The Council recognises the wonderful assets we have in our Golf Courses. We want to ensure that:
- Golf is friendly and welcoming to all;
- Everyone who plays on our courses has an enjoyable experience;
- We enhance the visitor economy by attracting visitors to South Ayrshire who are keen to enjoy playing on our beautiful courses;
- We support the development of golf, in particular the junior and female progression in the sport, to ensure golf is accessible to all; and
- We present our golf courses and clubhouses to a consistently high standard and use environmentally sustainable practices
The Council has established a Member/Officer working group to develop the Council’s Strategy for Golf. This group has met on three occasions with a further two meetings scheduled during May. Considerable discussion has taken place regarding representations from local Golf Clubs playing competitions over the public courses and responses which were provided to both Golf Clubs and individuals contacting Golf South Ayrshire through our “Listening to you” customer service and directly to Elected Members. A Frequently Asked Questions document has been posted on our website which addresses the points raised and provides a clear, honest and transparent response.
It was agreed at the last meeting that Officers would monitor current arrangements for tee time booking, visitor use of available tee times and the present 10 minute tee time interval in relation to the changing Government protection levels. This will happen over April and May and an analysis of this will be presented to the Member/Officer Working Group at the end of May.
A proposed “Future Operating Model” for golf was tabled for discussion at the last meeting on Friday 30th April. It was agreed that a more detailed course by course analysis should be developed and a draft Strategy presented to Leadership Panel for consideration in June 2021. If the draft Strategy is approved by Leadership Panel we would then enter into full public consultation with a final Strategy presented to a meeting of the full Council towards the end of 2021.
We understand that some golfers are keen to be involved in the development of golf in South Ayrshire and we welcome this. However we would ask for your patience during this time to allow us to monitor the impact of the current arrangements and request that, should you require to communicate with staff in the golf service, that you do so respectfully.