Monifieth’s four golf clubs could be brought under a single roof in a plan to give the game a viable future on the Angus links.
Total membership has dropped almost a third in the last decade and fears have been expressed about the implications of a continued fall.
To prevent that scenario, the 982 members of the Grange, Monifieth, Broughty and Ladies’ Panmure clubs are being asked to take part in a survey with two key questions:Are you in favour of all four clubs retaining their individual identities but sharing one clubhouse? Are you in favour of fullamalgamation of all four clubs into one club sharing one clubhouse?The Monifieth golf inter-club group stresses the results of the poll will not be treated as a mandate to proceed with either of the options.
The exercise, which will be launched on Friday, will gauge opinion and be a platform for further discussion.
A major issue for these talks would be whether to build a new clubhouse or adapt an existing facility.
Golf club membership has fallen over many years and the Monifieth clubs have not escaped the problems of having to make ends meet with fewer regular customers.
The clubs have experienced a fall in younger adult golfers with less than 30% of the Monifieth membership in the 30-50 age bracket.
The demographic factor points tosignificantly fewer people playing golf at Monifieth in the future.
Against this background, the group has resurrected the idea of a merger.
Previous efforts to amalgamate the clubs into a single “superclub”foundered through lack of support but merger moves by clubs in Aberdeen and Montrose prompted the Monifieth group to canvass members’ views.
Group chairman Jack Hutcheon said: “It is incumbent on the currentmembership at Monifieth to ensure golf thrives and is enjoyed here by future generations.
“There is no guarantee thatmembership numbers will besufficient to maintain the presentposition indefinitely.
“Each of our clubs are rightly proud of their traditions, therefore the option to share the same building would bring substantial savings to running costs, whilst allowing clubs to keep theirindividual identities if required.
“This is why we felt that the clubhouse sharing option, as an alternative tofull amalgamation, was worthy of thought.”