The inspiration for this feature was threefold. First, a Q&A I did a few years ago now with the secretary of Beccles Golf Club in Suffolk, which offers a golf experience far removed from that which most of us get to enjoy. Then, in 2023 there was a visit to the community nine-holer at Helmsdale, 16 miles above Brora in north-east Scotland.
The James Braid layout at Helmsdale in north-east Scotland is over 100 years old
(Image credit: Kevin Markham)
Finally, last year I headed up to Lybster (the ‘y’ is long), half an hour north of Helmsdale, a golf club which not only celebrates its centenary this year, but also boasts, probably uniquely within these shores, a former railway station for a clubhouse. I then enlisted the help of expert Irish contributor Kevin Markham to talk about two more such clubs over in Ireland.
Lybster’s clubhouse was originally the village’s station
(Image credit: Jeremy Ellwood)
First, Beccles, a course I’m yet to actually play. The secretary told me that it operated on a different basis to virtually any UK&I golf club, with a membership of just 37 when we spoke and no staff. Unviable? In theory, yes, and yet it survives on common land, where all they’re allowed to tend are greens and tees.
Beccles Golf Club still operates out of its original pavilion clubhouse dating back to 1899
(Image credit: Beccles Golf Club)
Two members undertake that role. If a particular need arises, they may be able to raise a working party, but with 37 people paying £275 a year plus a very modest green fee income (£10 all day), the club isn’t exactly flush with funds.
He admitted they were always thinking about ways to survive, and dreaded big one-off repair bills, such as for leaks in an irrigation system that does at least mean their greens are sometimes the envy of certain other clubs, kept in surprisingly good condition given such modest means.
As for Helmsdale, where I was the only one on the course for the entire duration of my round, I recalled something heartwarming that my colleague, Fergus Bisset, had written about the course in 2013, ten years before my visit.
The club had been struggling with the greens on its 100-year-old-plus James Braid layout and had just 60 members, one voluntary, part-time greenkeeper and no heavy machinery. Fortunately, it secured some funding to acquire new turf, with nine greenkeepers from nearby Royal Dornoch, Skibo Castle and Brora…
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