When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020 and March saw Scotland go into lockdown, golf clubs across the country including at Loch Lomond Golf Club in Argyll and Bute, were forced to close their doors not knowing when they would reopen again.
As the economic reality of the pandemic began to become apparent, there were real concerns at golf clubs all over the country that membership income could dry up, with the clubs having to pay various overheads. For some, there were even fears there would not be clubs to return to.
For Loch Lomond Golf Club, based in one of the UK’s wettest areas in Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the pandemic could not have come at a more disruptive time. In February, the club was in the midst of a £7.5 million redevelopment programme, which began in the winter of 2017-18 and by next spring would have seen the course rebuild all eighteen of its holes, install a new irrigation system, re-grass its fairways and rebuild its bunkers. A full-scale improvement programme of its drainage infrastructure also formed part of that work.
Bill Donald is the director of Loch Lomond Golf Club, one of the world’s finest private members clubs located in Argyll & Bute, on the shore of Loch Lomond in Dunbartonshire, Scotland.
Speaking prior to the Covid-19 lockdown with the Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s Matthew O’Neill, club director Bill Donald said: “The redevelopment is a major project. We have been carrying it out over three years but that will not be all. We have a three-five-and-ten-year plan in place to continue to develop the club’s facilities and get up to that next level.”
The pandemic will have certainly ground these plans to a halt while raising a whole host of other concerns, but the golf club has been able to count on the not only the support of government initiatives such as the furlough scheme, have been a huge help for golf clubs looking to make it through the crisis, but also the support of its members throughout, having reached its membership capacity in 2019.
Donald said: “The club’s membership bought out the ownership of the club eight years ago, and we have since reached full membership capacity last year.
“We view our members and our staff as stakeholders of the club rather than merely consumers or employees, respectively. As senior management staff in the day-to-day running of the club, we like to be seen as being visible and approachable for staff and members, because they have an attachment to the club and they need to know that they have a say in making their experience better.
“Furthermore, I enjoy the challenge of engaging with members, letting them become involved in how things are run and keeping them updated as to what is going on.”
Golf courses in Scotland were given permission to reopen by first minister Nicola Sturgeon shortly after a major easing of lockdown restrictions revealed on May 28.
With golf courses across the UK seeing a surge in demand since being allowed to reopen with applications for new memberships on the rise, the route forward for clubs looks much rosier than at the height of the pandemic, and one hopes that for Loch Lomond, its redevelopment plans will be able to proceed with earnest.
Yet, in the short-term, the industry still has much to contend with in the wake of Covid-19, with safety a paramount concern due to the simple fact that members of many golf clubs are over the age of 65.
A number of Scottish golf club chiefs wrote to the first minister in late May, urging Holyrood to introduce a Covid-19 quality assurance scheme to reassure members and tourists that playing will be safe.
The letter reads: "The return of golf is welcome but does little or nothing for tourism – apart from further the growing frustration amongst both players and businesses.
"We understand the furlough scheme is not to be extended but many of us will have no income all summer and will not be in a position to survive the winter.
"As far as business rates are convened, we would ask for a significant extension to rates relief, possibly up to five years for those in the market now.
"We would urge you to develop a post-Covid-19 Quality Assurance Scheme which is consumer friendly and allows businesses in our sector to reassure their customers about the steps that have been taken to protect them. We note that this has already been done in the USA and the EU allowing businesses to open and rebuild after lockdown."
Since the writing of the letter, the industry has been boosted by the Scottish government's approval of the quarantine exemption list recently published by the UK government, with the exclusion of Spain and Serbia.
