Royal Dornan manager Neil Hampton (left) with David Sullivan (centre) and John Salako (right) as they announce that every buggy in the club will now have a defibrillator (Photo: Ewen Weatherspoon/SWNS)

A Scottish golf course is the first in the world to put defibrillators in its golf buggies, as 400 people suffer heart attacks on golf courses in the UK each year.

Royal Dornoch in Dornoch, Sutherland has equipped every buggy in the club with a defibrillator.

Activist David Sullivan, who lost four friends to heart attacks, founded Code Blue CPR and has spent £30,000 of his own money on life-saving training and equipment – as only 8% of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survive.

In 2017, Mr Sullivan, 60, saved another golfer’s life by performing CPR and says his work has saved 12 lives to date.

And last year, an 18-year-old man’s life was saved on a golf course when another golfer saw signs of cardiac arrest and began CPR.

Mr Sullivan, a father of four from Oxted in Surrey, said: “Last year there were 36,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, we saved less than 3,000 people – 33,000 died in the UK last year.

“I was playing golf with my uncle and we heard a scream and saw a boy covered in blood, I thought he was hit by a golf ball.

“I had to pump him for 14 minutes until a defibrillator came. It’s no fun putting your hands on someone’s heart.

“The next day my phone rang and a lady said, ‘Are you David Sullivan?’ I started sobbing.

“She said, ‘I’m his mother, he’s sitting up in bed reading a newspaper.’

All golf buggies will now be equipped with the life-saving technology (Photo: Ewen Weatherspoon/SWNS)

“Everyone should know how to use these life-saving skills — there wouldn’t be that many people in the ER.”

He chose Royal Dornoch to install the defibrillators as it is considered the fifth best golf course in the world.

Mr Sullivan added: “The rich and famous are all going to the Gulf there, people will think we are going to do the same”.

“Using a defibrillator within three minutes of a cardiac arrest significantly increases that person’s chances of survival.

“Anyone in or near the clubhouse would probably be within that time frame.

“Because of the size of golf courses, it is quite unlikely that you will be at the clubhouse within three minutes of the first hole.

“More than 75% of cardiac arrests occur between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., but all defibrillators in dental offices, pharmacies and doctors are locked up.

“I want to be on the frontline to save lives.”

Mr. Sullivan founded Code Blue CPR with business partner, former England footballer John Salako.

He has taken CPR courses and training in Vienna, Las Vegas and Germany.

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