A GCA Home LINKS in Scotland for less than £1k each?

[Marty Bonnar]

https://www.struttandparker.com/properties/spey-bay-golf-club-caravan-park


Boy, I’m in!
F.

[Tom_Doak]

https://www.struttandparker.com/properties/spey-bay-golf-club-caravan-park


Boy, I’m in!
F.

Are you going to be the pro?

[Stewart Abramson]

The purchase price isn't the biggest concern. What do you think the annual maintenance budget would need to be?

[Marty Bonnar]

https://www.struttandparker.com/properties/spey-bay-golf-club-caravan-park


Boy, I’m in!
F.

Are you going to be the pro?

No, just the consulting designer!

[Duncan Cheslett]

Ah, I see now…




… you want us to chip in a grand each so you can have a sand pit to play in.




 

[Niall C]

The purchase price isn't the biggest concern. What do you think the annual maintenance budget would need to be?

Stewart


About 10 years ago I worked and lived up that way and played the course a few times. At that time the wooden shack was pretty basic and fit only for changing your shoes in, if it was open, and there was an honesty box outside for greenfees which weren't much more than £10 if I remember correctly.


The greenkeeping shed was a corrugated tin hut of about 20 feet by 30 feet and in terms of equipment, they had an old gang mower and presumably a smaller mower for the greens. They didn't have a greenkeeper as such but instead had someone from a local club who would do a bit in the evenings. Rumour had it that as soon as the dilapidated gang mower packed in that the club/course would fold. A short time after that someone came along and bought the course (presumably the present owners ?) and spruced up the clubhouse. I don't know what they did with the greenkeeping side of things but they'd have had to make some investment in that, just to keep it going. In terms of man power, one man should do it.


In terms of the course, they lost a few holes to coastal erosion prior to when I played it so it's not as Sayers designed and Andrew Simpson built. Because of the loss of land, the routing is a bit screwed and at one point there is a 300 yard walk to the next tee if I remember correctly. Indeed I was a bit surprised to read in the sale brochure that there was c.150 acres of land because the course is quite modest in size. It's what I'd call holiday golf with a mixture of nice quirk, good golf and humdrum golf. Well worth a play if up there but not sure I'd personally be shelling out £750K to own it.


Niall


 

[Ally Mcintosh]

When did they lose the land to erosion, Niall?


I last played the course in 1989 and remember rudimentary maintenance but some really nice rumple in parts. I’m assuming the original holes were lost long before that? I have no recollection of whether there was a non-links very humdrum part of the course or not. I suspect there was.

[James Reader]

There’s some lovely links land at Spey Bay and several very good holes.  I paid £25 for a round a couple of years ago and really enjoyed. Holiday golf maybe, but I can think of a lot worse ways to spend a few hours on holiday.  It definitely deserves to be better known but getting a return on £750k might be a challenge (I had the place completely to myself on a summer’s afternoon).


I suspect the lost holes were at the far end of the course and the current holes 4-6 are the replacements.


Not the best photos as I only had my old iPhone with me but they give you an idea of the lovely fairway undulations and the heathery nature of the site.

[Niall C]

Ally


I was working up in Moray from 2009 to 2012 and from what acquaintances and colleagues told me that bit of the coast, which is shingle and shell, is prone to erosion. Not sure when they lost the holes but given how quickly people forget things like this I suspect it was maybe after your visit since more than one person was able to tell me about it.


As you probably know the course is just along from the mouth of the river Spey (hence Spey Bay) and on the other side of where the river meets the sea is the Garmouth and Kingston course. I've told the story before but I played it one time with someone who was well acquainted with the course over a period of decades, and as we played one of the holes along the Spey, he pointed out into the river and said, "that used to be a lovely par 3" ! So I think you can take it from that erosion is very much an issue up there.


Niall

[Niall C]

James


Excellent. I was going to mention another thing about the routing and that was that it appeared to me that quite a lot of the holes had been changed. Either lengthened or 2 holes made into 1, that sort of thing. The above photo being a case in point. I think you can make out a raised green site with a raised tee ground back left of the green in this picture. If I remember it slopes slightly towards the player and would have made a cracking hole whether as a par 3 or perhaps a short par 4. The present green, further on and tucked in on the left is no great shakes and doesn't appear original to my eye. Many of the greens are the old fashioned "regulation" 20 by 20 paces which is interesting considering it was laid out in 1906. 


In terms of how quiet it is, I was told about it by a friend who used to play it in the summer evenings and he told me he made sure he always took his phone with him in case he slipped and injured himself so he could call for help as there was little chance of anyone else being about to assist.


Niall

[David_Tepper]

I was surprised to see such a large and modern clubhouse on the property. Does anyone know when it was built?

[Jeff Schley]

Quite nice drone footage in the video. Pretty classic links setup running along the coast.  Shame it was so late in the year with frost covered. Sure would be nice in spring and summer.

[Marty Bonnar]

If 750 of us ponied up the £1k each that would buy us the place.
A modest 500quid subs each year would bring in, ehm, let’s see, carry the four , divide by twelve, add the subtraction and multiply the minus…
Oh, right! £375k p/a.
Plus maybe some income from our own bar and dormie house accoms. It’s Gold, Jerry, GOLD!
OUR very own playground.
I am sooooo in.
F.

