ALLYN DICK'S STORY: THE EARLY YEARS
Image of Allyn Dick in action for Scotland at this year's Home Internationals by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography.
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
This week on Scottishgolfview.com we are highlighting the golfing career of Allyn Dick, who is something of a rarity among leading amateur golfers ... he gained his first Scotland cap at the age of 31 earlier this year - and he works for a living!
If you have any questions to ask Allyn about his golf, past, present or future, or his views on any golf topic, E-mail them to me and I will pass them on to him.
ALLYN PIPPED STEVEN O'HARA FOR
LANARKSHIRE BOYS' TITLE IN 1995
By ALLYN DICK
I took up the game when i was seven or eight years old, playing golf in the local park, bashing a ball from end to end. It wasn't until I was 10 that i became a junior member at Shotts Golf Club.
I was lucky that the junior convenor at the time, Jim Boyd, took a real interest. Every summer holidays we would be shipped by bus to any boys' open competition that was within travelling distance!
It's only now when you look back at the things he said and did, you realise why - a perfect grounding for the future.
I was the Lanarkshire boys' stroke-play champion in 1995 at Colville Park, beating none other than Steven O'Hara by one or two shots. Also that year I was the Lanarkshire schoolboy champion, and Steven O'Hara, Steven Rennie and myself went to Lossiemouth for the Scottish schools championships.
It was there that Steven O'hara and Graeme Gordon made the Scotland boys team and went on to have fantastic amateur careers.
If i'm being brutally honest, i never kicked from being a boy golfer. I was overlooked for the Lanarkshire team of four in 1995 for the Scottish area team championship at boys' level, much to my annoyance. The team was picked before hand!
I sort of drifted away from golf after I left school. Stirling University was just starting out on the golf scholarships and that really interested me, but the draw of the money I was earning ruled my head.
I always played golf until 2001, but nothing serious. The Shotts club championship was always 'my major.'
Then I was made redundant from Motorola and got a job at Dalmahoy in August 2001. For seven months i practised every day. From then on, every weekend I was playing golf: an 18-hole open here, a 36-hole open there and the funny things is, my first 36-hole win came at Bathgate in the Livingston Trophy playing with Craig Elliott, who would be a future (winning) team-mate at Carrickvale Golf Club.
From there I got the bug and the desire to compete with better players, play bigger events, make myself a better golfer and win 'my major.'
It took me until 2004 to do so and the following week was runner up in the 2004 Scottish open mid-amateur championship at Hamilton Golf Club. Roger Roper, who beat me in the final, wrote me a letter afterwards and told me to keep my chin up and work hard. He said the rewards would come - and he was right!
Golf is my hobby. I love the buzz of a team match for Kingsknowe, Shotts and Carrickvale ... even playing a Wednesday medal ... trying to get .1 off your handicap ... playing an 18-hole open trying to win the first scratch voucher to keep my wife happy.
I always bang on about competing with the full-time amateurs. That's just the way the game has changed and developed over the years, but all you need to do it is take Glenn Campbell as an example.
For years Glenn has had a job as he competed at the highest level, had children along the way and managed to maintain a high standard of golf.
As much as I would like to play full time, vouchers don't pay for the mortgage and nappies, so I'll continue to love the game for what it is, my hobby.
My target for 2011 is to make the Home Internationals team again, an experience I thought would pass me by, but one I'll never forget. I am happy to admit, that all of my golfing ambitions have been met and I don't know if there are many other golfers who can say that.
REMEMBER IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS YOU WANT ALLYN
DICK TO ANSWER, E-MAIL THEM TO Colin@scottishgolfview.com
+MORE OF THE ALLYN DICK STORY TOMORROW ON
www.scottishgolfview.com
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
This week on Scottishgolfview.com we are highlighting the golfing career of Allyn Dick, who is something of a rarity among leading amateur golfers ... he gained his first Scotland cap at the age of 31 earlier this year - and he works for a living!
If you have any questions to ask Allyn about his golf, past, present or future, or his views on any golf topic, E-mail them to me and I will pass them on to him.
ALLYN PIPPED STEVEN O'HARA FOR
LANARKSHIRE BOYS' TITLE IN 1995
By ALLYN DICK
I took up the game when i was seven or eight years old, playing golf in the local park, bashing a ball from end to end. It wasn't until I was 10 that i became a junior member at Shotts Golf Club.
I was lucky that the junior convenor at the time, Jim Boyd, took a real interest. Every summer holidays we would be shipped by bus to any boys' open competition that was within travelling distance!
It's only now when you look back at the things he said and did, you realise why - a perfect grounding for the future.
I was the Lanarkshire boys' stroke-play champion in 1995 at Colville Park, beating none other than Steven O'Hara by one or two shots. Also that year I was the Lanarkshire schoolboy champion, and Steven O'Hara, Steven Rennie and myself went to Lossiemouth for the Scottish schools championships.
It was there that Steven O'hara and Graeme Gordon made the Scotland boys team and went on to have fantastic amateur careers.
If i'm being brutally honest, i never kicked from being a boy golfer. I was overlooked for the Lanarkshire team of four in 1995 for the Scottish area team championship at boys' level, much to my annoyance. The team was picked before hand!
I sort of drifted away from golf after I left school. Stirling University was just starting out on the golf scholarships and that really interested me, but the draw of the money I was earning ruled my head.
I always played golf until 2001, but nothing serious. The Shotts club championship was always 'my major.'
Then I was made redundant from Motorola and got a job at Dalmahoy in August 2001. For seven months i practised every day. From then on, every weekend I was playing golf: an 18-hole open here, a 36-hole open there and the funny things is, my first 36-hole win came at Bathgate in the Livingston Trophy playing with Craig Elliott, who would be a future (winning) team-mate at Carrickvale Golf Club.
From there I got the bug and the desire to compete with better players, play bigger events, make myself a better golfer and win 'my major.'
It took me until 2004 to do so and the following week was runner up in the 2004 Scottish open mid-amateur championship at Hamilton Golf Club. Roger Roper, who beat me in the final, wrote me a letter afterwards and told me to keep my chin up and work hard. He said the rewards would come - and he was right!
Golf is my hobby. I love the buzz of a team match for Kingsknowe, Shotts and Carrickvale ... even playing a Wednesday medal ... trying to get .1 off your handicap ... playing an 18-hole open trying to win the first scratch voucher to keep my wife happy.
I always bang on about competing with the full-time amateurs. That's just the way the game has changed and developed over the years, but all you need to do it is take Glenn Campbell as an example.
For years Glenn has had a job as he competed at the highest level, had children along the way and managed to maintain a high standard of golf.
As much as I would like to play full time, vouchers don't pay for the mortgage and nappies, so I'll continue to love the game for what it is, my hobby.
My target for 2011 is to make the Home Internationals team again, an experience I thought would pass me by, but one I'll never forget. I am happy to admit, that all of my golfing ambitions have been met and I don't know if there are many other golfers who can say that.
REMEMBER IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS YOU WANT ALLYN
DICK TO ANSWER, E-MAIL THEM TO Colin@scottishgolfview.com
+MORE OF THE ALLYN DICK STORY TOMORROW ON
www.scottishgolfview.com
Labels: Amateur Men
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, December 27, 2010
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