Professional golfer and United Bermuda Party leader, Kim Swan, has lambasted Government for trying to farm out Ocean View Golf Club to private operators.

Swan, the only Bermudian to have played on the European Tour, said Government and the Board of Trustees had mismanaged Bermuda's public courses so badly for the past 10 years that local players and tourists have "put their golf bags in the closet".

An angry Swan said: "The social success of golf in Bermuda is paying the price for inept management of major Government projects. Government has been inept in so many other areas – so much waste has happened and they are trying to offload some assets and snatch and grab others like (the Hamilton and St. George's) corporations because they got their priorities wrong.

"The Board of Trustees have been a comedy of errors for a number of years now – they have been late in their annual reports for years and years."

Yesterday The Royal Gazette reported that Government were looking for a group to take over the running of Ocean View Golf Club – a club which has lost $1.4 million over the past four years despite increasing fees last April.

Chairman of the Trustees, Wendell Brown, who said over a year ago that Ocean View was no longer financially viable, revealed on Monday they were in talks with three groups about taking over the operating of the club.

But Swan hit out at the plan and said: "I think we have this whole thing backwards. This country used to pride itself on its public golf – and we led the world in public golf. Per square mile and per capita, we had more public courses to offer and provided a truly public facility for all people, Bermudians and visitors. And, the experience provided visitors with the ultimate Bermuda experience – to interact with Bermuda's greatest resources, the people."

Swan said that years ago golf was enjoyed by all people, regardless of how rich they were.

That, he said, was not the case today.

"Golf provided persons of means who wanted affordable golf the option of having it and people who didn't have the means the opportunity to enjoy the game of golf more frequently than just a one-off experience like the case now.

"The quality and the value for money that we used to provide was appealing to our tourism product and also appealing to the advancement of the country socially. People from all walks of life got exposed to golf and that is why the sport produced so many success stories from all walks to life in Bermuda. And I am one of them. I started at Port Royal and the people that taught me golf came from Ocean View."

Swan said that affordable public golf in Bermuda should be a service like the buses and ferries.

"There are certain things that a country must provide and if you are in the tourism business then golf – affordable golf – is one of those services. Golf and tennis have been two sports that have attracted a great number of visitors who appreciated the climate and what we had to offer.

"We are making the mistake of setting a public golfing facility up against the test of private facilities.

"Now we have seen a shift in the mindset. And where the biggest deficiency lies is in the direction that's coming from the top. Offloading the operations (of Ocean View) to a private group is absurd. It is taking golf and Bermuda back socially 50 years. It is taking us back to the dark ages."

Swan, who won two Bermuda Opens, added: "Golf is a major amenity that encourages tourists to come to Bermuda and we have been hoodwinked into thinking that people don't appreciate value for money.

"Even people with money do not want to spend $150 per person for a golfing experience. People do want value for money – even people with money and means. I know them and have been around them through the game of golf.

"Right now a lot of people's clubs are sitting in the closet. They do not have a public course in St. George's that used to be affordable. They can't afford to play with great frequency at Port Royal with a $150 a round or wait for someone to give them a discount like they are doing them a favour. The understanding of what it takes to run golf has diminished.

"Public courses are supposed to charge less and encourage greater volume. If you take a public course and run it like a private five star club what you are telling the average person is 'I don't want you on my facility. This course is for only those who can afford to play'.

"That's sending the wrong message. Public courses in Bermuda used to be deliberately affordable. Port Royal made money for years and it did so through volume."

A person associated with one of the groups in talks with Government about taking over Ocean View admitted on Monday that they would have to be "very creative" in order not to lose a lot of money on the venture.