In March 1933 the then Club Secretary, JC Ramsay approached The Carnoustie Club requesting the use of a notice board and score card box once a week to help run club competitions. This arrangement continued until 1968, when for the first time in almost 100 years, we moved in to our own clubhouse.
Click here to view press cuttings from 1967-68 that show some of the public opinion at that time.
With WD Menzies as Captain, ably supported by his VC Pat Birse and newly appointed Secretary Alex Wilmott, the club took up residence in their new premises in early May.
The new build may not have gained much praise for its architecture, but no one could deny the clubhouse view of the first tee and eighteenth green on a Major Championship course was unsurpassed.
The club quickly grew and boasted membership of over a thousand. A Ladies section was soon established and the Club welcomed Mrs DF Tanner to the role of First Ladies Captain.
In 1979 The Club bestowed the title of Honorary President to American golf pro Billy Casper, who at the time was The USA Ryder Cup Captain and two time PGA player of the year. Seen here, second from the left with The Club Captain on a visit to Carnoustie that year.
The new ‘Mercky’ clubhouse was soon to become the hub of Carnoustie’s social scene, with coffee mornings, whist drives and dinner dances at the weekend proving popular with the locals. The Annual Club Prizegiving was always a night to look forward to. A green jacket awarded to the Club Champion and a time when spirits were sold by the bottle - that’s one bottle per person!
See above, one such social gathering and good to see one of our current members in this pic!
This was undoubtably our heyday years at the club, but sadly all good things come to an end and in 1991 due to a drop in membership along with a dispute over the commercial rent due to Carnoustie Link Management, we moved out.
All that remains now from those halcyon days are the Club Captain and Club Champion boards that hung on the walls.
The Club then moved base to The Brax Hotel, but unfortunately that would only last a few years. The period that followed was a time which was undoubtedly the nadir of the Club when it’s very existence was under threat. With no clubhouse, no competitions and no handicapping and just a few stalwarts to help keep the club going. The Winter League and our home/away matches against Pitlochry were all that remained on the golf calendar. That and our two representatives on the then Links Management Committee (much to the displeasure of some in the golfing community).
In 2002, The Club Secretary/Treasurer Gordon Murray saw there was a desperate need to reorganise and re-energise the Club. Thanks to his efforts we regained our handicapping authority and competitions were soon back on the calendar. Membership started to rise and Carnoustie Mercantile regained its respect once more as a golf club in Carnoustie.
In recent years The Club has gone through some subtle re-branding, with a web site re-design, a social media page and new communication channels opening up. All in an effort to better inform the members and provide a more accessible public facing side to The Club. As a result, our membership has been increasing steadily over that time.
Many thanks to the following -
We can trace our club roots back to 1869, when a group of local traders came together to form The Carnoustie Merchants Golf Club. In those early years meetings and functions were held in local halls and tea rooms, with much of the funding generated by running open sweepstakes. Regular club competitions were held on the second course, later to be named The Burnside, where one of our first Club Captains Robert Millar was mentioned frequently in match reports. He was widely regarded as ‘The Father of Club Golf’ in Carnoustie, with a long list of competition wins to his name, notably the 1845 Subscription Medal. Robert died in 1873 aged 75.
In 1896 there is some evidence that The Carnoustie Merchants evolved into The Carnoustie Mercantile Golf Club as can be seen in a newspaper report where there is mention of The Carnoustie Ladies Club presenting a medal prize to ‘Carnoustie’s newest club’. This is known as The McArthur Medal and is one of the clubs most treasured and valuable possessions and remains intrinsic to our club branding today.
