A CONTROVERSIAL council proposal to close Whinhill Golf Course is being made as the local authority is spending around £200,000 improving it, the Telegraph can reveal.

Council officials have suggested the area’s only municipal course could be shut to help make £7 million of savings.

But club officials hit back today by saying that shutting it down doesn’t make sense.

Club captain John Ellis also explained that it would mean the loss of one full-time and three part-time jobs, and the end of a golf course and club with over 100 years of history.

He said: “This would mean an end to playing golf for our 201 adult members and our 57 junior girl and boy members.

“The closure of the only municipal golf course in Inverclyde — known as ‘the people’s golf club’ — would also mean the end to playing golf for thousands of Inverclyde’s citizens.” Top European Tour golfer Chris Doak of Greenock learned his skills on the course, and it’s feared many people of all ages would be unable to afford to play at private clubs.

Mr Ellis said: “We find it puzzling that closure is being suggested when substantial time and money has been invested in the past couple of years on a variety of things, including the upgrading of the female locker and changing rooms, the reconstruction of the third green and the erection of a large greenkeeper’s storage shed which is being constructed at the moment and is due to be completed in the near future.

“To spend this amount of money on the course and then close it all in the space of a couple of years does not make sense.” Mr Ellis said news of the proposal has had a damaging effect on the club.

He added: “The long term impact this news will have on the golf club will be deeply distressing.

“We, like any other competent organisation or business, try to plan ahead, but we may well struggle to do this with a question mark over the future of the course and, in turn, our golf club.

“Proposals and initiatives we have in the pipeline to further boost our membership numbers and facilities, and events we provide for our junior golfers, may have to be postponed until this matter can be clarified.

“And this comes at a time with the golf club in a decent position, with membership numbers at a good level and the golf course having never been in better condition.

“Visitors from all over Scotland have been very complimentary about the condition and layout of the course.” Whinhill members regularly raise funds for various charities, and have contributed £20,000 for the Provost’s Fund for good causes. The club is also particularly proud of its thriving junior section.

Mr Ellis said: “The club boasts an excellent junior section who were crowned the runners-up in the inaugural Scottish Golf Union Junior Club of the Year awards in 2008.

“We were second out of almost 500 golf clubs, being the top ranked junior club to be affiliated to a municipal golf course and the top ranked junior club in the Renfrewshire area in 2008.

“We were the first golf club in the West of Scotland to sign up for Scotland’s national junior programme and have produced three junior county champions in the past eight years.

“Four former junior champions have turned professional over the years with the most recent — 1993 Junior Champion Chris Doak — doing fantastically well on Europe’s premier golfing tour. Chris is an inspiration to all golfers in Inverclyde. I am sure he would admit he owes a small part to the golf course he learned to play golf on.

“A further three members of the junior section up until 2011 are currently on their way to making a living out of the game by turning professional.” Mr Ellis added: “The golf club has been working hard to develop our junior girls section, with the club now boasting six junior girls in our ranks — a decent achievement given the club had no junior girl members in the first 94 years of it’s existence.Five of our junior girl members played recently in the Renfrewshire Ladies County Golf Association Junior Open competition.

There are 23 clubs in Renfrewshire, and only the host club, Whitecraigs, had more girls taking part. Many new girls having already signed up for the junior coaching sessions that start next spring.

“We also have plans in place with ‘Clubgolf’ and Inverclyde’s Active Schools department to link golf in schools, and a big drive is set to take place with this scheme in March next year. It is hoped this will bring junior membership numbers back up to around 100 – the same level as we had between 2006 – 2012.” A consultation exercise is to take place on the proposed council cuts, with members of the public being invited to have their say.