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As thousands of Scottish golfers prepare to decide in the coming months whether to renew their memberships for another season, the headline question for clubs appears straightforward: how many members will stay and how many will leave?
But a more revealing question lies beneath the surface. It is not simply how many members a club has, but how many of them are paying the full annual subscription that traditionally underpins the economics of the operation.
At first glance, the overall picture looks relatively healthy. Among the clubs and facilities that provided usable data on membership trends in this year’s Herald Scottish Golf Survey, 56% reported that membership had increased between 2025 and 2026, while 36% said numbers were unchanged. Only 8% reported a decline.
(Image: Damian Shields)
So on the face of it, Scottish golf continues to benefit from much of the momentum that followed the post-pandemic boom. But the survey also asked clubs to separately report the number of local adults paying full playing fees – an important distinction.
Across the clubs analysed, just 56% of members fell into the category traditionally regarded as the core paying membership base.
The variation between clubs was striking. Almost one-third of respondents said fewer than half of their members paid the full adult rate. Some clubs with memberships well into the hundreds reported surprisingly small pools of full-fee-paying adults. Others had membership structures where the vast majority of members paid the standard subscription.
That is not necessarily a problem. A healthy club may deliberately encourage juniors, younger adults, social members or flexible membership categories as part of a long-term growth strategy. Indeed, several clubs highlighted the importance of attracting younger members and broadening participation.
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The point is that headline membership figures can conceal major differences in the financial makeup of clubs.
A club reporting 1,000 members may look stronger than a club with 700. But if the former has relatively few members paying the full annual subscription, while the latter has a much larger full-paying core, the financial picture becomes far less clear-cut.
This is particularly significant during renewal season. A club can lose a number of full-paying adults yet still record net membership growth if it replaced them with younger or discounted members. The membership roll would grow, but the underlying economics might look very different.
That does not mean Scottish golf is heading for a new membership crisis. But as renewals begin to arrive over the coming months, club management will have to drill deeper into the headline totals.
Royal Aberdeen and Aberdeen Ladies in historic golf union
Captains Laurence McLeod and Carron Taylor sign the official paperwork for the integration of Royal Aberdeen and Aberdeen Ladies golf club (Image: RAGC)
Members of two of Scotland’s most historic golf clubs have voted overwhelmingly to unite, creating a single organisation at the renowned Balgownie Links.
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club and Aberdeen Ladies Golf Club will formally integrate from September 1 following votes at special general meetings held by both organisations this past week. The move brings together clubs whose combined history stretches back almost 250 years and has been described as a “landmark moment” for the future of golf at Balgownie.
Scottish Golf Tourism Week returns to St Andrews in 2027
More than 3,700 face-to-face meetings took place during the 2026 event (Image: SGTW)
Scottish Golf Tourism Week will return to St Andrews next year, with organisers announcing that the three-day event will be centred around the Old Course Hotel for the first time.
The conference, which brings together Scottish golf businesses and international travel operators, will take place from March 9-11 with the hotel serving as the main hub and additional events taking place at venues across St Andrews.
The stolen clubs that sparked the creation of a £50m golf business
Murray Winton admits that ‘part of the second-hand market is about taking a chance’ (Image: Murray Winton)
From an accidental start on eBay, Murray Winton has helped turn GolfClubs4Cash into a £50 million business. He explains why used equipment is attracting golfers of every standard and how access to more stock will determine the company’s next stage of growth.
Read the full story from Around the Greens here.
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