ON a blazing late June day, Ellen and Peter Kroon lined up their approach shots to the tricky 14th hole at Brora Golf Club, facing into the teeth of unlikely peril.

The 334-yarder, named ‘Trap’ on their course card, ought to be a straightforward par 4, but it is not just the deceptive undulations of the James Braid-designed course or the sparkling views out across Kintradwell Bay that are posing a distraction.

An impromptu crowd has mustered close to Mrs Kroon’s ball which has nestled into the light rough and alarmingly close to a pile of droppings. The audience stare with blank obstinacy, the inscrutable pressure of a knowing crowd.

Except that this oafish lot know little of golf or its etiquette, chewing audibly with open mouths and bleating loudly from the sidelines.

Undaunted, the Kroons fire their long irons towards the pin and march smartly on to the green and the next improbable challenge.

Having dodged the numerous hazards left by the watching gallery – and some more substantial cowpats – this retired Dutch couple must hop nimbly over the low blue-wired fences that surround all 18 greens at Brora – to avoid receiving a mild electric shock.

Not a ploy to speed up slow play, to be sure, but a bid to protect those precious surfaces from heavy-hoofed invaders.

And while the golfers play on under unbroken sunshine, their four-legged followers are left to ruminate on life’s changing fortunes.

For the sheep and cows that have famously grazed these beguiling dunes since long before a mashie niblick was ever brandished in anger now face the threat of eviction.

After more than a century of co-existence, it seems, the Pringle set no longer wish to mingle with the herd.

Instead, they have applied to the Scottish Land Court for an order of ‘resumption’, effectively allowing them to seize control of the crofting rights to graze on the links.

If the court, the country’s highest authority dealing with disputes between landlords and tenants in Scottish farming, grants their wish it would likely be the first time crofters anywhere have lost the rights to an entire common grazing.

Understandably, the 16 crofters who currently hold 48 shares between them to graze cattle and sheep on the 6,211-yard course are anxious to stymie the action, fearing a worrying precedent will be set, not to mention the impact it could have on their future income streams.

They are also quietly fizzing over what they regard as the club’s insulting offer of around £3,000 a share and its apparent refusal to explain the reasons for – or the timing of – its legal action.

While some have vowed never to sell up at any price, others are conflicted by their split loyalties as both crofters and members of the club.

Even some golfers, many of whom are drawn from the four corners of the globe to play this northern masterpiece, seem baffled that the animals many regard as integral to Brora’s charm may be for the chop.

‘We have been coming here every year for ten years now,’ said Mrs Kroon, 77. ‘We think the sheep and cows are a charming thing – they have never bothered us.

‘It’s part of the reason we come here and the Americans know all about it too,’ added her 74-year-old husband. ‘But I imagine for the groundskeepers it’s a bit of a burden dealing with the poo every day.’

Yet there was a time, not so long ago, when Brora Golf Club cheerfully reposted images on its social media pages of livestock as a unique selling point. In one example, tourist body VisitScotland pictured a Highland cow under the headline: ‘Have you ever experienced Coosday on the golf course?’

In its Golf Guide, Destination Golf, the world’s leading golf travel magazine, reported after one visit: ‘Sheep, cows and a top 100 course at Brora. What’s not to love?’

One marketing company suggested: ‘Embrace the beauty of Brora Golf Course where the grass dunes meet the grazing cattle.’

In January 2022, the club itself posted ‘Winter maintenance in full swing’, next to a picture of some sheep nibbling the rough.

Such posts have mysteriously disappeared from the club’s social media feeds as it changes tack. Instead, promotional videos and photos show a completely livestock-free course.

Despite the animals’ popularity, it seems this is a serious club now. Only the golf matters.

Crofter John Smith sees things differently. ‘For us, crofting is a cultural thing; it’s a serious way of life,’ he said.

‘I have two young kids coming behind me and I would like to leave something to them. And I’m not talking about money.

‘The club’s undervalued the price of land down there. I have three shares and I’ll be honest, if I got offered £100,000 a share I wouldn’t accept it. I wouldn’t take the money; there’s no price in this world that I would accept for this land.’

Mr Smith, 61, added: ‘I think they’re trying to get us off because of things like cow marks on the greens and other hassles. But that’s no concern of mine.

‘We try to help the club out as much as we can and I haven’t put cattle on the course for two years, but I have put 60 sheep on it. But at the end of the day, they’re trying to take away our way of life. There’s got to be give and take.

‘I have never seen a whole common grazing resumed for a golf course.

‘I didn’t ask them to put a golf course on my common grazing. We were here first, mind.’

Clearing people off the land for livestock has long been a thorny issue in Sutherland. Clearing livestock off for people, however, remains something of a novelty.

The 4th Duke of Sutherland, whose family name will be forever associated with the Highland Clearances, was the first to have a go by applying to ‘resume’ the common pasture at Brora links for the unfettered use of golfers on the course, which was first constituted as a nine-hole course in 1891.

