Island golfers accept defeat in wrangle to tee off on Sabbath

Stornoway golf club will stay closed, like other leisure facilities on Lewis, each Sunday
Stornoway golf club will stay closed, like other leisure facilities on Lewis, each Sunday

Golfers in the Outer Hebrides have agreed not to play on Sunday after a decade of wrangling with landlords over playing on the Sabbath.

Playing on Sundays is outlawed at the 18-hole course built on Lewis 70 years ago, under a clause in the lease with the Stornoway Trust.

Stornoway golf club had wanted the ban abolished and refused to sign a new lease, which ran out four years ago. The trust repeatedly turned down the golf club’s request and threatened eviction.

In 2019 a trust board meeting agreed that “due to the golf club’s continued failure to sign their new lease, trustees agreed that the trust’s solicitor should be instructed to issue a termination notice, should the club continue to fail to reach agreement”.