Stromness Golf Club

About the club

The first Stromness golf course was on the natural links at Warbeth. It was a short 9-hole course, so short that only at one hole was a wood necessaryfor a second shot. The style employed was unlike today's. The ball was addressed with half a dozen swings to and from the ball, the final swing being shoulder high without a follow through. Clubs consisted of a driver, a baffy baffy (no. 4 wood), a cleek (no.2 iron), a jigger (no. 3 iron), a mashie (no. 5 iron) and a putter. Up to 1900 balls were gutties (hard rubber without dimples).Thereafter, rubber-cored balls came in. Play was normally on Thursdays and Saturdays, and summer evenings mostlyfriendly games with competitions fewand far between. There were nofairways as such - the grass was keptshort by the rabbits! One early summer hazard was the kelp drying on the shoreward side of the course! The clubhouse was wooden with a balcony. It was situated at the junction of the Warbeth and graveyard roads. Well known greenkeepers were the Harveys, father and son, James, the son, was the originator of the baffy 'chip'. A great benefactor to the Warbeth course was Mr Charles Ackroyd a regular summer visitor who spent up to £60 per annum on improvements to the course till he fell out with the committee over his unauthorised activities. During the time at Warbeth over 80 men and about 50 women were members of the club.