Yorkshire golf club votes to sell its clubhouse

Members of a Yorkshire golf club have voted to sell their clubhouse to a developer, which will be knocked down and replaced by five homes.

According to the Telegraph & Argus, Baildon Golf Club’s members voted in favour of the sale at a special meeting last month, in order to secure the club’s future.

‘A buyer was in line but negotiations were still at a very early stage, said club president-elect Ian Holmes, who was keeping the potential purchaser’s identity a secret,’ states the paper.

If it goes through, the deal would see the sale of a parcel of land including the clubhouse footprint and a small area at the back of it.

“We’ve recently had an offer and members have agreed selling is a way forward for us to make sure the club is sustainable for the next 25 years and plus,” said Holmes.

“We still have a strong membership. We aren’t selling the land because of any problems with membership numbers or with debts. We are thinking ahead. It’s about sustainability for the future.”

He added that members were looking at a possible plan to turn an old pump house near the clubhouse into a new clubhouse.

The current clubhouse is available to hire free for functions from weddings to funerals and has a spacious open bar, lounge, a room with a snooker table and dining area a ladies’ lounge.”

Baildon Golf Club, founded in 1896, has an 18-hole moorland course and was originally designed by James Braid. It has a reputation for producing some of the best golfers in the region – among them Gordon Brand Junior, who graduated from Baildon into the pro ranks and whose greatest success was finishing second to Greg Norman in the 1986 Open Championship.

Recently nearby Riddlesden Golf Club closed down when its membership fell to 114 – half the figure of just a few years earlier.