Villagers face having to show identification to get to their own homes during a prestigious golf tournament.
Organisers of the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns plan to close a road leading to the beach during the busy summer season.
This would force visitors to walk around half a mile to the sands and those who live along Back Stile to stop at check-points.
IMG sports marketing company also wants to divert a scenic part of the popular Fife Coastal Path to keep walkers away from play.
Residents of peaceful Kingsbarns are up in arms at the proposed arrangements and are to vent their fury at a public meeting on Monday.
Martin Dibbs, secretary of Kingsbarns Community Council, said: “People absolutely object to the idea of having their identity checked. We just won’t tolerate this.”
The Open will be played over four days from August 3 to 6 on Kingsbarns Golf Links, a host of the annual Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but the closures would be for eight days.
Fife Council has warned that if Scottish ministers do not approve rerouting of the coastal path inland under the Land Reform Act the event would be compromised.
IMG has argued the move is necessary to protect the public from wayward balls and for security purposes.
It intends to use Back Stile as access to a temporary car park for players, ticket-holders and other golf traffic.
Mr Dibbs said: “On the busiest days of the competition there will around 300 cars going down Back Stile, a narrow road which barely sees that number a week.
“They also want to put a checkpoint at the top of the road and have employees check the ID of residents if they want to get to their houses, which is completely unacceptable.
“The competition will be at the height of summer and we get a lot of visitors to Kingsbarns, a lot of families using the fantastic beach.
“This will effectively deprive them of the use of the beach and its facilities.
“If the competition organisers are granted permission for the coastal path closure, we are concerned that such a decision will set a dangerous precedent for closures anytime there is golf tournament at Kingsbarns Golf Links.
“During Dunhill, they have marshals at particular points along the coastal path to ensure people can walk safely.
“I think safety is probably not the issue here, they probably just don’t want itinerant walkers disturbing the flow of the game.”
No one from IMG was available for comment on Friday afternoon.
Kingsbarns Community Council’s meeting will be held at 7pm on Monday in Kingsbarns Memorial Hall.
