Scots clubs facing difficult year as thousands of members expected to opt out

Mike Aitken, The Scotsman, 27 February 2009

Thousands of golfers in Scotland will decide not to renew their memberships with clubs this year, leaving a number of clubs facing serious financial difficulties. The Scottish Golf Union, the governing body for the amateur game, has already made three budget cuts in its own finances since October of more than £100,000 and identified support for the country's ailing clubs as a top priority.

With more golf courses per head of population than any other country in the world – approximately one for every 9,000 inhabitants – Scotland's clubs are particularly vulnerable in a severe economic downturn. It's feared golf club membership in the game's home could fall by between 6,000 and 10,000 golfers this year when figures are finalised next month.

Hamish Grey, chief executive of the SGU, said: "If you go back 15 years, there was a 20 per cent rise in the number of courses in Scotland. So capacity grew and that wasn't a bad thing because it had become hard to get into golf clubs. Membership then grew by nearly 5 per cent. What's happened in the last two years shows a drop and we're predicting a (decline]. At this time we don't have all the information, but I think we're going to lose more than 6,000.

"When there's pressure on discretionary spending, golf clubs are no different from any other expense. Ideally, we don't want to lose anyone, but some clubs are under pressure. Thankfully, people rally round and clubs usually find a way to manage."

As far as expenditure is concerned, the SGU won't know until next month the exact figures on declining membership and how their own income will be affected by that drop when each adult male club member pays £7 to the union.

The one area where the SGU is spending more cash is on support for struggling clubs. A Scottish golf week is being launched in April after the Masters to get across the message there are many clubs with membership vacancies. "There are plenty of good examples of clubs turning themselves around in this situation," said Grey.

What's certain is SGU income will fall from the £2.1million brought in last year, when club members paid nearly £1.3million in subscriptions. With golfers who have been members of two or three clubs in past years also reducing their involvement to a single subscription, it is possible the Scottish club scene, which previously numbered around 194,000 members, will be even more badly affected in the downturn than the rest of the United Kingdom.

Visitor golf is a significant aspect of income in terms of green fees at most clubs and the SGU has been working closely with the Scottish government to boost golf tourism this year. "Our golf clubs gave up 2,200 free tee times to overseas visitors and they were snapped up in five days," reported Grey. "Given how much every golf visitor spends on average here, this is worth around £15million to the Scottish economy and £2.5million to golf clubs."

First Minister Alex Salmond, himself a keen golfer, has been helping to drive the campaign. "Everybody knows times are tough," he said. "This is something we should have done earlier. I don't think we are anywhere near saturation point as new markets open up."