Thornton Golf Club was the destination this month, this is a short tree-lined parkland course with good tricky greens. We left Balmullo slightly later than usual due to the short drive, and arrived to a bright morning but with a chilly wind. Our high turnout of recent months continued with 22 members playing, with for the third month running we had a new member joining us.

John Mills (our new member) was the winner by a large margin with Rab Melrose coming second on count-back, The yellow ball was surprisingly only brought back by two teams but a respectable score was recorded by the winning team of John McKie, Angus Thompson and John Mills. Barry Lewis won the Hidden Hole competition and John Mills was the most accurate, winning nearest the pin at the 7th (probably the longest we’ve played). Not surprisingly having picked up most of the prizes John Mills won the Bandits hat for the night. I couldn’t let it pass without mentioning Brian who managed to hit most of the trees on the course or myself who’s tee-shot at the first hit a tree and almost came back to the tee.

In the early 20th century, the members of Pitlochry Golf course played over a nine-hole course situated on the banks of the River Tummel.
Colonel Charles Butter of Cluniemore was a major landowner in the area and he didn’t think that this golf course was sufficient for a Highland dwelling such as Pitlochry. The golf course was constructed during 1908 with Willie Fernie of Troon being commissioned as the initial designer. He saw the natural beauty of the Balnacraig and Drumchorry farms upon which the course now rests and set about using the undulating landscape to its full potential.
The course layout was quite different to that of today, which saw two par 5 holes included on the scorecard. Interestingly, the 18th was a good three shot hole, which now incorporates both the 17th and 18th holes as they now stand.

The course has never been the longest by any stretch of the imagination and was not intended to be. The course length of 5695 yards was protected over the years by small, fast, sloping greens and everyone has found Pitlochry to be a tricky place to come and play.