‘Cautious optimism’ for long-term future of ‘Scotland’s Augusta’

The owners of Letham Grange Golf Club have handed members and staff at the club a boost after providing another ‘Licence to Occupy’ for the 2019 season.

The news was revealed by the club’s captain, Malcolm Turner, at its AGM earlier this week, meaning all membership subscriptions and visitor fees will kept by the members to run the two courses and the golf club throughout the year.

The club, which is located to the north of Arbroath, had been involved in a 15-year legal wrangling over its ownership that was finally resolved in early 2018.

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It has operated under a ‘Licence to Occupy’ on a year-by-year basis since 2011, which was when the on-site hotel closed its doors. In that time, the club has maintained and operated the courses itself.

However, with the owners pledging money to make improvements to the hotel building, while also loaning the club five pieces of machinery to maintain the course, there is hope among members that the long-term future of Letham Grange can be secured.

“The members and contractors working on the two courses have got better reasons than in the last eight years to have cautious optimism about the future,” club secretary Bruce Currie told bunkered.co.uk.

“The new owners have made the main hotel building roof watertight and, with their loan of five mowers, have eased the availability of grass cutting machinery and directly helped the finances of the golf club substantially.

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“With our ‘Licence to Occupy’ for 2019, this will give the owners breathing space to bring forward their detailed plans for the future. At the present time these plans are not yet clear as they are ‘work in progress’.

“Will the ‘Augusta of Scotland’ be reborn? Only time will tell, but the situation is looking a lot brighter.”