Fleetwood and Higginbottom all square after 10 holes of NSW Final

Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall, Lancashire) and 16-year-old Jake Higginbottom (The Australian Club) were all square after 10 holes in the 36-hole final of the New South Wales amateur championship at Royal Sydney Golf Club.
Higginbottom did have a one-hole lead on the outward journey but Fleetwood, the holder of the Scottish open amateur stroke-play championship, had squared him by the ninth.

An insight to a top player's view on the Ping wedge controversy

Padraig Harrington's pre-

tournament interview in

Press Centre at the

Northern Trust Open

FROM THE PGATOUR.COM WEBSITE
DOUG MILNE: Padraig Harrington, thanks for joining us here for a few minutes at the 2010 Northern Trust Open. 2008 PGA Tour Player of the Year. You obviously finished 2009 with a string of very solid Top 10 finishes. I know the goal out here for you is to win, but ending 2009 the way you did has got to at least get you in the right frame of mind here as you start 2010. Just a few comments.
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It feels like a long time ago. Yeah, it's always interesting obviously starting out a new season. I've done a bit of work over the winter. I've been able to do good work, but while I'm keen to get back out and play, you're a little bit apprehensive about what your game is going to be like. I'd like to think it would be good right from the start, but I have to be realistic and realize that I'm not going to be as sharp as I could be this week, and the key would be to get sharp as quick as possible.
In a nice sense maybe that would be if I maybe -- maybe if I'm in there on Sunday afternoon and things start feeling good, that would be nice. But who knows, it may take a week or two or three weeks as it has done in previous years. But yeah, the end of last year gives me good sense that I have a good idea of what I'm doing, and hopefully I'll be able to replicate that going forward.
Q. A lot of talk this week about the grooves controversy --
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Took long time to get to that, didn't it? I'm sorry I spent two minutes talking. (Laughter.)
Q. But I saw you had a pair of the Ping wedges in your bag. You were trying them out yesterday. Are those likely to go in play? And what are your general feelings about McCarron's comments that it's cheating to do so?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Whether I'm going to use them or not, I'm kind of waiting to see what the TOUR's direction is this afternoon. What I'm doing is I'm preparing myself for all eventualities. It would be naïve not to.
I did some good testing yesterday. Unfortunately the testing showed up exactly what you would expect, and there's a significant difference. I think that significant difference depends on the players. Some players don't find that there was a difference between the old V-groove and box groove. Other players find that there is a big difference. I think they'll find that some players don't feel it's necessary in their game. Other players who are probably a little bit more aggressive do feel like this is something that they need, and the groove change necessarily is not helping their game, let's say.
As regards what I feel about whether it's right or not, I don't know what the direct comments were by Scott McCarron, but I think most of us were brought up that you've got to adhere strictly by the rules, and whatever those rules are in place, you've got to play by them.
We've all played in our career where we've hit it on the cart path and got a drop, and that drop has been substantially to our advantage, and that's the nature of the game. Other times you get a drop and it's -- the rules are substantially against you. You know, it swings around about in that sense, that you can't -- you have to play exactly by them. You can't necessarily -- the interpretation of them, that leads to problems and has led to problems over the years, so that's why we stick by it.
I would like to see a clarification myself. I would like to see a situation. Legally I don't know how they can go about it, but maybe the PGA Tour could play under the rules of the R&A, then we'd have no problem. Maybe Ping could forego the lawsuit, then there would be no problem. Or possibly, I don't know, this is what I would sort of suggest, is that maybe everybody sign up to a charter and say we won't use them. But while they're out there being used, it's a difficult situation not to -- for anybody who's competitive not to go out there and take full advantage of what you can if somebody else is.
It's an interesting one, and as I said, I did the testing, and I still -- every ten minutes it's in the bag, it's out of the bag. That's basically how it's been going. I haven't settled at all on what I'm going to do, but I'll have to -- it could be ten minutes before my tee time and not know what I'm going to do this week.
As I said, I'm hoping for some good clarification this afternoon from Tim Finchem. I'm hoping something comes out of that that makes the decision and takes the decision out of my hands, really.
Q. 60-degree, or what is it?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: At the moment the only one I have that has a decent set of grooves is 60 degrees, so that's the one I'm considering.
Q. Where did you find it, eBay?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: No, a professional golfer friend at home Brendan McGovern. I had an interesting thing, which is -- when they changed this rule at home at the end of last season, I looked at all the golf clubs that I've built up over the years, and I sold them all. I sold them all for charity just before Christmas, cleared out everything I had. Then I find out -- amongst the clubs I sold were seven Ping wedges. And then I find out four weeks later at Hawai'i that you can use those clubs.
So I then had to go ask a couple of people did they have any. And I got some from my caddie's mother, she had Ping wedges, a Ping set; and I got some from Brandon McGovern. As I said, the lob wedge, some of them were too late, some were too early, but the lob wedge is within the time frame. And the grooves are reasonable without being absolutely brand new or anything.
It's amazing, I've kept those golf clubs for -- I must have had them for 20 years, and I said I'm getting rid of everything, and I had a total clean-out, and sure enough, I need them next week.
Q. So you were on the shot monitor doing spinning and the whole deal and determined with your angle of attack it works for you?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It's essentially 200 rpms more out of the light rough and the heavy rough with short and long shots. No difference to my Wilson wedge off the fairway, none at all. It comes out the exact same. So that's a --
