Criomagan

Archie Macaskill entered the Golspie Open and emerged victorious from a field of 90 competitors.

The undoubted highlight of his round would have been an albatross 2 on the 505yd, par 5, 14th hole. A good tee shot still left him with 260yds to the green but a flushed 3-wood got the job done. Unfortunately the topography of the hole prevented either him or his playing companions from actually seeing the ball topple into the cup.

He shot a level par score of 69 to win the competition with his ‘better inward half’ getting him the verdict over his fellow competitors thanks in the main to that audacious albatross.
Well done young man.


’Tis the season'-as the song goes-and another success to report in mainland Opens when Sandi Beatson, Breakish entered a Mixed Open at Kingussie recently and walked off with the second prize.

She finished one point behind the winner in a field of 44 players.
Good effort.

A few days later Sandi in the company of Donalda Johnston and Jill Mackinnon set sail for a ladies Open in Inverness from where there is more success to report.

Jill started 5,3,11(bunker) against the par of 4,3,5 but such was the resilience of this golfer that she overcame that disaster-in spades-to finish with a nett score of 70.That was good enough to secure the runner-up spot in the ladies handicap division two-one single shot behind the winner!

What a great effort and very well played.

I mentioned recently that I saw a photo of Dr Frank Deighton-the man who designed and laid out our course at Sconser-staring back at me in the clubhouse at Royal Troon GC on my recent visit to the Open Championship there.

Since the creation and installation of a plaque at the golf club entrance to recognise Dr Deighton’s achievement at Sconser was celebrated a few years ago I keep in touch with his daughter Nicky. I send her the occasional copy of my Free Press articles and she had a memory to share from her own visit to Royal Troon as a wee lassie.

She fondly remembered attending the 1973 Open there where her father, as a member of the R&A (he would later become a Life Member) was a welcome and weel kent face.

However while the great and the good were 'socialising' in the R&A marquee in search of adventure and in the company of her sister they pinched their granny’s zimmer frame and made off to view the golf.

From green to green they went all day long and the extra few inches gained from clambering up upon the metal framework significantly enhanced their view of the world's finest golfers on the course before them.

*A group of IOSGC players sailed over the Minch recently to participate in the Harris Open. The event has been a rich hunting ground for our members over the years but how would this year's raiders fare?

More next week.


Competition


The Sconser jam was spread pretty thinly on a recent weekend when the Benford Cup was the trophy on offer.

With raiders in Harris, Dornoch and Muir of Ord to my certain knowledge it was gratifying to see a decent challenge made for a nice prize.

Two hardy souls with commitments elsewhere had no choice but to golf their balls on another wild and woolly Saturday and with an idyllic Sunday to follow there’s no surprise that the winners came from the second day's cohort.

Not just a winner but one of the very best recorded scores of the season to date as Geoff Williams circumnavigated the Sconser track in a cool 69 shots and with the handicap allowance removed the nett score was 62 and victory by 10 clear shots.
What a truly astonishing performance.

A 'reliable source' informs me that greenkeeper John Cunningham’s 68 remains the lowest score this year but Geoff’s 69 hauls him up alongside Ally Sutherland one shot behind.

In marked contrast to the previous day it was t-shirt weather at Sconser as a strong field competed for the weekend prize and there’s really only one story to tell.

Geoff’s two nines were 36 and 33 but this performance merits more detail.

There were only two blemishes on his scorecard-a double-bogey 6 as early as the second hole and a bogey 4 on the fifth hole otherwise it was 15 pars with the solitary birdie coming on hole number ten.

I’ve often referred to Geoff, in complimentary terms of course as a very steady player and 15 pars I think proves my point?

I asked him for his thoughts on the round and he said that he’d made some minor set-up and swing changes to his game these last few weeks but things didn’t seem to be working. Fortunately he decided to persevere and the more favourable playing conditions(no howling hoolie for instance) together with damp greens allowed him to find the groove that resulted in what he reckoned was probably his lowest ever round on the course.
In conclusion he offered that he’d missed some birdie chances too so the score could have even lower!

Fantastic.

The margin of victory was ten shots with Ally Sutherland and Chris Hanley rocking up with 72’s-the former getting the verdict in a photo finish.
Ally’s two nines were 38 and 37 while Chris submitted loops of 38 and 39 for consideration. There were neither fireworks nor disaster on either man’s scorecard as they must have marvelled at Geoff’s superb performance constructed at the same time, in the same conditions, on the same day and on the same course.
Sconser/IOSGC Documents

With thanks to Anne Marr I’ve recently taken possession of five hand-written Match Secretary books. They contain the scores for almost every competition played at the Sconser club for the period 1969-2000.They now sit proudly alongside the Minute Book for Portree Golf Club from 1935-1975 which also recently came into my possession.

Pride of place though still goes to the original Minute Book from the very day when Sconser GC was formed in December 1964.

Ian Marr cared for these five volumes for many years and I shall do so going forward.

Ian, who sadly passed away last year was a long-time Match Secretary from an era when if you were good at the committee job you got to keep it!

Davie Murray was long-time Greens Convener and Ian Fullarton was a very long-time Treasurer.
Incidentally most members eventually stepped forward to take their turn sharing the responsibility for running the club in those days.
Times have changed of course and very few are ‘in it’ for the long haul now. To me though that's fair enough as the club now is unrecognisable even from the one that I first joined in 1974-never mind ten years earlier in it's embryonic state of development.

Nowadays the Isle of Skye Golf Club is a thriving small business so more than ever it needs bodies on board to help it to function.

The jungle drums would seem to indicate that there could be some significant changes imminent so the deal is this-I’ll protect and preserve the past but it’s now time for the younger brigade to step forward and lead the club into the future.

RESULT
Benford Cup

1) G Williams 69(7) nett 62; 2) A Sutherland 75(3) 72 bih; 3) C Hanley 77(5) 72.

FIXTURE
This weekend’s fixture is the final one in a series of events to celebrate the IOSGC@60.The competition is for teams of two so here’s hoping there’s a good turnout to mark the occasion.

JOHN MARSHALL











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Club Championship sponsors 2024

Isle of Skye Golf Club are delighted to announce their new Club Championship sponsors as Torabhaig Distillery based at Teangue on Isle of Skye. This will cover the Ladies and Gents Championship for their Anniversary 60th year event marking golf played at Sconser. The game has been played at the Sconser location since 1964 since the origins of Sconser Golf Club and several events are in place to mark the Anniversary year.

At Torabhaig, we are pleased to support the Isle of Skye Golf Club Championship in celebration of the 60th Anniversary events. With the release of our third expression of the Legacy Series, Cnoc na Moine, we continue to explore the elegant side of peat smoke in our whiskies, made at Torabhaig and shaped by Skye.



Torabhaig Distillery is the second ever licensed Single Malt Scotch Whisky distillery on the Isle of Skye. The water, the land, the climate, all play a part in the character of the whisky produced which has been captured by Torabhaig. Isle of Skye Golf Club is proud to be associated with the Skye distillery and to be part of such a local, vibrant produce. Torabhaig Distillery are producing their own distinctive character whiskies which are evolving into a distinct signature style from a flavour profile known from what they call 'Well-Tempered Peat'.

Capt Robert MacAskill said 'It is a great opportunity for the Club to be associated with Torabhaig and to be part of their 'Legacy' portfolio'. We look forward to combining with Torabhaig and thank them for their generosity'