on land near the 10th 

green overlooking the Dornoch Firth, which we 

are keen to secure. 

In summary the Struie will undergo a full irrigation 

install and the par 3 being built right now is being 

factored into that install, so when the time comes 

it can be seamlessly integrated into the new system. 

The ground source heat pump planned for the 

clubhouse requires 21 vertical bore holes so at some 

point this will inevitably mean an element of 

disruption on the 1st hole of the Struie Course. 

The Greens Subcommittee have taken advice from 

Fairhurst who have been monitoring the water 

extracted from the 2 existing boreholes and they 

have advised that this won’t be adequate to cover 

both courses with two top class irrigation systems 

in place while the pumps in place aren’t big 

enough to draw the amount of water required 

quickly enough. The only choice now is drilling 

one big borehole and installing a larger pump. 

With a larger borehole we will have an automated 

recorder that sends information directly to SEPA. 

Fairhurst and Raeburn Drilling are formulating 

the plan for costs/dates etc. so that we can double 

our water abstraction to irrigate both courses. 

The update on the burn on the Struie Course is 

that this is out of our hands at the moment and 

with the Highland Council as to what is going to 

be done to improve the flow. 

Greens 

The greens on both courses have stood up well in 

the very wet conditions although they are very soft 

and this can cause many problem with pitch 

marks. Other problems that can occur in this 

weather pattern is disease and they were hit with 

fusarium. They were sprayed with Iron Sulphate to 

check back this disease but a few weeks later were 

hit again. So the decision was taken to spray them 

with chemical. The chemicals we now use are not 

as effective as in previous years, as with new 

legislation many of the active ingredients have been 

removed because they may cause harm to the end 

user. The Greens Team have to be vigilant at this 

time of year and keep enough product in stock to 

combat any further outbreaks. They also sprayed 

the greens on both courses with a pesticide to 

prevent any damage to the surfaces with birds 

pecking to eat the grubs. The disc seeding of the 

Championship Course fairways and the pot 

seeding the Championship Course tees have been 

completed. 

Coastal Erosion Update 

The good news for the Struie Course is there has 

been no movement despite the high tides and we 

luckily avoided some enormous logs being washed 

up that can damage our fences. The 10th hole on 

the Struie Course has had no damage and the 

chestnut fencing and newly planted salt grasses are 

doing well. 

However, the bad news is that the storm has caused 

erosion on the Championship Course from the 

12th tee round to the 16th tee. This may look bad 

but it is nothing that the Greens Team haven’t 

experienced before. We do have posts dotted along 

this area to monitor the situation and these were 

installed around 1994 and all but one are still in 

place. The storm has removed all that had been 

built up during these years. Understandably 

because of the erosion the building of a new tee at 

the top of the 13th will not now be going ahead 

this winter. Eoin and his team are hopeful that 

over the next few years the land will be reclaimed 

again. The Greens Team are constantly monitoring 

these areas on both courses. 

17

Clare Maynard from St Andrews University is due 

to visit next year. Everything is agreed for the 

continuation of her work on coastal erosion and 

NatureScot are all on board. They are intending to 

have a drone flight shortly to monitor progress. 

Tees/ Fairways and Bunkers 

The tees on both courses have been sprayed with 

Iron Sulphate. As we are now on winter tees, they 

will have a well-earned rest. The fairways on both 

courses have had their last application of wetting 

agent. This should help pull the moisture into the 

soil profile and away from the surface which in 

turn will keep the fairways dryer instead of waiting 

for mother nature to help us. The winter revetting 

programme is well under way and the team have 

so far completed 17 bunkers on the Championship 

Course. The Team still have a number to complete 

as well as tidying the ones that are not being rebuilt 

during the Winter. 

I would like to thank our Course Manager Eoin, 

his Deputy Scott and all of the Team for all their 

hard work throughout the year. We as members 

can all look forward to the new year with all that 

Royal Dornoch has to offer and wait in 

anticipation for the opening of the new Par 3 on 

the Struie Course. 

Wilma Murray 

Greens Convenor 

18

House Convenor’s Report 

In last winter’s Newsletter, I highlighted the 

difficulties we had experienced at the beginning of 

the year, post Covid, in achieving a full staff 

complement, both in the Kitchen and Front of 

House. Eventually, our recruiting efforts were 

repaid and we managed to deliver a successful year’s 

service for the Club. 

I am pleased to be able to report that we have built 

on last year’s successes, and now by and large, we 

have a stable staff complement both Front of 

House and in the Kitchen, although we do need 

to recruit one or two staff in this area before the 

2024 season commences. The effect of the Covid 

pandemic, with many in the hospitality industry 

opting for a more congenial and family friendly life 

style leaves this sector with a continuing shortage 

of suitable, well trained candidates to fill posts 

advertised. Whilst it must be recognised that we 

are not alone as an organisation experiencing these 

issues, it is a challenge to our existing staff who 

have to work that bit harder and do the extra shift 

to ensure that our food and beverage offering 

remains at a high standard. 

It would be remiss of me not to mention how 

successful our existing staff have been over the past 

season. We have maintained the high levels of 

service of 2022, and in many of the offerings, 

especially special dinners for events, have exceeded 

the levels of quality achieved during 2022, and 

which have received much praise from members 

and visitors. The quality of offering we are now 

receiving from the kitchen and the service 

provided by front of fouse staff deserves more 

recognition by more members supporting our 

Winter Events Programme, our Sunday Roasts and 

other related offerings. 

Despite previous pessimism on the recruitment 

front, we have been very fortunate to recruit a new 

Food and Beverage Manager, Graeme Twaddle, 

whom we welcome to the Royal Dornoch team. 

Graeme joined us in October. I am sure by now 

you will all know him and appreciate his courteous 

and welcoming demeanor. Graeme has long 

experience in the Catering and Hospitality 

Industry. He is not unfamiliar with Royal Dornoch 

having been a member in the distant past. We look 

to him to hone the skills and attentiveness of our 

Front of House staff and I believe he is not averse 

to doing a turn in the Kitchen. 

We have decided that all F&B facilities will be open 

seven days a week, and have extended our seasonal 

opening hours to provide opportunities for the late 

afternoon golfers to dine after their round. As ever, 

we would encourage members to indicate their 

wish to dine after their round before teeing off. 

Financially, the F&B performance against budget 

has seen an improvement over previous years, 

which is an indication of our improved offering. 

The operations of the Halfway House has 

continued to be successful, and we are looking at 

ways in which what is on offer could be improved, 

and that supplies of snacks and sandwiches are 

readily available. Space in the Halfway House is 

very constrained and limits the equipment we can 

accommodate, therefore we have embarked on an 

exercise to see if the building can be extended so 

that we can offer extended services, and be more 

efficient in what we already do, but that will be for 

the longer term. 

One issue that we have spent much time 

deliberating in our meetings this year has been that 

of staff accommodation. Our northerly location 

19

does provide a problem in recruiting and retaining 

staff. Good quality accommodation is an essential 

factor, so we are looking to extend our property in 

Carnaig St and from the 2025 season to potentially 

utilise the former Greenkeeper’s Cottage for this 

purpose. In the longer term we may be able to 

effect a better solution as part of the redevelopment 

of the existing Clubhouse site which we own. This 

is an ongoing exercise. 

In conclusion I would exhort you to enjoy your 

winter golf, but always remember we have nineteen 

holes and the nineteenth is the one where you can 

be warm and relaxed over a drink or lunch or 

indeed both, and where you can replay you round 

in your mind eliminating those sliced shots and 

missed putts. 

Gordon Davies 

House Convenor 

20

Junior Report 

Caddies Cup 

My first year as junior convenor and what a year it 

was, some great success but mostly I think an awful 

lot of fun was had. 

Being completely honest this report was compiled 

by Ally and Gary, and I’m eternally grateful to 

them both for all the time and dedication that they 

put in and making our junior programme one of 

the best in the country. 

It has been an extremely busy and successful year 

with 111 juniors having regularly participated in 

on-course competition and coaching sessions 

throughout the season and, alongside our high 

rates of participation, we have also had some 

fantastic success individually and as teams 

throughout 2023. 

For the 1st time ever, all 6 of our sections now have 

their own team uniform, which they all wear 

proudly to attend weekly coaching/playing and 

also wear to represent the club at county/national 

competitions. 

Winter Coaching Programme 

Prior to the summer programme taking place 

juniors had the opportunity to take part in 

coaching throughout the winter months and small 

group coaching was provided to all sections within 

the junior programme. The sessions took place at 

either the swing studio within the greenkeepers 

maintenance facility or at the UHI coaching 

studios. The sessions took place each week and 

ensured our juniors continued to progress 

throughout the winter so they can hit the ground 

running at the start of the next playing season. 

A Section 

A Section had a busy summer schedule, with 

weekly competitions on the Struie Course on 

Friday afternoons. Outwith this in March, A 

Section spent a weekend away at St Andrews and 

Crail. They also took part in away days where the 

juniors would go and play Brora, Golspie, Tain and 

Bonar Bridge where they gained experience of 

playing different golf courses for their handicap. 

Small group coaching continued throughout the 

21

summer to build on the hard work carried out in 

the winter and all juniors reduced their handicap 

as a result of their hard work. So much so, that 

recently 6 members of A Section have been 

upgraded to play unaccompanied on the 

Championship Course. 

B Section 

We now have 3 sections within B Section – B 

Section, B Advanced and B+. All play from 

different yardages to ensure each junior plays a 

course which is suitable to their driving distance 

and skill level. Throughout the summer 

programme B Section have played every Thursday 

on the Struie Course and also took part in regular 

2 to 1 coaching on Mondays, Tuesdays and 

Wednesdays. All juniors have improved their 

handicaps throughout the summer season with 25 

juniors moving up a section during the year. We 

also had 7 juniors make the move to B+ and obtain 

an official WHS handicap for 2024.. 

National Flag Champions 

Mini’s/Wildcats Coaching 

Our Mini’s and Wildcats have been working hard 

down at the practice gropund with Ally and Izy and 

have had some great fun with the summer 

programme. The Mini’s and Wildcats are our 

youngest juniors and range from 5-8 years old, so 

the emphasis is on fun within the sessions! Our 

juniors also received their team hoodies at the start 

of the season with the junior Wildcat logo. I am 

sure many of you would have seen the orange and 

green hoodies running about the practice ground 

on a Thursday evening. 

National Champions 

Our Flag team of Ben Dingwall, Euan Cameron, 

Finn Hallam and Freddie Gruber won the Scottish 

National Flag Championship at Gleneagles in 

September. The team retained the title that Royal 

Golf Sixes Runners Up 

Dornoch won last year with some fantastic golf and 

teamwork! 

The Golf Sixes team also qualified for the Scottish 

National Final at Dunning Golf Club in 

Perthshire. The team of Ben Dingwall, Charlie 

Millward, Euan Cameron, Freddie Gruber, Harry 

Fleming and Toby Dingwall tied with the best 

score on the day and only losing out in a play-off 

for 1st place to Swanston Golf Club. 

22

Individual Achievements 

Alex Innes (A Section) – Selected to represent the 

North at the Junior Area Team Championship in 

September. 

