PERTHSHIRE CLUB'S ENTERPRISE PAYING OFF

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Club Professional Mark Pirie, Neil Panton, 4 year old member Daniel Kearney and Club captain Ron Bell watch John Swinney MSP tee off at the opening of the Academy in May.

Pitlochry Golf Academy Reports New Dawn 

for Young Players

NEWS RELEASE

Pitlochry Golf Club is celebrating a watershed year for its young players, with officials believing the new Golf Academy will produce even more in future.

The course has just undergone its biggest ever development with a six-figure investment giving it the best facilities in Highland Perthshire.

Now the state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence, opened in May by John Swinney MSP, has borne its first fruit.

Part of the supporting finance from Sportscotland was predicated on the club’s ambitious annual targets for developing elite youngsters. 

At the inaugural Perth and Kinross County ‘Race to Kingsbarns’, Pitlochry boasted a quarter of all the junior boys qualifiers, with three in the top five, including overall winner, Stewart Burns.

Grant Stewart, the reigning county boys' stroke-play champion, was fourth at Kingsbarns, with John Cowan finishing fifth. 

Both Burns and Cowan have also represented the Perthshire at U-16 level.

Furthermore, since elements of the Academy have come on-line, the club has also secured both the boys' and men's county championship titles. 

Officials believe that the investment made will one day help Pitlochry produce international players, justifying their decision to build.

Club Captain Ron Bell said: “Our junior section is actually relatively small so it is great what we have achieved this year at the top level.

“Because we have the new facility and the fact we had some surplus funds, we were able to offer juniors extra winter coaching, including video analysis, and the players were well prepared before the season started.

“With the Academy on board, I believe we will go from strength to strength now. We have a  generation of young ones coming up behind these players and they will benefit from this group’s success.

“Stewart Burns, for example, only joined because his first club didn’t have an active junior section.  In his first full season of training and playing here, his handicap dropped dramatically and the hope is that he will go to the next level, perhaps with the Scottish elite squads or whatever.” 

Race to Kingsbarns Tournament Director, Douglas Cleeton, praised Burns for his performance in winning the tournament.

The player also plays at Blair Atholl and was their men's club Champion.

“Like all those who took part, Stewart remained committed throughout. He worked hard at the Pitlochry facility to improve and develop over the year and his achievement was utterly commendable.”

Pitlochry Golf Club’s new facility includes a driving range with six indoor and five outdoor bays.

Teaching bays, a short-game practice area and the new six-hole Lettoch Links course means junior players can practise all aspects of the game, all year round.

Web: http://www.pitlochrygolf.co.uk/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pitlochrygolf

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/PitlochryGolf

Additional Information

• Pitlochry Golf Course was designed by famous golf architect of the day, Willie Fernie of Troon, in 1908 and opened in 1909.

• Famous names to play the course have been Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Max Faulkner, Bob Charles and John Panton.

• The course sits amid spectacular highland Perthshire scenery, with excellent views over the Tummel Valley, Craigower and Ben Y Vrackie.

• Part of the course lies on a site of historic interest, with the outline of an ancient Pictish fort clearly visible.

• There is an abundance of roe deer, otters and birdlife nearby and the picturesque town of Pitlochry was once described as the ‘Switzerland of Scotland.’

• Pitlochry Golf Estate provides luxury 4-Star self-catering accommodation at Drumchorry Cottage and Upper Balghulan.