Part 1 - A balance between locals and visitors

Chris Ferguson, The Courier, 29 June 2000

Last year was a triumphant one for Carnoustie. It welcomed back The Open Championship for the first time in 24 years and the gaze of the world’s television audiences fell on the terrace of its new £6 million golf hotel.

The BBC produced a short film focusing on the championship links and neighbouring courses in what has become known as Carnoustie Country.

American professionals baulked at the “vicious” set up of the course and, In the space of a week, Carnoustie had earned the reputation of the world’s toughest golf course. Surely all the Angus seaside town had to do after this week-long worldwide advertisement was to decant the Scotch for the golf tourists that would come flocking.

But it has not worked out quite like that.

Although visiting golfer numbers in April were three times what they were in the same month in 1998, golf officials admit more has to be done to woo American tour operators.

They go as far as conceding that the allocation of tee times put obstacles in the way of American tour operators.

There is now a determination that when bookings open on October 1 things will be much different.

However, Mr John Martin, secretary of Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee, qualified his comments by adding that policy this year has been driven by the desire to protect jobs.

“Regrettably, it was a bit of a stalled start but given the priority given to ensure that employment was maximised, if it saved jobs it was worthwhile,” said Mr Martin.

The admission comes against a background of division and acrimony among golf interests In the town which has led to calls for the links management committee, guardians of the Angus Council-owned courses, to be replaced by a trust.

Carnoustie golf shop owner David McNicoli said such a move would liberate the courses from the “stifling” tee times agreement which was struck between Angus Council and Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee and Haydn Rigby the man who brokered the deal to build the hotel.

The agreement was inherited by Dundee property developer Michael Johnston who built the hotel.

Mr McNicoll was involved in circulating a petition in the town, which attracted 2041 signatures, calling for a review of the access agreement.

This agreement gave the hotel first call on virtually all visitor times.

Local resentment has focused on the control a commercial concern now exercises over the tee-head of a publicly-owned course.

Mr McNicoll accuses the council and the links committee of a lack of foresight, of “prostituting themselves to get this hotel

Mr Martin speaks of the need to bring in the tourist pound, or dollar, or yen, to keep Carnoustie on the Open rota.

Neither argument is mutually exclusive. Both sides recognise a balance must be struck between local needs and visitor cash.

Visitors pay £70 for a round on the Championship Course. Local season-ticket holders can play, as often as they can, for £250 a year so the need to attract visitors is not in dispute.

The main charge of locals is that the agreement has allowed the hotel to act as gatekeeper to the golf course.

Through the sheer number of times the hotel controls, those against the agreement claim that trade Is diverted from other hotels and, additionally, the overall number of visiting golfers has dropped.

The claim about falling visitor numbers Is not borne out by figures from the links management committee. Mr Martin says three times the number of visitors played the Championship Course In April this year compared to 1998.

A comparison with 1999 Is invalid because of preparations for the Open that year. In the financial year ended March, course income from visitors was up by £80,000 (7.5%). The Carlogie House Hotel has seen its bookings drop substantially this year.

Bill Watson, a director of the Carlogie, said one of the problems is that tour operators are directing potential visitors to Carnoustie Golf Course Hotel because they have options on tee times.

Mr Watson added that while the Carlogie had been able to get visitor tee times, he would like a rethink on the access agreement.

At Joseph’s Hotel, Joseph Martin said it had been easier to get visitor tee times this tear but would like all the hotels to be on the same footing when it came to visitor tee times.

Part 2 - Board figures show no loss of visitors

Chris Ferguson, The Courier, 30 June 2000

Figures from Angus and Dundee Tourist Board do not show a haemorrhage of visitors away from Carnoustie.

Its statistics are based on the number of callers to its tourist office and do not include a breakdown of which are golfers.

However, there has been an upward pattern since the Open.

From the start of April to the end of July 1998 there were 7064 visitors. In the Open year that rose to 19,835 or the same period.

In April and May this year there have been 2061 visitors to the tourist office, a healthy figure in advance of the busier June and July periods

. After the Open, visitor numbers for August and September were 4035 compared with 3812 in 1998.

The mechanics of the agreement are far from straight forward.

In short, when the bookings book opens in October - it was December last year - the hotel can have its pick of visitor times.

However, the visitor times are split into two categories - those on which the hotel has exclusive call, and the extra hours on which the hotel has first option.