Euan Cameron (B+Section) – Qualified for 

National Final of the Wee Wonders at Gullane 

Golf Club in the 11/12 years old category, finishing 

12th in the grand final. 

Morven Cameron (B Section) – Qualified for the 

National Final of the Wee Wonders at North 

Berwick Golf Club in the 5-8 years old category, 

finishing 3rd in the grand final. 

In conclusion my heartfelt thanks go to Gary 

Dingwall and Ally McNaughton, also to the rest of 

the Junior and Morcott Challenge subcommittees 

without whose help and support all that was 

achieved would not have been possible. 

Here’s to the same if not better next year. 

Gary Bethune 

Vice Captain and Junior Convenor 

Harry Fleming & Euan Swanson on 18th of Struie Course 

IMG Academy 

In May, two of our juniors had the opportunity to 

attend the IMG Academy in Florida for a weeks’ golf 

camp. Alex Innes and Rhianna Mackay were 

selected to attend the golf camp based on their hard 

work and dedication throughout the winter 

programme. Both juniors experienced what it is like 

to attend one of the top sports academies in the 

world and received expert, specialised coaching on 

mental preparation and nutrition. Hopefully by the 

time this is published a vlog on their time spent will 

be available at Bunkered online. 

Mini’s & Wildcats all set for skills challenge 

Morcott Challenge 

This year was an away match for us. The team of 

Angus McFall, Rhianna Mackay, Ali Morrison, 

Luke Fairns, Kieran Allan, Erin Holden, Alex 

Innes and Jamie Riordan travelled to Lake Forest, 

Illinois for the annual match. Although the team 

didn’t manage to bring the trophy home this year, 

they all thoroughly enjoyed the experience of 

playing some top golf courses and making new 

friends for life on the golf course. 

B Section & B Advanced moving up a section 

23

Retail Report 

Another year has passed in the retail operation 

with the most exciting and newest change to 

happen was the return of Caitlin Boa as our Retail 

Supervisor. Caitlin grew up in the area and was 

one of our most successful juniors, winning and 

competing in the Morcott Challenge as well as 

many other club events. She then studied at the 

UHI and had a brief spell in the pro shop under 

Andrew before heading to the R&A in St 

Andrews, returning home to replace Calum who 

ventured overseas and is now across the road at 

Skibo. We thank Calum for his years of service and 

wish him all the best in his new role. We are 

delighted that Caitlin was successful in getting the 

job and I hope you all have took the time to say 

hello. She has already elevated the offering we have 

in our ladies section and has very exciting plans for 

the 2024 season. Calum is still a member with us, 

regularly plays and is always happy to chat and 

catch up with you all. 

After the success of 2022 which was the busiest 

anyone has experienced at Royal Dornoch, we 

came into 2023 a little bit unsure of what to 

expect. With prices going up, a cost of living crises 

and the reduction in visitor tee times we were not 

expecting to achieve the sales of last year. 

However, despite everything seemingly against us, 

we have managed to smash last year’s sales 

although that didn’t come without its challenges. 

One of the great things about being a links course 

near the sea, and so far North, is the cold weather 

and winds it brings. You may think that isn’t great 

to play in, but it usually does wonders for our sales 

in outerwear with top brands like Kjus and 

Sunderland to keep our customers warm and dry. 

But this year the weather was so much kinder, 

massively reducing our outerwear sales meaning we 

had to rely on strong shirt sales. Thankfully with 

some great offerings and styles from brands like 

Greyson and Peter Millar we managed to have a 

very successful year. 

But the brands are not the most important part, it 

is all about the people, especially our staff, and this 

year we took on a new team of UHI students, but 

also had the return of Ryan and Izy from 2022, and 

thanks to their efforts and customer service, our 

sales targets had been easily met. For 2024, we have 

Izy and Ryan returning once again, along with Pia 

and Abbie who impressed in 2023. We will have 4 

new faces and we cannot wait to introduce you to 

them all. 

Our Wildcat Range continued to be well 

supported, with bags, headcovers and Kjus 

clothing all contributing to the Wildcat 

Conservation Fund. We recently just offered a belt 

option too and will continue to grow the range 

throughout the 2024 season, so please again look 

out for our emails on that, and don’t hesitate to 

reach out before if you have any enquiries, there 

are lots of things we can get with the Wildcat crest. 

As for 2024, we are having a complete overview of 

the ladies offering, introducing 2 new brands, 

Travis Matthews and Zero Restriction. We are also 

introducing Zero Restriction in a small Men’s 

collection. 

Another key area for 2024 and beyond is our 

sustainability. We have already introduced local 

brands like Fyfe Headcovers to try and reduce our 

carbon footprint and we are also looking into 

headcovers made from recycled bottles, while 

seeing what else can be done from a supplier point 

of view as well exploring more local products in the 

accessories area. Clothing and hardware is proving 

difficult, but we won’t stop aiming for the highest 

24

level of sustainability to protect our game for the 

next 100 years. 

I want to personally thank all the members for 

their continued support in 2023, you truly make 

this one of the most enjoyable and best jobs. 

The Pro Shop team and I are always on hand for 

any enquiries you may have and are always happy 

to help, so please don’t hesitate to ask. 

We look forward to another year with you all. 

Brad Smith 

Retail Manager 

25

President’s Report 

This being my first communication to our 

membership since taking office last August, I must 

first pay tribute to our retiring president Gordon 

Lawson. 

Gordon deserves praise for the service he has given 

to the club over a lengthy period, encompassing 

Council of Management, Vice Captain, Captain, 

Vice President and ultimately as President, holding 

the office for six years. 

In keeping with his legal background, he made sure 

we crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s, and gave 

measured advice to the club when needed. 

He is unique as a retiring President, however this 

will change in accordance with the new time limited 

tenures being adopted to new Vice Presidents and 

Presidents. 

I feel this is a well considered rule as there are many 

members, who give so much of their time and 

energy to our club, who would be worthy of 

recognition in our honorary management structure. 

26

As for myself, being asked to stand for nomination 

as president was entirely unexpected and I took time 

to decide on my acceptance. There were other 

eminently suitable members justifying selection to 

which I gave deep consideration. 

I feel deeply honoured to have been elected by the 

membership and will strive to lead our great club to 

the best of my abilities. 

Our club does not run itself. I greatly appreciate the 

time given to efficient management of the club by 

our volunteer Council of Management, Vice 

Presidents and members co-opted onto the various 

subcommittees. 

It never ceases to amaze me how few members stand 

for election to Council. We need a healthy number 

to keep the club moving onwards, and it would be 

pleasing to see more younger members standing for 

election. Youth is the future of the club, so don’t 

feel put off, stand and guide the club in the 

direction you feel it should go. 

27

My thanks go to our salaried workforce for their 

efforts in keeping our club at the forefront of 

recognition worldwide. Everyone deserves our 

praise, be it Office, Professionals, Greens, Front of 

House, Bar and Catering. 

The diaspora of our membership has given us 

worldwide recognition and kept us at the top 

echelons of world courses. We have become a must 

play course and this has been of great financial 

benefit to the club and to the town of Dornoch and 

Sutherland in general. 

This has resulted in the club being in demand to 

host various National and International 

tournaments. I appreciate the understanding of the 

membership in accommodating these competitions. 

The more we host these the more our magnificent 

links are showcased. 

This past year we held the Vagliano Trophies and 

the Scottish Amateur. Member support was vital in 

implementation of the competitions and thanks to 

all who gave of their time. 

We have thriving sections within our membership 

and mention of the Junior Section is well warranted. 

Juniors are our life blood and the future of Royal 

Dornoch. Our junior teams are acquitting 

themselves well in National and International 

competitions, and the Morcott Challenge with 

youngsters from the USA gives our selected team 

members a great life experience and the chance to 

test their skills in a different environment. My 

thanks to our members who support these 

opportunities. 

Efficient club management and reliable revenue 

streams have allowed us to progress building a new 

clubhouse. It has taken years of input and design to 

reach the build phase but with excavation due to 

commence in January 2024 we hope to be complete 

by Summer 2025. 

My thanks to all on the Capital Projects Committee 

who have been driving the project on since 2017. 

This is the major project for the club and it has been 

a long and difficult road to get there. 

Highland Council, Community Council, Planning, 

Lease renegotiation all had to be addressed and the 

Members themselves had to be convinced as to the 

project’s viability. 

However, by the time you read this, ground should 

have been moved and construction commenced. I 

must thank the members for their understanding 

next season in anticipation of the upheaval during 

construction. I am sure the result will justify the 

sacrifices. 

My congratulations to all the trophy winners last 

season and good luck to all next year. 

I conclude by giving my thanks to our Captain, 

David Bell, for his handling of the club over the past 

eighteen months. I know from experience how 

much time the post requires, and the commitment 

needed. 

I wish everyone a happy New Year and a successful 

2024. 

Alan Ramsey 

President 

28

What a superb year we have had with golf 

competitions and social events. Over the next few 

paragraphs I will remind you of some of the 

highlights in our 2023 golfing year. 

Ladies Section 

I would like to welcome all of our new lady 

members who joined this year and hope you have 

enjoyed playing your golf amongst us, as well as 

making many new friends. 

We remember with sadness four of our lovely lady 

members we lost this year – Isabella Wright, Ann 

Barnett, Alison Burnett and Rena Bethune. They 

were ladies who thoroughly enjoyed the game of 

golf and made a strong contribution to the Ladies’ 

Section and so we were lucky to have known them. 

It reminds us that we need to remember those 

struggling with old age and illness, and those who 

have had to deal with the loss of a partner this year. 

We send Sandee Mackintosh our sympathy on the 

loss of her husband Sinclair and remember that 

Deborah Thomassen lost her husband Geir 

suddenly at the beginning of 2023. We send them 

all our warmest thoughts and good wishes. We 

need to cherish every moment. 

Our first Medal on Saturday 11th March was 

cancelled as the weather was particularly severe with 

the temperature dipping to minus 7 a few days 

earlier. Thankfully, all other Medals were played 

however the Flag Competition was also cancelled 

due to bad weather and rearranged for July. There 

is a long list of medal winners and 9 hole stableford 

winners in the Ladies Locker room. Well done 

everyone. 

Wilma Murray 

beating myself by just one point! The Winter 

Eclectic Winner on the Struie Course was won by 

Frances Robertson with a score of 62.19, similarly 

beating Sheila Rhind by just one point. 

We can’t forget the official opening of the 8th hole 

on the Championship Course which was a 

momentous day on Sunday 16th April 2023. 

Our 3 Lady Team Open was well attended with 

over 100 players and the ultimate winning team 

3 Lady Team Winners 

The Winter Eclectic for the Pam Lovell Trophy 

played on the Championship Course was won by 

Theresa Campbell with a score of 56.6 – narrowly 

29

were Dona Stoddart, Emily Currie and Margot 

Stoddart. In 2024 the handicap percentage 

allowance will be reduced from 100% to 70% 

bringing our 3 Lady Team Open into line with the 

same conditions as used by many of the other local 

clubs. The Open competition on the Struie Course 

the following day was won by Kayleigh Caine from 

Braehead with our own Shirley Gunn in 2nd place. 

