Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Golfer Rif pitches in with first history of Muir of Ord club

Highland course was going to rival St Andrews

Rif Clarke spent six years working on his history of Muir of Ord Golf Club
Rif Clarke spent six years working on his history of Muir of Ord Golf Club

Rif Clarke’s interest in golf saw him drive beyond the fairways of his local club and into local libraries.

For the last six years he has been researching the history of the sport in Muir of Ord.

The retired South African businessman settled in the area 16 years ago after leaving Cape Town.

He has now completed an e-book history of the Muir of Ord Golf Club, the first such record of one of the oldest clubs in Scotland.

Hours spent in libraries

Rif, 69, joined Muir of Ord Golf Club more than 10 years ago and is a past member of the club council.

He started the project before the pandemic struck and continued his research during lockdown.

“I spent many an hour in the libraries at Dingwall and Inverness before the pandemic and then accessed the online newspaper archives at the British Library.

“I have enjoyed taking on the task of researching the history of the club and I am grateful for the support from former captain Hamish Milne.”

The e-book is the first history of the club

The course dates from 1875 and Rif sourced early maps of Muir of Ord, including the Market Stance area where the original nine holes were created.

It was discovered that the 13th green is constructed on the site of a scheduled ancient monument, known as Castle Hill Henge, or fort.

The book, with a foreword by Lord Lovat, also looks into the golfing boom of the late 19th century, when courses popped up in towns and villages across the region.

“A key player in the creation of many of these courses – some of which, like Beauly, have long gone – was Inverness police chief Alexander Machardy, who is regarded as a pioneer of golf in the Highlands,” said Rif.

“He had transferred to Inverness from Dornoch and was a founder and the first captain of the Inverness Golf Club, which actually began playing at Muir of Ord.

Course ‘equal to St Andrews’

As the Press and Journal reported on November 15 1883, a “meeting of gentlemen” was held in the Caledonian Hotel in Inverness to set up the golf club.

Mr Machardy told the gathering Lord Lovat had offered the use of land at Muir of Ord for the course “which would be equal to that of St Andrews”.

Two subsequent captains also had a great influence on the development of golf at Muir of Ord.

Alexander Birnie was a tenant of the farm Wellhouse in Beauly, and Thomas Mackenzie was headmaster at Mulbuie and later at Conon Bridge.

A feature of the course is the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and Wick railway line which runs through it.

It’s connection to the legendary Scots course architect James Braid who visited in the 1920s also still draws golfing enthusiasts.

The P&J reported the formation of the golf club in 1883

“Braid tinkered with bunkers on some of the original holes and mapped out the plans for expanding the course to 18 holes when land became available from the Lovat family on the other side of the railway line.”

Muir of Ord is one of the Highland clubs on the James Braid Highland Golf Trail set up to highlight the courses in which he was involved.

In 2018 it hosted the Scottish Left-handed Championships.

The golf club is already planning to celebrate the course’s 150th anniversary in 2025.

“Muir of Ord Golf Club – A Success Story”, priced £9.99, can be found here and here.

Are you interested in all the latest news and updates from Inverness? If so, why not join our new Facebook group here

Conversation