Born: 9 May, 1928, in Glasgow.
Died: 20 January, 2008, in Gullane, East Lothian, aged 79.
WITH the death of John (known to most of his friends as "Johnnie") Salvesen, the golfing world has lost one of its most colourful and constructive charact
ers. His interest in golf displayed itself at the early age of four, when he offered to teach the local minister how to play the game. Although born in Glasgow, he was brought up in Aberdeenshire, where his father was then the doctor at Tarland, and subsequently moved to farm at Glassel. He was educated at Clifton Hall and Loretto. By this time he had become addicted to the game of golf, for which he had a wholly natural talent. He retained an abiding interest in Loretto, being a governor 1971-97 and a major supporter of the Loretto Golf Academy.
He went on to Edinburgh University to read law, which he did not enjoy, and he gladly moved over to complete his education at the University's College of Agriculture. While at the University he was captain of the university golf team and excelled at snooker and bridge.
In 1954 he married Eelin Brown, then living in Aboyne, and they settled at Bruceton, near Alyth, where he had a mixed farm of crops and stock.
His friends believed this farm had been chosen because its south-facing cereal fields ripened earliest and could be harvested in time to enable him to participate in the R&A's autumn meeting in September. He had joined the R&A in 1956.
For 30 years John and Eelin lived at Bruceton, where they raised two sons and two daughters, John playing a lot of golf and travelling far in pursuit of it – all over the UK, Scandinavia, North America, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
He belonged to at least ten clubs including the R&A, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers at Muirfield, Royal County Down and Pine Valley, Philadelphia. He played for Perth and Kinross Counties, becoming president, and was an honorary member of Royal Cinque Ports and Royal Porthcawl.
He played in the amateur championship and was on the SGU International Selection Committee 1967-68. In the annual British Schools Halford-Hewitt Tournament, played at Deal in Kent, in his favourite two-ball foursomes format, he played exactly 100 matches over 40 years for Loretto.
Over the years John made an enormous number of friends in many countries.
One of his foursomes partners remarked: "Playing with Johnnie is the greatest fun, but terrifying. There is no question of playing safe and you have to be ready for his confident approach putt sweeping 3 or 4ft past the pin. But you must firmly slot it."
He had five holes-in-one in his time. These included what must certainly be the unique record of having holed in one with each of three sizes of ball, and on each occasion in a different continent – the 1.62in ball holed at Royal Salisbury in Zimbabwe at the 14th; the 1.66in ball at the Old Course in St Andrews at the 11th; and the 1.68in ball at the 18th at Lakeview in Ontario.
As an R&A member, John served on six committees, becoming chairman of the championship committee 1979-81, and he was captain in 1983. He was also a trustee of the club. He won six club medals including the Jubilee Vase three times and the Gold Medal in 1961.
To many people for years at the Open he was the lone figure out on the course in the very early morning, choosing the pin positions on the greens for that day. On one such occasion he was challenged by a policeman who wanted to know what he was doing. "I am proposing to dig a hole just there," was Johnnie's typically provocative reply.
Having retired from farming in 1983 (the year of his captaincy of the R&A), John, who had worked with Donald Steel, the noted golf course architect, became himself a golf course designer and consultant. He enjoyed this creative aspect of the game and some examples of his work are Traigh at Arisaig, Strathmore near Alyth, Charleton in Fife and two courses in Norway.
In 1984 John and Eelin moved to Balendochy, Meigle, where he found enormous satisfaction in tree-planting. Eelin died in 2002, and in 2004 John moved to Gullane, where he was joined by Anne Stewart-Blacker, who brought him total happiness and support in his last years.
As recently as 30 December, 2007, John was playing a 36-hole club match at Muirfield – which he won – and he played in the Captain's Frolic there on New Year's Day – his last game of golf.
He was a knowledgeable, skilful and self-effacing person who knew what he wanted to achieve; a thoughtful traditionalist, good with people of all ages; and a sensitive observer with a splendid sense of humour. We already greatly miss his infectious laugh.
The full article contains 839 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
