In a saturated start to 2025 that has inspired frustrated golfers to dream of an ark to carry them, two-ball by two-ball to dryer fairways, it has been bad enough turning up to read the “course closed” sign, day after day.
So imagine how those poor souls feel whose golf clubs have recently been shut for good? Because despite all that positivity of the post-Covid boom and of increased participation, layouts are still being put out of business at an alarming, if not unfathomable rate.
And with a white-paper study last year estimating that at least one in six of the country’s 2,500 courses are so distressed that they could face imminent closure, fears are rising that the Government’s mandate to local authorities to identify land on which to build 1.5 million houses in the next five years has helped to create “the perfect storm” that could leave the ancient game reeling.
Developers first circle the layouts on their maps and then encircle both the private and public courses with their enticing offers. Taking up just 0.54 per cent of the GB land mass, golf is only a small part in this escalating duel between concrete and nature, but these are emotive heartlands where history and memories are being bulldozed.
In the last seven years it is estimated that Britain has lost more than 130 courses, some of which were steeped in heritage, others which were mere nine-holers, but all of which provided some sort of recreation and joy.
Already this year, the courses that have either shut or have been earmarked to shut are running into double-figures, with at least three – North Oxford GC, Gatley GC and Enderby GC – making way for new houses.
Petitions have been raised for each and every threatened layout, with the fate of Dalmuir, in Clydebank, attracting the signatures of Ryder Cup players Bob MacIntyre, Justin Rose, Paul McGinley, Paul Lawrie and current Europe captain Luke Donald.
Craig Connelly, Martin Kaymer’s long-time caddie, lives near the municipal course and has been appalled by a process that will now see West Dunbartonshire councillors vote on its future on March 5, just 12 months after the near 100-year facility was granted a reprieve following a campaign featuring Scottish football international, John McGinn.
“They say it’s losing all this money, but it’s just been allowed to run down,” Connelly says. “There are tennis courts that have been left to rot, and a bowling green and a cafe that’s been shut. There has been no investment and no marketing. They are not even trying to make money. It is sickening.”
These are sentiments felt up and down the land. The Dalmuir example is, alas, typical when it comes to clubs owned by cash-strapped councils and the story precedes Labour’s “build, build, build” mantra. Neither is the demise restricted to public courses. Private establishments have also been closed and many remain in grave peril.
Custodian Golf – the limited management company that produced the highly worrying white paper – lists the factors that have precipitated the worrying trend and they are myriad. Inevitably, inflation and soaring energy costs are playing its part, but so, too, depending on the locality, are the prospects of flooding, demographic imbalances, and the threat of litigation (two weeks ago, Holyhead GC was instructed to close its 18th hole, at a cost of £75,000, after a single home-owner complained about balls hitting the property).
“Golf clubs often face the same fate as Ernest Hemingway’s famous quote, ‘gradually, then suddenly’,” Alasdair Rae, Custodian Golf’s head of data, says. “Declining membership, rising costs and environmental challenges might seem manageable – until they’re not. They only realise when it’s too late and at Custodian Golf, it is our mission is to help clubs to step back and see what they need to do to create sustainable, inclusive and engaging golf facilities that adapt to the evolving needs of today’s golfers.
“Our director [and founder] Phil Grice, talks of a revolution being necessary in the industry and the message really needs to be that stark. By closely analysing the data we have collected we initially identified 433 clubs that were in danger without immediate intervention. But clubs have since shut that weren’t even on that list. So I think that number is now 500. It could be one in five clubs on the brink.”
House-building targets placing pressure on councils
Rae acknowledges that the Labour policy – with housing minister Matthew Pennycook vowing to “turbocharge” house building – has added yet more jeopardy to the issue. The reintroduction of compulsory house-building targets for local authorities has inevitably upped the ante, and the developers have been aided by the reform of the National Planning Policy Framework.
In short, it is easier than ever to construct green belt and more straightforward for the Government planning inspectors to wave through projects, even if they have previously been rejected by council planning committees. Gatley Golf Club is a case in point.
The bid by Hollins Strategic Land was rejected by Stockport council as the project would have meant a loss of open green space. Yet after the council was told it must double the number of houses it is building each year, last month the planning inspector overturned the decision on appeal.
It means the 113-year-old nine-hole will make way for almost 300 homes, half of which will be deemed “affordable”. A source confirmed that as a private club, the members each walked away with tens of thousands of pounds. Locals say that the membership was allowed to dwindle and those left actually closed Gatley last year and its state of disrepair – and the costs to return it to its former glory – was noted by the planning inspector as a reason why the gates should stay locked.
