It Never Ends! Scotland's First Recognizable Golf Course Facing Fatal Cost-Cutting Threat

An unbylined and wonderfully-biased Scotsman reports says Perth's North Inch Golf Course, the first recognized place where golf was played in the 1500s (thanks to some royal family visits), is under threat.

Get this: the annual maintenance shortfall amounts to a couple of days of Open Championship merchandise sales (how's that for a less-than-subtle-hint?).

Though the amount to keep this vital locale maintained could easily be made up for by the local council if it would just slash street sweeping a bit:

The proposal - which would save cash-strapped Perth and Kinross Council some £100,000 a year and was condemned today as “sacrilege” - will be discussed on Thursday when councillors decide which services will survive a need to make cuts.

Here is Neil Laird's list of the oldest early golf sites with Perth right at the top, and specifically, his brief history of North Inch.