Tremendous appetite to play remains for Carluke Golf Club members in 2022

Carluke secretary Gavin White said: “I think the real issue a year ago was that people had been deprived for so long so they were absolutely desperate to play golf.

"And that made getting a tee off time a lot more difficult. Even when we got back to playing medals it was still quite difficult to begin with.

"We seem to have stabilised a bit and we don’t have many people complaining that they can’t get tee off times.

"Especially over the past six months when it’s obviously been the winter season.

"It will be interesting to see how it kicks off now that we’re moving into the proper golfing season again."

The recent opening day on Saturday, March 26 saw Carluke’s 2022 season officially launched when captain John Cleland struck the opening tee shot, watched by members.

"John has been a Carluke member for many years, stays in Law and is a good player,” White said. “I think he plays off a handicap of five or six.

"About quarter of an hour after the opening tee shot we had a shotgun start and members played a friendly round.

"Then they went to the clubhouse and had a bowl of soup and a crusty roll.

"It was more a social occasion than a competitive golf occasion.”

Carluke members played their first Saturday medal at the weekend and White said that the course is in good nick.

He added: "Considering that very bad spell of weather we had, there have been a lot of complimentary remarks made about the condition of the course.

"Course manager Andy Colquhoun and his team have kept it in good nick most of the winter.

"Obviously there was that really bad spell of weather we had where the course was closed for the best part of a fortnight just because of the wet.

"I would say for the time of year the course is in pretty good condition.

"You can see everybody is gearing up for playing in 2022 with smiles on faces as they see the course getting back to what it should be.”

White finished by saying that his tip to win the US Masters next week is Dustin Johnson.