Golf clubs in Scotland facing economic bunkers

Along with the proprietary courses – those with no members that offer a high-end, pay-and-play experience – there is also a financially fortunate group of “trophy course” golf clubs such as The Open rota venues where visitors happily pay premium prices and virtually every tee time is booked.

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However, it is estimated there are more than 550 golf clubs in Scotland, most of which are far adrift of the wealth of the elite. For them, the outlook is less certain while for some, such as the recently bankrupt Hirsel in the Scottish Borders, the game is up.

“It’s not an easy life being in a golf club at the moment,” says Christopher Spencer of the Scottish Golf & Club Managers Association. “Members don’t necessarily understand their club is probably more susceptible to cost increases than you are at home, the prime example being wages.

“There are a lot of staff who will be on the minimum wage. If that’s gone up by 10% in a year, purely to cover that cost you have to reduce the service you are providing, which invariably leads to a number of complaints, or you’re going to have to put your subscriptions up by that 10% to cover it.”

Industry veteran Kevin Fish of CCL Services says the pandemic boom that arrested two decades of decline in club memberships is now coming off the boil and with that many private members’ clubs have gone back to the pre-Covid days of hanging on by their fingertips.

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“It’s actually the clubs in the middle tier who are under the most pressure, and that’s the same in most businesses – either be the best or the cheapest – but the ones in the middle are struggling,” he notes.

“It just so happens that in Glasgow there are more middle-tier clubs than there are in any other part of Scotland, so there is going to be an extra spotlight on the middle tier in Glasgow and I can assure you that the accounts I’ve seen, the typical club is not making enough surplus to replace the assets when they diminish.

“What you find is they are just about breaking even, or just about making a profit, but when the clubhouse roof blows off, there has been no preparation. That’s where clubs realise for decades they have not been doing enough to safeguard their future – they’ve always kicked the can down the road for the next committee.

“That’s where the big problem is.”