Dad’s putter drives author’s island-hopping oddysey
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Author Gary Sutherland at Hopeman Golf Course where he learned the game with his late dad James.
GARY Sutherland was a lapsed golfer, until he acquired his late dad’s putter.
In honour of his father James, a Hopeman sea captain who was seldom off the golf course when on land, he embarked on a voyage to play 18 rounds of golf on 18 Scottish islands.
‘Golf on the Rocks: A Journey Round Scotland’s Islands Courses’ charts his journey from the Northern Isles to the Outer Hebrides and everything in between – from sheep on the tees, cows on the fairways and electric fences around the greens.
Mr Sutherland (38), who lives in Glasgow with his wife and two children, dreamt up the plan after winning his dad’s putter during a golf match with his mum, brother and sister at Boat of Garten.
“We were playing on my dad’s birthday, the first one after he died, and we started a daft competition with his putter – whoever holes the best putt retained it for a year.
“I won and I took the putter back to Glasgow, where I had this golf map and I started looking at the islands. Because my dad spent half of his life at sea and the other half on the golf course, it just seemed to suit. I was actually quite surprised to learn there was 18 islands that have golf courses on them,” he said.
Growing up in Hopeman, Mr Sutherland spent most of his childhood on the greens and fairways. “In the Hopeman of my youth, you couldn’t drag me off the golf course.
“I would run home from school, ditch my bag and get changed and run across the field, which was then all that separated our house from the golf club, that field being full of houses now.
“But when it was only a field, I’d sometimes look out of the living-room window with my dad’s binoculars to see if any of my friends were standing on the first tee. It they were, I’d phone the clubhouse to tell them to wait for me. During the perfect summers of my childhood, we’d be out on the golf course until 10 or 11 o’clock at night,” he said.
His dad was also a regular at the club, enjoying a round of golf followed by a post-game chat in the clubhouse.
“Some of my favourite memories of my dad are playing golf with him, and just especially when you get down to the sea at Hopeman. There is a par 3, quite a famous one, The Prieshach, and we would bring a beer out on the course in the summer, or a hip flask in the winter, and maybe have a dram half way round.
“That was the way my dad played golf – for fun. And I’m the same, I’m of a reasonable standard, I can play, but I just like to get out in the fresh air, in the scenery with friends, and have a laugh really,” he said.
But after studying at Aberdeen and moving to the Central Belt, his clubs were left in the corner gathering dust. That was until the putter came into his possession and the island-hopping adventure began.
A path was charted which took in Bute, Skye, Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Barra, Arran, Tiree, Iona, Mull, Seil, Moncrieffe Island, Whalsay, Shetland, Orkney, Colonsay and finally Islay.
“It was all done between May and September and, looking back, it was better than I could have imagined. I think of the 18 islands we went to, we must have played golf on 14 of them in brilliant sunshine,” he said, adding that he was grateful to friend Brian Noble for accompanying him along the way. “We were blessed with the most amazing weather that summer,” he said.
But being in Scotland, the skies didn’t always play ball.
“On Harris, we were stuck in a hailstorm. It was just chucking it down and I didn’t have a brolly – those nine holes were played in extreme wind. But the people we played with, the locals, were just fantastic and after the game they took us to the pub and we just had a great laugh,” he said.
Another highlight came on Whalsay, where Britain’s most northerly course was played in glorious sunshine.
“We caught it on an absolutely perfect day when the sea was like glass and the seals were in the water, no clouds, a warm day, and in Shetland. You could have confused it with a golf course in Florida – it was unbelievably green,” he said.
But as with all good adventure tales, the journey had its share of challenges along the way.
“When you’ve got a golf course on the list and you can’t find it and it is pouring rain and you are surrounded by bits of farm machinery and cows and sheep, that can be dreadful. Dreadful, but fun,” he said.
Islay was chosen as the 18th as it was the only island course that Mr Sutherland snr played, his own mother having lived there for a while.
“Islay was always going to be the last round and just getting down to that final green was great, but then it turned a wee bit incredible,” he said, “But I don’t want to give too much away.”
It is the first book which has been published in hardback for the ‘Hopeman man’, who also wrote ‘Hunting Grounds: A Scottish Football Safari’ and ‘Great Balls of Fire: A Year of Scottish Festivals’.
As well as being in honour of his dad, it pays tribute to two other well-known local folk who died this year – Liz McGillivray and Jean Maciver.
“Liz was a great supporter of my work, I always heard how much she had enjoyed the books and it is nice when you have that. She was from Hopeman, so I knew her well and I wanted to include a tribute for her,” he said.
Mrs Maciver, who was his P7 teacher and director of the Moray Youth Theatre when he was a member, was also someone he looked up to.
“She had a big influence on my life through education and hobbies and I always kept in touch with her. I wouldn’t be writing books if I hadn’t had Mrs Maciver as my teacher, I’m sure,” he said.
‘Golf on the Rocks: A Journey Round Scotland’s Islands Courses’, which has already been named book of the month on the Books From Scotland website, is available in bookshops and online now.
