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A rapid decline in membership, poor marketing and an over-saturation of clubs in the local area has been blamed for the probable closure of a much-loved English club.

It is understood that the doors of Canwick Park Golf Club, on the outskirts of Lincoln, could be shut in two to three weeks.

The club currently pays its landowners £25,000 a year to rent the land, but are now struggling to break even and are now running at a loss, largely down to fall in membership of more than 50% over the past 15 years.

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“We’re in dire straits,” member Jack Sirrell told bunkered.co.uk. “When I moved to the area 15 years ago, the club had between 400 and 500 members, with an A Team, B Team, C Team, Senior Team and Junior Team.

“Now, we can barely get one team together and we only have around 180 members – only two of which are juniors.”

Sirrell believes the current golfing climate has been a huge factor behind the rapid decline in membership, as well as the number of clubs in the area, with nine clubs within a 40-minute drive of the city.

However, he believes that where the club hasn’t helped itself is how it has marketed itself, with Canwick Park barely featuring on social media. Its Facebook page and website is updated sporadically, while the club hasn’t tweeted in more than two years.

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“There was an article in our local paper and a lot of people commented on social media to say that they thought it was only a place for members and that they didn’t realise that they could pay and play and that the clubhouse was open to all,” he added.

“That just shows how little we’ve pushed ourselves to the wider public.”

Sirrell hopes raising awareness about the club’s plight can result in a last-ditch attempt to change its fortunes.

A Crowdfunder page has been set-up, although Sirrell isn’t confident about the impact it will have, while he his hoping an EGM gets called in the coming days to address the club’s bleak situation.