A teenage golf star has been suspended from his club after his medical condition forced him to dash behind some bushes to take a leak.
David Halliday, 14, has a rare disorder where his brain doesn’t tell his bladder it’s full until it’s fit to burst.
The youngster was playing a tournament over the summer at Dunbar Golf Club in East Lothian where he was paired with a sixteen-year-old girl.
But when he reached the 18th hole, David was desperate for the toilet and was forced to dash behind the bushes as there were no facilities close by.
He was left devastated when West Linton Golf Club, in Tweeddale, suspended him – despite getting a note from the doctor explaining his medical problem.
David’s Grandfather Douglas said: “I asked the girl he was paired with if there were any toilets because it was an eighteen-hole course. There wasn’t any cover at all.
“When David got to the eighteenth tee he noticed there was an opportunity and got behind some bushes and then played the rest of the match.
“The trouble was that the person who David was playing with – her grandfather was the director of golf for the club.
“They held a meeting without him [David] there and found him guilty, and then sent him the letter the day after he’d been suspended. It’s absolutely shocking.”
David only started playing golf last year, moving up to Penicuik, Midlothian, after a tough upbringing in Liverpool.
His grandfather introduced him to golf to take his mind off getting bullied for his accent.
Douglas said: “I thought the best thing I can do for him is get him playing golf.”
The teen quickly turned golf-mad, playing daily at the Tweeddale course and reducing his handicap to eighteen.
He won the final three monthly junior medals and got into West Linton’s junior team.
David also won a place in the Penicuik High team and won a trophy for best scratch golfer in Midlothian schools.
Douglas said: “The school’s been absolutely brilliant; they put him on the golf team last year. They won the tournament and he had the best handicap.”
But despite letters from David’s school, the doctor, and two previous golfing partners testifying to the young man’s etiquette, the club has stood by their decision.
David’s handicap has been “frozen”, barring him from tournaments for eight months until he can be booted out of the club.
He had previously received a warning for not shouting ‘fore’ when he hit a ball out of bounds when he was still new to the sport.
Douglas said: “It’s a shame because the secretary of the club should be your best friend and common sense should prevail. It’s ridiculous in this day and age.
“I said to him ‘What David’s done, everyone in this room has, the only difference is that you and I have an option, David didn’t.”
Douglas has tried to get David back into the game by signing him up for membership at Edinburgh’s Liberton club, but admits his grandson his still “really down” about the suspension.
West Linton Golf Club declined to comment.