Cupar Golf Club head greenkeeper and lifelong member Gary Douglas has been ensuring that the fairways and greens at the country’s oldest surviving nine-hole golf club are kept in pristine condition.
But after 10 years, the 39-year-old is putting away his Cupar lawn mowers and rakes for the final time as he takes up a new role this month as a full-time greenkeeper at Crail Golfing Society.
Gary, who is a former depute head greenkeeper at Piperdam, near Dundee, took up the role at Cupar Golf Club in 2014 after an earlier three-year spell at the club.
Over the past decade, he’s built up a reputation amongst members for being honest, trustworthy and has proved his valuable experience, especially on the greens.
It’s been said that Cupar’s greens have been better than some of the more expensive golf clubs.
However, Gary, who will continue his other job working as a retained firefighter in Cupar, has decided that the time is right for a new challenge.
The offer of a job, gaining links course experience at Crail, is too good an opportunity to miss.
Gary fell in love with greenkeeping as a junior player at Cupar Golf Club
Speaking with The Courier on a day of rain, hail and shine at Cupar, Gary told how he fell in love with greenkeeping while playing golf at Cupar as a youngster.
It’s an emotional attachment to the club that’s never left him.
“I’ve been a member at Cupar since I was three or four,” explained Gary, a former pupil of Castlehill Primary and Bell Baxter High School who studied greenkeeping at Elmwood College in Cupar.
“I used to go round with my dad using plastic clubs.
“Golf was pretty much my life back then – not so much now as I’m busy with other commitments.
“But certainly at that age, golf was my basic hobby.”
Gary said he was “never good enough to be a professional golfer”.
But combining his love of golf and enjoyment of cutting the grass at home, he knew he wanted to work in the golf industry.
After summer jobs at the club and then finishing college, he worked at St Andrews Bay (now Fairmont), Ladybank, worked at Cupar for three years, went to Piperdam and then came back to Cupar where he’s been for 10 years.
It was “an honour and proud moment” to get the job at his home club.
However, it’s not been without its challenges.
“When I came to the club initially, the machinery wasn’t great,” he said.
“I had to work with the committee to try and persuade them to spend money and upgrade the machines, stuff like that.
“The challenges with Covid-19 as well. That wasn’t so easy. We didn’t know the future of the club because obviously it was at the time when membership fees were due.
“It was up in the air. That was a challenge. I was on furlough. There was no one at the time looking after the golf course, so that was a worrying time.”
Has extreme weather impacted greenkeeping at Cupar Golf Club?
Gary has made lots of improvements to the course including bunker work, tee renovations and improvements to the playing surface of the greens.
He’s in no doubt, however, that extreme weather has increasingly taken its toll.
“I’ve noticed a huge change in climate,” he said.
“When I started my career, the winters were very cold, frosty, snowy whereas now they are more mild, wet and the grass is still growing – although you can’t get near it (to cut) because it’s too wet.
“These have been challenges, and the fact we are on the side of a hill as well – we get a lot of run off from the hill above. That’s a challenge in itself.”
Cupar Golf Club prides itself on being a community club.
But when snows have come, it’s been a “stressful time” for Gary because the steep slopes of the golf course are a magnet for local sledgers.
He never quite knew what damage could be caused to the greens.
He couldn’t mark off where the greens are because that could be seen as condoning sledging and potentially make the club liable if someone was injured.
“It’s a difficult one,” he said.
Another issue for Gary has been dogs mess.
While they don’t ban dogs or discourage dog walkers in any shape or form, some people don’t clean up behind them, and mess up the bunkers, which is a frustration.
Douglas family have had strong ties with Cupar Golf Club for many years
Gary’s departure from working at Cupar Golf Club is the end of an era in more ways than one.
While his dad, Scott, is currently club captain, his sister Debbie and her partner Leon were until recently running the popular Greenhouse Bar and Grill at the club. They are now running their business from premises in Cupar town centre instead.
Cupar Golf Club took on a new “1855 Bar and Kitchen” franchisee in December, operated by Iain Rennie who currently provides hospitality catering at East Fife FC.
Difficult as it is to leave, Gary knows the time is right to seek pastures new.
“I just fancied a change,” he said.
“I’ve been here 13 years in total. All the golf courses I’ve worked at are all parkland and heathland courses, but I’ve not worked at links course.
“Crail were advertising for a greenkeeper and I just thought, ‘you know what, I fancy that’, and got the job.
“It’s not an easy decision that I’ve made. I’ll not say I’m regretting it. I’m still emotionally attached to Cupar – I might even enjoy playing now!
“But it’s a decision I wanted to do. I’m 40 this year, so it’s now or never!”
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