(ALL of the UK's projected solar PV generation needs could be fitted into existing gold courses with plenty left over, AFAIK. I do not know if that holds for Scotland by itself, but there was no shortage of golfing close to where I used to live...)
I have mixed feelings about golf. I have never been able to play myself, but it keeps a lot of people happy, so I see it as an intangible like libraries or public parks. Golf courses are a lot easier on the eye than some alternatives, and function as green lungs in cities, and open spaces where people can exercise. One of my local golf courses has a healthy population of badgers and another has deer on it, so I don't see them as completely destructive. But like I say, it is not my thing, so on that level I feel shut out of it.
I think the main threat to arable land in Scotland right now is actually housing. We tend to build on the best land here, especially in areas such as East Lothian or the lower Clyde. We have miles of bland suburbia now. What some people have termed "slums of the mind".
We have a golf course that is located very close to the city centre (when it was built it was on the outskirts etc.). And it is from time to time the subject of debate i.e. we should build houses there instead..
At the same time we have footballfields, a huge graveyard, parks etc. that doesn't get the same "scrutiny".
The golf course is used for crosscountry skiiing in the winter, provides a buffer towards a major road etc. And of course there are a couple of thousand members that use it for golf and the green-fee visitors etc.
I dont play golf but i often get a sense of "only the rich uses it" which... Well rings a bit hollow!
Golf courses were definitely a life saver (psychologically anyway) during lockdown for many people.