Cut-price golf is par for the course as new clubs proliferate

John Innes, The Scotsman, 22 December 2003

Scotland's planners have given the green light to more than 80 new golf clubs and courses in the last decade - forcing many existing clubs to introduce high street sales tactics in order to survive.

Dunkeld and Birnam Golf Club has dropped its annual membership fee from £250 to just £1. But that still makes Dunkeld £1 more expensive than St Michael’s in Fife, which has scrapped membership fees for its centenary year in a desperate bid to attract new members and fill 28 vacancies.

Richard Barnes, secretary of Dunkeld and Birnam, said: "The new courses, with reduced green fees, are taking away a bit from the established courses.

"Our £1 fee is a one-off. It’s something we have never done, but I think you can safely say that it is market forces that have pushed us in that direction."

Outwith a handful of prestigious clubs - such as the R&A and Muirfield - long waiting lists have become a distant memory.

Nick Holligan, assistant professional at Edinburgh’s Liberton Golf Club, whose 18th century clubhouse was designed by Robert Adam, said: "Five to eight years ago, the waiting list was eight to ten years. But in January and February this year, we cleared the waiting list. There are only 40 or 50 on the list now, which means they will only have to wait a year to get in. It is because of the over-provision."

John Elvin, secretary of Merchants of Edinburgh Golf Club, is equally pessimistic. He said: "Golf isn’t perceived as cool. Almost universally in the east of Scotland, we have suffered a drop in the waiting lists."

Scotland now boasts 630 golf courses for 250,000 registered golfers - the highest per capita rate in the world.

Last month, a further indication of the scale of the crisis facing Scottish golf came when the £4.5 million Scottish National Golf Centre at Drumoig near St Andrews went into formal receivership.

The centre, opened in 1999, had lost more than £1 million and failed to attract sufficient customers.