July 2005 sees the return of the world’s greatest golf
tournament to its spiritual home on the Scottish East Coast.
With the 27th staging of the British Open taking place on the
Old Course in 2005, St Andrews has held the event more often
than anywhere else which has reinforced its strong reputation as
the “Home of Golf”. This year’s event comes at a period of time
where the Scottish Golf Industry is enjoying something of a
renaissance, with more and more people choosing to visit the
country for golfing holidays and test themselves on some of the
world’s most famous courses.
The Old Course at St.Andrews, where this year the world’s
greatest golfing talent will compete for the famous Claret Jug,
originally consisted of 22 holes – eleven out and eleven back.
However, in 1764 the local society of St.Andrews Golfers decided
that the format of the course needed to change as the many of
the holes were simply too short. As a result the total number of
holes was cut to 18 – which is now synonymous with golf courses
around the world.
However, despite the now settled
structure of the course many in the town felt the links would be
better served as a commercial opportunity rather than a
playground for golfers. This combined with the local councils
financial difficulties led to the links being sold in 1799 to a
rabbit breeding company! This proved to be a very controversial
move which essentially led to what is known locally as the
“Rabbit Wars” for the best part of twenty years. Eventually, in
1821 a gentleman called James Cheape bought the links for the
sole use of local golfers – which essentially led to the great
golfing legacy which still exists to this day.
While in
many countries golf is seen as a game for the financial elite,
it has always been a sport that was accessible to all levels of
society in Scotland. The popularity of the game continued to
grow and in 1860 Prestwick Golf Club held the first Open
Championship and won by Willie Park. St Andrews first held the
Open in 1873 when Tom Kidd claimed the title and more than a
century later the course has seen some of the most exciting
opens including the famous Tiger Woods victory in 2000 where he
set a low-scoring record of 19 under par while becoming the
youngest player to have achieved a career “grand slam” of golf’s
four major tournaments.
In addition to the famous win by
Tiger Woods the winner of the 2005 Open will be following in the
footsteps of other legends such as Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros,
Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Locke and James Braid who have all won over
the famous links. Put simply winning the Open at the home of
golf is the absolute pinnacle of achievement that any golfer can
hope or even dream to achieve.
It seems hard to imagine
that a country with the rich history of golf that Scotland
enjoys could lose its way in terms of promoting itself as a
great golfing destination. However, during the 90’s this was
certainly the case. Countries such as Portugal, Spain and even
Ireland worked tirelessly to sell themselves to the outside
world as the ideal destination for a golfing holiday. Scotland
was perhaps guilty of arrogance thinking that it could survive
on its historical reputation alone.
However, the last
four years has seen a definite shift in the market with large
amounts of (particularly English, American and Japanese) golfers
once again visiting Scottish shores. Helped by the publicity
surrounding this years Open at St.Andrews more and more golfers
are looking for golfing breaks and have a large number of
companies competing for their business.
One such company
is the short break specialist http://www.superbreak.com whom
offer a range of golfing breaks to top Scottish resorts such as
Marriott Dalmahoy which is set in 1000 acres of wooded parkland
at the foot of the Pentland Hills and has hosted both the
Solheim Cup and the Scottish PGA Championship. In St.Andrews
itself the relatively new St.Andrews Bay Golf Resort http://www.standrewsbay.com
provides 5 star luxury that rivals the best of golfing hotels
anywhere in the world. Sitting amidst the rugged coastal
landscape of East Fife the hotel is within a short distance of
all the St.Andrews courses as well as other top local courses
such as Lundin Links, Leven Links, Scotscraig and Ladybank.
It seems despite heavy investment in promotion of golfing
resorts in other countries Scotland will always command a very
special place in the global golfing community. Lessons seem to
have been learnt and the Scottish golfing industry is unlikely
to rest on its laurels again. While a rich history and flagship
tournament are important, if the industry is to continue to
flourish then continued and focussed investment most remain a
priority.
About the Author:
Robin currently lives in Edinburgh, working hard for a leith
based media company, and writes occasional articles for
http://www.travel-tips.co.uk/
