A Year Like No Other

Wed, Mar 26th 2025 at 12:40 pm - 2:00 pm

Neil Donaldson relates his year as Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club

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'A Year like no other’ was the title of the talk given by Neil Donaldson, Past Captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St.Andrews This was a fascinating and informative description of his Captain's year from the date of his receipt of the letter from the past captains of the Golf Club inviting him to be Captain. His first duty as Captain was his “drive-in” at 8am on the 3rd Friday in September when he had the daunting task of having to ensure a competent drive from the first tee of the Old Course in front of a gathering of public and waiting caddies. This was the commencement of an ambassadorial year in which he would give many speeches, travel thousands of air miles, take in the three major Championships of the R & A and enable him to play many new golf courses (one of his favourites was to be Capilano in Vancouver),including what is considered to be the wildest golf course in the world, Skukuza in the Kruger National Park in South Africa which is totally unfenced and requires the addition of armed personnel in the golfing group to ensure their safety from unwanted attention from local wildlife. Highlights of the year included being part of a team to achieve the double of winning two of the annual matches held with other clubs based in St Andrews. Mr Donaldson stressed his appreciation of the amazing staff of the R&A who organise events around the world, and how he had noted the town of St Andrews is held in huge respect around the world in this Game Of Lasting Friendship (GOLF).