Uphall Golf Club fire: 'Mr Uphall' Gordon Law 'devastated' by fire at West Lothian clubhouse

Long-serving Uphall PGA professional Gordon Law has been left “devastated” by the fire that gutted the clubhouse at his beloved West Lothian club over the weekend.
The clubhouse at Uphall Golf Club has been left gutted by the fire that broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.The clubhouse at Uphall Golf Club has been left gutted by the fire that broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.
The clubhouse at Uphall Golf Club has been left gutted by the fire that broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

The former Scottish PGA champion has been inundated with messages from fellow pros and others within the game following the blaze in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Firefighters spent more than 12 hours dealing with the major fire, the cause of which remains unconfirmed at this time.

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“It is devastating, for sure,” said Law, one of the best-known club professionals in Scotland. “I don’t think I have felt as devastated about anything in my life.

Gordon Law, left, shakes hands with Colin Montgomerie after the first round of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in 2006. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.Gordon Law, left, shakes hands with Colin Montgomerie after the first round of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in 2006. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.
Gordon Law, left, shakes hands with Colin Montgomerie after the first round of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in 2006. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

“For all the hard work we have done and the good news stories we have created at the club in recent years, it is terrible.”

The alarm was raised at 1.35am on Saturday, with fire crews not leaving the scene until 3.15pm.

“I was thinking, ‘this can’t be right’ and when you get there, there is no roof,” said Law, who won his Scottish PGA title at Downfield in 1997, of his reaction to receiving a phone call about the blaze.

“I will have been at the club 30 years in June and my whole life was in that back shop.

“I was sitting teary eyed as I read some of the messages from people on Saturday night. It left me thinking, ‘jeezo, there are genuinely good people out there’.”

Law, the club’s first professional, played in all four rounds in the 1996 Open Championship at Royal Lytham.

He also won the British PGA Professional Championship at St Andrews Bay in 2003 and, at one time or another, held seven course records.

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“Unfortunately, a lot of my memories of flying the flag for the club were up on walls, so they have now gone,” he said.

“Listen, nobody died and no-one was hurt. You just have to make new memories.

“We can all be down in the dumps and feel sorry for ourselves at the moment, and quite rightly so.

“But I am pretty sure that we will come back bigger and stronger and that is basically the motto of the golf club.”

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