THE manager of Largs Golf Club believes it is too early to predict what the impact of coronavirus will be on the club - but says he is remaining 'optimistic' about its future.

The clubhouse and course have both closed, with only a handful of staff remaining to carry out essential maintenance as the rest are put on the government's job retention scheme.

The season was due to start this month but no competitions are taking place until further notice amid the lockdown.

The club says, once it is safe to do so, they will start with a 'phased return' of casual golf and spaced out tee times.

Club manager Jim Callaghan said: “It’s a bit early to tell the impact, our subscription year starts in January, so we’ve already taken in some money from those people.

“Looking at social media and what other clubs are doing, they’re asking people to support their organisation if they can through donations and such like, we’re no different in that.”

The club currently has around 700 members and Mr Callaghan hopes the annual fees will see them through.

He said: “We’re hoping that we’ll get back at some point and recoup some of that expenditure, but we don’t know.

“We’ve done a projection and it’s looking okay, because we’ve cut as much of our outgoings we can. We not in a good place but we’re much in perhaps in a better place than some others.”

The club manager says that when the lockdown rules are relaxed the course may not be playable immediately, with work needing done following a poor winter.

He said: “It was a wet few months so we were hoping for a good spring tor recover from the impact of that, although since we’ve been in lockdown the weather has been quite good.

"I would image it’ll take a period of time to get ready, the golf course won’t be open immediately, put it that way.

“It won’t be a free for all, it will be a phased return for tee offs and then hopefully competitions."

The last time the course was closed was in the winter of 2010, when heavy snow fell for over a month.