The Club Championship finals were played on 

Sunday 16th June. Another beautiful day for the 

finalists who produced some amazing golf and the 

Lady Champion this year was Cara Thompson with 

runner up Caitlin Boa. The Handicap 

Championship was won by myself with Fiona 

MacDonald the runner up. For a second year we 

had a joint prize presentation with the Mens Club 

Champions celebrating with a glass of fizz and 

sandwiches. Congratulations to everyone who 

competed in the preceding rounds. 

The Results of Ross Sutherland tournament held 

at Fortrose and Rosemarkie were: Royal Dornoch 

Team 1 (Ashley Rose, Sandy Jackson, Claire Riddell 

and Alison Bartlett) who won the Scratch while 

Royal Dornoch’s Team 2 (Zara MacDonald, Norma 

Fleming, Rosemary Muschamp and Fran 

Robertson) were runners up in the handicap. It was 

a beautifully warm day and after all the very good 

weather we had been having the fairways were quite 

bare allowing your ball to travel a great distance – 

very satisfying. Next year this tournament will be 

played at Golspie. 

Our Ladies Open was well attended by 52 players 

and the Scratch winners were Wendy Nicholson 

(Baberton) in 1st place with Cara Thompson in 

2nd. Silver medalist winner was Cara Thompson. 

The Lovell Salver winner was Zara Macdonald and 

Laurie Cup winner was Sheila Rhind. 

For the first time we had a Strawberry Tea 

competition in July which turned out to be great 

fun. The winners of the Strawberry prizes were Avril 

Grant, Avril Haughton, Irene Hart and Donna 

Murphy. We had an amazing strawberry tea in the 

clubhouse afterwards followed by the prize giving. 

My Lady Captain’s charity day on Pink Day for 

“Breast Cancer Now” raised £1,470. We had 

amazing donations for the raffle from a number of 

businesses which was very much appreciated. We 

had baking and pink prosecco at the Halfway 

House and prizes were donated from Seonaid Gow 

and Debbie Bethune on the Par 3 holes. Thanks 

to David Muschamp and John Gow who helped at 

the Halfway House handing out food and drinks 

in the Gazebo. Thanks to Rob Murray who was 

“volunteered” to play a shot from the 10th which 

could be used by each group for nearest the pin – 

they were hoping for a hole in one. Thank you to 

everyone who has sold squares, made donations, 

baked cakes, bought raffle tickets or magic squares, 

not forgetting the committee because days like these 

take up a great deal of time and effort. 

My other charity, Kayleigh’s Wee Stars, that I 

share with the Captain David Bell has raised 

£22,750 so far. 

The fun matches with the Seniors Section and 

Gerries during the season were enjoyed by everyone 

with soup and sandwiches afterwards. The Gerries 

would have liked us to have won the wooden spoon 

but not this year! 

Our outing during the Shield week was organised 

by Seonaid Gow and Cathy Bryce. We were well 

looked after at Bonar Bridge/Ardgay Golf Club 

and enjoyed a sumptuous afternoon tea after 9 

holes of golf. Beware if you are in the winning team 

30

ecause you will be asked to organise the following 

year, it’s better to be 2nd! 

The Caithness Sutherland tournament was held on 

our own Championship Course at the end of 

August and the winners were Royal Dornoch Team 

1 (Alison Bartlett, Zara MacDonald, Caitlin Boa 

and Ashley Rose). 

The Strokeplay Club Championship was reduced 

to one round this year because of extremely high 

winds. We were taken off the course because the 

flags were coming out of the holes and our golf bags 

and trolleys were blowing over. Trophy winners 

were Cara Thompson who won the Scratch and I 

won the Handicap. As mentioned in my previous 

letter to the members there are new dates for 2024 

Strokeplay Championships 1st and 2nd rounds 

because of a clash with the Caithness Sutherland 

tournament next year. These new dates are now in 

the Fixture's List. 

September was a very busy month as we also held 

the Senior Ladies Open on 11th September. 

Winners were all Dornoch players – I picked up the 

trophy with Norma Fleming in 2nd and 3rd was 

Margaret Ross. 

Our Annual Outing to Durness Golf Club was 

truly magical – we could hardly believe our luck 

SVLGA Champions 

with such beautiful weather and astounding 

scenery. I have made an album to remind us of 

what a lovely day we had. Many thanks to Lucy, 

Sheila, Ann and Martin at Durness Golf Club for 

really looking after us and showing us what true 

Highland hospitality is. I don’t know how Lucy 

manages to cook everything in her small kitchen! 

Thanks to Seonaid for our putting competition and 

quiz which we always look forward to. Seonaid and 

I had a play off for the putting competition. Should 

I say who won? Where will we go next time? 

Durness will be hard to beat. 

The ladies committee past and present had a lovely 

day out at Castle Stuart Golf Links. The rain was 

pelting down for the whole of the journey but they 

kindly delayed the start time for us and we played 

golf in totally dry weather – how lucky were we? We 

31 

Durness Golf Club

had a meal and prizes afterwards. Many thanks are 

due to Neil for organising this for us. 

Our own Zara MacDonald travelled to Germany 

for work experience and had ‘the trip of a lifetime’ 

– her own words. Zara enjoyed two weeks working 

behind the scenes at the Arnold Palmer designed 

Rethmar Golf Links and the Golf Gleidingen 

championship course near Hanover. What an 

opportunity at such a young age. 

Junior Girls – We have 5 A Section Girls currently. 

Rhianna Mackay, Erin Holden, Jasmine Riordan 

Mary McFall and Scarlett Levens. They are all 

progressing well. Rhianna Mackay won the Girls 

Scratch Championship and Mary McFall won the 

Handicap Championship. Rhianna went to a golf 

camp at IMG for a week to help progress her golf 

and now plays off a handicap of 8. Erin and 

Rhianna were also part of the Morcott Team that 

went to Chicago. Jessie Lewis and Freya Morrison 

represented the golf club within the Golf Sixes 

Highland League, playing Golspie and Tain, 

winning all 3 fixtures. Some results from the B 

Section at the Caddies Cup: Alicia McKnight won 

the B Advanced nett event for the Joe & Lenore 

Gaffney Trophy, Summer McCue won the nett 

event for the R McCulloch Shield) and Tegan 

Murray won the Scratch event. With many more 

girls coming through the programme the future 

looks bright for Royal Dornoch. 

cocktails from his 1920’s bar. The front of house 

team also dressed up for the occasion and enjoyed it 

as much as the ladies. I feel an album coming on. 

Rosemary and Christine and their 1920’s singers 

went along to Innes Mhor Care Home in Tain later 

that week which was very much appreciated by the 

residents, especially Margaret Bagott and Rena 

Bethune who joined in with the singing. They went 

back again to sing Christmas Carols. 

Unfortunately, our Christmas Bring and Win due 

to be held on Sat 9th December was another 

casualty of the weather. However, thanks to my 

resourceful committee we enjoyed a very sociable 

day in the Clubhouse with many carols being sung, 

some fun festive games not to mention some tasty 

festive food. 

I also would like to mention and thank Isobel Bruce 

for giving her time to organise the Wednesday Ladies 

Roll Up on the Struie Course. Thanks also to Una 

Reid for all her hard work on committee and delighted 

she will be continuing to help us with the Monday Roll 

Ups. Quite a commitment for both ladies. 

Thanks on behalf of the ladies to Moira Rennie for 

keeping us all organised and up to date with all the 

SVLGA competitions which are always well attended 

by the Dornoch ladies. The SVLGA Championships 

were held at Royal Dornoch this year and winners 

Ladies Committee Outing 

Our annual Ladies Dinner was on Friday 3rd 

November and this year we travelled back in time to 

the 1920’s with music and dancing from this era and 

ladies dug out their flapper dresses. I think Amazon 

had been busy! Music and songs were created by 

Rosemary Muschamp and Christine Callingham for 

a second year running. Brian the Chef had compiled 

a fabulous menu for us and Gus concocted some 

32

were Alison Bartlett Champion (Scratch), Frances 

Robertson (Handicap) and Norma Fleming 

(Barnfather Trophy). Well done ladies. 

Holes in One this year: Kathleen Mackenzie did it 

on the 2nd of Struie Course and I had an ace on 

the 6th Hole of the Championship Course. We 

were both obviously shocked and delighted! 

The ladies Committee are travelling to 

Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin next year at the 

end of April for 3 days to play 2 matches against 

Portmarnock ladies which is going to be a very 

exciting experience and the Portmarnock ladies will 

return to Dornoch for a reciprocal match in 2025. 

Look out Dublin! Thank you Neil for helping us 

with flights and accommodation. 

Kathleen Mackenzie 

Results of all the Trophies played for 

during 2023 

Grannies Trophy – Jeani Hunter 

Daisy Simpson – Kirsty Phillips 

Constance Young – Christine Cruden 

MacLeod Trophy – Patricia Weekes 

Grant Cup – Cara Thompson 

McQueen Cup – Vicky Sutherland 

Prove Seniors – Wilma Murray 

Davidson Trophy – Fiona MacDonald 

Sykes Trophy – Ashley Rose 

Sutherland Cup – Fiona MacDonald 

The Struie Jug – Sylvia Bremner 

Struie Cup – Kirsty Phillips 

Isabella Wright Trophy – Annie MacDonald 

Mrs Winter Trophy – Eileen Macrae and Donna 

Murphy 

Jock Macleod Trophy – Norma Fleming 

Barrow Cup – Deborah Bethune and Belinda 

Shepherd 

Thank you as ever to my brilliant committee Jeani, 

Rosemary, Debbie, Deborah, Christeen, and 

Seonaid and a warm welcome to Christine Cruden 

who joined our committee in October. 

I would like to sincerely thank Neil, Claire, Emma, 

Donna, Fiona and Andrew for their support and 

Brian and Karen and their teams for their help with 

the food and catering all year. A warm welcome to 

Graeme our new F&B Manager. 

Wishing everyone here and abroad a Merry 

Christmas and hope the New Year is kind to you all. 

All the best 

My hole in one! 

Wilma Murray 

Lady Captain 

33

Senior Section 

It has been another great season for the Royal 

Dornoch Seniors Section where full members of 

55 or more years of age are able to enjoy the 

camaraderie of playing with other members in 

both club fixtures and against other golf clubs. 

There are arrangements with 14 clubs or societies 

to be expanded to 16 next season and in addition 

we have one mixed match with the ladies. 

The Senior Section this year played 12 club fixtures 

and 15 inter club matches, 7 at home and 8 away, 

so a total of 27 events during the season. 78 senior 

players took part in at least one competition this 

year and from now until our AGM in March there 

will be a roll up match each Tuesday to keep the 

Senior Section active throughout the year. 

Our home form has been particularly impressive 

winning all comfortably, regaining the Dolphin 

Trophy from Fortrose & Rosemarkie and retaining 

the Alex Sim Quaich against Royal Aberdeen. The 

other home wins included Tain, The Senior Golfers’ 

Society, Grantown on Spey, Elgin and Ballater. 

