Clubhouse and Old 18th Green, Royal Dornoch Golf Course

Date Added: 03 July 2008 Year: 1966 Institution Name: dnhhl Cat No: ◀ | 2007_094_014 | ▶ Picture No: 4367

Monochrome postcard, from the Basil Hellier collection, showing the clubhouse, old 18th green, and the Royal Golf Hotel. The reverse has an address in Skelmorlie, Ayrshire and a Dornoch postmark 12 Aug 66, with a purple Scotland QE II 3d stamp.

Dimensions: Length 138 mm - Width 92 mm

Groups: Hidden Gems

3 Comments

1966 that's the Royal Golf Hotel and the ninth green of what was then the low course now the practice putting green Comment left on 10 February 2010 at 00:41 by Dan Murray Hotel name corrected in description] Administrator

The Royal Golf Hotel was owned by the Gardner family for a number of years around that time Comment left on 15 February 2010 at 20:13 by

That is indeed the Royal Golf Hotel behind the golfers and caddy. The little pedestrian gate with the arch that gave access to the golf course from the hotel can also be clearly seen. When I caddied at the golf course, with many other Embo children, from about 1950 to 1953 we used to watch this gate keenly for golfers coming to play the course. If it was a golfer that tipped well we would crowd around them to be picked as their caddy. However, if they were known "scrabbers", as we called the miserly ones, we would all try and make ourselves scarce. The Caddy Master would then have to come and force some of us to carry their clubs. I think that the going caddy rate for 18 holes was then about three shillings but a good tipper could give double that amount. Later in the summers of 1956 and 1957 I worked at the Royal Golf Hotel as a waiter when Alastair Gardiner and his wife managed the hotel. Jessie MacDonald from Point in the Western Isles was then Head Waitress and she was a stickler for discipline. My cousin Christina Fraser (now Cumming) from Embo also worked in the dining room with me but I think that my pranks there caused her much embarrassment at that time. My work days at the Royal Golf Hotel ended when myself and another youngster called Johhnie Mackay (King) from Embo locked kitchen porter Sarah MacDonald from Golspie in the hotel's large walk in deep freeze. Sarah was a strong girl and was not adverse to boxing our ears if the mood took her. This was our ideal opportunity for revenge and the devil took charge of us. We crept up on the freezer and silently removed the safety push rod from the freezer door and banged it shut. The last thing I remember was Sarah standing in the freezer passage with her mouth open, eyes huge and a large sheep's carcass balanced on her shoulder. We then ran from the room where the freezer was situated and made the fatal error of banging its door locked as well. We then realised that Sarah had the key to this outer door in her hand. We were then very afraid, not only from the prospect of the outer door being broken down to rescue Sarah but also by the many threats and expletives being hurled at us by Sarah from the freezer. The insulated walls of the freezer and the walls of the outside room did little to reduce the decibels and clarity of Sarah's speech. Anyway to cut a long sad story short the door had to be broken down to rescue Big Sarah and that night's mutton stew. Immediately thereafter Johhnie and I were called to Alastair Gardiner's office and given our "jotters" and we left for Embo before Sarah had the opportunity to meet up with us. I was seventeen years old that year and the following year, my Highers year, I was forced to find summer waiting work in St Andrews. But that's another story. Comment left on 01 March 2010 at 12:54 by Kenneth Mackay

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