They have been playing the royal and ancient game at the scenic Kingarth course of the Bute Golf Club since 1888 and until now they have not been alone. For 121 years the swingers at the southern end of the island had to share the course with cattle and sheep, immune to the dimpled spheres whizzing around as they grazed passively on the green sward.
Although no longer required, it remains a local rule printed on the card of the course: “If a cow pat interferes with a player’s normal stance or swing the player may, without penalty, lift the ball, clean it, and drop it within one club length, not nearer the hole.”
As a result of ill health of the farmer, sole tenancy has passed to the golf club that is entering a new era. The fences that protected the greens from livestock have been removed, the quality of the fairways is vastly improving, and, for the first time, members are able to discuss the long-term future of the course.
The future may be bright, but the club’s history is hardly what you would call prestigious. David Cuthbert of St Andrews laid out the course. He was the professional at Millport at the time and was sent home with the words of the Cumbrae committee ringing in his ears: “A local gardener could have kept the ground better at less expense.”
On the basis of his legacy, that seems harsh. The nine holes at Kingarth may be short at a 4722-yard par 68 for two laps, but with a standard scratch of 64 it’s not just great fun; it provides members with genuine handicaps over a course that few people have taken apart and asks some demanding shots like the 142-yard par-3 third of 142 yards along the shore where you miss the green at your peril.
After a 35-minute ferry journey from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay and a 15-minute car journey to the course, you park in a lay-by and walk through a lane in the farmyard to reach the clubhouse. It’s a quiet walk nowadays, but not so long ago golfers were tripping over hens and taking care not to step into something nasty.
A group of regular Americans visitors, who include Kingarth on their itinerary along with St Andrews and Gleneagles, loved that quirky aspect and actually expressed disappointment at the changes this year and the plan to build a road down to the clubhouse with the agreement of the landowners, Bute Estates, headed by the Marquis of Bute, who is known as Johnny Dumfries, the former racing driver.
The clubhouse is the same one that was opened there in 1911. There are no staff, just an open door to the wooden lockers of yore and a table where visitors are asked to put the £10 green fee for a day ticket in a brown envelope and post it into an honesty box. Outside, the views to the northern end of Arran and further to the Mull of Kintyre are breathtaking.
Nine holes take 90 minutes at a dawdle and afterwards members repair to the adopted clubhouse of St Blane’s Hotel a few minutes’ drive away at Kilchattan Bay. About a hundred members each pay an annual subscription of £100 (£10 for juniors) and with the introduction of the road there are hopes to encourage more elderly members to the fairly flat course.
There are ideas to introduce bunkering, which was obviously not possible before, shape the greens, which are still basically square because of the fencing, improve drainage, introduce new tees so that each hole can be played from a different angle second time round, introduce greenkeepers’ sheds and either renovate the clubhouse or build a new one.
Overheads, apart from the rent, are little more than two part-time greenkeepers working a total of 12 hours a week in an annual turnover that might buy you a single year’s membership at a Trump course. You can’t help thinking that the Kingarth effort is every bit as worthy.
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