Resurgent Stirlingshire club Callander GC welcomed golfers from all over Scotland to the opening of its new clubhouse at the weekend.
On Sunday the club, which is located on the edge of the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, had a Gents Fourball Better Ball Open and a day earlier former Head PGA Pro Allan Martin, who gave several decades of service to the club, officially cut the ribbon on the new premises in front of invited guests and local sponsors. Afterwards teams took part in a Texas Scramble competition followed by a return to the clubhouse for further refreshment.
The celebrations come at a special time as a swathe of new members have bolstered the ranks. This year alone more than 60 have joined with committee member and past Club Manager Joyce Burnett CMDip leading the project.
RELATED: New state-of-the-art clubhouse at The Caversham has been worth the wait
She said: “We have come through a difficult decade.
“In that time we have had a steep decline in membership and green fees following the loss of our golfing professional and a few years of lack of investment in the course.
“We have always been a club that has got high revenue from visitors so you can imagine Covid was a big problem for us. That and the sale of our clubhouse meant we went through Covid in old Portakabins. This was not attractive to visitors but fortunately our members stuck with us.
“Unfortunately the proceeds from the sale pre-Covid was worth less post Covid so our members supported our decision to build a more practical structure.”
Callander went down the modular route and the new social area, named Old Tom’s Rest, can comfortably seat 50 people between the indoor and outdoor spaces.
Joyce added: “We aim to make our course a destination course, a community outdoor sports hub whilst offering our members and visitors a true Scottish golfing experience.
“We are situated on a walk to Bracklinn Falls and the town is a real hub for tourism. With fresh coffee and a friendly smile, why wouldn’t you take a break in Old Tom’s Rest?”
Member and marketing lead Jamie Hall has also played a crucial part in generating interest through social media.
The Monday Night get-into-golf sessions have certainly proved a big hit. The first session attracted 12 new players. Junior coaching sessions, also on Monday, have also proved very popular with over 20 youngsters participating and overseen by ‘roving pro’ Allan Martin – his work has been funded by Scottish Golf.
The course has also been “brought back up” by Grant Donaldson, who took over the greenkeeping duties five years ago.
Joyce added: “We invested heavily in our course and by employing Grant who had been an apprentice on the course many years previously ”
The par 66 layout course was originally laid out by former Open champion Old Tom Morris in 1892, the club having moved to its current location after just two years at a different site.
In 1914 a further nine holes were added under the watchful eye of another Claret Jug recipient – Willie Fernie.
A hundred years later and the club was really struggling but the sale of the clubhouse in 2018/19 was the beginning of the start of better times ahead and now the club’s future looks brighter.