Golf It! Demonstrates The Sport As A Community Asset
The R&A's use of Open proceeds to revitalize Lethamhill provides a refreshing gift to Glasgow by reimagining the importance and versatility of a golf course facility.
The R&A has been the golf organization most upfront in highlighting how golf’s purse escalation race has failed to improve the professional game. Martin Slumbers, the organization’s retiring CEO, also took two opportunities during Open Championship week to state how increases would harm the organization’s ability to nurture and sustain the sport around the world.
His remarks were met without controversy. Other than a handful of players, few seem to doubt the perils of throwing unjustified added dollars at players or to question the need for R&A financial security to conduct rulemaking or, as in the case of Glasgow’s Golf It! facility, to save valuable golf courses under threat. A visit to the one-year-old range and nine-hole course reinforces just how vital those dollars can be when spent to revitalize and reimagine the role of community courses.
The idea of a golf course as a local gathering spot beyond just acting as a place to slug away at range balls has only recently started to become appreciated thanks to examples like Golf It! While this and other revitalizations started out as grow-the-game efforts to break down entry barriers, they’re now being seen as ways to inject new life into old facilities that demonstrate to communities that golf courses are not wastes of acreage and can be valuable green spaces for a range of interests.
The R&A has taken the building block of golf’s history in Scotland as a community pastime or communal space and aggressively expanded on the notion by reimagining the struggling Lethamhill Golf Course in Glasgow. With an aggressively modern, golf-is-(almost)-secondary sensibility, they have also not lost sight of golf’s best qualities. The project is an overdue use of a non-profit governing body’s insight and influence after years of pre-pandemic “grow the game” initiatives that poured absurd sums into ad campaigns with impalpable results.
Golf It! was not cheap to pull off. An early issue with the driving range landing area probably slowed early momentum. But based on everything I saw during two visits around the 2024 Open, the R&A has taken a doomed 18-hole course full of blind shots and vandalism issues and turned it into a community asset. Golf It! is welcoming to families, non-golfers and even serious players who can turn in a nine-hole score on a legitimate layout offering tee options for all, including a fun option for kids. Everything is built around a welcoming atmosphere, even if it might sometimes seem overkill. The emphasis on vibrancy abounds and offers a sharp contrast to intimidating public facilities that turn off or turn away the curious.
Most longtime golfers can all attest that course operations are often the last to realize how tired, dated and intimidating most facilities can be, particularly in a Topgolf world where the modern vibrancy sets the customer experience bar even higher. In golf’s recent resurgence, modern stuff like online tee time booking, 21st-century approaches to food and beverage, music lightly playing around the clubhouse, updated signage, outdoor seating, casual attire, and other common-sense upgrades have played a significant role in breaking down barriers. Golf It! succeeds wildly on these fronts thanks to in part to an evolving process during its planning, the execution of a vision to deal with intimidation factors, all while shedding tired approaches that plagued the golf industry in less appealing times. Golf It! provides a model—or at the very least fun ideas—that public golf facilities of all types can study and learn from.
In talking to locals, just a year of operations already has many relishing the change in how their corner of Glasgow has seen an improvement in the neighborhood with a genuine appreciation for creating a safe place people of all ages can enjoy. And it’s just a nice place to stop in after a walk around the popular Hogannfield Loch for a pint and pizza.
Announced in February 2021 and opened one year ago, Golf It’s newly built structures lean into a hybrid of modern industrial aesthetics, recycled materials, and plenty of colorful signage. There is pop music playing and no shortage of information boards in the main “Hub” where plenty of tables make it a nice place to hang out. I saw everything from university student working on a laptop, moms gossiping over white wine while the kids went out for nine, to several families just enjoying quality time after a range session. Most golfers might find the big colors and large letters all a bit tacky, but anything that answers questions or breaks down a barrier to entry is a win. The well-staffed operation—intentionally outfitted in athleisure wear—is eager to help and knowledgeable about the sport. You never get any of the condescension that can be found at golf facilities oblivious to modern service.
Three key details highlight the importance of shielding young people or intimidating visitors from what we all know can be an embarrassing game to learn. At the modern range, where mats are already showing wear and tear, the two-story tee line is connected to the Hub yet blocked from view to the check-in area or cafe. But unlike at Topgolf, where the communal fun of watching shots is part of the joy in much the way laughing at gutter balls defines a bowling alley get-together, the design allows new players to not worry about people sitting around watching them work out the kinks. The range also features a separate set of stalls with seating designed for groups and has proven attractive to women’s groups wanting to learn without feeling watched.
The golf course, reimagined into nine beautiful holes by architect Scott Macpherson (who also carried out the property master plan), features a practice putting green and the first tee a short walk from the clubhouse. But is kindly out of view from spectators gathering at an outdoor seating connected to the bar and lounging space. Permanent food trucks serve up modern faire and weekends saw added food options.
“I wanted the building to be as accessible to the public as possible, and so that meant getting close to the Hogganfield Loch,” says Macpherson. “During the planning phase I was always amazed how busy the loch was. I could see it was popular with locals, so I wanted to connect the loch experience to the golf experience in the hope it would naturally connect the two different places.”
That plan has worked and while it seems obvious now, we know how often golf courses are shielded from the outside world and viewed as unwelcoming even when they are open to the public.
Another small detail that’s huge to any of us who started the game tagging along with others: guests are welcome with golfers. While playing a round the Monday after The Open with Macpherson, I pointed out a foursome where two golfers carried full bags of clubs and were joined by two more with just one club in hand. Macpherson said the single-club walkers were likely not charged a fee and that tag-alongs were encouraged. Such antics would elicit a call to police at some courses. But this relaxed approach to new players allows for the introduction of golf to people not ready to buy a set but curious enough to join friends. The experience of hitting a decent-enough shot and experiencing the well-maintained turf will make them want to try more. Or, at the very least, when telling friends about tagging along at Golf It!, they are more likely to speak kindly of the sport.
The relaxed approach is all so very un-R&A like and the facility never feels like an advert for the organization. There was no sign of the R&A logo and the only indication the governing body is tied to the facility came with the airing of The Open final round on various big screens around the food and beverage operation.
Some visitors will argue that Golf It! tries too hard when looking at the putting course designed for kids that features an educational component built around sustainability themes. But other than an artificial surface proving too bumpy for putting (possibly having turned lumpy from tough winter weather?), the “Adventure Golf” component offers a perfect place for a small child to have fun playing with peers or parents. Set near the Hub, it is fenced to give a sense of security should parents want to leave the kids to be. There is also an open field by the Hub originally earmarked for something else and converted into Park Golf. For now. This offshoot of golf was started in Japan during the 1980’s and offers elements of croquet.