Historic Perth golf club halfway to £25k survival target

Crowdfunding appeal has raised almost £13k to help keep King James VI course afloat

King James VI Golf Club in Perth, which was established in 1858, is aiming to raise £25,000 in a bid to offset losses suffered during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Non-golfers have joined members of the ‘King Jimmy’ island course in Perth in raising more than half of a £25,000 target aimed at keeping the historic club afloat.

The crowdfunding appeal was launched a fortnight ago in a bid to offset the losses suffered by King James VI Golf Club, which was established in 1858.

The figure raised is now edging towards £13,000, with donations mainly being made by members but also former club pros, as well as members of the public who have been using the course for daily 
exercise during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“We are absolutely delighted with the response so far,” said club captain David Angus. “The depth of feeling towards the club in the comments posted on the crowdfunding page gives me a great sense of pride and I am truly humbled by everyone’s contribution.”

Along with every other golf club in Scotland, ‘King Jimmy’ has been closed since 23 March and, though it is hoping to reopen on Friday in line with all those other venues, the shutdown has left a financial hole.

Quick off the mark in submitting an application, it secured a £25,000 grant from Perth & Kinross Council through the Scottish Government helping leisure businesses such as golf clubs with a rateable value of less than £51,000.

However, that money was needed to clear a debt from last year, when the club had suffered badly due to a wet start to the season then more heavy rain in the summer and was still trying to recover when the pandemic hit.

“The £25k grant really cleared the debt from the previous year and not much else was left,” added Angus. “So we were starting with a bank balance that wasn’t as healthy as you may think.

“The realisation that the third party income wasn’t going to materialise due to the lockdown was a wake up and smell the coffee moment. Our planning and budgeting had to be robust.”

In a letter to members, the club revealed it was facing a 54 per cent loss of its income due to the lockdown and the difficulties that would create going forward.

“Generally, our creditors have been generally good at reducing the monthly payments, but we still have outgoings,” said Angus. “We did a few projections on the status quo i.e. furloughing continuing to October and posted a £1,700 deficit. I’d have taken that as a set of accounts at the start of the year if you’d offered it to me. Then we looked at staff coming back off furlough and the problem just went off the scale, paying the staff their wages with no income would have posted closer to a £45,000 loss, so it would have been redundancies. Two other options with redundancies and then having only the greenkeeping staff both came to about a £30k loss.

“That gave us a target to aim for and, though £25,000 is an ambitious target, the difference that the crowdfunding appeal has is that I hope that we will have a future.”

The warmth towards ‘King Jimmy’ from members, visitors and others is clear to see from the comments on the funding page. “So proud to be a member of this historic club, more than a golf course, a club with a true heart,” said one person while another said a donation was “a small price to pay to keep the friendliest club there for us all”.

Andrew Crerar and Allan Knox, both former club professionals at ‘King Jimmy’ but now at Panmure and Aberdour respectively, are among the names listed as making donations, as is Neil Cameron, a former King James VI boys’ champion who is now the pro at Blairgowrie.

“When you go on the site and read the comments from those donating, the big thing is that it really has brought us together,” said Angus. “It’s not a 100 per cent buy in, but then we didn’t expect everyone to contribute. Some people have lost jobs, or had their income 
cut and family is far more important.

“We went for a give what you can afford strategy and also a limited release of five-year subs to help top up the fundraising but not too many that it would give us a problem this time next year. It needed to be new money to replace the 54 per cent that we have lost.

“We have chosen the correct and right route to go down and our club membership is stronger for that. It’s been such a positive experience in the face of a harsh reality that most golf clubs are trying to combat, and unfortunately some may not have the depth of reserves, either financially or in spirit, to survive.

“King James VI is an example of a community coming together and using its greatest resource, its membership, to ensure it survives. Golf clubs like us are all facing the same issues. I hope their members get behind them in the way ours have and support them through this.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director