Day 1 – Tuesday 24 June
This year’s trip to The Highlands started on Tuesday with a special match against The Muir of Ord GC to celebrate their 150th anniversary. Click HERE to see the Captain’s report of The Highland Tour. The thanks from the club after our visit, began, ‘Well that was a blast! What a brilliant group of Society members from Fortrose to South Africa and from Blairgowrie to Neath and I dare say a few places in between! We thoroughly enjoyed the inaugural visit of the Society and thankfully the weather behaved itself. Played in the proper fashion it truly displayed the fellowship befitting of such an occasion.’
The Club President
The result of the match was a 5 – 1 win for Muir of Ord. Well done and thank you for your offer of matches going forward. we look forward to the challenge. The JBGS Captain thanked JBGS member Scott Kelly, who was key to arranging the day.
Day 2 – Wednesday 25 June
Today was the much looked forward to annual match against Fortrose and Rosemarkie GC. All set and ready to go, the JBGS teams were fired up for this most enjoyable and great fun/fiercely fought match. Would this be the year that the JBGS team mustered a win and got Captain Barrie having to re-write his usual speech? Let’s have a look at how it all went.
Following this hugely enjoyable day on the course, the Captain soon realised that he would, at last, need to re-write his well-thumbed losing speech. Apologising for the result, a 5½ – 3½ win to the JBGS, he assured Fortrose and Rosemarkie GC that it would not happen again. He thanked Scott Kelly who gave a speech on behalf of the club.
Day 3 – Thursday 26 June
Before the match against Royal Dornoch there was a meet up, by her request, with Sandra Post (ex LPGA player) and her travelling partner Brad Bescken (Pres. Emeritus Donald Ross Society). They were visiting Royal Dornoch and Brora and wanted to ‘connect and play with some Braid Society members.’ The timing of their visit did not work for a game to take place, but Barrie and his Welsh gang met up with them at Dornoch GC before the JBGS match.
After the get together, Sandra messaged, ‘It was great meeting you and your friends at Dornoch. Congratulations are in high order. ….. Anyways, great fun chatting with you. We visited your club and really loved the look of Brora and wish we could have played it. Pls say hi to your group.’
After such high praise, it was time to prepare for the match against Royal Dornoch GC. After yesterday’s excitement was everyone raring to go after the terrific win the day before? Were there any sore heads today or had everyone been training for the next win? So here we go, let’s see how it all went.
As the society sat down after the match to enjoy a fine meal in the Royal Dornoch GC clubhouse, it soon became apparent to the JBGS Captain that the society members had perhaps enjoyed themselves too much?
This was reflected in the overall result, when the captain once again had to hastily re-write his well-prepared losing speech, to announce that the society had achieved a very rare win over Royal Dornoch GC by 7 – 4.
He went on to explain to the Royal Dornoch GC Captain that the previous day’s win could be put down to a mistake but that the win today was just careless and that it would not happen again!
The Captain of Royal Dornoch GC, Mr. Gary Bethune, was presented with a pair of JBGS whisky tumblers and the JBGS Captain Barrie, was at last presented with The Friendship Trophy. Both Captain’s speeches were reflective of how successful the day had been, and how they both looked forward to repeating the fixture next year.
Day 4 – Friday 27th June
And so, to the finale of our week – The Founding Meeting competition at Brora.
Prior to play, the Members’ forum was held at the Sutherland Inn, Brora.
27 entrants played in a Stableford Competition over the magnificent Brora links. Can you spot the likely winner?
That evening society members met up at Brora Golf Club, where following drinks and an enjoyable meal the captain announced the day’s winners. These were as follows:
The Peter Thompson Memorial Trophy: Winner: Tony Gill, Runner up: Mark Horner
The Captain’s Pink Balls: Winner: Angela Grant
The Curates Egg: Winner: Alex Taylor (Best score on the middle 6 holes)
Marco Polo Award: Winner: Ross Kelly (travelling from Australia, but also playing at Brora after breaking his nose, puncturing a lung and damaging his knee in Budapest).
Hero of the Week: Winner: Diana Thomas (Stepping in at short notice at Muir of Ord and Fortrose & Rosemarkie – helping the Captain to win a match).
The captain also presented welcome gifts to new members making their 1st appearance at a meeting: Simon Barrington, Mick Mannion, Alex Taylor, Diana Thomas and Colin Brunton (absent). The captain went on to thank the Society Members for making the week the success it had been and without whom, the society would cease to exist.
This was followed by a toast – “To absent friends.” Then The Fines Master handed out penalties for misdemeanours reported to him over the course of the week. An amnesty was offered to all members, to avoid heavy fines, and the level of guilt amongst the society members must have been high, as £400 was raised for Brora Golf Club Junior Section and was presented to the Club Captain Mr. Graeme Greenhill on the night.
The captain closed the evening with a toast to the man we gathered to honour “James Braid.”
June 30th 2025 – The James Braid Open – Brora Golf Club
As if they had not enough golf over the course of the week, 8 hardy souls entered the James Braid Open at Brora Golf Club on the Saturday morning. The wind had picked up from the previous day to a very challenging 40 mph. With such conditions, it was clear to see that low scoring was going to be a rarity. All the JBGS members battled gamely but Steve Darlington emerged as the best JBGS member in the field with an excellent nett score of 73, deservedly taking the James Braid trophy for the second year running. Well done to all the members who took part.
The James Braid Trophy
Looking forward to seeing you at the final events of the year at Hawkstone Park and Oswestry GCs on 10 – 12 September.
Looks as though you all had a great time!
We shall return to Brora, quite probably next year!
Best to everyone and see some of you in Shropshire.