Receiver forced to close golf centre

Gordon Berry, The Courier, 21 November 2003

The Scottish National Golf Centre at Drumoig is to close immediately, the receiver announced yesterday. The move has resulted in the instant loss of 11 of the 13 jobs, including the professional coaching staff, and by the middle of next week no one will be left.

Mr Blair Nimmo, head of KPMG Corporate Recovery in Scotland, made it clear that the firm, acting as receiver, had not been able to conclude a sale.

The £4.5 million centre, run by the Scottish Golf Union’s Scottish National Golf Centre Ltd, was placed in receivership several weeks ago and KPMG acted very quickly to set a closing date for offers.

It was said at that time that there were interested parties and unhappy staff went on to launch a campaign which sought, and achieved, political support from local MPs and MSPs for retention of the complex as a “national asset.”

Mr Nimmo, however, said yesterday that the centre would cease trading with immediate effect. While there had been a number of expressions of interest in the business and the assets of the centre, it had not been possible to conclude a sale.

“Unfortunately, at this time of year trading is such that we have had to close the centre as it continues to incur significant losses. We will operate the centre on a care and maintenance basis while we pursue a number of interested parties.

“Obviously it is with disappointment that we have had to make today’s announcement and we would like to thank all those concerned for their co-operation to date.

“Despite the present situation, we are still hopeful of achieving a sale that will allow the centre to re-open,” he said.

It was placed in receivership on September 25 as a result of financial difficulties said to have been caused by a failure to attract sufficient numbers.

In the aftermath there were bitter recriminations from staff who called the management and operation of the centre into question. They said that the centre had been under-marketed and under-promoted.

The Scottish Golf Union, on the other hand, claimed that everything possible had been done to secure the future of the centre, and that the projected losses were unsustainable.

The centre’s life has been marked by controversy and hefty financial losses, with many in the golf world calling into question the chosen location, away from Scotland’s central belt.

One difficulty has been the failure to attract enough members of the paying public to complement national squad training activities at what was described at its opening as the best practice centre in Europe.

Since the receivership decision was announced visitor numbers were said by staff to have plummeted.

Earlier this year the decision was made to close to the public areas such as the sports hall and gymnasium and many visitors to the driving range found stock in the extensive shop section depleted to the point where only a few remaining clubs and items of clothing were on offer.

Inquiries to staff always met with the response that restocking was imminent.

Yesterday staff were involved in the gloomy task of clearing out their belongings and leaving the building for the last time. By late afternoon only two people were left in the building. One said that he would be finishing at the end of the day and the other that she would only have a few more days of employment.

What will happen now to a purpose-built golf centre is anyone’s guess. Many will be asking what hope there can be for any commercial operator willing to step in.