The municipal courses are becoming a really important problem in Scotland.
Public courses are managed by entities that over time have gone from the simple municipality to the current local councils that, in their assets to manage, also include one or more golf courses (find a map to locate them here).
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Scotland, golf
This, at a time when the administrators who lead the various councils find themselves having to make budget cuts, means that they too are exposed to the risk of seeing their funds cut.
In recent years, not a week has gone by without an announcement of the upcoming closure of a course (this essentially translates to a cut in funding), which was immediately counterbalanced by the birth of signature collections (and/or funds) aimed at avoiding the loss not only of a recreational activity, but also of a meeting place (often public courses live thanks to the volunteer work of citizens of the municipality) and a piece of history.
Some collections have, unfortunately, not been successful, while others have been, also thanks to the support received from professionals who play on the various Tours.
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An example of this comes from a recent case, that of the Dalmuir Golf Club which, managed by the West Dunbartonshire Council, risked, for the second time in two years, having to close its doors.
But, for the second time, a signature collection saved it.
And this time some signatures were "heavy": Justin Rose, Bob MacIntyre and Bryson DeChambeau (yes, him).
As evidence of how much this problem is felt, an important piece of news arrived from the Scottish Tourism Golf Week held last week in Aberdeen.
Every year the event assigns Awards to different categories that allow us to take a snapshot of the situation of golf tourism in the cradle of our sport.
Well, from 2026 the picture will be more detailed, because a new Award (Best Public or Community-Owned Gofl Course) will reward the efforts to keep these realities alive, given that, as we know, in Scotland golf governing bodies and tourism boards collaborate closely, which means, simply, the possibility of accessing contributions and funds.
