LOCAL GOLFING YOUNGSTERS

The top photo was taken in the early/mid 80's and has a bunch of youngsters trying out their golfing skills somewhere in Dundee. I'm not too sure which course it is they are on, Camperdown pitch & putt possibly. Anyway, if anyone can say for certain where the scene is taking place, or even recognise someone, feel free to pass on your knowledge.

The one below it I can definitely nail because that sporty looking chap is me! Yes that's yours truly in 1969 aged 11 playing on our championship course in our back garden. We turned the entire length of our lawn into a mini golf course, a 6 holer stretching from the side of the house, through the washing green and all the way down to the plot at the bottom lawn. It was mostly used for putting. One of the holes was located in front of a greenie pole which was like a giant flag pole and that allowed you to get great rebound shots!

For pitch & putt, some of the hazards were - the ball rolling under the shed, getting snagged in the hedge, rolling down the rockery onto the pathy slabs (out of bounds) or ending up in the plot amongst the rhubarb.

For real golf swing work-outs with a driver, being surrounded by housing, we had to use a plastic practise ball for obvious reasons. However, the inevitable happened one day when our mate had a go and gave one a full wallop, but he made the mistake of ignoring the guidelines and used a real golf ball - then it was CRASH..tinkle, tinkle - straight through the kitchen window!

Needless to say, golf was banned on our course for a short while afterwards.
That said, I didn't take up the sport at all - I've never set foot on any golf course!

The other image next to me is a toy my wee brother got for xmas, early 70's - Arnold Palmer's Pro Shot Golf. This was a great invention that had a miniature golfer on the end of a club handle, which, when you pulled a trigger mechanism, made the player swing and hit the ball. It came with various items such as sand traps, putting green, score cards and a set of clubs. Great fun.

By the way, the image of me and the toy box are not to scale..!!

GOLF IN EVENING TELEGRAPH - 1972

Ten years on from the previous item, a golfing strip called "MacDivot" was running in the Tele, with this one dating from January 1972.

It was neither a tutorial or a funny cartoon but kinda sat somewhere in the middle as a golfing fantasy involving golfers going about their sporting day, competitively, but light-heartedly.
Then again, you get a hint at that from the title!

Click image to enlarge.

GOLF IN SPORTING POST - 1962

Dundee's newspapers made sure you would know what to do with your golf clubs by running golfing articles on a regular basis.
The one above called "Sam Snead's Golf School" adopted the form of a tutorial, giving lessons on how to improve your swing, foot positioning and so on.
This particular episode goes back to April 1962 and appeared in the Saturday Sporting Post.
As a bonus, there was a wee cartoon that accompanied the item called "Goofy Gowf", a golf themed gag adding a touch of comic relief after class.

Click onto the item to read the enlarged version.

DUNDEE GOLF COURSE PRICES - 1971

The amber ad from 1971 shows Dundee as the centre of the Scottish golf universe with 3 local courses on offer while reminding everyone that there are plenty more to be found in the surrounding area.

The 3 Dundee courses referred to in the ad are Caird Park, Camperdown & Downfield, and under it are their prices for the same year.

RT WALKER - EARLY 60'S

This is a picture of RT Walker taken in the early 60's.

He was something of a local prodigy back then, because when Bobby was only 14 years old he became holder of the Downfield Course record by finishing a round in 63, taking a whopping 6 strokes off the previous record, and by the time he was 21 (around the period of the photo) he had held numerous Scottish titles and records.

DOWNFIELD GOLF COURSE - EARLY 60'S

Both the photo and the map are from the early 60's period and show the section of Downfield Golf Course that was given over for the Ardler multis to be built on.

DAVID LOW AD - 1971

I haven't mentioned much about Dundee's golf scene on Retro, so because I have some bits & pieces, not much, I'm gonna post them up over the next few days.

Starting with this ad from 1971 for David Low who were presenting themselves as golf specialists at the time. Although they stocked other sports items in their shop in Commercial Street, they did devote an entire floor to golfing equipment, a photo of which you can see in the December 2008 Archive.

David Low also used to have a shop in the Seagate on the corner of Gellatly Street but that one closed down in the early 70's allowing them to concentrate their efforts on this branch here.

70'S AIR SHOTS - 2 KINGSWAY SEGMENTS

The top section of the Kingsway has Maryfield Hospital, bottom right of the image.

The central area is Caird Park golf course with the Kingsway Tech next to it.

Off into the background is Kirkton & Downfield.

The second image is looking in the opposite direction, with the golf course at the bottom.

The main road off the Kingsway, to the left, is Graham Street where you can make out St Michaels School.

And in the distance, top left, are Tannadice and Dens.

DAVID LOW - COMMERCIAL STREET

A little glimpse inside David Low's Sport shop in June 1972, the golf department being on the upper level.
Apart from all the obvious golfing equipment in the foreground, also on display are items such as (on the shelves above the assistant) boxes of "BIFFIT" sets, a Slazenger sports bag and a "Clock Golf" box, which was a putting game for the garden. Tucked away in the right-hand corner you'll find hats, gloves and golf balls.
My trips to the shop were 9 times out of 10, visits to the ground floor department where they had all the football goodies. Kits, boots, scarves etc. It was also a very handy shop for getting football match tickets. Even when Cup games were advertised in newspapers as being sold out, the shop managed to conjure up tickets from under the counter, which was a real life-saver sometimes!!
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.