CRAIBSTONE RECOVERY AN EXAMPLE TO ROCK BOTTOM INCHMARLO

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
As the saying goes, it's an ill wind that doesn't blow somebody some good. 
Following the announcement late last week that Inchmarlo Golf Centre Ltd, Banchory was going into liquidation and that members had better collect anything they had stored in the lockers because the golf club had ceased to exit .... Billy Sim, general manager at Craibstone Golf Club, reports a surge of applications for membership from now "homeless" Inchmarlo members.
I wonder if Inchmarlo Golf Centre will ever rise again from the rockbottom position it is now in.
It can be done. Look no further than Craibstone Golf Club itself.
Just about two years ago, the Dundee company that owned Craibstone Golf Club and course went down the tubes. 
The clubhouse closed, the course and members abandoned. 
Two men have turned around its fortunes in a relatively short time.
Mr Marshall of Marshall Trailers was the first. A non-golfer with no knowledge of the game, his business acumen enabled him to see the potential at Craibstone. He bought the place, probably against the advice of many who knew better.

His master stroke was to appoint as general manager Billy Sim, pictured in Portugal with Butch Harmon (at the time Tiger Wood's coach), a man who helped construct Newmachar's Hawkshill course under Dave Thomas's instructions but who later gained valuable golf club and course management experience at various high profile venues in Spain and Portugal such as San Roque, Hacienda del Alamo, Parque da Floresta, Salgados and Penina.
Let's not forget Mrs Marshall who has developed the clubhouse as "Brimmond Bistro" where anyone, not just golfers, can drop in past for a meal or a cup of tea.
Mr Marshall has plans to improve the Craibstone course and its facilities.