Ross Marshall - Your Golf Travel
Top three golf resorts in Scotland
1) St Andrews Links
2) Fairmont St Andrews Bay
3) Gleneagles
St Andrews Links has seven courses including the 600-year-old ‘Old Course’ - the oldest golf course in the world.
Ross Marshall, managing director of Your Golf Travel, says it’s one of the most authentic golfing experiences available: “St Andrews is known as ‘the home of golf’. It has little towns set up around golf and the locals all play and follow it – it’s like a religion up there!”
Your Golf Travel puts 15-20,000 golfers into Scotland every year and regularly uses St Andrews Links for corporate groups, alongside the five-star Old Course Hotel Golf Resort & Spa. A member of Leading Hotels of the World, it has 144 rooms including 35 suites, conference facilities for up to 600 delegates and a three AA rosette restaurant.
It recently played host to a group of 120 key suppliers and senior staff from whisky brand Chivas Regal for a conference with golf organised by Your Golf Travel.
“The delegates were from Europe and the US. They visited a local whisky facility, had a conference scheduled out around golf and a gala dinner,” says Marshall. “The hotel is situated on the 17th hole of the Old Course, which is where they play the Open Championship. The feedback we got was very positive, particularly from the Americans, and Chivas is hosting the event there again this year. We find it lends itself well to a group experience.”
The Old Course, which starts and finishes in the town, has 112 bunkers, including the Road Bunker at what is probably the most famous golf hole in the world, the 17th or Road Hole.
Says Marshall: “It’s a links course, which means it’s a particular kind of turf that’s unique to Scotland and Ireland. It makes it challenging. There are some other good courses in the local area as well including Kingsbarns, which is on a cliff overlooking the sea.”
