‘Too many clubs have officers’ mess rules...’

Lack of ambition and foresight, officers’ mess-type rules being imposed in clubhouses and golfers being treated like cash cows who are meaningless once they have stumped up their subscription.

Just a few of the reasons why Scottish golf clubs have lost around 50,000 members over the past decade, according to grass-roots golfers getting involved in the ‘Scottish golf at a crossroads’ debate in The Scotsman this week.

“The squeezed middle is the issue here,” said Bryan O’malley of the category made up of golfers with families who can’t play during the week. “I love the game but do have to question the value of club membership when the course is unplayable for approximately a third of the year.”

David Begg, the former BBC Radio Scotland football commentator and one-time Open Championship press officer, also reckons Mother Nature is impacting the game in a big way. “Given the weather, pay and play is the way ahead for the marginal golfer,” he said. “Many older friends now join a non-course owning club for around £100 and then play about 60 fantastic senior opens for around £12-£15.”

He also reckons certain facilities are geared up better for the modern-day golfer. “Kingsfield (on the outskirts of Linlithgow) is a great set up,” he added. “Superb practice/teaching facilities, adequate catering without crazy overheads, and an improving course. Definitely the way forward.”

Clark Black echoed comments from David Roy, the club manager at Crail Golfing Society, about clubs losing out on valuable business from big companies. “Having run a golf society, working practices have changed and time off is more difficult,” he said. “Interest in societies has reduced over the years.”

Commenting on scotsman.com, Golfminder wrote: “The sooner that the demise of the weakest clubs is accepted the better. Fewer, stronger clubs with the dinosaurshopefully falling by the wayside.”

0 David Begg: Kingsfield fan.

Lots of clubs are living in the past, according to The Ayrshire Bard. “I have visited too many clubs over the years where the committees are largely composed of retired Army or RAF officers who have imposed the rules of the officers’ mess upon the clubs,” he said.

“I am also a bowler and am very aware that many clubs are thriving because of a huge influx of lady members over the years. The world has moved on, but too many golf clubs are hanging onto the past.”

Concurring, Mark Alexander, pictured left, said: “Clubs for too long have remained stagnant, paralysed by committees dominated by older members and short-sighted by limited two-year tenures. Fearful of change, clubs have lacked ambition and foresight. Time for serious change!”

Colin Scully has stopped paying more than £1,000 per year to play at one of the leading clubs in Glasgow. “I’ve joined a cheaper course closer to where I now live,” he said. “Let’s hope this one treats its existing members a bit better and doesn’t just look at them as cash cows who are meaningless once their money is in.”

Graeme Gibson reckons some clubs have only themselves to blame. “Quite frankly clubs are getting into a mess offering discounts like confetti ultimately at the cost of full members who paid a joining fee and are regularly ripped off then ignored!” he said. Rory Mcilroy insists his much-criticised putting is good enough to secure a first Masters title and complete a career Grand Slam.

Mcilroy was ranked a lowly 140th in strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour last year and suffered an embarrassing five-putt during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am earlier this month.

However, the former world No 1 is confident he has what it takes to triumph at Augusta National and become just the sixth player to have won all four major titles.

“At Augusta you don’t need to putt great, you need to not waste any shots, no three putts, hole everythinginsidefivefeet,”mcilroy told BBC Sport Northern Ireland. “I feel good about Augusta, I know the golf course so well.

“You don’t need to hole every 15 footer that you look at, you need to be efficient, just not to be wasteful. Speed is important and lag putting, they are big keys and I feel like I’ve started to get a lot better at that, especially there because there is a lot of break and a lot of different slopes but I think I have it figured out.”

The 28-year-old is sitting out this week’s Wgc-mexico Championship, which sees European No 1 Tommy Fleetwood aiming to continue a superb start to the 2018 season. The 27-yearold was a 200-1 outsider when he finished second at Chapultepec GC behind world No 1 Dustin Johnson 12 months ago, but is rated just a 16-1 chance to go one better this year.

“The year’s been great so far,” said the Englishman. “It was important, after having such a good year, to keep going, just like [Honda Classic winner] Justin Thomas has done this year.

“He just keeps progressing and that’s what you hope to do and what you’ve kind of got to do. So far so good, but you can never take your foot off the gas, you have to keep going.”

The event in Mexico doesn’t feature a single Scot, but both Scott Jamieson and David Drysdale will be hoping to get in the mix in the Tshwane Open, this week’s European Tour event in South Africa.