Scottish golfer opens up on 'surreal' Buckingham Palace visit to receive MBE

He celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary with wife Helen on 30 October before turning 50 a couple of days later, describing both as “milestones in my journey through life”.

At no point in that journey did Stephen Gallacher ever really imagine he’d be at Buckingham Palace receiving an MBE from Princess Anne and, even as he reflected on that actually happening earlier this week, the popular Scot still seemed to be pinching himself.

“It was a bit surreal, to be honest,” he admitted of the distinction afforded to him in the King’s Birthday Honours list for services to golf. “You never think about these sorts of things until you get it and, when I got the letter, I thought it was a tax bill or something, so I was quite surprised (laughing).”

Gallacher was accompanied on the trip to London by the aforementioned Helen, as well as their two children, Jack and Ellie, the quartet having already shared some magical moments, including historic back-to-back wins in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and a Ryder Cup appearance on home soil at Gleneagles in 2014, and this golf-related occasion was every bit as special.

Stephen Gallacher shows off his MBE flanked by wife Helem son Jack and daughter Ellie at Buckingham Palace | Contributed

“It was brilliant and to have Princess Anne present it to me as well was fantastic,” he added. “We talked about golf as it is a big thing in her family, especially at Balmoral, and she was asking about my foundation, so it was absolutely brilliant.

“It was great just to experience Buckingham Palace while it is just an unbelievable feeling when you are given the medal. It’s not the type of thing you set out to do in life, but it’s nice to know that you are hopefully making a difference by doing something that is benefitting someone else.”

In his case, that has been achieved through the Stephen Gallacher Foundation, which, by his own admission, was launched in 2012 on the back of Paul Lawrie setting up his foundation in the Aberdeen area after becoming Open champion in 1999.

Primarily through running events and providing opportunities for youngsters in Edinburgh and the Lothians, Gallacher’s foundation has gone from strength to strength and, just days before his visit to Buckingham Palace, a lunch in Edinburgh raised £100,000 to help with its ongoing bid to grow golf.

“The whole thing behind setting up my foundation was to give something back,” said Gallacher, who appointed Scott Knowles, one of his long-time friends, to run it 12 years ago and is still doing so aided by Stuart Johnston. “It had nothing at all to do with me trying to gain anything for me. I saw how selfless ‘Chippie’ was when he was setting up his foundation and that’s just basically what I have done with my one.”

Even so, the boy who cut his golfing teeth at Bathgate before following in the spikemarks of his uncle Bernard by carving out a successful career in the game would still find it hard to believe that he was being granted an honour that now means there are letters after his name.

Stephen Gallacher shows off his MBE | Contributed

“Did I think I would be in Buckingham Palace when I was 50? No, not when I was at school anyway, “ he admitted, laughing. “It’s quite a surreal thing when you are in there with lots of other people who are in the same boat as you through doing things that others benefit from. It’s a lovely nod to the people who have helped me as it’s a team effort. I get the credit for it, but it’s a massive team effort.”

Held in the Balmoral Hotel, the aforementioned fund-raising lunch was attended by Bob MacIntyre, even though the world No 14 had only got home to Oban a couple of days earlier from the Bahamas following his debut appearance in the Hero World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods.

“It was great that Bob gave up his time to be there and he spoke wonderfully,” said Gallacher of his Bounce Sport stablemate who enjoyed a fairytale year as he landed a breakthrough win on the PGA Tour with his dad Dougie caddying for him in the RBC Canadian Open then became the first home player to win the Genesis Scottish Open since 1999 a few weeks later.

“For the 14th best player in the world, he’s such a humble guy. There’s only 13 guys better than him, yet he drives down from Oban and doesn’t charge anything. That’s what it is all about. These are the things that go under the radar, but it’s so important because without guys like that you can’t do it.

“Stoddy and Del (Bounce Sport founders Iain Stoddart and Derek Ritchie) help, as do Stuart, Knowlsey and Helen. Also Steve Forbes, one of my sponsors, who is on the board. There’s only four of us on the board - it’s only a small operation - but we turn things over and you only hope that the kids get the benefit.

“Young Connor Graham (the Blairgowrie teenager was on the winning European team captained by Gallacher in last year’s Junior Ryder Cup in Rome) was there and Hannah Darling has played in a few of our events. These kids can go to the top as they are that good.”

As lots of people would back me up on, Stephen James Gallacher MBE is a brilliant role model for Scottish youngsters and, though one mild disappointment recently was narrowly missing out on a Champions Tour card for 2025, it’s certainly been a spell to remember. “It’s been an absolutely hectic time - but a great time, nonetheless,” he admitted with a smile.