Scottish venue closes for four weeks due to pressure on new greens

The world’s ‘best new golf course’, Dumbarnie Links, has closed for four weeks due to extreme pressure on the young fescue grasses on its greens.

The Scottish venue opened in May 2020 to widespread acclaim, and has already won several awards, including ‘Best New Golf Course’ at the 2021 World Golf Awards and Scotland’s ‘Best Golf Experience’ at the Scottish Golf Tourism Awards, and has hosted the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open, also receiving extensive praise.

However, with unseasonably cold and windy weather in the last six weeks, the relatively new greens have come under pressure and the venue has felt the best solution is to stop play on them until the end of May.

David Scott, general manager at the Fife facility, posted on Facebook: “Since opening in mid-March we have experienced unseasonably cold weather and with winds coming straight off the North Sea, this has put the young fescue grasses on our greens under extreme pressure. The warmer forecasts over the last couple of weeks did not materialise and so resulted in no growth, hence the poor and unacceptable surfaces we presently have.

The club’s post on Facebook

“As we have been open for less than two years, we do not have the luxury of having many years of growth behind us to counter the unexpected poor weather conditions.

“After serious discussions and considerations, it has been decided to temporarily close our course until the end of May to allow the greens to fully recover and be ready to welcome our guests back for the summer months.

“It is very important to us that our guests receive the ‘total Dumbarnie experience’ which includes a golf course in prime condition.

“The good news is that the weather forecast shows that warmer weather is approaching and this will promote growth and recovery of our greens.

“This was a very difficult decision for us to make and one that was not taken lightly.

“Although we appreciate the disappointment to those guests who were expecting to play our links in May, we feel sure you will understand our reasons for the temporary closure and very much look forward to giving you a warm welcome back in June with the opportunity to enjoy our links experience for the rest of the summer.”