Major Scottish City to Lose Municipal Golf Courses

Following months of uncertainty, it has now been confirmed that Scotland's fourth largest city, Dundee, will be left without municipal golf in 2025 after local councillors voted to approve the closure of Caird Park.

Leisure and Culture Dundee - in an effort to save £500,000 each year - had unveiled plans to close several local attractions, including the 18-hole and 9-hole layouts at Caird Park, but public opposition was subsequently voiced in a widespread consultation.

Despite that, when presented with several options, a majority (15 votes to 13) backed the motion of deputy Lord Provost Kevin Cordell to shut Caird Park with a final decision on other local facilities (specifically Broughty Castle) to be deferred.

Coming little over five years since the other municipal venue in Dundee, Camperdown, was closed, the golf courses at Caird Park will cease to operate from 30th April 2025.

Addressing the meeting, Caird Park Golf Club captain, Ian Gordon, called on councillors to consider other options, and said: "Dundee is the fourth largest city in Scotland and it could be left without a municipal golf course - that is disgraceful.

"If it closes, it will have a detrimental effect on the community and jobs will be lost."

Local paper, The Courier, which first reported this story, has received a slew of comments on the subject, but one stood out above the rest, from a Charles Allison, who wrote: "The other three (major) cities in Scotland have four, six and eleven municipal golf courses. Dundee will now have none. That is quite a shocking comparison. Why should this have happened? Obviously this generation of councillors do not appreciate the Scottish-originated sport, played here for hundreds of years.

"Golf is a lifetime game which keeps the older golfer exercising and while his shots may become shorter it probably extends his/her active life. Youngsters taking up the game probably keep out of other trouble as it's a sport where high standards of rule-keeping are required. Build character.

"And not everyone can afford private members clubs or even green fees at these courses. Municipal golf is an integral part of our oldest national game. Dundee council has made a big mistake here which it should reconsider. Perhaps they should also have discussions with a nearby golfing authority who launched a youngsters' golf initiative in Glasgow recently.

"I looked at the Caird Park green fees and subscriptions charged and certainly the players are not being given something for nothing. But for many this will be a huge loss of amenity. I am pretty certain that elsewhere in the town's spending there are projects of far less health and personal social benefit to those who participate."

Golfshake's Derek Clements recently addressed the importance of municipal golf courses, but in a city of 150,000 inhabitants, located just 13 miles from both St Andrews and Carnoustie, that option will soon no longer exist in Dundee. As recently as 2021, Caird Park had to introduce a membership cap due to the boom amid the pandemic, but such potential has not been recognised by local politicians.

It's a sad day for local golfers in the city and those who would benefit from such a facility in the future, and is yet another blow for public golf.