BRUNSTON CASTLE - A new dawn for South Ayrshire gem

(From the Scottishgolf website)

Brunston Castle Golf Club, a course set in an idyllic valley in Ayrshire, is enjoying a renaissance after its problems of the past and now proudly lays claim to be ‘Scotland’s Newest Members’ Club’.

For our latest Club Feature of the Month, in association with Jewson, we learn of the turnaround at Brunston Castle.
 

Back in February 2012, a liquidator was put in place at the troubled course in a bid to find a group to take over from DMH Leisure Ltd, the company which owned the clubhouse. The course itself is owned by Bargany Estate and DMH had a lease from landlord John Dalrymple Hamilton.
 

The liquidator reached an agreement to allow club members to play and allowed clubhouse access, before the sterling work of committed members saw the clubhouse taken over through a ‘community buy-out’ during the winter of 2012-13 to make Brunston Castle a members’ club for the first time.

Their endeavours have ensured the future of the club and the parkland par-72 course in the village of Dailly, situated only one hour from Glasgow and five miles inland from Open venue Turnberry.
 

“We have been a club that has been open for 21 years, but it has always been under private ownership,” explains Lynda Cochrane, Club Secretary, who has played an instrumental role in helping the club get back on its feet. “From January this year, we took it over as a private members’ club.
 

“The benefits are being seen already with members and visitors commenting that the course is in the best condition it has ever been in. This is down to the hard work of just three greenkeepers, namely Head Greenkeeper Kenny Sloan, Craig Harvey and Ross Connor.”
 

Designed by renowned architect Donald Steel, the testing 6,681-yard layout, situated in the River Girvan valley, is an attractive prospect and the club have been actively marketing to increase membership and to encourage use of the club from existing members.
 

Lynda has been working closely with Claire Middleton, the Scottish Golf Union’s Club Development Officer in the West, to take advantage of the club services on offer from the governing body.
 

“It’s been great to know there is help and support there and Claire has been of great assistance to me,” says Lynda. “We’ve focused on marketing the club effectively and there has already been an increase in membership, aided by an Open Day earlier this month.
 

“I’ve also worked with Claire on making the whole concept of the club more business-like. We rewrote our club constitution with the help of a template on the SGU website, while we’ve also utilised the SGU’s partners for support and advice, namely The Xact Group in terms of Health & Safety and Carrick Neill for Insurance.”
 

Claire added: “It has been super to see the huge efforts of the members to keep the club running, through very difficult times last year, finally start to pay off.
 

“There is a real passion to rebuild this club, use the SGU support tools, be proactive with marketing and customer service and get advice and/or education where needed. Within management, staff and membership, there is an overall appetite to succeed.”
 

Lynda continues: “Chris McDade, our resident golf professional, will be working alongside myself to assist with the growth of the club, both in membership and in attracting visitors, and will be attending the Scottish Golf Club Management Training Course later in 2013 for further education. We are all determined to continue to succeed at Brunston Castle and move on from the past.”