Scottish Golf urged to show leadership for clubs affected by coronavirus shutdown

Scottish Golf has been urged to show “leadership” as affiliated clubs start to see people either cancelling or suspending memberships.

The plea was made by Uphall Golf Club treasurer Bill Mackintosh as he admitted to feeling “trepidation” about the

West Lothian club’s upcoming monthly direct debit report.

Scottish Golf issued daily updates last week after the closure of courses following government guidelines on the coronavirus outbreak.

They included advice from both the UK government and Scottish Government, as well as information that had been provided by the R&A and greenkeeping body BIGGA.

However, along with other club officials around the country, Mackintosh says he would like to see the governing body stepping up in these worrying times for golf clubs.

“We don’t know what has happened to Scottish Golf’s development officers while we have been reading recently about people leaving (development director Ross Duncan and head of operations Louise Burke).

“Even if they came out and said, we are working on a strategy for survival.”

While some clubs are entitled to a £25,000 one-off government grant, it is feared a numberofclubswillnotnotbe able to survive the shutdown.

“We are getting some

requests for membership cancellations, but not many so far,” added Mackintosh. “One lady wrote to us and said: Is the golf club doing what gyms are doing?

“I’m a member at the David Lloyd Club at Corstorphine andtheywrotealmoststraight away saying they would not be taking any direct debits for the time being.

“But they can get their costs down really low. They shut the place up, furlough all the staff and save on all their energy costs. They can squeeze that right down, but a golf club can’t do that.

“Our golf club has done that the best we can. We’ve got working documents which

are to do with how we can run on less greenstaff if the government come out and say they are no longer key workers.

“We’ve looked at our finances, though we are waiting with trepidation on our monthly direct debit report to see who has cancelled. That is due over the next couple of days.

“Have they cancelled permanently? Have they just suspended it due to having other priorities?

“Scottish Golf used to provide good business advice.

“We are fortunate at Uphall, My background is finance, we have [ club pro] Gordon [Law] with all his experience and we have a good balance on a small committee. Other golf courses

might be more ‘lay people’. People who are great at fixing or organising things, but don’t have any financial acumen and don’t know where to go for help.

“That sort of stuff from Scottish Golf would be helpful. It’s leadership we are looking for. That would be appreciated by some more than others.

“Some clubs will feel they have it absolutely under control. The clubs I fear for most other than the really small ones are the ones that rely heavily on visitor income.

“They’ve got big structures and great structures in place at these clubs but, all of a sudden the cancellations will be wholesale from America.”