Q. Huge difference?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It's significant. It's significant to distance control and that.
Q. Significant enough you can get over what it looks like down there at the end of the stick? That's a very un-traditional looking club.
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I played a Ping lob wedge for a number of years in my amateur game, so it's not an issue for me or a problem for me at all in that sense.
Q. Does the difference have anything to do with a player's angle of attack?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It does indeed. It has a huge difference the way a player swings a golf club. Obviously the narrower he is on the way down and the steeper he is, the less need he has for super sharp grooves. But we could have had this discussion for the last number of years, because many times over the last number of years, the comment about box grooves or sharp grooves would be built up, and there would be a significant number of professional golfers who said it makes no difference to their game.
To me like the difference between a box groove 7-iron and a V-groove 7-iron, at least not getting a flier, is 30 yards in distance. I could explain that to a lot of professionals and they'd look at me as if I had two heads.
That's why I've carry two sets of golf clubs for the last six, seven years, to make sure I always have the right grooves for the right grass.
But it makes a significant difference. But then, as I said, there are players who generally don't miss too many fairways and don't miss too many greens, and you know, and other players who are so steep (in their swing) that it doesn't have such an effect. But if you're aggressive and you're going at par-5s, maybe when you should be laying up and things like that, it certainly takes the aggressive club out of your hand. You can't afford to miss those par-5s coming up short with a -- if you miss the green 15 yards off the bunker, maybe you've got 35 yards to the flag, that's where you're in trouble now.
Not necessarily those five-, ten-yard shots. It's sort of the 35, 40-yard shots out of the rough, and it basically means that you'll see a lot more of conservative play, a lot more laying up, and players will have to play a different way.
As I said, those guys who have already played that way are all in favor of the -- were in favor of the change, and other guys who are a bit more aggressive certainly would like to have what they used to have.
Q. Listening to you talk about this, you've given this a lot of thought, and it's an interesting topic and a lot of people view this as a negative discussion, but it's actually an interesting conversation, isn't it?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It is interesting, because there is no -- even going back to the actual change, you know, it was -- you've got to think that the rule was changed because it was a soft one to change. Nobody could come out and say, oh, no, we don't want the players -- we don't want any advantage given to a player that's hit it in the rough and we want the guy who hits it straight -- it was a very easy rule change to make. It would have been a lot harder rule change to go and say, well, we're going to ban long putters because then you would have had people coming out and saying no.
But there were very few people who had a dissenting view, publicly to the groove change. But it is a significant change to a lot of people. I know I've been testing during the winter, and it's quite significant.
You know, I'm surprised that -- I don't know, when did it first come up that this was going to happen? I only heard it in Hawai'i, as I said. I finished up last year selling them off thinking that was the end of those clubs. It does seem like we should have been prepared for this. That's probably the -- who had this idea first? I'd love to know who was the person --
Q. You mean the Ping part?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, did they know six months ago that there was going to be an issue with these box groove clubs?
Q. Well, it was announced in August of 2008 that these would be okay.
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It wasn't announced to me.
Q. When the USGA announced the rule it was right in the rule, August of 2008, but it just seems to have come up in the fine print.
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: So even when they were changing the rule they knew this was going to be --
Q. An exception, right.
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Yeah, it's interesting. As I said, there really isn't -- because of the fact, because of the way we govern ourselves when we play golf, we strenuously stick to the rules. You have to. That is the whole idea is that you have to stick to the rules. It has to be black and white, it really does, and the problem here is that it is black and white, that it's legal. So that means there has to be something else done about it. What can be done, because it was a Supreme Court ruling, wasn't it? Is it Supreme Court? It's not like the PGA Tour, you know, who do we think we are if we can overrule the Supreme Court.
It's not like that. We have to go some other way. I'm not sure what that is. But a charter amongst the players would seem like a logical thing, if everybody signs up and says, look, we won't do it, then I don't think anybody would do it.
Q. A little bit about you. Last winter you did some things with your swing and you came out and you had -- a long and mysterious route. Did you do anything comparable this year?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I did the same stuff again this year. I was trying to get to the bottom of something in my golf swing. Again this winter -- I put it on hold for the last couple of months of last year, and again this winter I went down the road of trying to sort it out. I've made a couple of significant changes to my swing.
The only difference is last year I came out at this stage and I wasn't happy with the changes and what they resulted in, and I kept working on it. This year I'm not in that mindset. I'm happy with what I've done, and I'm going to just play with that.
While it was the same work, it's finished at the moment and I'm ready to go play golf, which is what I didn't do last year. I just felt it was still very much a work in progress. It's a work in progress now, but I'm more comfortable what I worked on, so let's see how that works for a while, and I'm sure through the course of the year I'll look at a few more opinions about my golf swing and things that need to be changed. But hopefully I'll keep them ready for next winter again.
DOUG MILNE: Padraig, as always we appreciate your time, and best of luck this week.
*Transcript courtesy of ASAP Sports.