Tom Morrison is the local MP and has condemned the decision. “My opposition was multifaceted,” the Liberal Democrat says. “There was stress already on the local roads, there wasn’t a good enough bus service, the GP was completely oversubscribed… it just was not the right scheme at all for that area. In terms of the golf course, and I was surprised this was not brought up in consultation, Gately was relatively cheap compared to other courses in the area and many people wanted to join because of this. I thought it was a real shame.
“When the rejection was appealed, we were confident of winning again, but then the new Government came in and the policy changed and we knew... The planning inspector understood that golf is a growing sport and it was referenced that the members had not behaved the best, but the inspector was like, well, the land supply isn’t there, so we need to approve this.”
Morrison believes this will become a familiar tale, with golf’s tired reputation being used against it. “When I posted on social media about my opposition to the project in Gatley, Krishnan Guru-Murthy [the Channel 4 newsreader] replied with something like, ‘it’s ridiculous we’re putting golf courses over houses’. But that is such a simplified argument, although if you put it to most people ‘golf or houses’, they’d go with houses wouldn’t they?”
I really don't agree. Gatley golf course was an affordable, smaller course which is perfect for those that can't actually afford to play the sport normally. Getting rid of it makes the sport even more out of reach for lower income earners. Also the site is completely impractical.
— Tom Morrison MP (@ThomasMorrison) December 12, 2024
This is the type of evocative reasoning being employed in the battle over Enderby Golf Club, another nine-holer, but one owned by the council in Leicestershire. Blaby District Council has proposed its closure as part of a plan to build 800 homes and an office park.
With full membership priced at £269 per annum and turn-up-and-play green fees for non-members ranging upwards from £10.50, Enderby’s manager Chris D’Araujo refers to it as an “accessible and affordable entry-level” course and reports that it attracts more than 25,000 visitors a year.
“Many people have told me that they will have no other option but to stop playing golf if it closed,” he adds. The fight goes on – a petition has garnered more than 5,000 signatures – but there is a sense of resignation. Blaby District Council has been informed it must build more than 650 houses in the next decade.
“I’m not a golfer,” Morrison says. “But if you want to make the sport even more elite then allow the developers to build on courses. Because it won’t be the rich clubs that go – it’ll be the more humble establishments, particularly where the local authorities are struggling for funds and need to meet the housing demands.”
This is a fine riposte not just to Guru-Murthy but also to The Guardian and MoneyWeek which have both published columns in the last year urging the Government to tarmac the fairways as a crass, fix-all solution.
“Building houses on Britain’s vast, exclusive golf courses makes sense for everyone – even golfers,” was one headline, with the article claiming that “by embracing new ideas”, and selling off their land, they could modernise “the sport’s reputation as an elitist, rich man’s pastime and become celebrated drivers of positive local transformation”.
“I’m not sure how that would work,” Connelly says. “Even if you do turn 18-holers into nine-holers then they’ll get fewer players playing in a day. And the distressed clubs are definitely not the rich ones, which have big waiting lists of wannabe members ready to pay thousands in joining fees and yearly memberships. There are many entry levels in golf nowadays, with driving ranges, simulators and those mini-golf-themed bars. But they need to graduate to the real thing and if there are just houses where cheap courses used to be, then how depressing will that be?”
‘We want golf to be as accessible as possible’
Naturally, the R&A is similarly minded. It has recently appointed a new chief executive in Mark Darbon, the former chief executive of Northampton Saints, who understands that circumstances have converged to place the sport’s post-pandemic upturn in a precarious position.
“A central part of what we as the R&A stand for is to ensure that the game of golf is as open and accessible as possible,” he says. “If there are barriers to entry, it’s hard to ensure that a sport is growing and thriving. I can talk from an individual perspective here. I started playing the game at a public driving range and on a public course.
“If they weren’t available, I’m not sure whether I would have gotten into the sport. We are really empathetic to the challenges that local authorities face on their funding models, but we’d always encourage a really open-minded view of the role that this sport supports local communities.
“We are proud of the strong health benefits golf can bring, across the generations and we will continue to emphasise this. Golf is evolving, female participation is up, as is children’s. It’s an important categorisation – golfers who are engaging with the sport but not on traditional golf courses. Supporting the development and opportunity associated with off-course facilities is a key pillar for growing the game. But of course, the actual courses remain key.”