Our away fixtures did not fare so well winning only 

2, at Nairn Dunbar and Blairgowrie. The losses in 

general were by only a small margin with the 

exception of Wick, a new fixture in our calendar, 

where the team did not travel too well and came 

home soundly beaten 4-0. We will be looking to take 

revenge next year when we are to play them in our 

first inter club fixture on the Struie Course. Another 

new fixture for next year is a match against The Kings 

Golf Club in Inverness where we are to play on their 

home patch with a return on the Struie in 2025. 

Club senior competitions were well supported and 

from the many entries the final winners were as 

follows: 

W E Skinner Cup (Scratch) – Alan Gilmour 

W R MacDonald (Handicap) – David Fleming 

Bartlett Cup (Scratch knockout) – Jim Seatter 

Barry Watson Quaich (Handicap knockout) – 

Alick Mackay 

Dr John Trophy Summer Eclectic – Billy Mackay 

Senior Best Three Stableford Scores – Billy Mackay 

34

The club have been very supportive of our Senior 

Section, for many away matches a bus has been 

provided which has allowed the golfers to relax on 

the way and reminisce on their performance on 

the journey home. 

For home matches, the teams that have come to 

Royal Dornoch all enjoyed the challenges the 

courses have to offer backed up with great service 

in the clubhouse. 

The current constitution allows only full members 

to participate in Senior events however, given the 

number of Struie members that have applied for 

full membership and may be required to wait some 

time before they receive full member status the 

committee is minded to request from the members 

at the next AGM changes to the constitution to 

allow for Struie members to play in Senior events 

played on the Struie Course. 

The Senior roll ups started on the 7th November 

and will continue, if weather permits, every 

Tuesday until our AGM on 19th March 2024 

where the expansion of the Senior section will be 

proposed to the members. 

The Senior section is thriving and thanks for that 

is due to the enthusiasm of our Captain Derek 

MacDougall, Vice Captain Ernie Millard and the 

committee. Thanks also due to Neil and all staff 

for their support and who have made the 

experience for all visiting golfers a joy, to Andrew 

for being so helpful in providing assistance with 

our games throughout the season and finally to all 

the seniors who have supported the events 

throughout the year. 

David Offin 

Secretary 

35

Wednesday Seniors (The Geriatrics) 

Having now been in the chair for a full year l am 

pleased to see that the numbers playing continue to 

grow to above 20 during the winter and regularly 

over 30 during the summer months when our 

members living outwith the Highlands return for 

their summer vacation. This keeps the front of 

house staff busy when players and non-players turn 

up for the coffee and craic in the bar area after play 

on the Struie Course. 

This year there were three noted anniversaries in that 

our past president John Logan celebrated his 80th 

birthday and both Willie Skinner (Royal Dornoch 

retired head professional) and Kenneth Bromage 

celebrated their 90th birthdays. It is also refreshing 

to see Willie showing everyone how golf should be 

played and occassionally winning one of the weekly 

golf balls. 

Attached below are photo’s of John and Willie 

celebrating their birthdays at the golf club, 

unfortunately l do not have a photo of Kenneth with 

his bottles of whisky. 

players withdrew while others had to be cajouled into 

playing. I was doubly upset in that our Lady Captain 

had to withdraw and then the stand-in Lady 

Captain, Rosemary Muschamp, handed me the 

wooden spoon with a beaming smile. All that said 

congratulations go to the Lady Captain’s team for 

winning the Amazon Trophy which we hope to win 

back next year. 

On behalf of the Geriatrics I would like to thank 

Wilma Murray, Lady Captain, for presenting the 

prizes after our Annual Lunch and to all the staff; 

Catering, Bar, Admin, Pro Shop and especially to 

Front of House for looking after us during the lunch 

and throughout another busy year. 

The accumulation of weekly entry fees, after 

outgoings have been taken into consideration, has 

resulted in us being able to once again give a 

donation of £1,250 to various charities. 

As per previous years we have continued the 

tradition of donating £750 locally as follows: 

John Logan 

Willie Skinner 

The Autumn Mixed Foursomes match with the 

Ladies was slightly down on last year with a mere 56 

players vying for the Amazon Trophy. This took a 

wee while to organise as, up to the last minute, 

£250 to the Dornoch Medical Practice, which will 

go towards a new EMMA Capnograph; 

£250 to the Heritage Society which they intend to 

put towards enlarging the museums golf exhibition; 

£250 to the Highland Hospice whose goal is to help 

those Highlanders who are living with a life-shortening 

illness with the best possible care and giving support 

to their families both pre and post bereavement. 

Finally as the unprovoked Ukranian war continues 

we have donated a further £500 to The British Red 

Cross Ukrainian Appeal. 

Ian W Irwin 

36

Prize winners for the season: 

Competition Winner Runner-up 

Dave MacKenzie Cup 

Anne Beasley 

Spring Mixed Greensomes 

Jim Seatter 

J T Robertson Cup Jim McKelvie Billy Mackay (Strathy) 

Jim Seatter Rosebowl Ian Irwin Graeme Miller 

Macleod Thomson Targes Jim Seatter Alan Rhind 

Willie MacKay Alex Robertson 

Niall Curry Trophy Eric Johnston Stuart Shaw 

Patterson Salver Foursomes Alan Rhind David Muschamp 

Jim McKelvie Gordon Lawson 

Heritage 5 Club Jim Seatter Watson Bell 

John Green Quaich John Physick Willie MacKay 

Peter Monk Trophy Willie MacKay Willie Skinner 

J N Patterson Quaich Willie MacKay Sinclair Mckay 

K W Milne Whisky Alan Rhind Kelvin Murphy 

Greensomes Alastair Fleming Stuart Shaw 

Archie Forbes Trophy Billy Mackay (Strathy) John Gunn 

Martin Steeves Trophy John Physick Mark Blair 

Amazon Trophy 

Lady Captain's 

Autumn Mixed Foursomes 

Team 

Qualifying Appearances – 15 For trophies below 

Hugh Steele Trophy Iain Innes Vinny Doyle 

Overall Winner 

Anniversary Trophy 81 plus A Mike Thomas John Calder 

Florence Patterson Trophy 75 to 80 B Iain Innes David Muschamp 

Trowbridge Trophy 70 to 74 C Watson Bell Jim Seatter 

Bill Smith Trophy 65 to 69 D Vinny Doyle Jim McKelvie 

Twomey Trophy Under 65 E Sinclair Mckay Keith Henry 

President’s Shield (Non-Qualified) F Bill Orr John Sutherland 

Less than 15 appearances 

Dingwall Trophy (Most Appearances) Stuart Shaw (46) Frank Dewar & 

Iain Innes (42 each) 

W E Skinner Quaich Highest Average Willie MacKay (24.33) Jim McKelvie (24.21) 

during eclectic period 

J N Patterson Eclectic Trophy Eclectic Alan Rhind Frank Dewar 

(134 points) (131 points) 

E H McDonald Painting – Winner of Iain Innes Mike Thomas 

‘Thanks for the Memory’ A&B Groups 

37

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2023 

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 

of Royal Dornoch Golf Club 

Held in Dornoch Academy on Friday 

18 th August 2023 at 7.30pm 

Captain David Bell in the Chair 

Present: 137 Ordinary Members, 

19 Struie/Social Members 

1. Meeting Overview 

The captain welcomed everyone present to the 

146th AGM and highlighted that there was a lot 

of business to get through so asked that any 

contributions from the floor were as short as 

possible and to the point. 

2. Apologies for Absence 

30 apologies had been received. 

3. Approval of Minutes of the 2022 AGM 

Proposed by Mr R D Murray and seconded by Mr 

G M Bethune. 

5. Approval of Minutes of the 2023 SGM 

Proposed by Mr T Lohman and seconded by Mr J 

M Campbell. 

6. Matters Arising from the Minutes 

There are no outstanding matters arising, all 

matters raised at last year’s meeting having been 

dealt with. 

7. Captain’s Report 

The Captain added the following points and 

updates to his report. 

• First, I would just note that the Men’s Scottish 

Amateur Championship can be added to the 

list of successful events held at the club this 

year. And I think we are in the midst of yet 

another successful Carnegie Shield. 

• I would also make you aware that I attended the 

Royal Montréal 150 celebration last week. 

There were around 300 golfers from all over the 

world, from Calcutta to Adelaide to Atlanta to 

Québec to Dublin. The wildcat badge is now a 

well-recognised brand worldwide: everyone I 

met heaped praise on our club. 

• Next week, we will embark on a project to 

assess our carbon footprint. This will provide 

us with a baseline for us to better understand 

our energy usage and potential savings. We are 

expecting Katie Dickinson, an MBA student 

from Stanford, to arrive on Sunday to help us 

with this work. I hope you will all make help 

make her welcome. 

• The effort which has gone into the junior 

section this year has been unparalleled. We 

should never forget that the juniors are the 

future for this club. I would like to thank my 

vice-captain Gary Bethune, Gary Dingwall, Ally 

McNaughton, David Diracles and of course Jim 

Campbell. I would also like to thank all of our 

North American members for their generous 

support for our juniors. 

• I would like to recognise the help that Bruce 

Anderson has given the club via his company 

Spark Insights. This company has run the 

surveys which has helped us understand the 

views of the wider membership more clearly. 

Bruce and I have started discussions on further 

engagement with our membership. 

• Having been aware for some time that there is 

38

something of a logjam between Struie and 

Championship membership, I have indicated 

a wish to explore options as far as membership 

is concerned. I have been inundated with offers 

of help in this regard which I hope to take up 

once we have some clear time. 

• I am happy to announce that Royal Dornoch 

Golf Club has been shortlisted for the Crown 

Estate Scotland Award for Outstanding 

Supporter of Coastal Communities at the 

SCDI Highlands and Islands Business 

Excellence Awards 2023. The winner will be 

announced on Thursday 14th September. 

Finally, congratulations to all our winners, juniors, 

seniors, men and ladies. 

8. Election of President 

Gordon Lawson having done an immense amount 

of work for the club in various roles over the years 

has decided to stand down and we thank him for 

his unstinting service to Royal Dornoch Golf Club 

over many years. 

Gordon Lawson – Good evening everyone. I may 

well have said this before, and at the risk of 

repeating myself, it has been a great honour and 

privilege to be President and on achieving that 

position it has gone way beyond any aspiration 

and expectations I may have had and in truth I 

had none when first persuaded by the then 

captain, Macarthur Bennie to stand for election 

to the council of management way back about the 

end of the last century and since then I have been 

fortunate to have held quite a number of 

positions within the club ending up somewhat 

unexpectedly as president. Looking back over that 

lengthy period I have enjoyed being given the 

opportunity of representing the club on many 

occasions, in many different places at functions 

and events and became aware at a very early stage 

how highly regarded the club is throughout the 

world. However, conversely, I have not enjoyed 

much times whenever I have been involved in 

disciplinary matters when certain members have 

taken a somewhat perverse attitude when they 

have taken things beyond the bounds of 

acceptability and probably not expecting to enjoy 

giving up my reserved parking space. No one has 

yet told me where the past presidents parking 

space is! One thing I am most disappointed about 

is that we don’t have a new clubhouse yet and as 

many of you will know I have been a strong 

supporter of the need for a new clubhouse and I 

would hope that members will approve the go 

ahead in the near future as I believe that we owe 

it to the future generations of members, and 

indeed we owe it to staff, many of whom work in 

conditions which are far from ideal, to provide 

clubhouse facilities that match the high standards 

of our courses. I think everyone, and should I say 

every president should know when it is time to 

stand down and I have always had it in mind that 

I would serve two, three year, terms and not any 

longer than that. I am sure it is the right time for 

me to stand aside and it is only fair and 

reasonable to allow someone else to take over and 

have the joy and privilege of the position. I 

certainly have enjoyed my time in office and have 

always appreciated the support that I got from 

you, the members, and I have appreciated that 

very much indeed and I will be very happy to give 

my full support to me successor. Thank you very 

much. 

