Chapter 6 - JUST A MINUTE 3

(1944-1993)

The third fifty years of the Club have seen a slow and steady but unspectacular growth. The purchase of our first clubhouse in 1905 was the turning point in our development. Without a home of its own St. Andrews Golf Club might well have faded away after the First World War. With its own property and canny but far sighted committees it has prospered - both financially and as a golf club.

Obviously we will never recapture the glory days of last century when we could produce Allan Robertson, the two Morrises, Andrew Strath, Tom Kidd, Bob Martin, Jamie Anderson, and Willie Fernie. The St. Andrews Golf Club was right at the heart of the early development of the modern world of golf which we take for granted.

These years have seen a steady succession of very talented club players, some of whom have made their mark nationally as amateurs and professionals.

Our club house was a busy place during the Second World War. Although our younger members were away in the Services, other army and airforce personnel stationed in the area were regular visitors.

Picture of Dinner

Already our committee had decided that the Centenary celebrations would be combined with the Victory celebration after the end of the war and funds had been built up to pay for this.

Various venues were considered for the Centenary Dance - the Town Hall, the Younger Hall -even the Drill Hall~ but all were rejected. It was decided that it should be held in the premises of A.G. Kidd in Dundee and this required us to hire a special train to take members across the Tay.

Four hundred members took part - a very large gathering to arrange in a time of stringent food rationing. They sat down to a six-course dinner costing 15/~ per head 7/6d to members)

In addition our finances were strong enough to allow us to consider paying off the Bonds which members had taken out to finance the purchase of the present club house.

Sadly our stocks of beer and whisky were less secure. Allocations of both were cut and generated friction. Some members complained about the discourteous attitude of the Steward. Our Secretary shrewdly pointed out that "from his knowledge the scarcity of whisky was a prime factor in such a matter, and it must be remembered that we were all labouring under what had been five or six years excessive labour or efforts."

As World War 11 ended another war broke out between the local golfers and the Town Council which had the temerity to issue a Provisional Order requiring that local golfers be charged for their golf. Immediately the Club asked the Town Council to receive a deputation to discuss this. After a first refusal the two sides met but without reaching any agreement.

By April the Committee had sought legal advice and our lawyer was asked to seek Counsel's opinion. One fact to be established from this was that any objections to the Provisional Order could only be made by individual Municipal Voters, not the Golf Club.

There was an Extraordinary General Meeting called in May 1946 to discuss the situation. Not surprisingly, some 250 members crowded in to make their views known. One sobering fact given was that pursuing the dispute in the Courts might well cost £350~£500 - a very substantial sum at that time. (Our total subscriptions came to less that £500). Small wonder that the Club backed off.

There were light-hearted times in the Club in the immediate post~war years. The annual match with Carnoustie was a highlight of our golfing year. The postcards inviting members to play in the team were highly prized.

The road bridge was not built and the Tay had to be crossed by ferry. There are stories of J.K. Wilson strumming his mandolin on the boat while team mates tap danced, and fired golf balls off the deck into the water. Regularly the last ferry was missed and the bus had to come home via Perth.

O ur first ever club match was with Leven in 1849 and the first of many matches with Carnoustie Golf Club was played in 1873. Thereafter games were played against our two old rivals intermittently. In 1953 the Lindsay Shield was presented as a trophy for competition in a three sided fixture involving the St. Andrews Golf Club, Leven Thistle and Carnoustic Golf Club. Teams of fifty aside - twenty five playing at home, twenty five away from home ~ compete annually in the Spring. Currently the St. Andrews team will be made up mostly of players with handicap 7 and under. "Unique" is a word which is badly misused but surely this fixture must be unique in inter club golf ?

It was J.K. Wilson who was responsible for the St. Andrews Golf Club featuring in the national press in May 1950. The British Amateur Championship was held that year on the Old Course and J.K. was drawn to play Harry L. Crosby in the first round. At that time Bing Crosby had an enormous following both as a singer and as a film star, and around 3000 spectators saw the two play off. Bing Crosby had a handicap of 2 and started off 3,3,4 to be three up but thereafter his game fell apart and the match ended at the 16th green in heavy rain with J.K. the winner.

The two men kept in touch thereafter and later on, in 1972, Bing Crosby agreed to a suggestion to put up a trophy to be played for by Senior Golfers. This is enthusiastically supported each Autumn by the golden oldies of the town's male golf clubs.

The years immediately following the War were not easy ones for the Club. Although we had money to spend on improving our building, it was difficult to obtain the Building Permits needed to carry out the necessary work.

The minutes of these fifty years are full of the trivia which occupy much of a Committee's time but which have to be dealt with to keep any Golf Club functioning.

At the A.G.M. of 1952 it was proposed that the subscription be raised from 15/- to £1 but this was voted down by the members.

The A.G.M. of 1954 saw an argument about whether the Club should purchase a TV set. This in turn provoked another argument as to whether a motion from the floor which was carried by a majority was binding on the Management Committee. Legal opinion was sought and the ruling was given that a Committee was responsible for organising all the business of a golf club independent of A.G.M. decisions. Eventually a TV set was installed. This in turn aroused more controversy between those wishing to view and those wanting peace and quiet.

Whisky supplies were always a matter for discussion. In 1952 proprietary whisky was only on sale three nights a week. One entry reads:

"The Secretary stressed the fact that during the past three months we had received 126 bottles of whisky whereas we had sold 206 bottles. He quoted figures to show that if we continued at the present rate.... we would have very little proprietary whisky left at the end of the year." It would seem that all kinds of dubious non-proprietary whiskies were around, e.g.

Old Course, Waiting on 4th tee (British Amateur 1950)

It was agreed to get rid of the five remaining bottles of Australian whisky by means of raffles and as prizes on New Year's Day."

1958 saw the start of another dispute, which still rumbles on - that with the Scottish Golf Union, which was looking for 1/- subscription per member. Not for the first time the Club seriously considered withdrawing from the S.G.U. but drew back from this because of the complication it would create for individual members and other clubs in Fife. Many club golfers still resent this levy and wonder what they personally gain from it.

In January 1959, the St. Andrews Golf Club offered Bobby Jones Honorary Membership of the club which he accepted in a very warm letter. The previous Autumn he had been made a freeman of St. Andrews. During his acceptance speech he used the often quoted sentence "I could take out of my life everything but my experiences at St. Andrews and I'd still have a rich full life".