The closure of Camperdown Park golf course in April 2020 marked the final chapter in a golfing story going back to 1959.
A second public course was much-needed in Dundee.
Over 70,000 games a year were being played at Caird Park which opened in 1923.
Camperdown Park was bought by Dundee Corporation in November 1945 for £58,000.
The park and its stunning neo-classical mansion is named after the Battle of Camperdown, off the coast of Holland in 1797.
Camperdown House was course centrepiece
The £6,900 18-hole golf course was approved in June 1955.
A putting green and a nine-hole pitch and putt course was included as part of a £70,000 masterplan to transform the “white elephant” public park.
The plans included a boating lake, bowling green, cricket pitch, tennis courts, football pitches, hockey pitches, rock garden, picnic, caravan and camping sites.
Walter Lyle, the Caird Park professional, did most of the planning for the Camperdown course and submitted his scheme to a firm of golf architects.
“This course is definitely of championship standard – with all the atmosphere of an expensive American country club,” said Lyle.
“It will represent a real challenge to the experts.”
Lyle said the course would take “a couple of seasons to settle down”.
He said: “After that it will be ready for any championship you care to name.
“The place has everything – a wonderful view of the Tay, the dignified mansion house, and those magnificent trees.”
Ryder Cup star played the opening round
His favourite holes were the 4th “played through a 60-yard avenue of larch trees” and the 17th which brought “trouble in the shape of bunkers and trees”.
The flags were fluorescent to make them “easy to spot”.
Longest hole was the 7th at 525 yards.
Shortest was the 134-yard 5th.
The 6,621-yard course was opened on June 6 1959 by Lord Provost William Hughes.
The Lady Provost hit the first ball.
She failed to connect with her first swing and her second took a divot but the ball went straight down the fairway to a tremendous cheer.
The first match was an exhibition round when Ryder Cup star John Panton and Eric Brown beat Davie Allan and Walter Lyle 5 and 4.
Panton went around in 69.
“It’s a grand course,” he said.
“It will be one of the best in a year or two.
“Dundee golfers are very lucky to have two courses like Caird Park and Camperdown.”
Camperdown golf course opened again
The course opened to the public for the first time at 5pm after the exhibition.
It was £2 for a season ticket and 2p a game.
The People’s Journal said “Dundee’s greatest golf course” carried “the same brand of rural magic that attracted American industry to this part of Scotland”.
The clubhouse was on the ground floor of Camperdown House.
Also in the mansion house was a golf shop and committee room.
John Boath held the position of professional at Camperdown from 1959 until 1968.
The course was changed to a new layout and another opening tournament was played on July 16 1961 which was a £500 winner-takes-all competition.
The 6,526-yard course was a par 72.
England’s Peter Alliss (71, 72) and Harry Weetman (67, 71) won the tournament.
A match against Caird Park began after Camperdown Golf Club was formed in 1960 and they competed annually for possession of The Sporting Post Trophy.
Camperdown House hosted the only public golf museum in the UK from 1965.
The collection was once the pride and joy of the Forgan family from St Andrews.
The highlight was a 300-year-old golf club.
There were rounds aplenty during the Swinging Sixties.
How much did a round of golf cost in 1972?
By 1972 there were 190 members at Camperdown.
A round cost 25p during the week and 30p at the weekend.
Camperdown Ladies Golf Club was formed after 26 people attended a public meeting in September 1973 although many had never played the game before.
They were given lessons by Camperdown pro Derek Watt.
Numbers swelled to 80 by January 1974.
Camperdown hosted the qualifying round of the British PGA Matchplay Championship on the European Tour in September 1974.
The course hosted “the round of the century“ in May 1975.
Bernard Gallacher and Ronnie Shade arrived by Royal Marine helicopter.
They played one hole on 18 golf courses in Tayside and Fife during the 12-hour round which included a journey of 100 miles and five helicopter trips.
Gallacher won the match by four shots.
A helicopter wasn’t the only form of transport on the course.
A burnt-out cement mixer provided a hazard for golfers in April 1980.
The vehicle was taken from the Blue Circle Cement Company’s Dock Street premises and driven onto the Camperdown course and then set alight.
Membership in those days was 400.
A round was £2 during the week and £3 at the weekend.
What did you buy from the golf shop?
In 1985 the Spalding golf collection at Camperdown House returned to St Andrews.
Vandalism struck again.
A blazing car was driven into a bunker in February 1988.
The 1980s was golf’s biggest growth surge.
Camperdown was always busy.
Membership increased to 600 by 1988.
The cost of playing the course in 1991 was £6.50 and £7.50.
These were the days when Pringle sponsored Open and Masters champion Nick Faldo and the knitwear became popular with club players.
The Pro Shop at Camperdown was open seven days from 10-6pm.
In 1993 the shop was selling Pringle roll necks for £17 and jumpers from £30.
Some are now considered collectors’ items.
There was an influx of private golf course development in the 1990s.
Membership dropped to 330 by 1998.
BBC Voice of Golf tried to save Camperdown course
Nothing lasts forever.
Golf participation at the public courses was on the slide.
In 2016 Dundee City Council was looking to sell off Caird Park and Camperdown.
Play continued.
Councillors voted to close the course in May 2019 despite an 8% increase on rounds and the green staff getting it back to its championship best.
SNP council leader John Alexander said it was no longer sustainable to keep two municipal golf courses operating in the city.
A petition to save the club gathered more than 4,000 signatures.
The late, great Peter Alliss – who played there in 1961 – was among those who took aim at the bean counters and backed the campaign to overturn the decision.
“I played there in 1961 and I remember it had very spectacular trees and it was a very long course,” the BBC’s “voice of golf” told me at the time.
“I’m very disappointed to hear it is closing.
“I would have thought a course of that quality could have kept going.
“I’d be very surprised if it couldn’t pay for itself.
“Dundee City Council need a new set of accountants.”
It fell on deaf ears.
Camperdown closure was ‘end of an era’
The 60th anniversary of Camperdown Golf Club was marked in March 2020.
Many broke down in tears.
Last-ditch attempts to save the course failed.
It officially closed in April 2020.
The council removed the flags and filled in the holes.
Camperdown Golf Club captain Ian McAlindon had the last word.
“I think this decision will come back to haunt them in the coming years,” he said.
“It’s the end of an era.”
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