Windyhill Golf Club
Windyhill Golf Club is located near the world famous Loch Lomond, is within easy reach of both Glengoyne and Auchentoshan whisky distilleries and lies close to Glasgow Airport.
The course sits at the foot of the Kilpatrick Hills, near Bearsden, and presents an enjoyable, challenging but worthwhile golfing experience to players of all levels. Boasting magnificent views over the City of Glasgow to the Cathkin Braes to the south and the Gleniffer Braes on the south-west of the River Clyde, Windyhill provides a vista few other clubs can equal. Indeed, on a clear day it is possible to make out Tinto Hill in Lanarkshire.
Windyhill's proximity to the City of Glasgow and all its artistic attractions such as the Burrell Collection, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and the renowned Mackintosh designed Glasgow School of Art, allows visitors the chance to enjoy both a sporting and cultural visit to the West of Scotland.
Designed by 5 times Open Champion James Braid in 1924, and having relocated to Windyhill from its original course at Canniesburn, the club has evolved over the years to become one renowned for the high quality of its greens, the well-presented standard of its fairways and the friendliness of its members.
Visitors are welcome at Windyhill and the club is confident that, once the course has been played and the golfing experience appreciated, visitors will return time and time again and even tempted to join as a member.
Canniesburn Golf Club
The club was founded in 1908 and was 0riginally a 9-hole course before being extended to 18-holes in Spring 1910.
The opening of the 18-hole course was celebrated with an Exhibition Match between four famous golfers of the time. It was held on Saturday 16 April 1910 and featured J H Taylor [the then Open Champion), Harry Vardon, James Braid, and Alex Herd. They started a mini-tour of Scottish golf courses at Canniesburn.
Unfortunately, the days play was not helped by the constant rain which fell heavily during the morning round. In the afternoon it started to snow, followed again by continuous rain. The club charged an admission fee of one shilling (5p) and in the afternoon it was reported that about 500 people followed the match.
During this visit Braid gave recomendations on alterations, improvement and lengthening of the course. These changes must have come to fruition and he persuaded his three playing colleagues to visit the reconfigured course a year later.
The 18-hole course was undulating and hilly course which was mainly dry and the entry fee for gents was £2/2/0 [£2.10] and ladies 10/6d [55p]. Annual subscriptions were £1/5/0 [£1.25] for gents and 10/6d [55p] for ladies. Visitors green fees were 1/0 [5p] a day, 5/0 [25p] a week and 10/0 [50p] a month but no play was permitted on a Sunday .
The course was reduced to nine-holes during WW1 with part of the course being used for agriculture.
In 1923/4 the Canniesburn Golf Club were unable to renew the lease on the course and so land was leased for James Braid to design Windyhill Golf Club. The new 18-holes were available for play in February 1925.
WINDYHILL SUCCESSES
James Braid
won 5 Open Championships and designed over 200 golf course, including Windyhill.
Janice Moodie
As an amateur, she won the 1992 Scottish Women's Strokeplay Championship[3] and represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup in 1994. She also played on the victorious 1996 team and played in the 1996 Espirito Santo Trophy World Amateur Team Championship where she finished 2nd.
Moodie enrolled at San Jose State University and won 12 collegiate tournaments including the 1995 GolfWorld/Palmetto Dunes, the 1996 Stanford Women's Intercollegiate and the 1997 Peg Barnard California Collegiate. She was Big West Champion 1994-1996, Big West Athlete of the Year 1994-1996, was All-Big West 1994 and 1995 and finished in the top ten at the NCAA Championships each year 1994-1997
Janice turned professional in 1997 and qualified for the LPGA Tour by tying for 21st at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.
In 1998 she had three top ten finishes and in 2000, she claimed her maiden victory at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and made her Solheim Cup debut at Loch Lomond Golf Club.
In 2002, Moodie won her second LPGA title at the Asahi Ryokuken International Championship and played in the 2003 Solheim Cup.
George Duncan
As a 21-year-old, George won the 2016 Scottish Amateur Championship with a 3 & 1 win over Nairn’s Andrew Burgess in the final at Royal Aberdeen.
George became the second player from Windyhill to lift the national crown, following in the footsteps of Andrew McArthur who claimed this prize in 2002 at Western Gailes
Andrew McArthur
Andrew turned professional in 2005 after a successful amateur career during which he won the 2002 Scottish Amateur Championship, the 2003 NCAA Division II Championship and the 2005 Czech Amateur Open Championship. He also represented Scotland in the European Amateur Championship in 2003 and 2005 and was part of the winning Great Britain and Ireland Team in the St Anrews Trophy.
He qualified for the second tier Challenge Tour by reaching the final stage of qualifying school but narrowly missed out on graduating to the elite European Tour three times by ending the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons just outside the top 20 on the Challenge Tour Rankings. He finally gained his European Tour card for 2010 by finishing in 17th place on the rankings in 2009.
Andrew has two wins on the Challenge Tour: the Reale Challenge de España in 2008 and the D+D Real Slovakia Challenge in 2014. In 2011, Andrew won the Paul Lawrie Invitational.
The Collinson Family
Bob Collinson Senior became Club Professional at Windyhill in 1967 after having been the Club Steward for two years. He was a leading member of the West of Scotland and Scottish Alliances until his untimely death, aged 62, in 1993.
Robert Junior won the Scottish Young Professional Championship in 1982 and had a long career as a professional as Gourock and Largs Golf Clubs and later as a coach for Dunbartonshire Golf Union.
Gary Collinson also served as Club Professional at Windyhill in the 1990’s. Gary followed brother Robert by winning the Scottish Young Professional Championship in 1988. Gary also played on the European Tour for a number of years.