Decision looms on closure of popular Scottish golf courses

Another Scottish golf club popular with visitors is on the chopping block next week.

Following the recent closures of Hirsel and Torrance Park, other courses are facing precarious futures in an uphill battle for survival.

And not many courses have faced as much uncertainty in the past 12 months as the nine-hole and 18-hole municipal tracks at Caird Park in Dundee.

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Caird Park’s courses were spared from closure in February after proposals to close the last remaining municipal layouts in Scotland’s fourth biggest city were put on hold.

However, as reported by The Courier, the course now faces the axe once more as part of plans for the Dundee council to save up to £500,000 each year.

Dundee’s Leisure and Culture chiefs are looking to shut the courses, as well as Broughty Castle Museum and Mills Observatory in a radical cost cutting exercise.

As of March 2024, there was an average of 1,188 members at Caird Park during the year, and there were 7,584 nine-hole and 28,798 18-hole rounds played in 2023/24.

Yet rising costs and falling visitor numbers have been identified as reasons for the closure. Currently, each round played at Caird Park is being subsidised to the tune of £9.10.

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But following a public consultation of 598 people on Caird Park, 82% said the course closures would have a negative impact on them.

To prevent the closures, members have insisted on alternatives such as increasing green fees and membership, reducing opening times, increasing visitors through classes and coaching, or just closing one of the two courses.

However, in a stark warning, council officers claim that Caird Park fees would need to rise by 250% just for the courses to breakeven.

And the officers appear convinced that there is no viable solution to make inroads on that deficit.

The results of the public consultation will go before a governance meeting on Monday, with council officers expected to recommend two of the three venues to close their doors.

It means that Caird Park, which first opened in 1920, could cease operation from April 30, 2025.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.