On 3rd May 1845, seventeen gentlemen attended a meeting and agreed to form the Panmure Golf Club. It is interesting to note that the Constitution agreed to at the first meeting differs little from the one that pertains today.
On 6th June 1845, it was reported that Allan Robertson (pictured right) and Alexander Pirie came from St Andrews, examined and laid out the Links in 9 holes, and declared that in their opinion, with little trouble and expense, the Monifieth Links were well adapted for the game of golf. The fee for their services was 30 shillings. The course was extended to 10 holes, with a total length of 3131 yards, in 1851, but the layout proved unpopular and the course was put back to 9 holes in 1871. This was later extended to 18 holes to form the Medal course opened in 1880.
The first clubhouse was erected by the Railway Company, adjacent to the new station that was being built at Monifieth. However due to increased membership this proved too small and, after almost moving permanently to Carnoustie, a new clubhouse was built in 1871. This is today used by the Ladies Panmure Golf Club, Monifieth.
Colonel J Lindsay Henderson (Secretary, 1923 – 1947), described the land which is now occupied by holes 4 to 15 as ‘of the most unpromising looking ground from a Greenkeeper’s point of view consisting of large hummocks and deep ravines with marshy looking bottoms, and covered with the coarsest of bent grass, whins and rushes; but to the Golf Architect giving great promise of many sporting holes and shots’.
The course has been modified and lengthened over the years, several of the holes according to suggestions proposed by James Braid in 1922. The last major change was to re-site the 14th green (from what is now used as a winter tee for the 15th), producing a far more interesting and challenging hole.
Much of the above text has been taken from ‘Panmure Golf Club 1845-1995’, written as part of the Sesquicentennial celebrations by WAS Dryden, a long time member and past Captain of the Club