PGA in Scotland Lifetime Achievement Award was one of greatest days of my life - Martin Dempster

It was up there with my wedding day, birth of our two daughters, them getting married and becoming a grandparent. Yes, that’s exactly how I felt on Thursday to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the PGA in Scotland for my “contribution to golf and support of the PGA”.

Talk about feeling both honoured and humbled, even more so when it had been mentioned to me by David Longmuir, the PGA in Scotland regional manager, that I’d joined a small group to have received such an honour. Lord Macfarlane, one of golf’s great supporters, is on the list, as is Jock MacVicar, the ‘Doyen’ of Scottish golf writers.

I was there when Jock, a very good friend, received his award in Glasgow and you could see exactly what it meant to him. I also knew it was richly deserved for a man who was immersed in golf and was known personally by the likes of Tom Watson and Billy Casper to name but a few.

Martin Dempster receives his Lifetime Achievement Award from David Longmuor, the PGA in Scotland regional manager. | PGA in Scotland

At no time had it ever dawned on me that people felt I’d started to make a similar contribution to the game as Jock did during his career when it came to writing about golf and, in particular, golf in Scotland and, boy, have the PGA in Scotland left an old git feeling a bit giddy, to be honest.

As I happily mentioned at the Members’ Lunch in the fabulous Royal Scots Club in Edinburgh, the first golf stories I penned were about a PGA professional. Eyemouth legend Craig Maltman was one of the Tartan Tour’s top players when I was a junior reporter on the Berwickshire News & East Lothian Advertiser and writing about him was the start of what has turned into an incredible journey.

At that time, I was also a member at Dunbar, which staged a 72-hole event on the Tartan Tour. Along with my dad, I remember playing in the pro-am with the likes of Harry Bannerman and big Willie Milne and from those days on and getting to know the likes of Russell Weir, John Chillas, Kevin Stables, Alastair Webster and many, many others, I’ve always had a strong affinity with the PGA in Scotland.

Sandy Jones, who started his PGA career with the Scottish Region before moving to The Belfry to become the organisation’s chief executive, was a good friend, as was the one and only Peter Lloyd. I first met Mikey MacDougall, who now works for Paul Lawrie, through the PGA in Scotland, with Shona Malcolm, Longmuir’s predecessor, also being someone I have known for a long time.

Longmuir, a former head of the Scottish Football League, now leads a fabulous team that includes Lesley Bernard, Claire Wilson, Mark Moncrieff, Ross Cameron and Roy Murray. Bernard and Wilson have both worked for the PGA for more than 30 years and truly are magnificent ambassadors for one of the most-recognised organisations in the game.

As Thursday’s lunch was taking place, it was being announced that LIV Golf was being wound down and, barring something very unlikely happening, the breakaway circuit will soon be gone forever. That made listening to some other award winners even more refreshing as they were interviewed by Alan Tait, a proud PGA professional himself and MC for the day.

Club pros are heart blood of our great game

Montrose Golf Links head professional and current PGA in Scotland chairman Jason Boyd, for example, who was recognised for raising both awareness and funds for PGA Care, which supports members facing hardship, illness or distress. He talked about how he’d come up with the scorecard he needed in his last round at the time to become a trainee before going on to become a club professional, a role filled by many in the room last week and all being the heart blood of our great game.

Personally, it was fantastic to see the likes of Cliffe Jones, Andrew Crerar, Kenny Hutton, Alasdair Good, Stephen Gray, David Patrick, Johnnie Cliff, Michael Brooks and, in particular, my close friend and now a PGA Cup-winning captain David Scott there. Richie Ramsay, Ian Rae, Gavin Hay and Jack McDonald, too, with the latter currently going through his PGA training at Whitecraigs under David Orr and still lighting up rooms with his warm smile.

Longmuir’s introduction about why I was being honoured had me in tears, as did video messages from Colin Montgomerie, Catriona Matthew, Paul Lawrie, Bob MacIntyre, Dean Robertson, Gordon Sherry, Alastair Forsyth, Greig Hutcheon, DP World Tour head of communications Scott Crockett and our amazing two daughters, Amy and Katie.

It was wonderful that my wife Carol, the rock in my life and my greatest supporter over the last 40 years, was there and the same goes for my best friend Nick Rodger, who has shared so many laughs with me during my journey covering golf and even a bed after turning up at a motel in Augusta very late at night on our first trip to The Masters in 2013 to be told that the only room left had a double bed!

I’ve often felt that I am one of the luckiest people in the world, both in terms of home and working life, and that has just been well and truly hammered home. A huge thanks to the PGA in Scotland for a very, very special day and to everyone for a flood of lovely messages.

Here’s hoping I’ve got another few years left in the tank because it really is an absolute joy and privilege to cover the greatest sport of them all.

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