Lothians-based pro furthering his golfing education

David Armitage at top club in Orlando

in quest for 'Masters' status

FROM THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
A Lothians-based golf professional is spending the next few weeks at the exclusive club in Orlando where Tiger Woods practises in a bid to help him earn a place in the record books.
David Armitage, the director of golf/head professional at The Renaissance Club just outside Gullane, has made the trip to Isleworth to further his golfing education as he attempts to gain 'Master PGA professional' status.
The 28-year-old, pictured, who has been at The Renaissance since it opened in 2008, is playing in the Isleworth Invitational Pro-Am this week and will be involved in the running of the Tavistock Cup as he shadows the club's General Manager and Director of Golf over the coming weeks.
"I believe that the golf industry is getting tougher and tougher and therefore want to keep learning to keep ahead of the game," said Armitage, who started his professional career as an assistant at the Old Course Hotel and Duke's Course at St Andrews and had a spell at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin before returning to Fife to become the senior instructor at the St Andrews Links Golf Academy.
"I learned very early on that the winters in Scotland are very quiet and can be bleak so decided this would be a great time to further my education and experience. Each winter I set myself goals to enable me to come into the season with more experience.
"Despite my tender age within the golf industry, I feel I have a wealth of experience which has helped me extremely in my present positions, but I am always aware of the traditions of the game which are very important to me."
Isleworth is one of the most successful private clubs in the United States. Renowned for its exclusivity and service, it is home to more US Tour players than any other single club in the country.
"I have a specific role within the running of the Tavistock Cup, which is a televised match between Lake Nona and Isleworth that takes place in March each year, alternating home and away venues," added Armitage, who went to the PGA Show in Orlando last week to attend various seminars as well as look at future brands for The Renaissance.
"Both clubs are owned by Joe Lewis and I think my experience at this type of club would be unique and give me great insight into the running of a successful private operation. Completing my advanced certification of the USA PGA will allow me to complete my Masters in the following years and I aim to become the youngest Master PGA professional in the USA. I am also planning to complete it in the UK."

