A Better Chance To Play The Old Course

Here's some welcome news from St Andrews. Effective next year, the ballot for tee times on the world famous Old Course will be drawn two days ahead effective in January 2012. The ballot has been drawn one day ahead for many years but St Andrews Links Trust, which manages the seven public courses in the town, is making the change to help players plan their golf more effectively.

On Saturday, January 7, 2012, the ballot will be drawn for Monday, January 9 and will continue to be drawn two days ahead from then onwards.

The 48 hour ballot will dovetail with the one-day ahead booking system on the Castle, Jubilee, Eden and Strathtyrum courses and will enable golfers who have been unsuccessful in the ballot to book an alternative course for the day they want to play. The earlier draw will make it easier for visiting golfers to plan accommodation and travel arrangements and will encourage them to stay longer in St Andrews and play more golf in and around the town.

Euan Loudon, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust, said, “The ballot is designed to ensure that golfers who haven’t been able to book in advance still have a chance to play the Old Course. It has been drawn one day ahead for many years but we conducted an extensive consultation exercise with a range of different stakeholders and the feedback was that people felt drawing it two days ahead would make it much easier for people to plan their golf. We believe the change will help to improve the experience of playing in St Andrews and to ensure that people have more opportunity to book golf on the other courses.”

To enter the ballot requires at least two golfers and they will have to enter their names, home clubs and handicaps by 2pm. The ballot will take place every day of the week with the exception of Friday as there is no play on the Old Course on Sundays. The entries can be made by phone on 01334 466666 or in person at any of the three clubhouses at the Links.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

I'm Waiting For My Review Copy

A truly remarkable golf book was released today, but you probably won't find a copy on the discount table at your neighborhood Barnes & Noble. It's “The Golf Links of Scotland,” an ultra-deluxe, hand-tooled leather-bound tome that is the ultimate hole-by-hole tour--at least by price--of the venerable Old Course at St. Andrews as well as a tribute to 18 other top Scottish seaside links. Noted golf photographer and St. Andrews resident Iain Macfarlane Lowe joined forces with golf writer/editor extraordinaire George Peper to produce a limited edition collector’s volume that is now on sale for a mere $4,600. Hurry, though, the price goes up January 1.

Only 150 copies of “The Golf Links of Scotland” will be printed with 145 made available for purchase. In pre-release publicity, it's said, "The artistic blend of Lowe’s exquisite photography with Peper’s elegant and insightful prose transports the reader into an intimate appreciation of the character and nuances of every hole on the Old Course." I haven't received a review copy for some reason, so I can't attest to that, but I'll take their word for it. Novel and informative transparent overlays on aerial shots also provide useful play lines and yardages for all 18 holes and combined with the wisdom of “local knowledge” professional tips serve as a valuable guide to negotiate the course. How well you hit the ball there is up to you.

“The Golf Links of Scotland,” is two books in one. Book One devotes 130 pages to the Old Course while Book Two visits 18 other Scottish coastline gems in the span of 170 pages of descriptive text, playing tips and stunning photography. The highlighted links include: Royal Troon, Royal Dornoch, Carnoustie, Turnberry, Prestwick, Muirfield, Royal Aberdeen, North Berwick and Kingsbarns.

As a further personalized touch to the 145 editions, Lowe has signed and numbered an exclusive, unpublished photograph printed on highest quality fine art paper and bound into each book, making it suitable for removal and framing. “The Golf Links of Scotland” is handsomely presented in a hand-made clamshell case. The oversized book’s leather binding is graced with 23-carat gold leaf inlay that includes four thistles on the cover corners. Lowe, acclaimed as St. Andrews’ “official” golf photographer, spent four years capturing the most majestic shots of the courses represented. Additionally, four spectacular double-gatefolds (50” x 12”) are inserted to give the reader an even closer look at some of these renowned courses.

“The Golf Links of Scotland” costs more than a trip to the Old Course, but it certainly would make an exceptional gift for the historian or avid golf collector. To order your copy, contact Iain Lowe at iain@golflinksofscotland.com or for more information and sample pages visit www.golflinksofscotland.com.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.

Trump Waits For Economy In Scotland

I had an interesting conversation recently with real estate impresario Donald Trump, who uses "The Greatest" in a sentence more often than Muhammad Ali. "What's up with the project in Scotland?" I asked. Here's what he said:

"We have all the permits and everything is ready to go, but I'm not going to build anything until the depression is over."

That's too bad, since I was really looking forward to visiting Trump International Golf Links, which is scheduled to have two world-class golf courses and a luxury hotel sited on 1400 acres of sand dunes at Balmedie Beach in the northeast part of the country.

Martin Hawtree is to design the courses. He's known for his expertise in links courses and worked on Royal Birkdale, Portmarnock, Lahinch and Carnoustie to name but a few. Tom Fazio II, nephew of designer Tom Fazio, did some original routing work on the Aberdeen property, but Hawtree took over when Fazio turned his attention to the New Course at Trump Bedminster.

Trump went through some battles to get permission to build on the property, fighting farmers and others who want to preserve the property in its present state. The chance to bring new tourist dollars to the area--with the accompanying jobs in construction and resort operation, won the day, however, and Trump's project is now clear for takeoff as soon as the economy permits.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

St Andrews April Fool

Beau and Dave on the Swilcan Bridge, 2001

It's not an April Fool's Day gag. The traditional season opening event at St Andrews Links is a weekend when the Old Course is played backwards for three days.

During the Old Course in Reverse event, golfers get to play the Old Course on its original clockwise routing starting from the first tee and playing to the 17th green, then the 18th tee to the 16th green and so on.

The Old Course was played in this direction until the 1870s when Old Tom Morris created the present first green. This made it possible to play in the anti-clockwise direction. In fact, until the early 20th Century the course was played in both directions in alternate weeks.

Until the 1970s the course was set up in the clockwise direction for four weeks in the winter. St Andrews Links Trust, which manages and maintains the seven public courses in St Andrews including the Old Course and the new Castle Course, recently revived this routing and it has proved popular as a season-opening event.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo