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The fight to protect Scotland’s municipal golf courses has received fresh impetus with news of a new category for the 2026 Scottish Golf Tourism Awards.

Beginning next year, the prestigious event, which brings the curtain down on Scottish Golf Tourism Week, will include an award for the “Best Public or Community-Owned Golf Course” in Scotland.

The announcement was made by bunkered’s Head of Content Michael McEwan at the 2025 awards ceremony, staged last night at P&J Live in Aberdeen in association with Luxe Scot.

The news comes hot on the heels of West Dunbartonshire Council’s decision to withdraw funding for Dalmuir Golf Course. Unless a community asset transfer can be negotiated, the Clydebank course – at one time, one of the busiest golf courses in Europe – will be lost for good.

Next month, meanwhile, Dundee City Council will bring down the shutters on the two courses it operates at Caird Park – a move that will leave Scotland’s fourth largest city, the city closest geographically to St Andrews, without any public golf provision.

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They will join the likes of Ruchill, Linn Park and Alexandra Park in Glasgow in being consigned to golf history.

In a speech announcing the news – which was warmly received by the 500-plus attendees in the room – McEwan spoke of a “deeply worrying trend”.

“If you take these courses away, you risk making golf inaccessible to a significant proportion of the population,” he said.

“You risk making it everything that so many people are trying so very hard to prevent golf from becoming: the exclusive preserve of those with ‘means’.

“The idea that anybody, young kids in particular, might be priced out of an introduction to the sport troubles me greatly.

“The Best Public or Community-Owned Golf Course will shine a spotlight on these essential parts of the golf ecosystem and position our much-loved munis right where they deserve to be: shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the industry.”

Elsewhere, Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Durness and Moray Golf Club were amongst the winners at the 2025 awards bash, hosted by BBC Sport broadcaster Jason Mohammad.

See the full list of winners below…