Royal Aberdeen's Director of Golf Ronnie 

MacAskill looks back on 40 years' service

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Director of Golf Ronnie MacAskill completed 40 years' service with Royal Aberdeen Golf Club a couple of months ago. He is the longest serving member of the Balgownie club staff in the long history of the sixth oldest golf club in the world, having been formed in 1780.
Ronnie's career has flourished since he came down to Aberdeen from the Highlands - he was a member at Alness Golf Club - to join Ian Smith as an assistant professional at his Hazlehead base in the summer of 1971 as a 17-year-old with a handicap of two.
MacAskill was only 21 when he was appointed head club professional at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club to succeed John Campbell who retired after 28 years in the post.

In 1990, Ronnie's duties expanded into a club managerial role which soon evolved into a PGA Director of Golf post, Royal Aberdeen being one of the first golf clubs to make such an appointment.
Those are the highlights. Now let Ronnie himself put flesh on the bare bones:



 

THE RONNIE MACASKILL STORY

By Ronnie MacAskill
"As an 11-year-old, in 1965, I became a junior member of Alness Golf Club in Ross-shire and played amateur golf at Alness, Tain, Royal Dornoch and Brora.a
"From a non-golfing family, clubs were begged and borrowed until my father appeared one day with three woods, a four-iron and a putter, all from the 1940s.
I was able to reduce my handicap to six with these fine implements.
"Two more clubs were added two every year for Christmas and birthdays, meaning I nearly had a full compliment of 14 golf clubs when I joined Ian Smith at Hazlehead as his assistant in June 1971. My handicap at that point was two.

(Ronnie pictured left in 1975).
"I could not have obtained a better grounding in the game of golf than under the tutelage of Ian Smith, as a coach, clubmaker and club pro. This apprenticeship lasted from 1971 to 1974. Through the later part of 1974 and through the summer of 1975 I was attached to the Orkney Golf Club
and played on the Scottish and African circuit.
"In October 1975, at the tender age of 21, I was appointed head club professional at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, following on from John Campbell who had been with the club for 28 years. In 1975 we were still using the 1.62 golf ball, persimmon- headed woods and blade irons.
"Winters were spent polishing wooden heads, fitting new face inserts and sole plates, whipping and varnishing, leather grips on favourite putters etc etc, all the clubmaking skills I had learned from Ian Smith.
DEATH KNELL FOR PERSIMMON
But later in the 70s, the coming of all-metal clubs signalled the death knell for persimmon and the art of the club maker.
"During his lifetime, my predecessor John Campbell had witnessed the transition from hickory shafts to steel shafts and during my tenure the move from wooden heads to metal heads was completed. Where next?
"In my early years at Royal Aberdeen I had the opportunity to spend the quiet winter months playing on the Far East circuit, occasionally as the only European in the field. Changed days now with the variety of worldwide
tours encompassing all nations.
"I soon discovered that the security of a club pro’s job was my true vocation in life. The next 15 years or so were spent building up a successful pro-shop business at Balgownie, where the members of both Royal Aberdeen and Aberdeen Ladies Golf Clubs were hugely supportive.
"In 1990 I was approached by the committee at the time to consider taking on a managerial role alongside that of the club professional. The game was booming at the time and a more permanent management system was required to look after club affairs on a day to day basis.
SANDRA FIRST LADY CLUB SECRETARY
"PGA Professional/Club Manager was the first dual title with Sandra Nicolson (the first lady secretary in the club’s history) also coming on board to handle the day-to-day running of the club. This soon evolved into PGA Director of Golf when Royal Aberdeen became one of the first clubs in the UK to make such an appointment. Quite a revolutionary step for an historic and ancient golfing establishment.
"In 2008, after 33 years, I took the decision to step down from the role as club professional to concentrate on the management side of the club. The golf course has made such progress since the appointment of Robert Patterson
as course manager with a host of major events under our belt now and most recently announced the Amateur Championship coming in 2018.
"My 40 years' service was notched up on October 1 this year, the longest serving member of staff in the club’s history.
"Of course it has not really been a job because I have enjoyed every minute of it."