Caird Park Golf Course in Dundee has some significant significance.

I started playing golf here at the ripe old age of 7 as did my father and most of my uncles. Cairdie was a place of homage and it was only a mile from our front door.

For some bizarre reason, Caird Park Golf Course became renowned as the busiest course in Europe! It was but a mere municipal course but for generations of Dundonians, Caird Park Golf Course was an island of pleasure, camaraderie and health-enhancing golf.

Digging back into its history, the purchase of a park for the people of Dundee was largely due to enthusiasm of one man, Mr James Kerr, a shoemaker in the Wellgate area of the Royal Burgh. In 1910 Kerr had the idea of creating a municipal park that would provide a healthy alternative to the industrial environment that most people of the town experienced.

The wealthy mill owner Sir James Caird agreed to ‘furnish the money as a gift to the city’ for the purchase of the estate surrounding Mains Castle with only one stipulation! Sir James wanted the deal completed before the end of the year – which was only three days away. Kerr immediately set off to Worcester to find the Den o’ Mains landlord, a Mr David Erskine and by the following Sunday, the 30th of December, Kerr was back in Dundee with a deal in hand. Dr Caird immediately signed a cheque and the rest is golfing history.

Caird Park was officially opened on the 27th October 1920 and an 18-hole golf course laid out and opened three years later. There were sheep still grazing on the fairways but Dundee had its first municipal golf course.

Various golf clubs formed to take advantage of the municipal facility. Maryfield Golf Club was the first followed by Caird Park Golf Club in 1926 with several others to follow. Matches were arranged against other clubs in the area such as Downfield, Perth Artisans and Arbroath.

In the early 1950’s a full-time professional was appointed, none other than Walter Lyle, uncle of two-time major tournament winner Sandy Lyle, MBE. Walter stayed as professional until 1960. During that time he helped lay out Dundee’s second municipal course at Camperdown Park a few miles to the west.

In his autobiography Sandy mentions his relative. “Uncle Walter partnered Ben Hogan during he first two rounds of the great man’s 1953 Open triumph at Carnoustie. Only recently I was watching the Golf Channel in American when on came a grainy black and white clip of the ’53 Open and there, two places beneath Hogan on the leaderboard, was the name A.W. Lyle. I must confess I felt inordinately proud of the old fella.”  Subsequent Caird Park professional Fred Bullock led the 1960 Open Championship at St Andrews “before a disaster struck in a bunker when he conceded a two-stroke penalty when the ball rebounded from the bunker wall and hit him”.

Golfing greats don’t come much greater than Jack Nicklaus and it seems the ‘Golden Bear’ visited Caird Park during his attempt at the 1968 Open Championship up the road at Carnoustie. Jackie Black, the then club professional was playing a round on his own when at the 16th a man came over to him and asked, “Do you mind if my friend hits a few balls?” The friend appeared along with a ‘great big golf bag’ – and according to a rather excited Cairdie pro, it was none other than Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus was staying in Dundee at the time as a guest of NCR so the event does seem plausible. He went on to take 2nd place at Carnoustie next to Gary Player.

There are many stories associated with the ordinary members of Caird Park. Some were married on the 1st tee, others have had their ashes scattered in favourite corners. There’s the story of a crow that used to lift golf balls – at least one per four-ball and no one could find his stash. This went on for some time until, so they say one member decided to include an extra item in his golf bag, a shotgun.

Legions of golfers have learned their golf and played here at Caird Park on the two 9-holers, now condensed into one fine 9-hole course or on the 18-hole course. Now under the stewardship of Leisure and Culture Dundee, Caird Park Golf Course is entering an era of improved facilities and accessibility for the visitors and regulars.

Extracts taken from the book ‘A History of the Caird Park and Golf Course over the first 85 years’ by D.D. Taylor and ‘To the Fairway Born: The Autobiography’ by Sandy Lyle