Merchants of Edinburgh Golf Club


	Home Catering Club History Clubhouse Contact Us Course Course Reviews Join the Club Links Location Members Area Open Comps Pro Shop Tourism Visitor Info Weather	THE MERCHANTS' STORY (1907 to 1982). PAGE 3. 1958:- The first 'one armed bandit' was installed in the clubhouse - the prizes were golf balls. 1959:- The current Westermont club was formed (Westermont was first referred to in 1926, but that early version of the club later went into abeyance). A F D MacGregor had the lowest qualifying score in the British Amateur Championship. 1961:- Letter sent to the Chief Constable about the tenant of the Lodge Gate House on the right of the 8th fairway as he was firing an air gun at members. 1962:- Two junior members, N R Kirkness and R E Simpson won the Midlothian Junior Team Tournament. 1964:- The Ladies 'A' Team won the Morrison Millar Trophy. 1967:- Lodge Gate House to right of the 8th fairway demolished. 1968:- Past Captain John Stoddart was elected President of the Society of Lothians Golf Captains. 1969:- Westermont (Ian Smith, Derek Miller, John George, David Miller) won the Dispatch Trophy on the Braid Hills. 1972:- Two Junior girls, Miss A Drummond and Miss V Leckie won the Lothians Junior Shield. A F D MacGregor was made a Life Member on leaving Edinburgh for business reasons. 1973:- The Ladies won the Midlothian League. 1974:- W J Jeffrey Jnr. created a new amateur course record of 61. Lady Members Mrs. R Collins and Mrs. C Inglis won the Gibson Cup. 1975:- The Juniors won the Midlothian Inter Club. The team was J Archibald, C Murphy, L McMaster and N Livingston. Clifford Murphy won the Midlothian Junior Championship. 1978:- Past Captain A Lindsay Stewart became President of the Lothians Golf Association. An automatic watering system was installed on the course at a cost of £13,000. 1980:- Merchants won the Junior Inter Club Tournament. The team was A Williams, G Rowand, D Sibbald and G Erskine. 1982:- Curling was played on frozen flood water on the 9th fairway. 75th anniversary of club. An exhibition match was played between professionals and lady professionals which the ladies won by one hole. Past Captain and Secretary William Skene presented an ornamental clock to the club. Trivial Pursuit Anyone? Question:- Which British and American Open Golf Champion was born within a few hundred yards of the location of the Merchants of Edinburgh GC Clubhouse? Answer:- Tommy Armour, who was born in a cottage in the grounds of Craighouse, where his father worked. Mind you it was in 1894, before the clubhouse was built! Craiglockhart Campus of Napier University The Craiglockhart Campus of Napier University is to the left of the path from the seventh green to the eighth tee. The campus was built as the Craiglockhart Hydropathic Institution in 1880. It was used as a military hospital during the First World War and the famous war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen convalesced there after having been injured and shell shocked on the Western Front. While at Craiglockhart, both wrote some of their greatest poetry and Owen edited the "Hydra" magazine. The play "Not About Heroes", which won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival in 1982 and has been adapted for television and radio, was about their meeting there and their subsequent friendship. The 1998 film "Regeneration" based on Booker Prize-winning author Pat Barker's novel, also focuses on the meeting of the two poets. PAGE 1. PAGE 2. TOP OF PAGE 3. Page Last Changed on 07/04/04.