The following abridged extract is taken from the Glasgow Herald of 8th May 1990 and was written by Douglas Lowe on the occasion of the Club Centenary.

Dollar sounds like the kind of place American billionaires might live, a Dallas with an honest name. The golfers there spoil the fantasy by declaring the stakes at a round one pound, a Scottish one, on a course of the ultra-traditional variety. Except there is not a bunker in sight. They will tell you that this Clackmannanshire town’s name is a corruption of the French word, doleur, meaning gloomy, which is the feeling you get when your tee shot at the par-3 second fails to reach the green at the top of a near cliff face no more than a wedge distance away. Not even the sheep, which have occasional grazing rights, dare to tread there. The hole is called “Brae” (hill), which is putting it mildly, and the length is given as 97 yards, which could also be the height. Another theory is that the name Dollar is derived from the ancient Celtic word dal-aird, meaning “vale amid the hills”, which sounds more plausible, because the history of the place stretches back to the fifteenth century when it was a stronghold of the Clan Campbell, whose castle ruins peer down imperiously from the Ochils on the first green of a club which is a mere infant at 100 years old. Dollar is one of the hundreds of honest, straightforward kind of clubs, about which we tend to hear little in the wake of the billions of pounds spent during the wave of golf course enterprise in Scotland over the years.

“You will have time for a full round. It only takes two-and-a-half hours,” insisted Centenary Captain Jim Brown (left) who in the same breath reminded companions that his handicap had just risen to 17. The French word for this, I believe, is “banditisme”. Indeed, two-and-a-half hours was exactly the length of time it took for a four-ball, which was a refreshing change from the four hours plus which is becoming the norm at more celebrated venues.

Like all self-respecting Centenary clubs, Dollar have been digging into their history, and one unlikely fact uncovered is that the club at one time was a hotbed of trade unionism. In 1908, the caddies went on strike for an increase from sixpence to ninepence a round. The then Dundee Advertiser, in a leading article, commented: “It is satisfactory to find trade union principles percolating downwards in this fashion, and it promises well for the movement years hence”. One wonders if the perils of negotiating the cliff at the second had anything to do with this dispute. Certainly, you have to carry your own clubs nowadays, and this hole, which would surely rank as one of the most controversial in the world if more people knew about it, is there to stay at least for the time being. The committee have decided against altering the layout on the sound grounds that it is part of the character of the 5242-yard course which is hilly, short but testing, scenic, good fun and well kept by a greens staff of just two. Dollar was the first 18-hole course in the county, its layout completed by Ben Sayers, who thought the contours and trickiness of the greens did not require bunkers. However, its prominence declined with the development of larger courses. There are now fourteen courses within twelve miles. Not surprisingly then, Dollar has no waiting list with visitors warmly welcomed and well catered for in the congenial clubhouse.

As for the Dollar pound, the result was an honourable half and I retract the remark about the Captain’s handicap!