Last year I tried to join a couple of pals who were playing in an Open comp at Golspie. It certainly wasn't booked out and there was a space on the tee sheet beside them. Because I didn't have a CDH I couldn't book online, so went along on the day and enquired whether I could play on the proviso that I couldn't win any prizes. There were still plenty of spaces.
The lady in the pro-shop advised that I was more than welcome to play on those conditions but that I'd need to pay the visitor fee of £95 rather than the Open Comp entry fee of £25. I politely declined and had a day without golf IIRC. While it was frustrating not to play with my friends I can understand the club's position and in some ways support the idea of encouraging club membership by way of the need to have a handicap. If the visitor fee had been a good bit less (about half ?) I might have gone for it but as it is I've played Golspie a number of times and while I like it (it's better than Brora in my opinion) it's not a course I'd pay £95 in those circumstances.
Niall