The Council has unanimously proposed Alan 

Ramsey. 

39

Unanimously approved by those present. 

Alan Ramsey – Gordon has become a very rare 

beast, he is a past president. There are not too 

many past presidents of Royal Dornoch Golf Club. 

He has been a fantastic ambassador for the club 

and over his 6 year term he has crossed the t’s and 

dotted the i’s considerably, some tricky, he has 

already mentioned some of the tricky things he 

had to do, but thank you for everything you have 

given in the role. It is much appreciated. Please 

members show your appreciation (round of 

applause). By the way, thank you for the parking 

place! For myself it wasn’t an easy decision. A few 

weeks ago I was asked if I wanted to go on for 

another term as vice president and said yes, I can 

do another term, and then out of the blue David 

contacted me two or three weeks later and asked if 

I would be the president of the club. It wasn’t an 

easy decision for me to make and I had to think 

hard about it because in my book there are so 

many worth members of the club who could do 

this job and be recognised for what they have done 

for the club and hopefully in the future more will 

be honoured in that way as I will be standing down 

in 6 years anyway! So, not an easy decision but very 

happy after thinking about it to take it up. 40 years 

ago I arrived in Dornoch and quickly realised that 

it was something very special. I have seen the club 

progress to where we are now and are very 

fortunate to be in a very strong financial position 

that means we can do so many things. When I have 

travelled all over the world, as Gordon has 

intimated, Royal Dornoch is very well thought of 

and this is thanks to the spread of our membership 

that is worldwide and it is the strength of the club 

that we have such a diverse membership, not just 

a local club but a worldwide club and I will do my 

best to continue this and support the club and 

bring the club up to standard and keep us going 

for the future. I have been very excited with the 

way the club is gone and I have seen a lot in 40 

years in my time on councils of management and 

captaincies and now is a very exciting time as 

Gordon has said we have a clubhouse nearly there. 

We have our 150th coming up in 2027, which will 

be another exciting time, we have got the 

development to the Struie which will bring the 

course up, hopefully to nearer the standard of the 

Championship Course which will bring great 

benefits to the club and obviously to the 

membership. In conclusion I would just like to say 

thank you to the captain, the council and you the 

members for having faith in me as president. 

9. Election of Vice President 

Captain – Like Alan, Jim Campbell has done a 

huge amount for the club including as Captain. 

He has also steadfastly promoted junior golf in 

Dornoch and is now so old that many of his past 

juniors are emerging into the ranks of excellent 

amateurs, some of whom have been involved this 

week in the Shield. As with Alan, the Council of 

Management unanimously propose Jim Campbell 

for the role of vice president. 


10. Election of Vice President 

Captain – Southwood Morcott to give him his 

correct title has been a member of the club since 

2000. Now resident in Florida he has been a huge 

servant of the club most notably through his 

sponsorship of the “Morcott Challenge”, an 

annual event involving matches between juniors 

from Dornoch and Chicago held alternately on 

each side of the Atlantic. This gives our juniors 

both great golf experience and life skills that they 

40

would be unlikely to replicate elsewhere. the 

Council of Management unanimously proposed 

Southwood Morcott for the role of vice president 


11. Election of Members of the Council of 

Management 

The retiring Member was Mr A J Gordon. 

Not all vacancies were filled in 2022 and therefore 

there are a total of 3 vacancies. 

Full members may make up to 3 votes on the voting 

slips. 

Votes cast: 

Mr D Diracles – 102 

Mr A J Fraser – 98 

Mr A J Gordon – 79 

Mr J Lafferty – 49 

Mr T Warnock – 40 

Mr Mr D Diracles, Mr A J Fraser and Mr A J 

Gordon were duly elected to the Council of 

Management to serve a 3 year term. 

12. Statement and Adoption of Accounts 

for the year 2022/2023 

Captain – I do not wish to add extensively to the 

report, though I do want to draw your attention to 

the fact that some typos present in the original 

version of the accounts were corrected in the latest 

version of the report sent out by Neil at the end of 

last week. These do not alter the overall message that 

our financial position is very strong. Our bank 

deposits had increased from £6.7 million to £8.7 

million between 2022 and 2023, though some of 

that is prepayment for next year’s visitor times. 

Many of you attended the presentation I made in 

respect of the clubhouse. My presentation 

contained financial projections for the next five 

years, including the current one. Indications for 

financial year 2023/24 suggest that we are running 

well ahead of those projections. Thus the accounts 

state that “We are happy to report that the first two 

months of the new financial year have seen us 

exceed our revenue targets by 7% in total.” I can add 

to that by saying that in June our operating surplus 

before taxation was £549,000 compared to a 

budgeted surplus of £333,000. 

I would finally like to point out that the income 

generated from short-term deposits of our cash will 

amount to around £300,000 over 2023/24. 

Nevertheless, even though we are getting around 5% 

return on our cash, its value is still diminishing 

because inflation, for the present at least, is running 

ahead of that. 

As I said in my report, we are in a very strong financial 

position, but having a lot of money in the bank is not 

an end in itself. It is the necessary condition for us to 

improve our facilities and take them to comparable 

levels to our Championship Course. Obviously, I’ll 

say more about this later in the meeting. 

The accounts were proposed by Mr A J Gordon and 

seconded by Mr K Duke. 

13. Election of Auditors 

Captain – Can I just note that the new timetable 

agreed with MacKenzie Kerr has been adhered to 

this year and there has been no problem in 

processing the accounts in a timely fashion. 

Therefore, the Council of Management propose 

that the form of MacKenzie Kerr be appointed as 

auditors. 

41

Proposed by Mr S Bethune and seconded by Mr I 

Irwin. 

This was approved by a show of hands. 

14. Greens Convenor Report 

Wilma Murray, Lady Captain & Greens Convenor 

- As we all sit here tonight realising just how 

privileged we are to be members of Royal Dornoch 

Golf Club. We are fortunate to be able to play on 

one of the best courses in the world as often as we 

want with the added benefit of having the standard 

of the Struie Course improving year on year. Eoin 

and his team have been very busy this week 

preparing the courses for the Carnegie Shield. The 

weather has been warm and dry with a light wind 

which having dried the surfaces and given back a 

linksy feel to the courses. We wish the remaining 

players all the best for tomorrow. We are hopeful 

that plans to raise the standard of the Struie Course 

even further with the long overdue new irrigation 

system which we are asking you to approve shortly. 

The superb condition of both courses is down to 

the hard work and team effort of Eoin Riddell and 

his very experienced greens team and I enjoy being 

involved with all the exciting projects that are taking 

place. We can’t fail to notice the improvement to 

the putting surface of the 6th hole on the 

Championship Course. The R&A and Scottish 

Golf have sent us complimentary letters following 

the Vagliano Trophies and Scottish Mens Amateur 

saying that numerous players had commented about 

the quality of the course and putting surfaces and 

they thanked the greens staff for their assistance and 

dedication to duties during those busy weeks. I 

should mention the Struie burn and that Greens 

have been aware of the problem of the slow 

movement of the Struie burn which in turn causes 

thick algae to form. We have been in discussions 

with The Highland Council who have 

commissioned a report and the contents and 

recommendations will be discussed at the next 

Greens meeting on Tuesday. You are welcome to 

raise any matters for future attention of the council 

in the open forum at the end of the meeting. 

Thanks was given to the greens convenor and the 

greens team by the Captain on the excellent 

condition of the courses. 

42

15. Irrigation System 

Captain – You will have seen the discussion of the 

difficulties being experienced with the existing 

irrigation system installed at various times since 

1994 in the annual report. Since the estimated cost 

for their complete replacement is £1.5 million, we 

require authorisation for this expenditure. While 

this is a significant amount, our Championship 

Course is our most valuable asset and in my opinion 

this is an expenditure that we must approve. The 

system would also extend a better level of irrigation 

to the existing Struie Course and would have the 

option of extension to additional holes should that 

possibility become a reality. I would also reiterate 

the point made in the annual report that this 

amount was accounted for in the five year capital 

budget circulated earlier this year in relation to 

clubhouse costs. 

Resolution: Agree in principle that subject to 

appropriate tender prices being received, that have 

been independently checked, and that the successful 

contractor can undertake the work in our 

timescales, the above works can go ahead. 

Passed by a show of hands. 

16. Struie Course Development 

Captain – The next item concerns the construction 

of a new hole on the Struie Course. This can be 

seen both as a beginning of the redevelopment of 

Struie and as a contingency plan should the 

clubhouse development impinge on the existing 1st 

hole on the Struie Course. In his newsletter, Neil 

linked to Tom Mackenzie’s flyover of the new hole 

which will be a par three heading south with a green 

close to the sea. I’m sure many of you will have had 

an opportunity to view this flyover. The existing 

10th fairway would be unaffected though the tees 

would also move closer to the sea. The estimated 

cost is £45,000, excluding staff costs. The area 

surrounding the proposed has been checked and the 

material is suitable and so there would be little 

importing required. The estimated build time is 6 

to 8 weeks and so a start in October would see it 

finished before Christmas. 

Resolution: Construct the par 3 hole in the area to 

the south of the current 10th tees and construct new 

tees for the 10th hole, as per the plans previously 

circulated. 

43

William Sutherland – The club has an excellent 

track record in making new holes. The 7th and 8th 

on the Championship Course are ample evidence 

of that. I am looking forward eagerly to the 

successful acquisition of the Davochfin land to 

extend Struie out beyond its present boundaries. I 

think that the idea of having a par 3 9th, facing in 

the direction that it is, is very sound. Whether or 

not with the new holes in due course that remains 

a permanent feature or not. All these things are very 

good. I must admit that I am rather dismayed to see 

the design of the new hole on the Struie Course and 

I rather wish that as a membership the two issues 

had been divorced. That is to say that: 

1. Should we have a new short 9th? 

2. Should it look like this? 

The membership hasn’t really had an opportunity 

to comment on the latter question. My own view of 

this hole is that it is something of a disappointment. 

