{"id":793786,"date":"2026-10-06T14:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793786\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T14:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:12:10","slug":"historic-golf-club-the-glen-votes-to-end-toxic-takeover-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793786\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic golf club The Glen votes to end toxic takeover talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tTalks between The Glen Golf Club and American investment group The Ancient Links Golf Company over a $10 million deal have ended.<\/p>\n

It was a golf club dispute so bitter that players refused to be in the clubhouse together, while there were rumors it had ended decades-long friendships. Now, though, members of The Glen have voted in favor of withdrawing from an American-led takeover.<\/p>\n

Officials at the picturesque clifftop club in North Berwick \u2013 roughly 25 miles along Scotland\u2019s Golf Coast from Edinburgh and believed to be James Braid\u2019s first design in 1894 \u2013 had been in talks with investment group The Ancient Links Golf Company regarding a $10 million deal. \u00a0<\/p>\n

But it quickly divided The Glen\u2019s membership.<\/p>\n

One group, calling itself \u2018Friends of The Glen\u2019, highlighted concerns that Ancient Links would eventually seek a return on its investment by restricting member access in favor of tourists and an increase in visitor fees. The website, Save The Glen<\/a>, was created, while the \u2018Keepers of The Glen\u2019 also released a protest song.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In opposition was a faction group called \u2018The Silenced of The Glen\u2019 which, according to The Herald<\/a>, accused opponents to the deal of creating the division by intimidating members and behaving as a \u201cpatriarchy\u201d. The group also said members of Save The Glen had not taken the time to fully research the impact at other clubs Ancient Links had taken over.<\/p>\n

Those include Forfar Golf Club, which has had its 15th hole, known as \u2018Braid\u2019s Best\u2019, restored to its original layout, and Scotscraig, where the clubhouse has undergone extensive renovations.<\/p>\n

Now, though in a Special General Meeting called by the club\u2019s management, The Glen\u2019s membership has voted 273 to 221 against continuing talks with the investment group led by American businessman Douglas Cifu, whose other sporting interests include part ownership of NFL team the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Brown, The Glen\u2019s managing secretary, said: \u201cThis is an internal matter for the club and its members, and should not be a debate or conversation for the wider public.\u201d<\/p>\n

A statement from Friends of the Glen added: \u201cHopefully this will bring an end to this distraction and allow the members to plan for a future controlled by them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group also hopes to \u201cbring the club back together in time and recreate the atmosphere that The Glen has built up over the years where members and visitors alike can enjoy golf at our beautiful course.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement concluded that it will also \u201csend a message\u201d to both Ancient Links members of other clubs where the investment company is \u201cattempting to sell their services\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Views<\/p>\n

The Glen is 83rd in TG\u2019s Top 100 Golf Courses in Scotland<\/a> ranking, in which it is described as featuring \u201cbreathtaking views, some funky holes and some difficult questions to answer\u201d as well as being \u201cInstagram-worthy on so many holes\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talks between The Glen Golf Club and American investment group The Ancient Links Golf Company over a $10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-793786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}