As the old theory goes, most 11 year-olds want to become fire-fighters or footballers – but Scottish-born Ian Doran was busy picking up his first nine-iron as his love affair with golf began.
By his late teens he had already turned professional as he started life on the circuit travelling the UK to compete.
At his peak in 1973, and after beating thousands of other golfers in a pre-qualification tournament, Ian made it through to the prestigious British Open Championship playing against golfing greats such as Jack Nicklaus.
Ian back in full swing.
And later in his career he also competed in the Spanish Open, locking horns, or clubs, with the likes of legendary Seve Ballesteros.
He won numerous Midland PGA events at the pinnacle of his career – where he was ranked in the Midlands top ten for a decade.
During that time he moved to Shrewsbury in 1976 as he began to focus on coaching people and became the very first professional at Meole Brace Municipal Golf Course.
“Playing in tournaments like the British Open were big experiences at the time but eventually I started to realise I wasn’t going to make a living in it so I started to focus more on coaching,” said 59-year-old Ian.
“When I first started at Meole it was the only place people could play in the whole of Shropshire and it used to be heaving with people coming from places like Telford and Wales – I was doing 40 to 50 lessons a week at that time.”
In 2002, while lying in bed, Ian felt a sudden surge of pain down his right side. It was a pain that would end up curtailing Ian’s professional playing career spanning 40 years as he was rushed to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital suffering from a stroke.
At that moment he feared he may never play golf again.
“I couldn’t lift my arm up or hit a ball for a year and I was basically paralysed. I did fear I may never pick up a club again it was that bad. Even now, whilst I can move my arm fine, it still feels heavy and I still walk with a slight limp.”
But miraculously the golfing fanatic, who now works at Shrewsbury Golf Range and runs his own children’s nursery in Abbey Foregate, was back coaching golfers just a month after his horrific setback.
“Golf is all I’ve ever known and I truthfully always felt like I was going to get better – nothing was going to stop me from giving the game up completely,” said Ian.
A short time later Ian started learning to play the bass guitar through boredom, and after being spotted playing at a birthday party he received a telephone call late at night asking him to join a new local band.
Ian on his bass guitar.
Mr Dog, the band, was completed when, during one of Ian’s coaching sessions he discovered that golfing enthusiast Karen Chapman was also a keen vocalist who sang regularly.
Ian’s new journey with guitarists Deryl Roberts and Dave Sellwood and drummer Martin Jones had just begun.
“Golf became my challenge as a kid but that challenge has finished now as I physically couldn’t take it any further because of my stroke. I’ve always loved music and this has replaced the challenge – it’s amazing how it’s all turned out,” added Ian.
Mr Dog now plays over 16 gigs a year at venues such as Shrewsbury’s Greenhous Meadow Stadium and Adcote School where they performed in front of 1,000 people.
He has turned what could have been a permanent negative into something overtly positive – partly down to his drive, not just on the golfing range.
And interestingly, when asked which he preferred, golf or the band, Ian was stuck for an answer.
By David Seadon