McIlroy sets himself a major goal within four years

FROM THE IRISHTIMES.COM WEBSITE
World number nine Rory McIlroy is targeting a major victory within four years. Twelve months ago the Holywood (Belfast) star was aged 19 years and 273 days when he landed his first European Tour title by winning the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club.
Since then McIlroy has collected 11 top-10 finishes on the circuit, including eight in his last nine events, and was second to Lee Westwood in last season’s Race to Dubai money-list.
"I am gaining experience every year and by the time I'm 24, 25 I will have played in 20, 25 majors ... so hopefully by then I should know how to finish them off," said McIlroy in reference to winning majors.
"That's the ultimate goal ... to win a major championship and try and become the best player I can be."
McIlroy said he had learnt a great deal since making his Dubai breakthrough.
"I've gained a lot of experience since I won here last year and I've put myself in a lot of great positions to win golf tournaments," added the 20-year-old ahead of defending his title at the Emirates this week.
"I haven't quite finished them off but I've learnt from those experiences and feel as if I'm a more-rounded player. I feel as if when I get myself into those positions now that I feel a lot more comfortable in final rounds and final groups."
McIlroy burst on to the international scene in the 2007 Open at Carnoustie where he finished as leading amateur when Pádraig Harrington claimed his first major. Since then his best display in a major was a share of third place in last year's US PGA Championship.
"When I look back on the last 12 months it has been very satisfactory," he said. "It was a year when everything was new to me. The majors were new and the World Golf Championships were new and I felt as if I handled it pretty well. I've gained a lot of experience in them and I feel the experience will help me a lot this year and hopefully I'll perform even better in them." McIlroy begins the defence of his Dubai title on Thursday and is joined by fellow Irishmen; Shane Lowry, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey and Gareth Maybin.
Stephen Deane is the ninth Irishman in the field after the Co Down native, who is one of the resident teaching pros at the Emirates Golf Club, won the UAE regional qualifying open.
McIlroy also told the Associated Press today that he wants golf authorities to reconsider their new regulations on the shape of grooves in clubheads.
"I don't see why they don't firm greens up and get the rough longer to bring scores down (Editor: I think he means push the scores up). They can make golf courses a lot tougher and turn 20-under winning scores into 12 under."
The USGA and The Royal & Ancient in January introduced rules designed to prevent tour professionals from putting excessive spin on golf balls when playing out of long, rough grass.
The measures have been greeted with mixed reactions and confusion on the US PGA and European Tours. Phil Mickelson has found a way around the ban on "U"-shaped grooves by playing with a 20-year-old Ping wedge.
US Tour player Scott McCarron has claimed that it's "cheating" to use them.
The new regulation shrinks the volume and softens the edges of the club head grooves. Mickelson was among at least four players at Torrey Pines last week who used the Ping wedges, which have square grooves.
The Ping wedges made before April 1, 1990, are approved for competition because of a 1990 settlement from Ping's lawsuit against the USGA.
McIlroy says he would prefer other ways to make golf more difficult rather than tampering with club design.
But the 20-year-old acknowledged that more difficult scoring conditions at professional tournaments could cause golf to lose some spectator appeal.
"When I turn on the TV and I am watching a tournament, I don't like to see guys struggling for pars all the time," he said. "I think people like to see birdies as well."

