Shock as golf club known as 'Augusta of the Borders' closes suddenly
A 'drastic drop' in membership has led to members voting for bankruptcy
Last updated 13th Sep 2024
Eighty-five-year-old Tom Baird teed off in front of the impressive clubhouse as signs advertising the 76-year-old course were pulled down around him.
"This is where I started golfing, so it's special for me," he told Greatest Hits Radio. And he added: "It's sad that it's closing."
A drop in membership is one of the reasons being given for the sudden closure of the Hirsel Golf Club in Coldstream.
Despite affectionately being known as the 'Augusta of the Borders', struggles to balance the books led members of the 18-hole course to vote to file for bankruptcy with immediate effect at last night's AGM.
"We've gone from something like 600 members down to less than 200," Tom - a life member of more than 20 years - explained.
"The wet winter didn't help the course because it's had to close a few times due to flooding.
WATCH: Click on the link below to view our video from the Hirsel...
"I feel very sorry for the local Coldstream people. I'm now 85 so it's not going to affect me really, as I'm a curling chap in the winter time."
But he added: "There's not enough young ones coming on (to replace the older members who can no longer play), that's another reason the membership's dropping."
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The golf club was founded in 1948, but it wasn't until 1998 that it was extended to a full 18-hole layout.
The course covers part of the Hirsel Estate, famed for being the ancestral home of Lord David Douglas-Home, son of former Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
But with rising maintenance costs, a dwindling membership and the club pro having left recently, its future was in jeopardy.
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A statement on the club's Facebook page read: "Following our AGM this evening, the Hirsel Golf Club is closed. No bookings can now be taken.
"Anyone with future golf bookings will hear directly from the club."
The nearby Minto Golf Club, in Hawick, has offered members of Hirsel a place to continue their membership.
But Mid-Berwickshire councillor John Greenwell (pictured) admits the sudden closure is a big blow to the local community.
He said: "It came as a shock that the club was going to close as of today. The Hirsel Golf Club is synonymous with Coldstream, it brings people in to the town so it will be a big loss.
"The Estate has done its best, it has waived the rent on a number of occasions and I do know the Earl is very keen to keep this as a community asset. So it's going to be up to the community now what happens as we go forward."
Former captain James Bell took to social media to pay tribute to the golf course, where members once had to get changed in "a prisoner of war hut". He added that when he started the Hirsel was a nine-hole course "with sheep keeping the grass short over the winter".
He added: "Jimmy Gardner used to run the boys Saturday morning comps. The prize for winning was a Dunlop 69 ball. But will fondly remember all the good times had there. Perhaps something can rise from the ashes."
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