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Millport Golf Club has dismissed reports of golfers stowing away on from ferries to the Isle of Cumbrae in order to play golf.

With a ban on non-essential travel still in place in Scotland, it had been claimed that staff working for CalMac ferries had discovered groups of people hiding away in cars and vans on crossings to the island from Largs.

It was suggested these ‘stowaways’ were looking to get their golf fix on the island’s golf course.

However, Patricia Broadley-Clews, the secretary of the 132-year-old club, dismissed those reports as nonsense.

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“We have carried out regular checks on the course,” she told the Largs & Millport News. “People in Millport diligently obeyed the lockdown rules over a 12-week period. We have around 30 members who live on the island.

“We have rigorously followed all the Scottish Government requirements in opening the golf club for users. We hope that this now all dies down and we can get on with the running of the golf club.”

Club captain Walter Horne added: “It is a story that has grown arms and legs. We have spoken to CalMac who tell us that they didn’t find any golfers hiding in a van when searching vehicles on the way to Cumbrae.

“We don’t know who these people are or where they are or if they ever were on the island – they are ghost golfers.”

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A spokesperson for CalMac ferries corroborated the club’s own findings, saying: “As per Scottish Government guidelines, travel to our islands remains for essential purposes only.

“We have had some occasions when people have tried to gain passage to or from our islands by concealing themselves in vehicles, but not the Millport incident described.”


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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

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