Aitchison celebrates 25 years at Dornoch

By Alistair May 7, 2023 08:26

Royal Dornoch Golf Club deputy course manager Scott ‘Scoosh’ Aitchison has celebrated 25 years working at the club.

The Ayrshire man has been an integral part of the team charged with a series of changes to the classic Highland links in recent years.

And he is confident members and guests from around the world will be thrilled when they take to the Championship Course this season.
Scott (48) was presented with an engraved crystal bowl to mark his years of service to the golf club.

The 10-handicapper, who was lured north from Prestwick St Nicholas, said: “My boss at the time, Bob Mackay, was from Dornoch and when he got the job as successor to Robert Patterson, who had got the gig at Royal Aberdeen, he brought me here to be the first assistant.

“When I first came up, I was on a career path and thought Royal Dornoch would look good on the CV before I travelled the world.

“But I have loved life in Dornoch and at the golf club so much that 25 years later I am still here!

“I’m often asked why I have never gone and got my own course but the challenge is different here every day. It never gets boring.

“We have to present the golf courses the way the members and visitors want them and get our infrastructure right over the winter to make sure it’s spot-on.

“We have classic links characteristics that must be preserved so I’d stand up in front of anyone and say when it comes to revetting bunkers we have the best bunch of builders in the world.

“Over the past eight or nine years we have been adapting the Championship Course to maintain its reputation as one of the finest links courses in the world.

“Course manager Eoin Riddell has been here a lot longer than me and between us we have enough years behind us to know what we can handle.

“We have a fantastic team here and we’ve probably saved the members a few pounds over the years by doing these future-proofing jobs ourselves.”