Third Scottish golf club in three weeks closes down

A municipal golf club in Glasgow has become the third golfing facility in Scotland to close down in the last three weeks.

Ruchill Golf Course’s operator, Glasgow Life, says the closure will be ‘temporary’ but ‘unavoidable’ due to ‘a lack of staff’.

Recently we reported on the news that Glasgow City Council has said it is seeking views on six golf courses, including Ruchill, ‘due to low usage and a substantial annual deficit’, raising fears that they might close down.

Options being considered include reducing fees, restricting opening hours or scrapping the courses.

According to GlasgowLive, John McDermott went to play the course but found its gates locked.

“It is claimed to be a temporary closure but the greens have perished and there is no way that course can be played again without investment,” he said.

“The course looked well laid out, had good views and could be attractive but it’s been abandoned and gone to ruin. A disappointing loss of facilities for Glaswegians.

“It’s my opinion this is a permanent closure, done surreptitiously.”

The course was reopened in 2009 by Colin Montgomerie.

A Glasgow Life spokeswoman said: “The closure of Ruchill golf course has been unavoidable. Due to the loss of seasonal staff recruited specifically for summer, and a large number of vacancies across the Glasgow Sport estate, we have been presented with operational challenges with regard to minimum staffing numbers which were insurmountable.

“We looked at usage figures across our outdoor venues and, as Ruchill was the least used in recent months, we made the decision to relocate existing staff to other venues to ensure only one course is closed.”

The organisation says it has undertaken a “significant recruitment drive” to address some of the staffing issues.

“Those staff – and the next wave of recruitment – will help to us minimise service disruption.”

In August Mount Ellen Golf Club in Lanarkshire closed down and Camperdown Golf Course in Dundee announced it will close down next year. Earlier this year the 126-year-old Eastwood Golf Club on the outskirts of Glasgow also closed down, and so did Brunston Castle in Ayrshire.