Club pros feeling the pinch as late winter blast plays havoc with golf

● Some takings down from £4000 last year to £100 as members are off course

0 Above: the snow-covered fairways of Carnoustie links and main picture, the flooding of the famous Barry Burn when the snow finally melted away this week. Club professionals in Scotland are suffering their toughest time at the till in the past 25 years due to courses being covered by a blanket of snow on more than one occasion this year and now being hit by flooding.

Very few clubs have escaped Mother Nature’s cold grip this time around and even the links courses that sometimes aren’t affected by winter weather have been just as badly hit as inland venues.

Carnoustie, which hosts this year’s Open Championship, has been closed on eight days since 1 January while Gullane was also turned into a winter wonderland by the “Beast from the East” as it prepares to host a Scottish Open doubleheader this summer.

The lack of footfall has been a massive blow for clubs, with the professional at one of the leading venues in the country revealing he had taken less than £100 in his till in the first week of March compared to £4,000 last year.

“Yes, this has been a bad winter,” admitted Blairgowrie PGA pro Charles Dernie. “I’m in my 21st year here and up to now the worst winter was 2010, when we were off the courses for nearly 12 weeks. But the last time we were on full greens was 10 November, so that’s now about 16 weeks!

“It’s not normally so bad. Indeed, last year we played most of the winter. Business was okay up to Christmas but since then it’s been pretty grim – not that we are ever “busy” in winter. It is starting to hit hard now, though. In the first week of March last year, the shop brought in 4K – so far this month £97!

“We have under-cover teaching on our range which helps but, in the current weather, many of our members aren’t keen to travel. Obviously we are hoping this is nearly the end of it, but it was still snowing here yesterday.”

Sandy Smith, the professional at Ladybank, described the past four months as the “worst I’ve encountered in 25 years” while two Borders-based professionals agreed that the recent weather is proving a massive headache.

“The snow has been very frustrating this winter, particularly as it’s come so late in the season – it’s meant to be spring now!” said Craig Montgomerie, director of golf at The Roxburghe Golf Club, which is located between Kelso and Jedburgh.

“Lessons being cancelled, lack of footfall through the shop, frustrated members etc. It’s also bad timing as we are trying to promote our membership throughout March. Our membership year runs from 1 April and the weather is not helping this. Also, current members have just received renewals and, with all this cold weather, hopefully it doesn’t create a feeling of doubt about renewing.

“Another worry is the new stock for the shop is starting to arrive and, with a golf course that’s currently unplayable, that creates a feeling of panic!”

Concurring, Daniel Wood, the professional at The Hirsel on the outskirts of Coldstream, added: “It is seriously tough at the moment, especially in a rural area that is already quiet in the winter.

“I lost 12 lessons last week and more this week. Although most are pre-paid, it means taking up more time further into the season. We’ve been working hard on Facebook and ebay to create shop sales.”

The weather, incidentally, has forced Carnoustie to be closed more so far this year than a similarly bad start to the year in 2010. The rainfall on the course in January was 61.6ml, another 20.2ml fell in February and head greenkeeper Craig Boath posted a picture on social media on Tuesday of the Barry Burn being close to bursting its banks after snow that had fallen on the course last week melted. Tiger Woods believes experience can be his trump card when he bids to claim a fifth Masters victory next month – and he reckons fellow “veterans” Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer can also be contenders at Augusta National for the same reason.

Woods resumes his preparation for the season’s opening major by joining Rory Mcilroy in making a first appearance in this week’s PGA Tour event, the Valspar Championship on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook in Florida.

The 14-time major winner handed himself a massive confidence boost by finishing 12th in the Honda Classic – just his third official event since returning late last year following fusion surgery on his back – and is now aiming to gain some more momentum for the Masters.

“The favourites are guys who have always done well there,” replied Woods to being asked if someone like Jordan Spieth, the 2015 winner and runner-up either side of that victory, was likely to be the player to beat at Augusta National.

“Jordan has always done well there, but I’m not going to put it out of the realm that if, Freddie [Couples, the 1992 winner) feels good, he is still in the mix. Bernhard[langer]isstillin the mix. Phil [Mickelson], myself, Bubba [Watson]. There are a few others who do well almost every year.

“We just know how to play the golf course. It gets us. There’s definitely going to be some of the young guys up there with a chance or playing really well, but Augusta is one of those courses that also favours the vets. It’s a hard golf course; it’s a hard test over four days.”

Having made only one Masters appearance since finishing fourth in 2013, Woods intends paying a visit to Augusta National before the event itself. “I know there have been no changes as far as the design goes, but I think they have resurfaced some of the greens and I will see if the breaks match my book,” he added. “I also need to get used to putting on bent [grass] as that’s going to be a little bit different.”