The Nairn Golf Club has appointed Fraser Cromarty as its new Chief Executive Officer after a successful seven years with Castle Stuart Golf Links.
Fraser, 39, who has been sales and marketing director at Castle Stuart since its opening, takes up his new role on 4 February.
A member of the Professional Golfers’ Association, he has extensive experience in club development and promoting the Highlands as a golfing destination. Fraser was instrumental in the formation of Highland Golf Links (HGL), which he chairs. The partnership organisation brings together Castle Stuart Golf Links, the Nairn Golf Club and Royal Dornoch Golf Club, as well as the Kingsmills Hotel and Culloden House Hotel, Inverness; the Royal Golf Hotel at Royal Dornoch and the Golf View Hotel and Spa in Nairn, to promote destination breaks.
Malcolm Jones, Captain of The Nairn Golf Club, said: “I am delighted to announce that Fraser has agreed to become our new CEO. He is very well known and widely respected in the golfing world and has a wealth of management and financial experience under his belt.
“During his time at Castle Stuart he has demonstrated an acute knowledge of the golf industry. We are sure that all the members will wish Fraser all the best and offer him every support in his new role. His appointment is an exciting one and gives The Nairn Golf Club increased reason to be very optimistic about the future.”
Stuart McColm, general manager at Castle Stuart Golf Links, added: “It is always difficult to lose a key member of your management team and we are extremely sad to see Fraser go. However we are delighted for him and by his taking up this new role it means that together we can continue to strengthen our close working relationship with The Nairn Golf Club for the benefit of the Highlands as a whole.
“Fraser’s departure has also given us the opportunity to look at our own management structure going forward and through this process we are delighted to announce that Jeremy Matte will make the step up to Director of Golf, a role which will see Jeremy becoming the principal contact for our corporate affiliates.
“Pending any subsequent appointments, I will be the principal contact for all of our agents and tour operators. I look forward to Castle Stuart Golf Links, Nairn, and Royal Dornoch, along with the emerging Highlands accommodations scene, enhancing our reputation as a world-class golfing destination.”
In his early career Fraser spent ten years at Inverness Golf Club where he trained to become a PGA professional under the guidance of Alastair Thompson.
He later moved to Golf Highland, a group set up to promote golf in the Highlands and ran an operation combining a mix of golf courses and accommodation providers with over 80 members for four years.
In 2004 he became head of the new golfing division at Macdonald Hotel Group, developing the SpeyValley course from scratch and managing six other Macdonald golf resorts under a new structure.
Three years later he joined Castle Stuart Golf Links and was sales and marketing director as the newly-built course overlooking the Moray Firth hosted the Scottish Open for three successive years from 2011-2013.
Last year’s Scottish Open was beamed to more than 500 million households worldwide and brought global television exposure worth more than £53 million.
HGL was formed in summer 2011 and between then and November 2013, 1,669 Play and Stay packages were booked as a result of a marketing campaign. This represents 5,007 rounds of golf, 3,332 bedroom nights and spending worth at least £492,355. Players from across the UK and abroad have already booked 218 Play and Stay packages for the ‘shoulder’ months of April and October-November 2014.
Fraser said: “I have had a wonderful time at Castle Stuart and it was a privilege to be involved in the early development of such a great golf course, while being involved in such a major, international event as the Scottish Open was truly memorable.
“I am now looking forward to a new challenge at a historic and renowned club and to continue to work in developing golf and tourism in the Highlands.”
Founded in 1887, The Nairn Golf Club is regarded as having one of the best traditional links courses in Scotland and has hosted some of the world’s most prestigious events, including the Walker Cup in 1999 and the Curtis Cup in 2012. In 2016 it will also play host to the Home Internationals competition, the premier amateur team event in Great Britain and Ireland.
Nairn has 1,400 members, with about 100 from overseas, including the US, Canada and across Europe.
The Nairn Golf Club www.nairngolfclub.co.uk