The Newton course was then laid out by James Nelson (the Professional at the time) in
collaboration with Lord Finlay. The tees and greens were agreed, the centres of the greens
were turfed; an extra man was taken on for two weeks in the summer of 1923 because of the
additional work of creating the Newton course as well as the new holes on the long course.
It was agreed to delay completing the work until the following year when, after an
announcement in the local press, the Newton Course finally opened in June 1924.
A season ticket for Ladies cost £1-10s and children 15s. Gentlemen were only allowed to
play if they were members of the club.
When James Braid revisited the club in October 1926, he suggested improvements to the
Newton course, unfortunately no details of these have come to light yet.
After many years of great support to the club in general, the Ladies in particular, Lord Finlay
died in 1929. The club then purchased the Newton portion of the links from his estate at a
cost of £2500.
1924 – 2008
In the early 1950s the Professional, Gregor McIntosh gave lessons on the lower part of the
course, teaching longer shots from around the 7th tee. This provoked a complaint from the
formidable Mrs Winnie Whitelaw about the dangers of stray balls to those playing the first
hole. Quite possibly, as a result of this, in 1957 the original design was altered to allow space
for the professional to give lessons and for those who wished to practice. The details of these
alterations are not entirely clear but appear to have created a practice area where the current
8
th and part of the 9th holes are.
However, as time went by it became clear that a separate practice ground was needed, in
1961 Major Wilson-Clarke of Achareidh leased the Club the area to the right of the 18th
fairway for that purpose.
It was agreed that year to revert to the original layout but it was not until 1965 after the
practice ground was well established, including a new practice green and bunker, that Gregor
McIntosh and the greenkeeper marked out new tees for the 8th and 9th holes and a new green
for the 9th (see enclosed drawing).
The new layout opened for play in June the following year, the only adjustment made later
was to move the 9th green slightly further south to avoid wayward tee shots interfering with
play on the 18th fairway.
People wandering onto the course and causing damage was a persistent problem in the 1960s,
the two gates were recurrently damaged as was the boundary fence on the Altonburn Road.
Running repairs were required.
4
Many of us learned our golf on the Newton, encouraged by dedicated ladies who included
Winnie Whitelaw and Janet Ross amongst several others. This tradition continues today.
In order to raise funds for the new clubhouse, which opened in 1991, the Club sold off the old
quarries to the east of the first hole on the Newton, several expensive houses were built in this
superb spot. Unfortunately, in June 1994 balls hooked off the first tee caused damage within
the property of an adjacent house. After taking legal opinion the Club decided to redesign the
first hole. For years had been a long dogleg up the hill to the green, which can still be seen
today, adjacent to the second tee (as a youngster you could gauge how your golf was coming
on by how far up the hill you could drive the ball). The tee was moved forwards and
westwards and a new green created at the bottom of the hill creating the short par three that
we play today. The new hole was designed by John Salveson, the work carried out by the
Nairn Greens Staff.
In 1984 Mrs Mackintosh and family presented a shelter hut for beside the 7th tee in memory
of her late husband “Toshy” Mackintosh. The view over the Moray Firth from this place of
peace and quiet is quite outstanding. Sadly, the shelter blew down in 2022 but as this is being
written it has been rebuilt and restored in its former position.
In the early 2000’s Colin Montgomerie’s European Golf Design team, based in Surrey, were
invited to draw up plans for a redesign of the Newton Course. Plans were produced in 2003,
the changes proposed were fairly radical entailing a virtually complete redesign with the aim
of creating an 18-hole course with new tees and shared greens. Nothing came of this, partly
due to the global financial constraints of the time.
Over the years the Newton has also served the Club well as a car park when major
tournaments came to Nairn and also a convenient site for the tented village at the Walker and
Curtis Cups (not to mention as an excellent sledging ground in the days when we got snow in
winter!).
The Newton becomes the Cameron course.
The name Kenny Cameron is one of a handful which are virtually synonymous with Nairn
Golf Club.
Born in 1912, he won the Finlay Cup whilst playing out of Nairn Dunbar aged 18, became a
member in 1936 and went on to win virtually every trophy the Club contests, many on more
than one occasion. He served for many years on the Committee, was Captain twice and
President from 1999 until his death in 2002. When not golfing, he ran a very sought after
quality grocers shop on the High Street.
He and his wife Margaret bequeathed their estate to the golf club which enabled many
projects, large and small, to be undertaken. A small committee oversaw the bequest and its
disbursement and felt that the Cameron name should be commemorated in some way, to this
end the Newton course was renamed in their honour.
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In preparation for this the Nairn staff began work in October 2007 and over the winter built
the new 8th green and chipping area which was designed by Course Manager Richie Ewan.
The 1st 3
rd, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th tees were enlarged as part of the project. The new 8th hole is a
fine downhill short hole making full advantage of the magnificent view over the Moray Firth
as the background to a lofted shot to the green.
Kenny’s great friend and golfing partner Major General Ian Robertson opened the course on
Saturday 10th May 2008. The first shot was struck by the President RD Gordon (son of
Kenny’s great friend and golfing rival RJR Gordon), Robbie Asher won the ballot and
became the first junior to drive off on the Cameron Course.
The putting green.
With the redesign of the course the original 18th green was made redundant. James Nelson
laid out a “putting course” on the original green. This was opened in July 1923 and was
supervised by one of the caddies who was paid 20shillings per week. Only members or those
who had paid a green fee were allowed to play at a cost of a penny per round. Tickets were
mandatory, the green was open 8am – 1pm and 2-6pm, no play being allowed out with these
hours!
Over time this has become the magnificent practice putting area in front of the Clubhouse.
This short paper demonstrates how the golf course has evolved over time, from the original
18 holes with a short Ladies’ course adjacent to it, to the magnificent Championship and 9-
hole courses we have today. It is of interest to see how the Club adapted to the growing
demands for lessons and practice culminating in the construction of our excellent practice
facility. From the current fourth and seventh Cameron tees it is easy to imagine how the
original would have looked, albeit with a lot more gorse around!