History of Bonnyton Golf Club


HISTORY - PART 1

On this page we briefly chart the origins of the Bonnyton Moor golf course from its construction in the early 1920s to the opening of Bonnyton Golf Club.


HISTORY - PART 2

Part 2 tells the story of the change of ownership of the course and the beginnings of a new era for Glasgow's community of Jewish golfers.



INTRODUCTION

The area around Bonnyton was mainly moorland used only for sheep grazing. On the other side of what is now the Kirkton Moor Road was a large wood - the Common Wood - which was cut down during the First World War, the timber being required for railway sleepers, pit props, etc.

The original Bonnyton Moor Golf Club was built around 1922 by James Stephen Lindsay, originally from Laurencekirk in Kircardine, who was a publican in Glasgow. It was publicised as being:

". . situated 9 miles from Glasgow at a height of 800 feet above sea level on the slopes of Ballagioch hill (1084 ft.) which commands an unrivalled view of mountain and vale comprising ten counties. Easily accessible by a regular bus service to Eaglesham."



JAMES STEPHEN LINDSAY

According to Mairi Maxwell (nee Lindsay), great-niece of the original owner, the land was originally purchased in 1919. Sometime after the Clubhouse was built, the Lindsay family experienced financial difficulties and was forced to sell their home and other interests - with the exception of the Brechin Bar which stood at the corner of Aikenhead Road and Calder Street in Glasgow's South Side.


James Stephen Lindsay, his
wife Elizabeth and daughters
Mary and Elizabeth

Dedication of a sundial plinth at Bonnyton Golf Club in
1935 after the death of James Stephen Lindsay. The
group includes Mrs. Lindsay, her daughters and
sons in-law David Read and William Queen.

The sundial plinth
as seen today




The photographs of the Lindsay family and the plinth dedication were provided by Mairi Maxwell, great-niece of J. S. Lindsay, who lives in British Columbia, Canada.

Some time after publication we were contacted by Valerie Harper of Nanaimo, also British Columbia, who wrote with information about the person who took the photographs:

"My name is Valerie Harvey and I am writing to you from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada on behalf of my mother May Morgan Stimpson, who was reminiscing about her childhood – she will be 90 this November – and the time she spent at Bonnyton Moor Golf Club where she was taken by her father, my grandfather, James C. Morgan.  He was a friend of Mr. Lindsay, the gentleman who started the course.  My grandfather was a professional photographer in Glasgow and on looking at your photogallery we figure the pictures shown may have been his work.  He did photography for The Glasgow Herald as well as many private contracts.  We have a photograph of him with Mr Lindsay’s dog – Paddy.  She said the Lindsay girls were very kind to her as her Mother had died when she was 5 and she was a lonely child. She (May) also told a tale of a goat by the name of "Billy" no less.

"She had a set of clubs made for her by the Club Pro when she was around 9 years old."



Although both Mairi and Valerie live in British Columbia they had no knowledge of each other and their links to Bonnyton were purely coincidental. However we were able to put them in touch with each other and they subsequently met, together with Valerie's mum, May, to reminisce in person.

When Mairi heard the story of "Billy" the goat, she remembered a photograph from the Lindsay collection which she sent to May. Upon seeing the photograph, May immediately said "that's me riding Billy the goat!".

Now that's a coincidence!

THE CLUBHOUSE

Instead of a conventional clubhouse, Lindsay built a Dormie House (literally, a sleeping house) where players could stay for a weekend or longer, rolling out of bed on to the first tee. Three rounds of golf were quite common in those days when two-and-a-half hours was the norm for 18 holes. The green fee was half-a-crown which was considered expensive at the time. The Dormie House had no mains electricity and power was provided by a generator situated where the caddycar shed is today.


The Clubhouse from the Kirkton Moor Road - c.1927


THE PROFESSIONALS

Bonnyton Moor was a pioneer club in helping to raise cash for struggling professionals. Life was hard for these "Jacks-of-all-trades" - they were clubmakers, coaches, caddie-masters and sometimes even greenkeepers. Bonnyton ran frequent tournaments with prizes as high as £20 - a lot of money at that time. The prizes were often supplemented by extra cash from members who made much more on side bets and gambling became a way of life for some of these old pros.

Eddie Hamilton, a former Scottish Amateur Champion, tells of playing in a pro-am with Bonnyton Pro Mark Seymour. It was at Renfrew and when Mark found out that the first prize was £7 10s he made a bet of that amount on a horse at 10-1. Eddie and Mark won the tournament and the horse won too! They cleared about £80 on the day.



THE GREAT EXHIBITION

No, nothing to do with an over-sized greenhouse! This exhibition was a match between four of the golfing greats of the day held over the recently-opened Bonnyton Moor Course in June 1923. The competition was recorded in the Glasgow Herald, an extract of which is shown below:

1923 exhibition match



Go to Part 2    A Change of Ownership