How volunteers are trying to save one of Glasgow's lost municipal golf courses

THERE used to be a myriad of municipal golf courses in and around Glasgow. But, one by one, they have closed.

I used to play regularly at one of them, Linn Park, on the south side of the city.

Linn Park 2019

We had to turn up long before our tee time and put a ball in a chute and wait for it to get to the front before we could start our round. It would always be an old golf ball - if you dropped in a shiny new ball there was a very good chance that somebody would pocket it.

There was a par five where your third shot was blind, played over a hill to a green nestled in the corner. More often than not we would come over the hill and there would be no sign of our golf balls. Local kids used to hide in the bushes, wait for the balls to land, rush out, steal them - and then try to sell them back to us four holes later!

It wasn’t much of a course, but it was cheap, local and a great place to learn the game.

But, like so many municipal courses across Glasgow, Linn Park eventually disappeared. While many others were lost to housing developments, this one was not. And, lo and behold, after six years a group of locals are working to make the course playable once more.

A new crowdfunding campaign launched by volunteers behind the revival effort is aiming to raise £5,000 to make parts of Linn Park playable again, with locals already rolling up their sleeves to cut fairways, clear greens and restore holes themselves. According to the campaign, the money will help pay for essential equipment, maintenance costs and fuel as volunteers attempt to reclaim the former municipal course for community golf once more.

The fundraiser can be viewed here: Linn Park Golf Club GoFundMe

Linn Park originally closed during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and never reopened. Glasgow City Council had already identified several municipal venues for closure as part of wider cost-cutting measures, with Linn Park ultimately becoming one of the casualties. Earlier reporting highlighted fears that an entire generation of affordable golfers in Glasgow could be lost as public facilities disappeared from the city.

That concern now sits at the heart of the current revival effort.

Volunteers involved in the project say the goal is about preserving accessible golf at a time when many players are increasingly priced out of the game.

Speaking to the Glasgow Times, volunteer Steven McKinney explained how the project began. Along with friend Edward Montgomery and a growing team of volunteers, he has helped make 15 holes at Linn Park playable once again.

Linn Park 2026

"We didn’t have anywhere to go to have a hit about and we had to join clubs that were quite far away. When that was on our doorstep, we could just get in there and practice, so we thought we’d just get in down there and cut a couple of holes to give us somewhere to mess about.  

"After we cut a few we just thought why not cut the rest of them and it just snowballed from there. The course is still very rough because it's not had any work done on it for about four years, and the greens in a rough state.

We started off cutting greens and tees because we didn’t have machinery big enough to do fairways.  

"Then a gentleman called Chris McLaughlin from CM Landscaping came up off his own back and cut the fairways down so it actually looks like a golf course today.

"The response has been nothing but positive, everybody’s been right behind us. We’ve been astounded by the level of support people have shown us. The community’s come together basically and opened a golf course again."

The growing revival effort has also been highlighted by Glasgow Live, which reported on increasing local backing for the project.

Whether Linn Park ever fully returns as a functioning municipal golf course remains uncertain. But what is already clear is how much places like this still matter.

At a time when golf continues to debate how to grow participation and make the sport more accessible, the scenes at Linn Park feel significant. Volunteers are not fighting for championship golf or pristine facilities - they are fighting for affordable, local golf that gives ordinary people somewhere to play.

And perhaps that is why the story has resonated so strongly across Glasgow and beyond.