The number of bunkers is what I would say is grossly 

out of keeping with Struie as it stands, although it 

is for those that don’t have sight of what the 

ultimate vision for a future Struie will be. The 

number of bunkers on this hole is projected as 7 

which is just about as many as the bunkers on all 

the other par 3 holes on the Struie Course. To my 

mind, and I must confess to not having played target 

golf in Florida, but to my mind that is what target 

golf in Florida looks like. I would lay particular 

questions against the two bunkers which are just 

over halfway towards the hole. What useful function 

do they perform? The blurb from M&E says it is a 

visual key to the raising of the higher ground 

towards the hole. I would respectfully suggest that 

could be achieved without those bunkers. There is 

a third bunker a bit further on which again, 

strategically, doesn’t look like a very good idea to 

me. The thing is, OK we have heard it is £45,000 to 

construct the new hole but there will be an oncost 

in future in the maintenance in as many as 7 

bunkers. I don’t know what Eoin thinks about the 

7 bunkers project but I think it is rather out of 

keeping, rather excessive and I do hope that as a 

customer if you can return to M&E to say that we 

like to plan but would like to change x, y and z, we 

would like to get rid of some of these bunkers, you 

will be able as a customer to do that. 

Todd Warnock – I applaud the beginning of the 

redevelopment of the Struie. This would signal the 

start of the Struie redevelopment plan. I am just 

eager to hear you talk a little bit in detail about what 

is that plan? Is this hole a temporary hole as we build 

the clubhouse? Is this a permanent hole? Do we have 

a process in which we stand as members to spend 

time talking about what the Struie could be? Given 

the opportunity to buy the land, you and I talked 

about this at length, but maybe you could share 

where we are going. 

Captain – The situation is that we don’t have the 

land as yet and the reason is that we want to be 

reasonably clear that we would get permission from 

the local authority, from NatureScot, from SEPA to 

build holes on that bit of land. At the beginning of 

this year the national planning framework version 

4 came in and that changed regulations and 

emphasised sustainability and nature conservancy a 

lot more than was previously the case. We held off 

until we knew that framework was in place so that 

we would not be tripped up by it when it came to 

dealing with the local authority so Neil has had 

conversation with the local authority and has 

received an indication that they would see no 

serious objection to us going ahead. That being the 

case it would now be possible for us to reengage with 

the owners of the land and see where we might be 

in terms of purchasing but I don’t think they have 

any alternative offers. There is as reasonable 

argument that we want to take the membership 

44

along with us as we move through these stages but 

we have been stuck because of this planning issue 

but I can see us moving forward relatively quickly. 

It is beholden on us to try as far as possible to keep 

the membership informed and able to comment on 

the proposals as they go forward. 

Approved by a show of hands. 

17. Clubhouse Project 

Captain – I know that many of you attended my 

presentation on the clubhouse earlier this year. I’m 

not going to repeat what I said then. Since then, we 

have completed all of the work associated with the 

road widening, the movement of the bowling green 

and the car parking, and the walls which will enable 

us to commence work on the clubhouse. However, 

what I have discovered in relation to moving 

forward with construction projects is that they don’t 

in the post covid move as quickly as we might hope 

that they would. We have had to deal with the 

introduction of new building regulations and the 

energy crisis have each slowed down the 

construction industry. Our decision to install PV 

tiles on the south facing roof also slowed progress 

because it involved protracted discussions with our 

engineers. The first stage of the tender was the 

prequalification process. This involved assessing the 

record and financial stability of companies 

expressing an interest in tendering. Once this work 

was completed, a group of suitably qualified 

companies were asked to tender. This involves each 

company approaching subcontractors where 

necessary to price each of the many work packages 

that are involved in the construction. Midway 

through this process, some of the companies asked 

for an extension to our original closing date. We felt 

the best strategy was to grant the extension. This has 

led to a delay in receiving the final tenders: these are 

due on the 25th August, a week from now. After the 

tenders are received, there is a process of checking 

and assessment. Initially our QS will be checking 

the compliance of the tenders against the original 

specification. The QS will then work with us on any 

further qualifications necessary to produce what is 

called a “purified tender”. We will then enter a 

dialogue with the contractors to aid our decisionmaking 

process. It is our intention to present the 

members with a resolution at a Special General 

Meeting on 21st September that will give us 

confidence to finalise a contract with the preferred 

bidder and start the 15-to-18 month build. 

Grant Shannon – Howe many contractors are 

tendering? 

Captain – Can’t tell you that at the moment as it is 

confidential. 

David Robertson – Can you tell us a bit more about 

the money you are borrowing. How much you are 

borrowing? What the rates are going to be? How 

long to pay it back? 

Captain – We have had offers from 2 banks, one a 

10 year term and the other a 20 year term. We are 

not tied to any of that at the moment and we haven’t 

ruled out the possibility of using bonds so we are not 

at a stage where that decision is being made. We may 

come to that before the end of the year but the 

question of borrowing or bonds we have explored 

quite a bit but in the last few weeks have been 

making sure we move forward with the tenders so 

that we have some kind of number so that we know 

how much we would have to borrow and when. 

18. Tenure of President 

Rule 13 (a) says that the President and Vice 

45

Presidents shall be elected to serve for a period of 3 

years but there is no limit on the number of terms 

any individual may serve. 

The Council of Management recommend that 

those be limited to a maximum of two terms, a total 

of 6 years. 

Proposal to change Rule 13 (a) by adding the 

following two paragraphs and renumbering this that 

follow accordingly: 

(a) There shall be a President of the Club. The 

President shall have been at some time a 

member of the Council or have given 

outstanding service to the Club. The 

President shall be appointed by a General 

Meeting from names nominated by the 

Council. The President shall hold office 

for three years after which they may be 

eligible for re-appointment immediately. 

One individual may only hold the office of 

President for a maximum of two 3 year 

terms. 

(b) There shall be up to four Vice-Presidents 

of the Club. The Vice-Presidents shall have 

been at some time members of the 

Council or have given outstanding service 

to the Club. The Vice Presidents shall be 

appointed by a General Meeting from 

names nominated by the Council. The 

Vice-Presidents shall hold office for three 

years after which they may be eligible for 

reappointment immediately. One 

individual may only hold the office of Vice 

President for a maximum of two 3 year 

terms. 

The President and Vice-Presidents may attend 

meetings of the Council and shall be notified of the 

date, time and place of all such meetings. They shall: 

(i) have no vote at such meetings; and 

(ii) be provided with Minutes of all Council 

Meetings 

Joe Lafferty – Does this mean two successive terms 

and so does this stop them coming back again at a 

later date for a third term? 

Captain – It says a maximum of two terms but they 

needn’t be successive terms. 

Approved by a show of hands. 

This concluded the official part of the AGM at 

8.22pm. 

Open Forum 

Niall Campbell – A world class course, hopefully a 

world class clubhouse but the short game facilities 

are not there. The one at the aerodrome looks like 

it has been neglected for years and green at the range 

on the 18th you cannot chip onto. Is there anything 

that can be done to bring it up to standard? 

Edward Sierra – One year ago I spoke at the AGM 

and discussed the tee time system at Royal Dornoch. 

Those remarks were greeted warmly and I was 

requested by General Manager Neil Hampton to 

provide that address to the club in writing. The 

address was included in the Winter Newsletter to 

the membership. 

In the address I spoke about the singular nature of 

the booking system for Members and how no other 

46

prominent club in the country allowed unlimited 

tee times. Rather, I explained that clubs sometimes 

allowed a few tee times in the future, but almost 

universally required members to book within one 

or two weeks of playing. The consequence of our 

open booking system was to create unavailable 

dates for play throughout the year. 

I proposed that Members be allowed no more than 

10 advance tee times per year and that all other tee 

times be booked within two weeks, exactly the same 

as booking available Visitor times. 

The Council of Management decided to make no 

changes. That decision resulted in the overall logjam 

of the tee times this year once again. As was stated 

in Neil's email of the 24th of May: 

"The previous booking system allowed members to 

book as many Championship member tee times as 

they wished at one time and this resulted in the tee 

sheet filling up quickly. This meant that many 

members could not come and play as there were no 

available times when they wanted to travel." 

The Council of Management then created a system 

so that 5 advance tee times could be made, with the 

caveat that: 

"From Tuesday 1st August 2023 the tee sheet will 

reopen for further bookings and any restrictions on 

these bookings will be announced nearer the time." 

One can only imagine that horrors that went 

through local membership as just three days later 

Neil wrote again: 

"As per the email on Wednesday, and the note 

below, we have put a small restriction in place for 

your initial tee time requests in 2024. Hopefully the 

note was clear that this is just an initial restriction on 

booking requests and you will be able to request as 

many tee times as you want for 2024 later this year." 

This was nothing short of an about face. The calls 

to the office on both sides of the issue must have 

been beyond numerous. Saner heads prevailed and 

it is now the position of the club that any restrictions 

are to be announced later. 

Most Members know they have been able to book 

Member times outside two weeks by calling the 

office. Did you know there is a chart on the website 

which shows the times available to Members, the 

times available to Visitors, and the new to me 

category "White tee times." If you go to the club site 

and go to Play, then Tee Times, you can find a chart. 

The chart shows the available tee times whether 

Member, Visitor or White (this is blank and not 

listed with an M or V. 

https://royaldornoch.com/wp-content/uploads/ 

2023/05/Tee-Time-Layout-2023-Members.pdf 

The Monday tee times is given as an example: From 

7-732 it is a white tee time: any member or visitor 

may book it. Thereafter there are assorted Member 

and Visitor times until 530 pm when the times are 

White and may be claimed by anyone. On Saturdays 

all tee times before noon belong to Members. Tee 

times after noon are White and may be claimed by 

both Members and Visitors. The point here is that 

you are not restricted to Member times. White times 

may be treated as member times. 

I have reviewed the daily tee sheets for the entire 

2023-2024 season as well as the 2024-2025 season 

to see how the 5 advance tee time system was 

working. 

As to the current season, please note that the daily 

47

sheets change regularly as people make bookings 

and cancel bookings. What may be seen on one day 

can look very different from how it looks on 

another. Inasmuch as this season has had the tee 

sheets clogged from the beginning as no restrictions 

were put on Members, here is the news: 

Members with 10-19 tee times: 65 

20-29 tee times: 20 




109 tee times: 1 

Of course, this does not include the hundreds of 

members who booked less than ten tee times. 

Why do Members book so many tee times? Because 

they can! The fear of not being able to play is a 

driving force. The failure to penalize late 

cancellations or no shows is a problem. Many local 

Members do not book tee times in advance always 

thinking times will appear through late cancellations 

and they often do. 

At this point the Captain asked Mr Sierra to stop. 

Captain – The club has allowed 5 tee times to be 

booked and are now looking at all the data and the 

members will be advised in due course what system 

we have devised for the remaining tee times in 2024. 

Mr Sierra requested that his full transcript be 

included in the minutes and the Captain agreed to 

this. 

The following is the remainder of Mr Sierra’s note 

– This is no solace to the golfers outside of the area. 

Some Members have blocked nearly all tee times on 

Saturdays in December. If you live in the central belt 

and see the weather looks to be ok for a jaunt to 

Dornoch, you have to play late and risk not 

completing your round. Why? There are as few as 9 

tee times and they are all taken. 

Another issue with tee times this year has been the 

demand on the Championship Course from nonclub 

competitions. The Vagliano Trophy and the 

Scottish Amateur took over one and a half weeks of 

mid year tee times. This is in addition to a host of 

Open competitions and medals. From April 

through October there are 56 days where open 

Member play is not available or extremely limited. 

That is over 26% of those calendar days. In the 

future, perhaps limiting outside tournaments to one 

annually would assist in the availability of tee times. 

