GLASWEGIANS have expressed outrage that a public 18-hole golf course was sold off by the cash-strapped council for less than the average price of a city home. 

Lethamhill Golf Course was sold to one of international golf's governing bodies for just £200,000 - under the average price a buyer could expect to pay for a Glasgow home. 

As of July 2021, the average price paid for a home in the city stood at £195,757, whereas the average value was £218,412, according to Zoopla.

Poet and spoken word artist Victoria McNulty said: “So Glasgow Life have just sold Lethamhill Golf course to private investors for less than the cost of a semi detached house in Cardowan. Letting it sink in.”

Another Twitter user, Jim Monaghan, said: “Absolutely sickened to see Lethamhill Golf Course given away by Glasgow Life to the private company R&A for a mere £200,000, the price of a house in Hogganfield. Remember this at the council elections next year. The people you elected to look after public assets sold them.”

The land was valued by the council's property management body City Property as being worth £256,000. 

South Side SNP councillor Mhairi Hunter defended the council sale, which was agreed in September last year. 

She said: “This was agreed months ago with unanimous support. The R&A aren't just any old developer. Struggling to see what is bad here.”

The R&A was set up in 2004 and regulates the rules of golf around the world, except for in the USA and Mexico. 

It is reportedly planning to invest £10 million into the development of a youth training centre at the site, close to Hogganfield Loch. 

Part of the deal struck with the council involves R&A handing over profits to the council, who retain a right to buy back the land. 

We told previously how R&A had drawn up plans for the site including adventure golf, putting greens, a short-game area, a nine-hole course, a par three course and a 25-bay floodlit driving range, as part of its stated mission to make the course more accesssible for non-golfers.

Severe cuts are being made to Glasgow’s cultural and leisure facilities, which are managed on behalf of the council by Glasgow Life. Hundreds of jobs are for the axe across the city's libraries, museums and more, while a large number of venues remain closed indefinitely due to a sharp downturn in revenue as a result of the devastating impact Covid lockdowns had on the body’s income. 

Glasgow city council was approached for comment.