Poland Comes to Dunskey
When Dunskey took the decision earlier this year to try to reach more corporate clients, it had in mind local businesses.
Secretary Alec Ross got a ‘phone call from Glenapp Castle proprieter Faye Cowan, he was simply pleased that the corporate advert on the front of the Club’s website had finally elicited a response.
He was pleasantly surprised, therefore, when Faye asked if she could sent down Mr Bart Bernabiuk, a young Polish tour operator, to see the course.
“Mr Bernabiuk and I spent a couple of hours touring the course in a buggy” said Alec. “I told him of the history of the Club and its surrounding area. He told me he was impressed with the scenery – although it wasn’t the clearest of days – but what most impressed him was the democratic nature of Scottish golf. He told me that there were very few courses in Poland, and that it was the preserve of those fortunate enough to make some money after the collapse of communism”.
“Bart and I decided there and then that we were going to make it happen”.
On the 10th of October, therefore, Bart, along with the head of a Polish Bank and fourteen clients, arrived at Dunskey for a day’s golf. On a damp morning, Alec met them with the offer of a warming dram.
The day got off to an unusual start, as Alec explains. “Here was a high flying banker on a trip to a remote corner of Scotland. The night before, the markets collapsed and shares plummeted. He urgently needed to make some ‘phone calls, so I let him have my office. Our members were coming up for their morning game, only to be greeted with the surreal sight of a Polish guy sitting in the Secretary’s office trying to calm the nerves of his investors. I think he needed the dram.”
World crisis averted, Alec introduced the party to PGA professionals James Erskine and Chris Robinson, who introduced them to the fundamentals of the game.
“It wasn’t my easiest ever lesson” said James, “but one of the most enjoyable. Golf was such an alien concept to them. But they seemed to have a brilliant time, and by lunchtime they were making progress.”
The morning continued with short-game and long-game seminars, followed by a few holes of golf. The highlight, however, was a walk to the highest point on the course, the thirteenth tee, where the Polish visitors were invited to try to hit a ball into the Irish Sea.
These sorts of events represent a different direction for the Club, says Alec. “To be honest, I didn’t know what sort of response we’d get with the website advert. Dunskey has always attracted visitors from all over the world – already this year we’ve welcomed visitors from Cape Town and Tennessee – but this was something completely different for us. And, I suppose, for our Polish visitors”.