A review of the 2024-2025 advance system has some 

pluses and minuses. About two hundred names are 

found with tee times in the coming year that were 

not present in the current year. That suggests a major 

success, but there are issues if you look beyond the 

raw numbers. As individuals were limited to only five 

tee times, spouses, partners, and other playing 

companions have now obtained tee times as the 

organizer was limited to five. This has happened so 

often that the utility of the system is not certain. 

Another problem is that local members jumped on 

the opportunity to obtain tee times during the first 

couple of months of the golfing season. Those 

months have very little prime time availability. The 

Saturday December dates are largely unavailable. 

In addition, as it relates to travellers from afar, 

booking tee times now is a bit odd given that airlines 

do not sell tickets until eleven months prior to 

flight. If you want to play in August next year, you 

can book up to five times, but you can't buy your 

ticket until September. 

We find ourselves in the same position we were last 

48

year: a voracious demand for tee times by both 

Visitors and Members. The Council of 

Management increased the number of tee times for 

Members, but you wouldn't know it given the 

general non-availability of times. The Council is also 

slowing the time frame for Struie members to 

become full members. This action will have an 

effect, but that could take decades. Further 

restrictions of Visitor times will also help. The 

primary way to solve the issue is to only allow 

bookings to be made two weeks in advance. 

There is also the suggestion that late cancellations 

be penalized. This unhappy prospect of club 

policing can also be avoided by institution of a two 

week limitation on selecting tee times. 

I can understand how local members long for the 

days when the course was there for the taking. And 

this was not so long ago. Over the past 10 years the 

Visitor games have increased 50% while Member 

games have remained static. The unavailability of 

tee times for Members can be seen in the Struie 

statistics. Ten years ago, Member games on the 

Struie were half of those today. Over the last two 

years, Member games on the Struie equal those 

played on the Championship course. So long as we 

have Visitor numbers as we have had in recent years 

with unlimited tee times for Members, some 

Members will be shut out. If we reduce Visitor 

numbers in the short turn, it puts a greater stress on 

our accounts while we are trying to build a new 

clubhouse. You can't have your cake and eat it too. 

If the Council of Management insists on an 

unlimited approach, and continued high Visitor 

numbers, I would suggest rather than having one 

date for submission of tee times, a full week should 

be provided. In addition, tee times should be 

allocated to those with the least numbers of requests 

considered first and then filling in with the others 

requests. This would cause members to be 

circumspect in their selections. Sadly, this 

methodology will probably require some form of 

enforcement. Thanks for listening. 

Derek MacDougall – On the practice putting green 

the flattest area is nearest the caddie shack but is 

slightly crowned and the rest is so bumpy that it does 

not reflect any of the greens on either course. Can 

they be smoothed over? 

Joe Lafferty – Lack of availability of the course due 

to the number of tournaments. Can we have some 

guidance on the number of tournaments we would 

expect to have every year, what rationale is behind 

it, who decides and why doesn’t it come to the 

membership? 

Sue Smith – We have had three tournaments in a 

short space of time. The Vagliano, the Scottish 

Amateur and the Carnegie Shield – can we have 

them spaced out please? 

Todd Warnock – We also have the Tomatin Pro Am 

later in the year and all these events are costly for us 

and we don’t make money on these events. Our pro 

shop sales decline during these events. Businesses 

in the town do not participate in these events. For 

example in the Tomatin Pro Am most people stay 

in Inverness and doubt that many people have a 

meal. I really do believe that these sort of events do 

raise the stature of our club and something we 

should give some consideration too but balance is 

required and the Council should think about the 

impact on the town. 

Captain – We do get various compensation for 

hosting these events and the R&A give more than 

Scottish Golf. 

49

Trey Wilkinson – Thanks for having the AGM 

during the week of the Carnegie Shield. For those 

of us who are not here year round we appreciate you 

having it this week. I would also like to give thanks 

to the staff and Neil for the weekly update. It is very 

well written. In an era where we text a lot then 

grammar is not quite what it was. I am the son of 

an English teacher and I appreciate good grammar 

and the update is very well done. I look forward to 

it every week and I thank you very much for keeping 

us informed. 

Fran Robertson – Do we have an upper limit on 

what the club is willing to spend given that costs 

have gone up so much and is there a plan B? Or are 

we going to spend what we are going to spend 

whatever it costs? 

Captain – There is always a bit of fungibility when 

a tender price is submitted. We gave been discussing 

value engineering, looking different ways of 

achieving the same thing. None of us have seen the 

tenders yet but that might make things a bit more 

protracted but if it turned out to be good value for 

the club to do that then that might be the way to go 

ahead. 

Alan Ramsey – Members, it is never easy to chair an 

AGM, I have had great experience of that over the 

years, so I think that David has done a good job 

tonight and so I would like you to show your 

appreciation. 

This Open Forum concluded at 8.39pm 

50

Minutes of the Special General Meeting 2023 

Minutes of the Special General Meeting 

of Royal Dornoch Golf Club 

Held in Dornoch Academy on Thursday 

21st September 2023 at 7.30pm 

Captain David Bell in the Chair 

Present: 169 Ordinary Members, 31 Struie/Social 

Members 

21 apologies had been received. 

The captain welcomed everyone to the meeting 

and emphasised the importance of the occasion 

for the club. 

Captain – The issue in front of us is simply 

whether to approve or not approve the resolution 

which is to proceed with the construction of a new 

clubhouse as per the design approved in 2019 at 

the best tender received in September 2023 that 

satisfies our requirements. 

The captain said that there would be some 

opening remarks and then he would open the 

floor for comments. 

The captain introduced Capital Projects 

Convenor, Rob Murray, to comment on the 

project thus far. 

Rob Murray – Firstly, I would like to thank you all 

for turning out on such a miserable evening. Also, 

thanks to the Captain for his excellent work in 

preparing recent presentations, financial forecasts 

and members communications. Doesn’t a year 

pass quickly as Captain of Royal Dornoch David! 

The past 5 years working on this project has been 

an honour and a privilege for me to have worked 

with so many talented and professional people. It 

has been real team effort. As you can imagine with 

the enormity of the task there have been challenges 

along the way. I can’t emphasise enough just how 

much work has gone into getting us to this point. 

However, we now have the road access to the car 

park widened, the bowling club have nice new 

facilities, the new MUGA facility is in place at the 

school and we have a new Common Good Land 

Lease in place which allowed us to achieve all of this. 

The captain has communicated that the design 

and tenders are all in place and the final figure is 

very close to where we had hoped and as 

communicated at the last SGM. Yes, it’s a huge 

amount on money and COVID did us no favours, 

but we can afford it. 

So, we have all collectively approved designs, 

various proposals and funding over the past 5 years 

at various presentations and we now just have to 

approve the final capital spend. So, we as a club, 

Council of Management and the Project Team can 

finally deliver a clubhouse worthy of this great club. 

Captain – Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for 

coming out on this relatively inhospitable evening. 

I apologise for holding more meetings than any 

other previous captain. This is a very important 

occasion for the club. The issue in front of us is 

simply whether to approve the resolution: 

“Proceed with the construction of the new 

clubhouse as per the design agreed in 2019 at the 

best tender received in September 2023 that 

satisfies our requirements.” 

Since it involves finance, a two thirds majority is 

required for it to pass. 

51

In the last week or so, I have sent quite a lot of 

information to the membership. I am not going to 

add to that tonight. The main bullet points were: 

1. Members agreed to go ahead with the 

clubhouse project at the 2018 AGM. COVID 

led to the postponement of the project and 

costs have substantially increased. 

2. We have had a very strong team of voluntary 

advisers to help take the project forward. 

3. The design of the building has not changed 

since 2018 other than to ensure that it meets the 

new building standards and to accommodate 

solar panels on the south-facing roof. 

4. Following the last SGM, where the club agreed 

to borrow up to £5m to support its capital plan, 

the project team has followed a standard 

tendering procedure. 

5. The bids have come in and are being purified 

by our QS. A final price will only emerge after 

negotiation with the contractor. We are clear 

that we will achieve a bid close to the estimate 

I provided in my presentation of April 15th. 

6. It will also affect Council of Management 

willingness to engage with other capital 

projects, fearing that another blocking coalition 

renders their efforts pointless. 

7. On the positive side, the club is in its strongest 

financial position ever. We have revised the 

forecasts produced for the last SGM which 

reflected the rebound that the club made in 

2022/23. But the early signs for 2023/24 suggest 

that our revenues are growing faster even than 

we forecast just a few months ago. Specifically, 

we were at the end of July almost £600,000 

ahead of budget – a debt of thanks to all of the 

staff for putting us in this position – Neil, Claire, 

Emma, Donna, Ian, Scott, Brian, Karen, all the 

golf ops staff and all the other staff. 

8. Going forward, our revised budget suggests that 

even if we take on a loan of £5m, our cash 

balances do not fall below £1.9m and would be 

close to £5m by 2027/28 if inflation turns out 

to hit the BoE target of 2%, which I am more 

hopeful of, given today’s news. That will help 

the capital plan overall. 

9. Lastly, you should bear in mind that from a 

survey of members earlier this year more than 

three quarters of the membership were 

confident that the building of the new 

clubhouse was a financially wise choice for the 

club given its resources and future potential. 

I suspect that most of you have already made up 

your mind how you wish to vote. I am happy to 

take a number of observations and then proceed 

to the vote. 

1. I have been asked about members liability. 

Given our financial forecasts, the likelihood of 

a claim is extremely small. 

2. Note that loans would either be to other 

members via the bond mechanism or to a bank. 

3. Any claim would likely be against the club’s 

officers i.e. me and not the members since the 

members have not committed any malfeasance. 

4. The most likely outcome however would be a 

change in the conditions of the loan, more 

likely extending it than anything else. 

I have said before that I am keen to move ahead 

with the Struie extension as quickly as possible – 

52

this will have to go to an AGM – where there could 

again be a blocking coalition. 

Contracts 

Because a club has no legal identity of its own, it 

cannot itself form contracts, bring legal claims (or 

defend them) or own property. It must do so through 

the officers. Hence the officers may be exposed to 

personal liability. If the club’s assets are not sufficient, 

or the officers are unable to get an effective 

indemnity, it is possible that a creditor of the club for 

instance could pursue an officer that contracted with 

them personally. This can lead to difficulties; for 

instance an officer may contract with a supplier of 

goods. If the officer then leaves that post (and often 

the term of office is only a year) or the club itself, then 

the supplier can still look to that officer if the club 

doesn’t pay the supplier. They would be entitled to 

an indemnity from the club of course, but that might 

not be much comfort if the club has closed. 

Tony Barlett – I am speaking to you really because 

as you probably remember in 2019 I was part of 

the committee that approved the clubhouse 

design. That was at a time when the costs, the 

building costs were about £7 million and the total 

costs were about £11 million. 

We weren’t at that time speaking about any 

borrowing at all, only for very short term 

borrowing to give a bit of latitude at the end of the 

project but it was never intended to draw down on 

these facilities. 

Since then I have changed my mind on this and I 

changed my mind on this really for two reasons. 

