Martin Dempster: How dream dying for talented Scottish duo wasn't end of world

Before Bob MacIntyre and his buddies arrived on the scene, it’s no secret that Scottish golf endured a frustrating period of genuine amateur talent failing to make the transition as professionals.

Lorne Kellyin action during the 2001 Charles Church European Challenge Tour Championship at Bowood Golf & Country Club in Wiltshire. Picture: Stephen Munday /Allsport.

For a good decade and maybe even two, a long list of Scots looked as though they had all the attributes to become successful in the paid ranks only to quickly have their dreams dashed.

By sheer coincidence, I caught up with two such players recently for chats and what both Stephen Dundas and Lorne Kelly had to say as they reflected on playing careers that were cut short was well worth hearing.

Through Dundas, a Glasgow boy who played his golf at Cowglen, spending his summer holidays visiting his granny in Dunoon, where Kelly was brought up and cut his golfing teeth at Cowal, the pair have been friends for a long time. “His mum made the best full breakfast in Scotland,” recalled Kelly, laughing, of his occasional stay with the Dundas family as their careers started to flourish.

Stephen Dundas checks the scores at a stage of the Europeean Tour Qualifying School at The Wynward during his short spell as a professional. Picture: Adam Elder.

Dundas won the Amateur Championship at Carnoustie in 1992, becoming the first Scot to claim that coveted title for 35 years. Flying the Saltire with equal success, Kelly lifted the Lytham Trophy and played on triumphant Great Britain & Ireland teams in both the Eisenhower Trophy and Walker Cup.

Alas, their subsequent professional careers were short-lived and, around 20 years on in both cases, they were happy to reflect on that and, in doing so, told tales that will probably resonate with many others.

“Not at all,” insisted Dundas, who has gone on to carve out a successful career in golf club management, currently holding the grand position of San Roque Club president in his role for a Russian company, in reply to being asked if he’d ever wished he’d given himself a bit more time to try and make headway as a playing professional.

“That was one of the easiest decisions ever for me. The guy who was sponsoring me - a nice guy who used to be a member at Loch Lomond - wanted to continue to back me. He’d sponsored me for three years and wanted to continue for another three years.

“I said to him, ‘look, I don’t want to waste your time or money’. It would have been nice as I could have continued to play golf with no financial worries, but my heart wasn’t in it. I knew then that it wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to keep struggling the way I was in terms of how I was playing. I had made up my mind.

“I remember being on the practice area at Haggs Castle one day and one of the members, having heard I was giving it up, came up to me and said, ‘you are crazy, what are you doing?’

“My reply was, ‘yeah, very good, but I have zero money in my bank account, I live in a council house, I can’t go on holiday, can’t buy a car’ and he then understood why I was making that decision.

“So, for me, it was a very easy decision. I had got to the stage where I wasn’t enjoying playing. In fact, it was probably the only thing in life that had ever made me unhappy. My game got that bad.

“It was just the pressure of trying to make money. The day I turned pro, my whole mentality changed. I used to play golf for fun. I used to play golf because I loved it. But, as soon as I turned pro, golf became a job and I had to make money.

“Even though there were other reasons my game went the way it did, as soon as it became like that, I kind of fell out of love with the game. I love playing golf now, but for a long time that wasn’t the case. There was no joy.”

While a shoulder injury led to Kelly’s playing dream dying, he has no real regrets either, especially having overcome his disappointment by helping hundreds of youngsters, including European Tour winner Grant Forrest, head to US colleges through ProDream USA, a company he set up,

“It’s funny because when I played my best golf in my amateur days, I remember the night before a final round, I couldn’t get to sleep because I was so excited as I just wanted to step on the first tee,” he recalled.

“But I also remember as a pro sitting in a hotel room in Switzerland, I think it was, and I couldn’t get to sleep, though not due to excitement. I was worried and apprehensive about how it was going to go and if I was going to make enough money to get to the next tournament. It was that unknown about the future.”

In short, playing golf for fun is one thing, but playing for a living is a different thing entirely. “I don’t think I was very good when it came to that,” admitted Kelly of the mental fortitude it takes as much as anything.

“Look at guys like Grant Forrest now. Ever since day one when he turned pro, he was a proper competitor. Look at the circumstances that he won the Scottish Amateur (in 2012), just after losing his dad.

“I would have been a wreck in that position. To take on a pro career the way he’s done and for it not to faze you has been impressive. I think you have to have a pretty strong mentality and, looking back, I’m not sure I had that.

"I also remember me and my dad scrimping and saving when I couldn’t get any sponsorship. I was the best player coming out of Scotland at the time, yet I couldn’t get a penny. You can still that going on a bit to a certain extent.”

Neither Kelly or Dundas were moaning or groaning, let’s get that straight. But their tales are definitely worth taking on board by any young talented amateur, male or female, wondering what might lie ahead in golf’s so-called Promised Land.

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