Twelve months ago the season opened with a Two-Person Scramble competition and following a draw to decide the day’s companions play duly commenced.
When the final putt dropped there was a tie for third place,with a score of 65, between the teams of Ally Young/Jill MacKinnon and Hamish Philp/Alec Fenwick.
Second place, with a score of 63, went to Chris Hanley and Ross Cumming but the victors on the day were Andrew Long and Iain ‘Baker’ Maclellan with 62.
And so it came to pass that the 2026 season@IOSGC commenced with an Easter Saturday surprise-fresh, overnight snowfall on the Cuillin but worse,very much worse was to come later in the day.
Conditions for golf were good when over 20 players made the effort to support the club’s opening fixture.Two teams representing Captain Chris Hanley and Vice-Captain Ally Sutherland were selected from the throng before battle commenced with a shotgun start.
For the record the Vice-Captain’s team emerged victorious by the margin of 369pts-348pts.
There was some very good individual scoring with five players returning totals in excess of 40pts-a very good effort for the first competitive outing of the year.
The best score of 43pts was returned by Geoff Williams who finished one point ahead of Donnie MacPhee and John Finlayson. Willie Urquhart and Nick Morgan finished one further point behind.
Very well done to these five players in particular but, to this observer at least, every single member who turned up to play contributed towards one of the healthiest opening day competition turnouts of recent years.
The winning team was Ally Sutherland, Geoff Williams, Willie Urquhart, Andrew Long, Duncan Macrae, Jill MacKinnon, Nick Morgan, Donnie MacPhee, James Colven and Bob Beatson.
Good news here as the work continues apace but it will take a wee while yet before things are complete.The kitchen has been replaced,with new white goods also installed so catering, when required, will be a much less daunting task.
The cafe and entrance areas have been re-carpeted and additional shelving will hold a bigger stock of logo goods for members and visitors alike.
The steward’s desk will be relocated but it currently sits in a more welcoming position meaning visitors will no longer have to queue in line, and sometimes out of the door, to make their arrangements to pay and play.
Early last week the ‘boys’ were out with the chainsaw so the BB was duly dismembered and it’s remains have sadly been removed from the golf course.
I understand that a replacement will be discussed at the next committee meeting.
As the introduction of the full greens and tees at Sconser signals the end of Winter playing conditions so The Masters golf tournament on tv heralds, for most golfers, the start of another season that will be overflowing with hope and expectation.
The first Major of the year hits our screens on Thursday of this week-let’s hope that Oban’s Robert MacIntyre has a ‘good one’.
So sang the Beatles but looking back on our club history of 50yrs ago in 1976, as I did recently, here are some items from the AGM:
Captain: Jim Rodger
Vice Captain: Alasdair Stewart
Secretary: George Gibson
Treasurer: Iain Fullarton
Committee: Davie Murray, Alasdair Sutherland(Ally Sutherland’s grandfather!), George Lamond, Ian Marr, Claude Cameron, Bruce Philip and John Marshall.
Note the huge Portree presence there-all, apart from George Lamond(Elgol) and Alasdair Sutherland(Broadford)
Mannequin parades-that really made me shudder, but that was the ‘thinking’ at the time..
The Anniversary Quaich is the prize on offer for both ladies and gents this weekend.
Can I just add how very satisfying it is to be able to return to writing once again-without constraint.
JM