The Carrick on Loch Lomond to stage International Pairs World Final

NEWS RELEASE
The 2010 International Pairs World Final will be held at The Carrick on Loch Lomond as part of a new agreement between the world’s largest competition of its kind for club golfers and leading hotel group De Vere.
Ross Honey, founder and managing director of International Pairs, has finalised a deal with the hoteliers for them to become one of the event‘s chief sponsors.
In addition to The Carrick on Loch Lomond staging this year’s world final from October 6-8, the tournament’s regional finals will be hosted by De Vere venues across England, with the UK Final to be played at Wychwood Park in Cheshire in September.
De Vere has a long-standing relationship with golf having hosted numerous events on the European, Seniors and Ladies Tours since the 1990s and Honey believes the arrangement will signal a new chapter in International Pairs’s history.
Honey said: "To reach an agreement for De Vere to become our hotel partner is an exciting and major new development for International Pairs. Their name is synonymous with the game and some of the finest courses in the UK. At International Pairs, we pride ourselves on selecting top-class venues for our world final competitors and The Carrick on Loch Lomond is a perfect fit.
"The venue has quickly established itself as one of Scotland's outstanding new courses and it will not only provide an excellent test of golf for this year’s finalists, but is set against the breathtaking backdrop of Loch Lomond."
This year will be fourth in a row that Scotland has hosted the event but it will be the first time that it has been staged at The Carrick, overlooking the banks of Loch Lomond.The award-winning five-star venue is the flagship venue of De Vere’s 11 golfing destinations in the UK and has won a steady stream of accolades since it opened to widespread acclaim in November 2006.
The course, which was designed by renowned golf architect Doug Carrick, measures 7,068 yards from the championship tees and has already staged the Ladies European Tour’s De Vere Scottish Open in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Cup - the equivalent of the Ryder Cup for PGA professionals - last autumn.
For more details on International Pairs, visit their website at www.internationalpairs.com or e-mail info@internationalpairs.com

More on the "Is Michael Sim a Scot" great debate

E-mail from Euan MacKinnon

Colin,
Scottishgolfview.com asked if it annoyed any of its readers that it was proud of Michael Sim's Scottish roots (following an E-mail from Stan Drews that it was time to recognise that he has become an Australian).
Indeed it does not. Last year I watched via your site with excitement and pride as Michael played so well on the Nationwide Tour and shared the disappointment, probably along with many others, that due to the Play-Offs etc he got so few PGA Tour starts.
Your site (and Kirkwoodgolf.co.uk) provides me with so much comprehensive information, all in one place, that it has become my primary source for golf news.
In my opinion that, along with your title Scottishgolfview entitles you to some editorial freedom, including phraseology and comment that I can either agree or disagree with.
In general I abhor society's apparent need to label and categorise everything and everyone.
In Michael's case he potentially will have to categorise himself. Does he feel like he is a young Aberdonian who moved with his family to Australia, taking up golf there and rising up through their amateur system until he was able to gain firstly membership of the Nationwide and ultimately the US PGA Tour itself?
In the last couple of years he will have mainly domiciled in the US but underneath all he is a Scot.
On the other hand, does Michael feel his place of birth is largely irrelevant. He learned his golf in Australia, played his amateur golf there and feels Australian.
What is most important is Michael must choose for himself. Maybe our Editor can ask him this question!
Why? Well if Michael continues to progress at this rate, he will have to choose whether to play in the Ryder or President's Cup!
Finally, whether Scot or Aussie, it is great to see a young man breaking through into golf's elite and I am excited at the prospect of following Michael over the next few years, courtesy of Scottishgolfview.com
Euan MacKinnon

E-mail No 2 from Stan Drews (the man who started the debate!)

Colin,
I can assure you Michael Sim is proud of his Aberdonian roots and he is also a Scot by birth - why did his parents not tell him to represent Scotland as a professional then?
My point is he has elected to represent Australia as a professional golfer so could never play in a Ryder Cup or represent Scotland in a tournament like the old Dunhill Cup or the Omega World Team Championships played last year in China.
I do hope he makes the Open at St Andrews.
I think he will qualify automatically if he keeps up this early season form.
Stan Drews

