St Andrews Links Trust Appoints New Chief Executive

St Andrews Links Trust has appointed Euan Loudon as its new chief executive.

Mr Loudon (54), who is currently chief executive of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, will take up his new position early next year. The Trust manages and maintains the seven public golf courses in St Andrews including the Old Course and The Castle Course.

A former assistant professional golfer, Mr Loudon joined the army in 1974 and quickly rose through the officer ranks. He commanded the 1st Battalion, The Royal Highland Fusiliers and in his final appointment, in the rank of Major General, he was General Officer Commanding the Army’s 2nd Division and Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

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Golf Tourism in Scotland: An Assessment of Growth Potential

Without question Scotland is one of the world’s premier golf destinations (voted Best Golf Destination of the Year 2009 by Today’s Golfer) and is recognised globally as the “Home of Golf”.

Similar to other tourism sectors, however, there have been significant changes in both the buying behaviour and destination choices of potential golfing visitors so it is vital that the industry keeps pace with this fast-moving marketplace. Scotland undeniably holds the accolade of being the country ‘where it all started’ with all the traditions associated with this, but can’t rely on this alone for the future growth and success of its golf tourism product.

With Scotland hosting the Ryder Cup in 2014 and increasing competition from other golfing destinations, time is now ripe for the golf tourism sector to work together to share up-to-date market intelligence to ensure that the industry remains competitive both now & in the future.
With this in mind, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise, with support from GTS & VisitScotland, have recently commissioned SQW consultants to carry out an assessment of the growth potential of golf tourism at national & regional levels up to 2020 as well as benchmark Scotland’s future growth prospects with other leading global golfing destinations.

As part of their research, SQW will carry out detailed consultations with key golf courses, tour operators & other golf-related business interests in order to get an industry-led view of the golf tourism market over the next 10 years. The research findings will be made available to GTS members as part of a wider industry circulation by late Autumn & will be used to inform future strategy and investment decisions as part of the public sector’s support to golf tourism generally.

For further details please contact Gordon Todd, Senior Project Executive, Scottish Enterprise on 0141 228 2122 or via Gordon.Todd@scotent.co.uk.

Pitlochry GC To Host Highland Open

GTS member Pitlochry GC will host The Highland Open from Sunday 8th to Friday 13th August, a 6-day event open to amateur golfers. More information here...

Brunston Castle GC – Raising Funds for Help for Heroes

GTS member Brunston Castle GC is to take part in the United Kingdom's biggest amateur charity golf event, all in aid of 'Help for Heroes'.

On Saturday 24th July 2010, a week after the Open Championship at St. Andrews, the club will participate in The National Golf Club Challenge, the largest event of its kind to take place in the UK. The challenge will bring together hundreds of golf clubs and thousands of golfers to compete, have fun and raise funds.

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