A busy opening month for The Castle Course saw more than 4,000 rounds of golf played at the new seventh course at St Andrews Links.
Both local and visiting golfers have been taking up times at the new cliff top layout leading to it being fully booked on many days. Since it opened for play on 28th June the course has drawn visitors from as far afield as Australia, Japan, Dubai and the USA.
The course, designed by young Scottish architect David McLay Kidd, has attracted widespread praise from the national and international golf and travel media and has already won a prestigious award for its outstanding conditioning.
With a large number of bookings already received for the remainder of its first season until 31st October the course has exceeded the expectations of St Andrews Links Trust, which manages and maintains The Castle Course and the six existing public courses in the town including the famous Old Course.
Alan McGregor, general manager, said, “It has been an excellent first month of operation for The Castle Course and it has been pleasing to see so many local and visiting golfers enjoying the new addition to golf in St Andrews. Given the changeable weather it is even more remarkable that so many days have been fully booked.
“We have received much positive feedback from both local and visiting golfers which suggests that people have welcomed the opportunity to play golf on an exciting new course which offers some stunning vistas of St Andrews and out to the North Sea.”
The Castle Course has been named ‘2008 Turf Professional Project of the Year’ for the quality of the greenkeeping work which has gone into preparing the course for play. The award is decided by a panel which includes representatives from the Institute of Groundsmanship, the British Golf Greenkeepers’ Association and leading turfcare journalists.
Previous winners in this category include Ascot Racecourse and Lords Crickect Ground. It has also been praised for its “truly exceptional” turf quality by the Sports Turf Research Institute.
The Castle Course has five tees on every hole to make it suitable for golfers of most abilities and features wide fairways and generous landing areas. The large undulating greens are pure fescue and are receptive to a variety of approach shots.
As well as adding to the golf offering in St Andrews, The Castle Course has brought economic benefits to the town creating jobs for 40 people across the greenkeeping, reception, retail and food and beverage departments and helping to encourage visitors to stay longer and play more golf.
The Castle Course’s first season runs until 31st October. Tee times can be booked by contacting Reservations on 0044 (0)1334 466666, by emailing reservations@standrews.org.uk or online at www.standrews.org.uk.