Rescue plan unveiled to save Scotland's '˜oldest' golf course

North Inch Golf Course in Perth is believed the be the oldest in the world. Picture: North Inch

It had been feared that Perth and Kinross Council would close the famous North Inch course in Perth -- where golf has been played since the 1500s - due to financial constraints.

But after a storm of protest, councillors will vote on a rescue plan which it is hoped will preserve the famous sporting venue.

This will include retaining and strengthening the relationship with existing users through consultation and raising awareness of the course as well as targeting the Perthshire visitor market.

The plan will also see moves to attract season ticket holders, visitor golfers, and new golfers to the municipal “pay and play” course.

King James VI played on Perth’s North Inch Golf Course in the 1500s, and Beasley’s World Atlas of Golf names it “the first recognisable golf course in the world”.

St Andrews is known as the “home of golf” throughout the world, and is famed for the Old Course, with the first recording of golf being played on as far back as 1574.

However the Perth Merchants Golf Club, one of two clubs based at the North Inch, says James IV played golf on their home course more than 70 years earlier.

Run by the SNP-led council, it last received a boost in 2014 when the authority agreed to invest £25,000 a year during the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years.

World’s oldest golf course could be axed amid council cuts

In addition, a 23-month post was agreed for a golf course officer - it is understood this role will now be extended for the duration of the business plan.

In a report on the business plan, Barbara Renton, Perth and Kinross Council’s director of environment, says the golf course has experienced an upturn in its performance over the last 18 months.

She says that if the projections that are contained in the business plan are met, it would reduce the council’s net outgoings on the golf course to £40,000 by 2021/22.

“There is also the opportunity to further reduce this expenditure pressure by continuing to stimulate interest in the course and generating income,” her report adds.

“Over the six-year period, the North Inch golf course business plan sets out an action for both promoting and developing the course.

“This is with a view to improving the users’ perception of the course, reducing the operating deficit and aspiring to achieve the full cost of recovery.”

The move was welcomed by Richard Barrance, 69, chairman of the North Inch Golf Course Users Group.

He said: “There’s always been this feeling that the course may be closed, and that it suffered from a lack of investment.

“This is a positive move and it’s good the council realise this famous golf course is a real asset to Perth.”

Ms Renton’s report will be discussed by members of the council’s environment committee.

The course came under threat earlier this year when the council -- looking to slash £5 million from its spending to ease the burden taxpayers -- included in a list of possible cuts.

But it was deleted from the cuts list after a public outcry and protests that it was “part of the legacy the area was promised in the wake of the Ryder Cup”.

The current arrangement of holes at the North Inch was laid out by Old Tom Morris, who also designed Carnoustie, Muirfield and St Andrews New.

King James IV, who was crowned at Scone Palace in 1488, decided in 1502 that the threat of war with England had receded and lifted the longstanding ban on golf. This had been imposed to encourage archery, and he then personally took up golf.

In the first recorded purchase of golf equipment, he then went and ordered his first set of golf clubs from a local bowmaker in Perth, costing him the princely sum of 13 shillings (65p).

The course is open to all, and is home to two ancient golf clubs, the Perth Merchants and the Perth Artisans, both of which have used it for over a century.

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