E-mail from Michael's father, George Sim in Australia

Colin,
Everyone is entitled to an opinion and it is good to see some healthy debate on the subject. We are really pleased that Michael has had a good start to the PGA tour. Susan and I are going to the Masters in April and have rented a house near St Andrews for the Open. We will have family and friends turning up at the Open in good numbers to support Michael.
George Sim

£200,000 Challenge Tour event at Aviemore starts ball rolling

Scotland leads the way for tournaments in 2010

FROM THE SCOTTISH DAILY EXPRESS
By JOCK MacVICAR
Scotland is bucking the trend at a time of severe financial constraint by promoting even more tournaments this year.
Scottish Hydro and Macdonald Hotels, together with EventScotland, yesterday announced they are backing the Scottish Challenge tournament for this year and beyond.
Over the two years, more than £1million in cash and payment in kind is going into the Scottish Hydro Challenge which will again be played at the stunning Macdonald Spey Valley course in Aviemore.
The announcement completes an enormously impressive portfolio of golf tournaments north of the border this year.
The season swings into action with the Scottish Hydro Challenge at Aviemore from June 10 to 13, followed by the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, The Open at St Andrews, the Senior Open at Carnoustie, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, the Ladies Scottish Open at Archerfield, the Scottish Seniors Open at Fairmont St Andrews and the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
Throw into the mix Colin Montgomerie's eagerly-awaited Ryder Cup team announcement immediately after the final round of the "Johnnie Walker " and, without doubt, Scotland has regained its position at the forefront of the game in terms of hosting events.
Only a few years ago, leading up to the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club, Ireland was being held up as an example for Scotland to follow.
This season, Ireland has no Challenge Tour or Senior Tour event. Its only tournament is the Irish Open.
England has no Challenge Tour event either, with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth its only main Tour event.
Robbie Clyde, EventScotland's project director for the 2014 Ryder Cup, is convinced Scotland will go on to cement its place as a leading tournament venue.
He said: "This is a long-term investment. When we sat down with Ryder Cup Europe, we actually suggested what we believed should be all our obligations.
"We are committed to investment in golf tournaments betyond 2014. Golf is one of those things that the rest of the world would love to have a bit of. Scotland has it but we can't be complacement. We have to keep our game ahead of the opposition.
"Only last month it was estimated that golf is worth £220million to the Scottish economy and although club membership is falling, the pay-and-play sector is booming in some quarters."
Tour official Mark Aspland admits one of the problems south of the border is that England does not have a body like EventScotland, which has invested £150,000 in the Spey Valley tournament.
It does not have a body like Iain Stoddart's Bounce Sports Management either, which acts as the Challenge Tour's commercial partner in Scotland. Prize money at Spey Valley in June will be £200,000 with £32,000 going to the winner.
Jamie McLeary became the first Scot to take the title last year when he beat Italy's Edoardo Molinari by two shots in a field that also included past Ryder Cup player Peter Baker and 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie.
The calibre of Challenge Tour events can be measured by the fact that Molinari later won the World Cup in China with his brother Francesco, and Richie Ramsay, fourth as an amateur in 2006 at Murcar Links, is now the South African Open champion.
Clyde added: "Richie is a good example of what this tournament can do for youn players."

Tommy Fleetwood meets Fotheringham

conqueror in New South Wales Final

Scottish men's open amateur stroke-play champion Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall) is through to the final of the New South Wales amateur championship at Royal Sydney.

He will play 16-year-old Australian Jake Higginbottom (The Australian Golf Club), conqueror of Fraser Fotheringham (Nairn) in the second round of the match-play stages.

Walker Cup player Fleetwood, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, who won the Scottish stroke-play title at Murcar Links last year, came through after a titantic struggle in the quarter-finals.

Fleetwood, the No 7 seed, beat No 2 qualifier Yeong Jin Jeong at the 23rd.

In the semi-finals, the Englishman from Formby Hall, Lancashire beat Luke Humphries by 4 and 3, having been three down after six holes. He squared the match at the 11th.

Higginbottom, the fifth best qualifier from the stroke-play rounds, won his semi-final by 4 and 3 against the No 9 seed, Patrick Wilson. The Aussie teenager had had to go to the 19th to win his quarter-final tie against Alex Pitty.

