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Kildonan Golf Club, Arran, North Ayrshire. (1907 - 1970s)
The club was founded in 1907.
Image © Illustrated London News Group. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
The article above - A New Golf Course In Arran - is from The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald Friday 7 June 1907 and reads as follows “Kildonan has been somewhat dilatory with that indispensable adjunct of a popular holiday resort – a golf course. Notwithstanding this defect, the locality has held its own by reason of its other attractive features, to which has now been added an excellent golf course. It is situated at the point where the road from Whiting Bay forks into two, and is easily accessible from all parts of the locality. It is finely diversified with deep ravines and picturesque views.”
Ordnance Survey Map from the time of WW1 showing the golf course and clubhouse.
O.S. Map Revised 1914; © Crown Copyright {year of publication 1924}.
From 1914 to its disappearance in the early 1970s the secretary was Alex McNeil, Kildonan, Arran. (The secretary must have been a very young man when he took on the role!) A 9-hole course on good turf with naturally dry soil. There was no entry fee. Subs for gents were 10/6d and ladies 7/6d. Visitors’ fees: gents 1/- a day, 3/6d a week, 7/6d a month, ladies 9d, 2/6d, 5/- respectively. Sunday play was not allowed. The pier at Whiting Bay was 3 miles away.
Although the club continued to be recorded in the Golfer’s Handbook into the 1970s it had probably closed long before this.
Brief mention of a new golf course at the Kildonan Hotel in 1990.
Ayrshire Post Friday 21 September 1990. Image © Reach plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Location of the early golf course at Kildonan.