Who says Aberdeen and round about is in the doldrums? Certainly not David Harris who is promoting a major new pro-am golf tournament for the area over the first weekend of May next year.
The former Westhill Academy pupil hopes that more than 300 male and female players will take part in the three-day golf fest over Royal Aberdeen, Trump International and Cruden Bay with the professionals in the teams of four playing for a prize fund of £40,000.
‘I’ve been running my Bonnie Wee Golf company since 2003 but this is our most ambitious venture to date,’ says the 40-year-old who finds time occasionally to play at Cruden Bay. ‘I have always been passionate about promoting golf in the North-east and for this event we are aiming to have 78 teams of four tee off. We do a lot of business with golfers from America and hope that many of them will fancy a grand links experience.’
The pro-am extravaganza will culminate in a prizegiving banquet dinner at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa at Pitfodels on 3 May. Says David, ‘By great good fortune, we have been able to sign up one of golf’s most prestigious after-dinner double acts, the commentator Dougie Donnelly and former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance. That should make for a rumbustious and entertaining grand finale to this inaugural event.
‘For the amateur players, there should be a bit of added fun as we show them being filmed on their way round the courses.’
David is not alone in his golfing endeavours. ‘This is very much a family affair,’ he says. ‘My sister Pam and cousin Stew man the office in Aberdeen’s Little Belmont Street and my dad, Colin, has found a new lease of life since retiring as a GP in Westhill, by acquiring a luxury eight-seater bus to wheel our visitors around. He is very well connected in golf circles as a past captain of the Royal Aberdeen club where I was a caddy as a boy and where my passion for the game was kindled.’