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Dunoon Golf Club, Auchamore Course, Argyll & Bute. (1904 – WW1)
Dunoon Golf Club Golf Club is not to be confused with the current Cowal (Kirn) Golf Club. This was sometimes the case in the earlier part of the 20th century when the Dunoon Golf Club was in existence.
There is also an entry on this website for the Dunoon Municipal Golf Club which was in existence from 1919 to WW2.
The Dunnon Golf Club was founded in 1904.
A meeting was held in the Burgh Hall on Thurday 10 March 1904, ex Provost Tannock in the chair. It was agreed to form a new club at Dunoon. Willie Fernie submitted a report stating that the propsed course could be one of the finest of its type in Scotland. Office bearers were elected with Mr Ainsworth M.P., elected as hon. president. The nearby Firtree Cottage would be used as a clubhouse.
The nine-hole course at Auchamore with its wonderful views opened in May 1904. It was laid out by James Anderson, the green-keeper, under the supervision of Willie Fernie the Troon professional. It was hoped that the course would eventually be extended to eighteen-holes. The nearby Kirn club was very busy during the season and it was thought that the new course would benefit from this. Ex Provost Tannock invited Provost Warner to formally declare the course open. Two ladies were to drive off the first balls – Mrs Tunnock and Mrs Maguire. They were each presented with a silver mounted cleek to hit the opening shots. There was much interest in the match following the opening which involved Willie Fernie who was partnered by Mr C C Cowan, ex president of the Kirn club against James Anderson and William Disseldoff. Victory went to Fernie and Cowan.
Pre-WW1 postcard courtesy of Frank Accleton.
The Ordnance Survey Map below shows Auchamore and the “Rifle Range” this was also the location of the golf course. Also shown on the map are the Filtering Beds. These unfortunately lead to the death of a young golfer who drowned whilst trying to retrieve a golf ball in August 1909.
© Crown Copyright {1900}.
Entry from the 1905 Nisbet’s Golf Yearbook; “Instituted 1904; number of members 200; station at Dunoon Pier 5 minutes; hon. secretary – P Doig, Lyndhurst, Dunoon; captain, W B Macguire; entrance fee - £1/1s and subs 10s/6d; nine-hole course. The turf is good, and some of the holes very tricky. A small cottage on the side of the course is used as a club house”.
Report on the annual meeting in May 1909.
Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette Monday 24 May 1909. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Dunoon Golf Club was listed in the 1913 Nisbet’s Golf Yearbook.
From the Sunday Post Sunday 2 April 1916 – “DUNOON GOLF CLUB AFFAIRS – Rather than close the golf course, a decision which would have been a great loss to the town, the members of Dunoon Golf Club have decided to put their hands in their pockets and by a double contribution meet the club’s losses occasioned by the war”.
Golf suspended.
Daily Record Monday 3 December 1917. Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Dunoon Golf Club disappeared following WW1.