[Charlie Goerges]

How good is the course Marty?

[Marty Bonnar]

How good is the course Marty?

Never played it, Charlie. But WE could make it great!

[Charlie Goerges]

It looks like a nice piece of land from the google aerial and the photos at the link. I see it's 30+ miles from Nairn, are there any other great courses near to it? Also, where is the nearest airport that has flights to/from the US (Aberdeen)?


I could imagine it being very appealing though, especially if there were some caravans on site and a GCAer could stay in one, have breakfast in the clubhouse, play a nice course elsewhere in the morning and then come back for a lunch and play a neverending loop until sundown and a raucous dinner and drinks in the clubhouse with other GCA-types and then amble across the carpark to the caravan and get a good night's sleep.


It would also be very cool to be even a small part of the process of improving the links. Just being able to talk to others about what's happening around the course and get tours from the people doing the work would be a special privilege.






Edit: Yeah, I'm in

[Tony_Muldoon]

If 750 of us ponied up the £1k each that would buy us the place.
A modest 500quid subs each year would bring in, ehm, let’s see, carry the four , divide by twelve, add the subtraction and multiply the minus…
Oh, right! £375k p/a.
Plus maybe some income from our own bar and dormie house accoms. It’s Gold, Jerry, GOLD!
OUR very own playground.
I am sooooo in.
F.

For some reason this reminds me of the late night conversations when I was a student. We'd all agree it was afoolproof plan, Nothing had been be left to chance....


Until someone would say


"As long as we agree I'm the getaway driver.." 
"But I own the only car...."
"You drive to slow...."
"Last time I give you a lift...."




PS I've just checked the Swagbag and yes I have £1K left... as long as I'm Head of the Greens Committee...

[Thomas Dai]

If 750 of us ponied up the £1k each that would buy us the place.
A modest 500quid subs each year would bring in, ehm, let’s see, carry the four , divide by twelve, add the subtraction and multiply the minus…
Oh, right! £375k p/a.
Plus maybe some income from our own bar and dormie house accoms. It’s Gold, Jerry, GOLD!
OUR very own playground.
I am sooooo in.
F.

On sand, 150 acres, next to the seashore, in Scotland, near Castle Stuart, Nairn, Inverness Airport and not really that far from the likes of Dornoch, Brora, Cruden Bay etc. Localised ‘mild’ micro-climate. Sounds like a potential winner.
750 on the Green Committee. Arghhhhhhhh……….!
Atb

PS - it’s here - https://www.instantstreetview.com/@57.669863,-3.073401,14z,0t

[David_Tepper]

"It looks like a nice piece of land from the google aerial and the photos at the link. I see it's 30+ miles from Nairn, are there any other great courses near to it? Also, where is the nearest airport that has flights to/from the US (Aberdeen)?"

Charlie G. -

There must be at least a dozen courses along the 100-mile stretch of coastline between Inverness and Fraserburgh. The best ones are Nairn, Castle Stuart, Moray Old (aka Lossiemouth), Fraserburgh and Duff House Royal. Moray Old is the closest.

As far as I know, the only direct flights from the U.S. to Scotland land in Glasgow or Edinburgh. There are no direct flights from the U.S. that land in Aberdeen or Inverness.

DT

p.s. My guess is this property will sell above the 750,000 pound "offers above" price.

[Jerry Kluger]

I don't see any reason to worry about flights from the US as most of the guys I know who travel over to the UK and Ireland would never consider playing a course that is reasonably priced.

[Jeff Schley]

While it sounds exciting to think that GCAer's could band together for such an endeavor, the realistic work of undertaking it will fall on a couple people to work on so many tasks it fades quickly.  Perhaps one of the golfing societies would be interested to make it their home course.

• I believe the Eden Club has a castle they own in Scotland.
• The Outpost Club has one of their home courses in England.
• Eligio, Eighty, Silver Club, New, etc.

They have members and travel around so maybe this could be of interest as an anchor course for their members.

[David_Tepper]

https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/23294680.historic-moray-golf-course-designed-ben-sayers-sale/

[Robin_Hiseman]

https://www.ukgolfguy.com/golf-blog/british-restoration-opportunities


A good time to remind you of Spey Bay's place in this article.


I've played it and even stayed in the later version of the Spey Bay hotel, before it was demolished. It's a lonely spot, but quite gorgeous.


I actually don't think its a bad idea, as long as you're prepared to run a caravan park too. I'd be tempted.

[David_Tepper]

"I actually don't think its a bad idea, as long as you're prepared to run a caravan park too."

Robin -

It would not surprise me at all if it was far easier to operate the caravan park profitably than the golf course. If the golf course could be operated on a breakeven basis, the real money could be made in the caravan park, the bar and the driving range.

DT

[Thomas Dai]

A more realistic option than Coul? Already on-site, grandfathered-in etc. Buy and tweak rather than start from nothing?
Would seem like an ‘Opportunity Knocks’ situation.
atb