Scottish golf club pays picture tribute to legendary amateur

Jessie Valentine, one of the legendary figures in British women’s golf, has been commemorated by Blairgowrie Golf Club through a new photographic display.

The unveiling of the ‘Jessie Valentine Wall’ in the clubhouse dining room at the Perthshire club was witnessed by her son Iain, a Blairgowrie member. “Mother loved this club,” he said, “and it was a big moment for her when she was made an honorary member in 1969.”

Valentine won the Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship six times, the British Women’s Amateur Championship three times and represented Great Britain & Ireland in six Curtis Cups.

Iain Valentine, Jessie’s son, is flanked by Blairgowrie Ladies’ captain Margaret Marshall, left, and Dr Eve Soulsby | Contributed

Her career went on hold during the war years, when she drove an ambulance while her fiancé and future husband George was held as a prisoner of war.

In 1959, she became the first golfer to receive an MBE for services to the sport, an achievement which reflected an extraordinary career spanning three decades.

“In the Links Clubhouse at St Andrews, I noticed the gallery wall paying homage to Old Tom Morris and golf in general. I thought we could have something like it to remember Jessie,” said Blairgowrie Ladies’ captain Margaret Marshall of where the idea had come from.

“Iain, the family and Eve [Soulsby, Valentine’s biographer] have been very supportive, and we have gathered some marvellous photographs capturing Jessie’s extraordinary life and career.”

At the unveiling ceremony, St Andrews historian Soulsby paid a glowing tribute to Valentine, declaring: “In my opinion, Jessie is the greatest Scottish lady golfer ever.”

Adding fuel to that claim, Valentine received the Frank Moran Trophy in 1967 in recognition of being “the Scot who has done most for the game of golf”.