Amid fear of more closures, how one Scottish golf club has secured its future

Caird Park, the last remaining public course in Dundee, has now been recommended for closure by the council in Scotland’s fourth-largest city and it remains to be seen if an unnamed golf management company that has come up with an ambitious proposal can save it beyond next April.

All of which has made a recent development at Winterfield in Dunbar very refreshing indeed because it is about to embark on an exciting new chapter in its history by taking control of the day-to-day running of the East Lothian club.

Under a new 40-year lease, the club is set to take over full operational control of Winterfield, including St Margaret’s Clubhouse, on 1 April 2025 from East Lothian Council and EnjoyLeisure, a charitable trust that manages sports and leisure facilities in East Lothian.

At a recent EGM, members voted overwhelmingly - 321 were in favour and only eight against - in support of the proposed step and one of the club’s longest-serving members in a total of around 500 has spoken about the excitement it has created. “It is good for the club, absolutely,” Alex Coull, who joined when he was eight and turns 66 next month, told Scotland on Sunday.

Winterfield has been managed along with Musselburgh Old by EnjoyLeisure, meaning money generated went into its coffers, while council cutbacks around the country had started to raise alarm bells within the club’s membership.

“Just over two years ago we started to think, the situation councils are in, they were not spending any money on the club and they were cutting back what they were spending on the course,” William Daisley, the men’s club captain, told bunkered.co.uk.

“Our greenkeepers worked for the council. We had no control of what our greenkeepers did on the course. We could ask but if they didn’t want to, they didn’t. Some of the problem was they couldn’t do it because the council wasn’t giving them any money to spend on the course.

“If they’re not spending money…you hear about swimming pools and various other things getting closed down. We started to think ‘can we do this?'”

Out of the blue, The Hirsel in Coldstream closed its doors overnight in September after a decision was taken to file for bankruptcy while Torrance Park in Motherwell then went out of business shortly afterwards. Prestwick St Cuthbert is trying to raise £70,000 to stave off the threat of it being added to that list, but, in contrast, the future is suddenly looking very bright indeed for Winterfield.

“The course and the building have kind of stagnated simply because of the crisis of funding of councils and, having worked for East Lothian Council for 47 years, I am well aware of the problems that are inherent in being a local authority,” added Coull, the club secretary.

“East Lothian Council were happy they could get an agreement with us through a Community Asset Transfer (CAT) and basically what they are doing with that is they are transferring over the responsibility to look after and maintain and spend money on the golf course and the building.

“We have managed to secure a 40-year lease, so this gives us opportunities to go for grants etc and to try and pacify the golf club, for want of a better expression, they have taken on and done a building condition survey with what I would call to my old colleagues above average prices with costs etc.

“It is pushing £800,000-£900,000 at current rates for what is needing to be spent in the next ten years. What they did was they came up with a rate for the building and a rate for the golf course and that came to a combined £30,000 per year and they have said they will give us a ten-year rent free period and the caveat is that the £30,000 is spent on the building with a sum being allocated in our five-year plan for work on the course.”

That is great news and not just for the members because Winterfield has always proved popular with visitors. It starts with a beast of a par 3 before ending with an equally-testing short par 4, with some of the holes in between, especially on the back nine, being crackers as well.

“It’s a fun course to play,” said Coull and he should know. “We have always had the negativity of people looking at the first hole and thinking that it should be a par 4. But, for example, when we have the East of Scotland Alliance here, they thoroughly enjoy it.”

Fair play to East Lothian Council for allowing Winterfield to survive for at least the next 40 years. “We have every confidence in their ability to ensure this wonderful course is an asset for the community for years to come,” said Councillor Colin McGinn, the council’s Cabinet Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing and Sport, Countryside and Leisure.

It’s a pity that the same can’t be guaranteed for Caird Park and who knows what lies ahead for other municipal courses around the country over the next few years.