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A huge blaze has destroyed the clubhouse at Charleton Golf Club in Fife.

Emergency services were called to the scene shortly before 2am this morning but, despite their best efforts, the building could not be saved.

Club manager Andrew Paterson told the Daily Record that priceless memorabilia and other artefacts have been lost in the fire.

“I got a phone call at 2am from one of our members and he said I had better get up there because the place was ablaze,” he said.

“So I came up and the place is gone. All our history is gone.”

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Like every other club in Scotland, Charleton’s course only reopened following the easing of coronavirus restrictions little over a week ago. Paterson revealed that business had been brisk as the club – opened in 1995 by former US president George Bush Snr – was one of the only clubs in the region to be taking visitors.

“The last seven or eight days has been really busy but now this has happened which is just a disaster,” he added.

“There’s nothing we can do. We’ve just got to try and get on with it. We’re going to try to keep operating.

“I’ve been in touch with Scottish Golf to see if they can supply us with a portakabin because they’re not running any events just now so hopefully they can help us out.

“The golf course itself is intact. We’ve got players on it just now believe it or not. We’ve got CID here and fire investigators so we’ll just have to wait and see what the outcome is.”

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A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 1.48am on Monday, June 8 to reports of a building fire in Colinsburgh, Fife.

“Operations Control mobilised three appliances to the town’s Charleton Golf Club, where firefighters worked through the night to extinguish the fire.

“Crews currently remain on the scene working to eliminate any remaining hotspots. There are no casualties.”

A police probe has already begun to try to establish the cause of the fire.


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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.

Deputy Editor

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