Forgotten Greens of Scotland
Forgotten Greens of Scotland

Mugdock.

Mugdock Golf Club. Instituted 1875.   Founded by John Guthrie Smith in the grounds of Mugdock Castle, which he had leased from the Duke of Montrose.  The club was continued by Colonel James Alexander Reid who leased the castle after the death of John Guthrie Smith.

 

  "Sir James Buchanan Bart of Craigend Castle is Captain, and Mr John Coubrough, Blanefield is Secretary and Treasurer.” (POS 1886)

 

   "John Guthrie Smith...became a keen golfer when well past middle age.  The golf course at Mugdock is entirely on his land, and his cheery welcome doubled the pleasure of playing on that breezy upland.” (SIET 1896)

   "In the field of sport, Colonel James Alexander Reid is a keen shot and a fair angler, and with a golf course of his own at Mugdock Castle he has every opportunity of improving his powers at the Royal and Ancient game.  Again and again the grounds at Mugddock have been thrown open for field-day manoeuvres not only of the 1st LRV and of the regular regiments but of an army of golf enthusiasts; and a golf trophy given by Colonel Reid for competition among members of his own faculty is annually played for there.” (WWiG 1909)

 

    "Another of the Clubs major trophies with unusual origins is the Mugdock Quaich. On the death of Col Reid in 1913, the Mugdock Golf Club was dissolved. Doubtless many of their players joined Milngavie. On dissolution, the members agreed that any remaining funds be devoted to the purchase of a trophy as a souvenir to be held by Milngavie Golf Club for competition. Our Committee decided it should be played for as a foursome with each team having one first class player and one second class, essentially as it is today.” (MGCCH)

   Colonel Reid is a Mason, and has reached the 32nd degree of the craft. He has twice been R.W.M. of The Prince's Lodge, and was First Principal of "The Prince's" Royal Arch Chapter from 1896 to 1898, doing much hard and good work in both offices. In the field of sport he is a keen shot and a fair angler and with a golf course of his own at Mugdock Castle he has every opportunity of improving his powers at the Royal and Ancient game. Again and again the grounds at Mugdock have been thrown open for field-day manoeuvres not only of the 1st L.R.V, and of regular regiments, but of an army of golf enthusiasts; and a golf trophy given by Colonel Reid for competition among members of his own Faculty is annually played for there.

   Mr. Reid is a life member of The United Service Institute and of The Royal Caledonian Asylum Corporation, as well as The Royal Scottish Hospital, and an ordinary member of the Western, the New, and the Art Clus, Glasgow. He is also on the roll of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club and the Conservative Club, Edinburgh, and of the Perthshire, Stirlingshire, and Aberdeenhire Benevolent Societies, and he is a Director of the Royal Sick Children's Hospital, Glasgow.

He is now LL.D. of the University of Glasgow. This degree he got on 23rd April, 1907 - his 62nd birthday - in company with the Prince and Princess of Wales and other notabilities.

 

The walled garden and summer-house between the Castle and the Loch were constructed around 1820 to 1830. At this time, other members of the family (the Grahams of Dougalston) stayed in the old house in the courtyard. At one time, the upper of the two terraces was laid out in formal flowerbeds and the lower terrace functioned as a grass tennis court. At the east end of the south wall are the remains of a small building which contained the water pump which provided the domestic water supply. The remains of the Castle orchard can still be seen to the west of the Castle which also had its own 9-hole golf course. The last green was located just outside the Castle’s main entrance.

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