Results:

QUARTER-FINALS

Patrick Wilson (No 9 seed) bt Brett Drewitt (16) 1 hole.

Jake Higginbottom (5) bt Alex Pitty (20) at 19th.

Tommy Fleetwood (7) bt Yeong Jin Jeong (2) at 23rd.

Luke Humphries (27) bt Luke Henwood (30) 1 hole.

SEMI-FINALS

Higginbottom (5) bt Wilson (9) 4 and 3.

Fleetwood (7) bt Humphries (27) 4 and 3.

SOL to construct links course at Menie Estate

Irish company gets

multi-million contract

from Donald Trump


NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY TRUMP INTERNATIONAL-SCOTLAND
Donald J. Trump has awarded the multi-million pound golf course construction contract at Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire, to SOL Golf Course Construction Limited – the foremost links golf course construction firm in the UK.
Growing from an Irish-based operation to include projects across the British Isles, SOL has worked on many of the world’s best golf courses and is currently working on various Open Championship courses on behalf of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews including Royal Liverpool, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Muirfield and Royal Birkdale.
Following an extensive tendering process, Donald J. Trump, president and chief executive of The Trump Organisation, stepped in to negotiate the final deal and select his preferred contractor and stated: “SOL’s experience of championship links courses is unequalled and their workmanship is second-to-none. They will do an outstanding job.”
Specialising in the construction of new courses and the modification of existing golf courses, SOL has built some of the finest courses in the world.
Managing director, Michael O’Leary stated: “We have worked on over 40 world-class links courses across Ireland and Britain, but it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a world leading course on terrain such as this. The land is incredible and the course design is flawless - we are thrilled to have secured the contract to build Donald Trump’s course. It would be wonderful to one day see a young rising star, such as Rory Mcllory, win an Open Championship at Trump International Golf Links, Scotland.”
From fairways and bunkers to tees and greens, SOL is now responsible for developing all aspects of the championship links course, and will work alongside Dr Martin Hawtree, golf course architect for Trump International, Scotland.
Hawtree has worked on a number of award-winning projects with SOL including Portmarnock Golf Course, Lahinch Golf Course and Dooks Golf Course.
In response to their appointment, Dr Hawtree stated: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work with SOL on this site. SOL has done great work with us in the past on some of the best known courses in Ireland and Britain. Their huge experience of working on links sites makes them very suitable partners on what is undoubtedly one of the most challenging and stimulating golfing projects for very many years."
SOL recently completed the golf course at Lough Erne Golf Club in Ireland, where Sir Nick Faldo described their work: “The course is going really well - just look around at the quality of work by SOL Construction Group.”
SOL is also currently creating a short games practice facility at Rory Mcllroy’s private residence in Belfast.

Links for more informatiion:
http://www.trumpgolfscotland.com/
SOL Golf Course Construction Ltd Ballinahulla, Ballydesmond, Co. Cork.
www.solgolfconst.com

Links courses worked on by SOL include:
Hesketh Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire
Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Mersyside
Royal Lytham & St Annes, Lancashire
Muirfield Golf Club, East Lothian
Ballybunion Golf Club, Ballybunion, Co Kerry
Baltray Golf Club, Drogheda, Co Louth
Bundoran Golf Club, Dundoran, Co Donegal
Ceann Sibeal Golf Club, Dingle, Co Kerry
Doonbeg Golf Club, Doonbeg, Co Clare
Dooks Golf Club, Dooks, Glenbeigh, Co Kerry
Enniscrone Golf Club, Enniscrone, Co Sligo
Galway Golf Club, Blackrock, Salthill, Co Galway
Kilkee Golf Club, Kilkee, Co Clare
Lahinch Golf Club, Lahinch, Co Clare
Malahide Golf Club, Co Dublin
Narin Golf Club, Co Donegal
Portmarnock Golf Club, Portmarnock, Co Dublin
Portmarnock Links Golf Course, Portmarnock, Co Dublin
Rosapenna Golf Resort, Downings, Co Donegal
Royal Dublin Golf Club, Dollymount, Dublin
Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush, Co Antrim
St Anne’s Golf Club, Dollymount, Dublin
The Island Golf Club, Donabate, Co Dublin
Tralee Golf Club, Ardfert, Co Kerry

