Club players could recover the debts

Mike Aitken, The Scotsman, 30 January 2001

Scotland's club golfers can expect to foot the bill, or at least a chunk of it, for the £1 million debt incurred by the Scottish National Golf Centre at Drumoig.

Although the Scottish Golf Union plan to alleviate the seven-figure liability on the world-class practice facility near St Andrews through commercial activity and sponsorship, an increase in the SGU’s levy is also being considered.

At present, Scotland’s 260,000 or so club golfers each pay an annual levy to the SGU of £5. One way to rub the slate clean of debt at Drumoig, which opened 18 months ago at a cost of £4.6 million, would be to double the levy for a single year and use the extra cash to remove the deficit.

"We need to make inroads into the debt, and it could be that levy will have to go up," admitted SGU present John Clark." While he stressed that an increase in the levy was just one of a range of options being examined, Clark added that the days when Drumoig was managed separately from the SGU were drawing to a close.

"We need to look at the marketing of the centre and also the management. The message from our AGM was that they want one body to run Drumoig, so we’ll try to do that.’’

"Right now things are a little unwieldy, and this change will help to streamline the situation. In the past lines of communication between the centre and the SGU were not that great. That matter will be resolved.

"Now it’s all out in the open and I feel very relieved about that. I am encouraged by the support we’re getting and just hope folk appreciate that it will take a year or two until we break even again."

Hamish Grey, the secretary of the SGU, explained that a business plan was being drawn up to help put matters right.

The first in a series of new sponsorship initiatives was revealed yesterday when Belhaven agreed to invest £70,000 in the Scottish Club Handicap Championship. The final will be held at Drumoig.