Ladies News

A Brief History of: The Rover Cup

The Rover Cup was a national competition, sponsored by Rover Cars, and was played at Kirkcudbright by courtesy of McMurray’s Garage.  The competition was open to all Ladies and Gents and the person with the best score at club level then qualified to go forward to the National Final.  One lady I know of who won the club qualifier in the 1980s was Margaret Thomson.  This was an amazing experience. McMurray’s Garage chauffeured Margaret and Vera, her willing caddie, to play at Dalmahoy Golf Club, near Edinburgh.  No expense was spared and they had a fabulous day out.

According to Peter Hutchison, Jim McMurray’s nephew, a Kirkcudbright Golf Club gent won the National Final one year and then went on to play in Spain.  Unfortunately we don’t know this gents name.  If anyone can confirm his name, we would love to hear from them.

When Rover Cars stopped holding their national competition we were very fortunate that Margaret Strykewski worked at McMurray’s and was offered the cup for the Ladies.

Unfortunately we don’t have a photograph at present, but the cup is fabulous, large crystal bowl on a wooden plinth.

A Brief History of: The Vera Tuchewicz Trophy

At the Ladies’ AGM in 2002 when I was elected as Captain, a suggestion was made and unanimously agreed that there should be a 4BBB competition with a draw for partners and I volunteered to donate a trophy.

The late Ron White did the engraving and a former teacher of mine who taught woodwork at Gatehouse Secondary School made the base.  I was delighted with the result.

The first competition (medal scoring) was on 22 July 2003, the inaugural winners being Anne Carruthers and the late Annette Beaton.  I am pleased to say that I have won it once partnered by Margaret Locke, the latter having won on four occasions with different partners.

It was a committee decision in 2015 that the scoring format be changed to Stableford as it was recognized that the ladies playing later in the day would be able to finish at a reasonable time.  I remember the winners in July 2013, Alice King and Margaret Stryjewski were out last and actually finished in the dark!

The competition has been cancelled on two occasions only, firstly in July 2017 when it was extremely wet and last year because of Covid.

Information provided by Vera Tuchewicz March 2021

A Brief History of: The Croft Trophy

Miss Olga Hellfritch was an active playing member in the 70s and 80s.  When I was captain in 1984 she approached me with the idea that she would like to present a trophy to the lady who had the lowest scratch score each season, with the trophy presented at the annual Prize giving at the AGM.

I remember being quite amused at the time as Olga herself would never have claimed to be a good golfer, yet she was happy to donate a trophy to those who deserved the prize.  I also believe that the name “Croft” was either taken from her house name or the neighbourhood where she lived.

She was a delightful, generous and most valued member of the club and more particularly, the Ladies Section.

Information provided by Karen Shamash – April 2021

A Brief History of: The Oakley Cup

The Oakley Cup was presented by Jackie Rutherford and named after the house in Kirkcudbright she and her husband Dr Harry Rutherford lived in.

It is presented annually to the winning team in a Captain v Secretary competition.

Jackie had taken on the role of Ladies Captain after asking if it was alright to do so considering she was a ‘higher’ handicap player.  Of course, she was advised that this was not an issue, and she was delighted to hold this position at Kirkcudbright Golf Club.

A Brief History of: The Cresset Trophy

Originally presented to the Club by Mr & Mrs Harry Gray.  The name “Cresset” was taken from the lovely hall built for the residents of Loch Arthur for their gatherings.  The Grays were huge supporters of the Loch Arthur Community and asked us to raise money for the community when they first came to Beeswing.  Donald was on the fundraising committee at that time and suggested a golf competition.  The men’s competition ran for a number of years and was so successful that a few years later the Cresset for ladies was introduced, the trophy again being donated by Mr & Mrs Gray.  For many years both competitions were exceptionally successful.  I remember that for the first few years we had over 100 ladies enter and a large amount of money was raised for the Community, mostly through the help, spport and generosity of Kirkcudbright Golf Club.  Sadly, for whatever reason, the entries for both competitions started to decline quite dramatically until they were no longer sustainable.  A few years ago, it was suggested that as singles competitions were in decline and that Texas Scrambles were becoming more popular, the Cresset Trophy should rather be used for a Texas Scramble and this has worked well.

Information provided by Karen Shamash April 2021

A Brief History of: The Robertson Cup and The Jessie Robertson Memorial Bowl

The Robertson Cup was presented in 1967 by Jessie Robertson.

The Bowl was presented to Jessie as the prize for winniing the Rosebowl in 1983.  On Jessie’s death the bowl was handed to the Swimming Pool Charity Shop as a donation.  It was duly rescued and passed to Jackie Rutherford.  The committee decided it should be presented to the best scratch player on Robertson Cup day.  The same lady cannot win both Robertson trophies.

Jessie was a long time member of the Club.  Maurice Halliday (current Club President) recalls playing mixed competitions with her in the 70s and 80s.  Her bag was armed with: a 3 wood, 7 iron, mashie and putter!

Ladies Winter Golf 2023

Kirkcudbright Ladies – A Picture Diary

March:  Flora’s Charity – Tuesday mornings throughout the winter.  Flora raised money for a bench and some planters for the new garden at School Close.

March:  Past Lady Captain’s Lunch 2019

May: Our first Open Competition of the year, The Cresset Winners being presented with the cup

by Donald Shamash.

June: Lady Captain’s Day with a Solheim Cup Twist.

July:  RNLI Stableford competition scored a hole in one on the 15th !

July:  2019 Ladies outing to Close House.  Fabulous courses, good accommodation and great company.

July:  Ladies Singles Open, The Wallace Rosebowl.  Winner Amanda Houston.

August:  Finals Day.  Jan Mattison – Lady Champion 2019

August:  Finals Day.  Campell Cup Winners Amanda Houston and Isobel Watson.

September:  Dee Salver winners Gladys Kelly and Janet Roff.

Our Solheim Cup Invitational with Gatehouse, New Galloway and Castle Douglas.