The duke’s ancestors were responsible for moving their inland tenanted farmers to crofts in coastal communities such as Brora in the late 18th century and putting their estates over to sheep. Generations of crofters made the best of it, rearing sheep and cattle on the dunes while supplementing their income with second jobs, including fishing.

But in 1915, the famously ‘golf-mad’ 4th Duke wanted the land rights brought back under the control of his Sutherland Estates so that he could realise his sporting ambitions.

Jan Dunn, clerk to the East Brora Muir, Dalchalm and Greenhill common grazings committee, said the present dispute ‘resurrects a landmark case, first attempted in 1915 to resume the entire links.

‘Livestock have grazed on the land for around 250 years, including more than 100 years before the golf course was constructed,’ she said. ‘The Land Court ruled in 1915 that the land should be shared between the two parties. This has been a successful arrangement ever since.’

Despite not getting his way, the duke enlisted the services of legendary course architect James Braid who redesigned Brora into an 18-hole classic in 1923.

The par-70 championship standard course, where a round can cost up to £180 in peak season, remains hugely popular with tourists alongside nearby Royal Dornoch and is cherished for its more informal, relaxed experience.

Brora is also the headquarters of the James Braid Golfing Society, which meets annually to take on its rare test amid the machair, burns and gorse – and, of course, the sheep and cattle.

There are only about nine cows pastured at the links now along with several dozen sheep. The Highland cows have been removed by agreement given their heft and potential to cause damage. There have been occasional attempts to revive the question of resumption, but all that seemed to end in 2021 when Brora Golf Club bought the links from Sutherland Estates, making it both landowner and operator.

At the time, club president Andy Stewart was widely reported making it clear that ‘once the legal process covering the land purchase has been completed, we will communicate with the crofters formally to confirm the change of ownership – none of their rights will change’.

Just five years on, then, the crofters are understandably aggrieved to find themselves once more facing an existential threat.

The Scottish Land Court confirmed this month that there is a ‘live case involving Brora Golf Club Limited and crofters with right to the common grazings of the township of East Brora Muir, Dalchalm and Greenhill’. It is not expected to hear the case until later this year, with a ruling to follow at some point.

Ms Dunn said: ‘[The crofters] fear their croft viability will be significantly harmed by having to give up the entire links.

‘It would be very difficult and expensive to find new land to replace that lost grazing ground, and most crofters use their “in-bye” land [higher quality farmland used for crop production] to grow silage and hay to feed their animals in winter.

‘If they have to keep stock at home full-time, they will have to buy in fodder at great expense. Many will feel it is not financially viable to continue and would have to sell off their livestock. It could make crofting here almost impossible.’

So far, the club’s management has made little effort to explain publicly its reasoning for wanting to pick a fight with the crofters.

When the Mail attempted to put the crofters’ concerns to David Gemmell, the club’s general manager, he was reluctant to comment, saying only: ‘This is a legal matter; we will not be making any statement.’

In the void, others have been left to speculate about the club’s motives for change.

Most suggest the answer revolves around money and a desire by the club’s new management to maximise the return they can squeeze from their support.

Innovations include offering overseas membership fees, costing more than £500, while an online pro shop selling a range of Brora Golf Club merchandise is about to go live.

While the crofters acknowledge the economic benefits the club has brought to the village (it employs around 20 staff and generates thousands in tourist dollars), they point out they also contribute to the local and wider economy through the use of agricultural suppliers, haulage companies, contractors, and the cost of vets’ fees and repairs and replacement of machinery.

And while the suggestion is the golf club is concerned about livestock damaging the course, over the years the crofters have silently accepted the damage golf has done to the links, with short mown fairways and greens being useless for stock. There have also been grumblings about Brora Golf Club’s purchase of the links using a £25,000 grant from the Kilbraur Wind Farm community benefit fund, as many locals were under the impression that grants were capped at £10,000.

Diana Royce, an associate member of Brora Community Council, has thrown her weight behind the crofters, calling on the council to write to the Land Court supporting them.

‘The golfers and the crofters have co-existed for years, and I do not see why this cannot continue,’ she said.

‘I recognise the importance of the golf club but I do not think that we owe them anything. They used our community benefit money to buy the golf club and have received a lot of community benefit funds for equipment and other things. They are not going to lose their jobs or income. Once the grazings are gone, they are gone for good.’

Others have urged both sides to seek compromise.

Susan Smith, a past club president and a member for more than 50 years, said: ‘There’s got to be room for everyone and I think if the golf club were to make a substantial offer to the crofters to have the cattle removed for the key summer months, when the club makes most of its money, it would allow the course to develop without electric fences round the greens or the extra maintenance cost of removing effluent from the course every day.’

Ms Smith, whose twin brother is crofter Mr Smith, added: ‘There’s got to be that ability to sit down and find that sensible common ground. I would hope both sides would see that as an option because at the moment both sides’ views are polarised.’

There is also real jeopardy for both sides at the Land Court as its decisions are final; there is no right of appeal.

It is impossible to see which way this one will swing.