Firstly, I think £15 million is a huge amount of 

money to spend on the clubhouse and really when 

you have (a local population of not much more) – 

a local membership of 300. 

The second thing, and we agreed differently at the 

meeting the other day, I personally don’t like 

borrowing £5 million and particularly when the 

club is so dependent on visitors and I know the 

visitors income has been very good and my view is 

if the visitors keep coming we can make the 

payments but I still think there is a risk. I don’t 

think it is a minor risk. 

So basically we will have some issues on visitor 

numbers that will mean that borrowing the money 

is not the right thing to do. I would much prefer 

that we kept within our own resources. 

When we think about it, less than half of the club’s 

expenditure is covered by members subscriptions. 

Nevertheless work with the basis that almost 

certainly that this resolution will be passed tonight. 

I have got one or two quick questions on the basis 

it is passed. The first one, does the £14 million 

include the fit out costs and I am assuming it does. 

To what extent are the tenders going to be fixed 

price. I think the words when I met you and Rob 

the words were – “fairly standard building 

contracts”. I am afraid I have got no idea what that 

means but I do find it slightly odd in the current 

times when there is huge inflation that we can tie 

the contractor down to any form of fixed price, or 

significant amount of fixed price. 

The third thing is the loan agreement that we 

negotiate with the Bank. I am not quite sure where 

we are with them. I know there are some offers. 

These agreements have to be irrevocable. By that I 

mean, that once we start, I am assuming that the 

project I am assuming we will start paying the 

money up to a certain limit. That’s probably the 

major part of what money we’ve got and then the 

53

Bank will step in. My worry is and I’m afraid I have 

seen it before, that some of the Bank agreements 

are able in certain circumstances to get out of the 

agreement to allow us to draw down the additional 

money. I don’t think we can ever be put in that 

position. 

Captain – The contract will go in front of our 

lawyers and if that is an issue it will be considered. 

There is a fit out included in the price. The tenders 

are really fixed price. We did have the option at 

one point of entering into an agreement with a 

company that would manage the whole process but 

they couldn’t give us a price and we would work in 

partnership with them. But that could not meet 

the test we are going through tonight. It would be 

a rolling process. That is more detail than I 

planned but I am happy to discuss that with you 

subsequently. 

Christine Callingham – Can I ask Tony does he 

agree that we need a new clubhouse? 

Tony Bartlett – We definitely need a new facilities, 

whether we need a new clubhouse I am not sure 

about. At the right price I would build a 

clubhouse. At the wrong price I wouldn’t build a 

clubhouse and look at something else. 

Christine Callingham – OK, so you are suggesting 

that we kick the can down the road? What I am 

saying is a 1909 clubhouse was built 114 years ago 

and during that time, particularly in the 60’s, 70 

and 90’s there has been so many extensions and 

“bolt-ons” that the sustainability of the existing 

clubhouse has got be questioned. I think we do 

need a new clubhouse as it cannot survive. 

Buildings do have a finite life especially in small 

Edwardian house particularly the one we have got 

which has been encompassed in concrete. 

Struan Robertson – Just a simple observation. 

Obviously I am using a very broad brush stroke here 

but the project is costing in the region of £15 million 

and by doing nothing tonight and kicking the can 

down the road its effectively going to cost an 

additional extra £1 million next year so why delay? 

Fran Robertson – If the project goes ahead what is 

the plans for the existing clubhouse and the cost 

involved in doing whatever happens to the existing 

club house? 

Captain – The plan is to demolish the existing 

building. 

Fran Robertson – And that is included within the 

budget? 

Captain – An amount is in the budget for that but 

it an estimate. 

Christine Callingham – Can I just add there is a 

huge benefit to keep the existing clubhouse while 

the construction goes on as the Club is still 

functioning. 

Captain – I really want people to make their own 

contributions. What Christine said is absolutely 

essential that the Golf Ops, Neil’s Ops, the F&B 

continue to operate as they have this year. 

Therefore, we need to insulate these operations 

from what’s going on in the construction site. As 

I said in my second email we have interviewed 

someone to be put in place to have someone on 

site, reporting back regularly to the Finance Team 

and the Project Team. 

Todd Warnock – David I want to thank you for 

having this meeting tonight and I want to thank 

sincerely all those who worked on behalf of the 

54

club and hopefully you will have the patience to 

listen genuinely to an alternative view. 

I believe a clear consensus exists among the entire 

membership that we all want a new clubhouse and 

we all want world class practice facilities and I 

believe we all know if we built Struie it can address 

our tee time shortage which is only getting worse 

and hurting this town materially. 

But I am opposed to this proposal as structured 

because in my view it is financially irresponsible. 

However, if we change the order of our projects 

more strategically I think we can have all three 

without any debt what so ever. 

Let me explain. While I appreciate the Capital 

Project subcommittee met 73 times David, I think 

there are two critical skills that I feel are lacking 

here. Professional financial expertise and strategic 

planning expertise. 

I don’t believe we have a Finance Convenor and I 

am not sure if anyone involved has ever been 

involved in financial aspects of a project of this 

magnitude. And I do respect that some people 

here might disagree but I believe a lack of 

comprehensive strategic financial planning has 

resulted in a long series of isolated uncoordinated 

unfinished and often poor decisions. 

To pay 1.2 million quid to build a Struie irrigation 

system when we don’t know what we are doing 

with the Struie. 

I think we can have a better plan. First let me 

explain why it is financially irresponsible. 

The clubhouse will not generate a single pound of 

incremental evidence. Not one golfer will come here 

because of it. Our costs will rise materially 

particularly with massive fixed-costs which we suffer 

in the off season when it sits virtually empty and we 

will lose a great deal of money permanently and our 

plan is to make it up with increased fees to visitors 

for whom we do not have any more tee times. 

Further we can’t build it without borrowing 

substantially at precisely in my view the wrong 

time. 

Interest in debt servicing fees in borrowing 5 

million quid will cost more than £500,000 per 

year. The interest rates in the UK are quite likely 

to go up. In my personal opinion I think they will 

go up substantially. 

Secondly, this proposal won’t cost £14 million. I 

bet it will cost £16 or £18 million. Why do I believe 

that. I believe our management had demonstrated 

little confidence in managing strategic projects. 

Our biggest challenge in this club is the 

membership tee times crisis and we have no 

solution to that. 

Our membership structure is broken and we have 

many that waited 8 or 10 years on Struie. We have 

many full members that have never been here for 

years. 

Our management sold 500 memberships largely to 

Americans for something like one tenth of their 

market price. 

Our current F&B operations are currently poorly 

run and are unprofitable losing money. They will 

lose more, a lot more. 

55

Our Capital Projects, the greenkeepers shed and 

moving the bowling club from our audited 

financial statements they appear to have all been 

materially over-budget. We wasted a great deal of 

money of practice facilities and a computer system 

that didn’t work it had to be scrapped. We still 

don’t have a computer system. 

And most recently a window was broken on the 

front of the clubhouse on the evening of August 

4th. It was boarded up at the peak of the tourist 

season for 35 days. 

I will be shocked if this project comes in on 

budget, but if it is £18 million, that is £3 million 

more in fees and interest that we can’t afford. That 

is why I think it is irresponsible. 

Let me share what we can do. A new Struie and 

new practice facilities and even yes, an oversized 

clubhouse debt free with an intelligent and 

coordinated process. 

First, let’s build the Struie. The new McGillivray 

land truly extraordinary - I shared that with you 

David. We can even have a senior and kids 9 hole 

practice area on some of the Struie holes. 

But here what is critical. It will solve our tee time 

crisis and it will be profitable immediately. We 

have modest incremental costs. The revenue for 

playing the Struie will increase dramatically. 

Recall Neil and I on the Coul Links process said 

over 10,000 golfers come here ever year. They get 

in their bus and turn round and leave. 

The Struie is as good as Golspie and will get them 

to stay and everything changes for the better. It will 

ensure the prosperity of this club and of the Town 

for the next 100 years – debt free, and I am certain 

that is what John Sutherland would do today. 

With an interview of 5 or 6 of the best architects 

that should compete for the business Tom 

Mackenzie should not waltz in like they appear to 

have done. 

I believe we can get this design complete by next 

summer and begin at a cost of £3 - £4 million. 

After we have launched the Struie plan we can 

launch the new clubhouse. We can do this and we 

should do this. 

This is the wrong time to borrow a ton of money 

on a project that most of us are at the best 

ambivalent about. 

We have important challenges we need to address 

here at Royal Dornoch. The most important of 

which is tee times. They generate revenue. 

So. let’s develop a comprehensive plan starting 

with the Struie and then the clubhouse lets avoid 

financially strangling the club with debt. 

Let’s hold our management team responsible for 

solving our major challenges first with potentially 

creating more. 

Together we can build a better debt free future for 

everyone. 

Christine Callingham spoke briefly and was 

interrupted by the Captain wishing her not to keep 

replying to other members opinions. She said that 

we have professional people involved including 

yourself (the Captain) and he (Todd Warnock) told 

us they were not competent. 

56

Sue Smith – I know nothing about money and 

buildings. The thing I do know is that in the time 

I have been a member we have had several 

opportunities to do things and now we are in a 

situation where we are having to pay an enormous 

amount of money to get what we want. So let’s not 

delay things are never going to get better from a 

cost point of view. Let’s just get on with it. 

Ian Bunch – I am opposed to the new clubhouse 

project. When it was originally approved it was on 

the basis that no borrowing was required. That is 

no longer the case. I accept that we need a bring 

our clubhouse up to standard but this can be done 

using existing funds without the need for any 

additional borrowing. 

This also eliminates the need to spend £50,000 per 

year on ground rental. If the project is rejected and 

there is no requirement to borrow then the 

pressure for visitor income is vastly reduced. This 

would mean many more tee times available for 

members. I think we should use this opportunity 

this evening to change the direction in the way the 

club is run. 

Let’s get back to being a private members club run 

for the benefit of members. I strongly urge 

members to vote for a change in direction and not 

more of the same. 

quite an embarrassment. The wife of a friend of 

mine was talking about for the not fully abled the 

state of the toilet facilities in the clubhouse. 

I have a financial background. You can’t say 

precisely what interest rates are going to be, that’s 

to the whims of the market and such like. COVID 

was an unfortunate set back and I just think you 

can go on and on forever here but the mood of my 

colleagues who have visited religiously to this place 

is just get on with it. We really need this as a club 

of this status needs a clubhouse that matches that 

what the need is. 

The captain called to an end the time for 

comments and asked that everyone eligible to vote 

should now do so, reminding them that there 

needed to be a 2/3 majority in favour and that 

spoiled papers would not have an effect on the 

outcome. 

Result of the vote: 124 for, 39 against, a a positive 

vote of 76%. Therefore, the resolution was passed. 

The captain concluded the meeting and thanked 

all for attending. 

Captain – I don’t think I can ever remember even 

as a boy that we were a Private members club. 

John Hastings – I have been visiting this club for 

40 years and been a member since 1989. Along 

with friends from further South. Over that time 

there has been many discussions about this 

clubhouse and the need for a clubhouse and it is 

dispiriting to visit year after year to what is really 

57

58

59

Royal Dornoch Winter Newsletter 2024

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?