The winners of this year’s Golf Tourism Scotland Gold Standard Awards have been announced at a gala dinner held at the new-look Turnberry Resort.
Across 11 categories, exponents of the very best in Scottish golf tourism were recognised from various sectors including travel, hospitality, golf courses and golf services.
The spectacular night came to a crescendo when Helensburgh local Colin Dalgleish, co-founder of international golf tour operator PerryGolf and former Walker Cup captain, received the inaugural Special Achievement Award. Earlier, Sam Adam, assistant front office manager at Rufflets Country House Hotel, was named Young Industry Person of the year – an accolade which this year came with an international scholarship trip.
Other notable winners included Turnberry’s Ailsa Course in the golf course category, Spela-Golf.com which received the award for the top tour operator and Davy Gilchrist from Kingsbarns Golf Links, who was named this year’s top caddie master.
In the hotel division, Cameron House on Loch Lomond came out on top in the resort category while the Macdonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick triumphed in the large hotel group. North Berwick also claimed the best small hotel/guest house in the form of the North Berwick Golf Lodge, and Rufflets Country House Hotel collected its second award of the night in the country house hotel section.
The East Lothian town of North Berwick completed a hat trick of awards when North Berwick Golf Club picked up the golf secretariat accolade. When St Andrews Executive Travel completed the winning line-up by receiving the transport operator of the year award, GTS chairman Nick Hunter commented that the evening had been the best GTS awards yet.
“It’s been a fantastic night during which the best of Scottish golf tourism has been properly recognised,” he commented. “The Gold Standard Awards are a great opportunity to celebrate what we do best, and I think this awards evening has been the best yet in terms of accrediting the practitioners that make our industry shine.”
Since its inception four years ago, the GTS Gold Standard Awards have become a must-attend event for the golf industry in Scotland.
Golf Tourism Scotland www.golftourismscotland.com