Drumoig refocus closes gym to public

The Courier, 13 September 2002

The recently announced “refocusing” of the troubled Scottish National Golf Centre at Drumoig has already cost a number of jobs and withdrawal of use of some facilities.

This emerged yesterday as it was confirmed that the well-equipped gymnasium and the extensive games hail at the centre have been closed to the public as cost saving measures are put into place.

In addition the large retail golf shot is under examination, a though no final decisions have yet been taken about its future.

At the end of last month it was revealed that financial difficulties facing the centre and its operations would continue to increase if action was not taken.

The multi-million pound centre, which is the centre for Scottish golf’s coaching and training facilities, was hailed as providing the finest facilities in Europe when it was opened a few years ago.

Since then, however, it has been under considerable financial pressure, and when the refocusing was announced Scottish Golf chief executive Hamish Grey said that the centre was “not comfortably sustainable” in its present state.

Managing director Neil Simpson told The Courier that steps had been taken to concentrate on provision of quality golf coaching, teaching and practice.

As a result, he said, five centre staff had been made redundant - although two had been redeployed elsewhere - and that the gym and games hall had closed to the public.

There were, he said, no plans to re-open the facilities in the near future, although they would occasionally be used under supervision during golf squad training.

It was also made clear yesterday that the only other possible change to the centre’s operation might be on the retail side.

At the moment the centre has a large golf shop, but a spokeswoman said that although no final decision had been made, the shop might have to be reduced in size or leased.

It was also emphasised that there would no effect on the operations of The Bistro which lies in the centre’s main building.

“The Bistro is run separately from the rest of the centre - it is leased out by a company” the spokeswoman said.

It was also stressed that the refocusing of the SNGC has no effect on the running of the Drumoig-based Scottish Golf Union or its staff.