SOL is also currently tendering for projects in Poland, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

+Any comments? E-mail them to Colin@scottishgolfview.com

New Tartan Tour supremo gets £1million

challenge from Sandy Jones

FROM THE PGA E-BULLETIN
The new head of Scottish PGA golf has been set a million pound target to hit in the next five years.
Michael MacDougall, pictured, has been tasked with nearly doubling the Tartan Tour’s £575,000 prize fund which includes the flagship Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship.
PGA chief executive Sandy Jones, a former Scottish Regional secretary himself, has laid down the challenge and it’s one 28-year-old MacDougall is eager to embrace.
“Sandy likes setting challenges and I’d be ecstatic if I could achieve that, but I’m being realistic at the moment, hardly having my feet under the desk, (he officially took over
from Gordon Dewar on January 1),” said MacDougall who hails from Rothesay and picked up a degree in history and politics at Glasgow University five years ago.
MacDougall, a qualified PGA referee, who had a two-handicap as a teenager, has already been in action in the US PGA Championship and last year’s Open Championship at Turnberry.
But his new job, based at the Scottish Region’s headquarters at Gleneagles Hotel, brings
substantial challenges.
“Over the last 20 years or so, competitive
golf has mushroomed in every area –
amateur male and female, pro male and
female, and seniors,” he added.
“You’ve now got levels of competition like the
Challenge Tour, the Europro Tour, the EDP Tour,
the Alps Tour, and they’re all battling for
sponsorship – and for space in newspapers
and magazines, who’ve expanded their football
coverage enormously in the last few years.
“Nor is the current financial state of the
country doing us any favours. Potential
sponsors are surely out there; it’s just that
bit tougher to identify them.”

Spey Valley pay-and-play enoys huge revenue increase

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
It came as no surprise really but the revenue increase at one of Scotland's leading 'pay-and-play' courses last year certainly highlights why golf clubs are finding it difficult at the moment to fill their memberships.
According to Ruaridh Macdonald, the sales and marketing director of Macdonald Hotels and Resorts, the overall revenue at the Spey Valley course, Aviemore increased by 25 per cent year on year in 2009 and the forecast for this year is a rise of 30-35 per cent.
"As a business, we have seen a huge upturn across the country in people paying and playing," he said, adding it had become a preferred option for many "because they can't finance a year's membership at a golf club."
He's right, of course, and that's making life difficult for clubs but hats off to those who are trying to address the problem by thinking out of the box. Take Dollar, for example. One of the first clubs in Scotland to admit that membership loss was threatening its existence, it has just taken an enterprising step by creating a holiday flat in the upper floor of the clubhouse.
Club officials are confident 'The Glen' apartment will become an attractive tourist venue and it certainly should with golf on offer to visitors for only £10 per day and, what's more, they can play in club medals if they have an official handicap certificate.
Little things like that can have a big impact, so let's see more clubs coming up with similar money-making ideas.

... on the other hand, East Aberdeenshire complex to close

David Watson, owner and founder of the East Aberdeenshire Golf Centre at Milden, north of Aberdeen and near Balmedie, is to close its facilities for good on April.
Farmer Watson built the 18-hole course on his land at a cost of £1.2million - having been turned down by the Scottish Sports Council's lottery fund committee - and the course and 16-bay driving range opened for business on May 1, 1999.
Mr Watson said that after a happy 10 years in the business, it was time for him to focus on other interests.
"We would like to thank our loyal members and their families for the support and friendship over the years and look forward to keeping these relations," said Mr Watson who employed former North-District Golf Association president Ian Creswell as his course designer and director of golf in the early year or two.
The course is just under 6,400yd with a par of 70.