To secure the exclusive times, the hotel must pay a 50% non-refundable deposit as soon as the booking is made. The balance is due nine weeks before tee off.

Arrangements for the extra hours are different. When bookings open the hotel can put its name down against these for no deposit. A deposit is only due nine weeks before tee off. If the hotel cannot sell the times, they can be returned to the links committee.

The hotel’s exclusive hours are from 9 am to 10 am and 1.30 pm to 2.30 pm. The additional hours are from 10 am to 12.20 pm and 2.30 pm to 3.50 pm.

Mr John Martin, secretary of Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee, said that, notwithstanding the agreement, local players have more tee times than was the convention before - three hours a week in fact.

Holders of season tickets, which cost up to £250 a year, can tee off from 7 am to 8.52 am and from 4 pm to dusk. There are additional local tee times between between 12.30 pm and 1.22 pm. On Saturdays season ticket holders can tee off from sunrise to 1.52 pm and on Sundays from sunrise to 11.22 am.

The biggest complaint from locals is the power the hotel has over these extra hours which they can hold on to until nine weeks before tee off in case they are needed. If they are not, and this has been the case in general throughout this season, they are returned to the links committee for sale.

This means that the hours between 10 am and 12.20 pm and 2.30 pm and 3.50 pm are available for general sale to casual visitors and tour operators - but not until nine weeks before tee off.

It is this late release of tee times, in effect hogging times in case they are needed, that locals say has upset the running of the course.

In particular, they point to American tour operators - who are in the practice of booking tee times in October - being turned away because the hotel has taken up its exclusive option on times as well as the additional hours.

The hotel’s claim to these additional times has distorted the system of visitor tee times this season, admitted Mr Martin.

However, he said because the hotel was a new venture and demand was difficult to predict, the hotel owners had to plan ahead on the basis of maximum demand.

One senior golfer, who has requested anonymity, said, ”there has been a big drop in casual visitors. People phoning up for a day’s golf will bet old by the links committee that there are no times available but then told they may wish to try the hotel.

“The hotel may offer tee times but they will be tied in with accommodation.

“Before the agreement, golfers may have taken the available tee time and looked for affordable accommodation in the town.

“Now the option to shop about has been removed. Not everyone can stretch to a four-star hotel. As a result, the number of visitors has fallen which has affected not just the hotels but the golf clubs and shops.”

Mr Martin said, “We get back tee times within nine weeks so if someone phones us 12 weeks before they wish to play it may appear that the course is full. But if they call us nine weeks before they wish to play there may be a time.

“I do not envisage the same situation will happen next season. I think the experience of the last two years will help the hotel determine what they want.

“The hotel have to speculate on demand at the start of the year. We are not in a typical position here. The hotel was built during an Open year and this year the Open is in St Andrews.

“We now have two booking seasons behind us. Regrettably it was a stalled start but given the priority that was given to ensuring that employment was maximised, if it saved jobs it was worthwhile.

“Things will settle down after a rocky start.”

Another factor, he said, was that the hotel was planning ahead on the basis that its timeshare would be open. The complex, planned for the site of the former Dalhousie clubhouse, has not been started.

Part 3 - Hotel's demands likely to be 'more conservative'

Chris Ferguson, The Courier, 1 July 2000

Mr John Martin, secretary of Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee, agrees a lot of work has still to be done to win back American tour operators to Carnoustie.

He has proposed to Angus Council that some form of Carnoustie roadshow be taken to the 12 main American tour operators to build on the image of Carnoustie as the world’s toughest golf course.

He said he believes the hotel’s demands on tee times will be more conservative when the booking book opens in October than the same time last year.

“I don’t think the requirement for 2001 will be the same as what they saw would be the requirement for 2000. I don’t think the hotel will need more than three hours a day.

“A lesson that has to be learned from last year is that we did not open the book until December because of negotiations over access and plans for a booking system.

“Tee times have to be available on October 1 when tour operators are coming in.

“It was the first year and the hotel wanted to make an impact.”

He said last year everything was geared to ensuring that the job prospect of the 250 hotel and links trust workers were not put in jeopardy.

“The economics of it all will ensure that the hotel takes a more conservative view of its tee times requirement,” said Mr Martin.

“I don’t think there will be any question of people being as disappointed next year as they were this year,” he said.

The links committee has dismissed a suggestion in the town that if a pair of visitors wish to course they have to pay for four times. If times are available they will be sold according to the size of the playing party.

Local councillor David Selfridge said that where agreement between all parties exists it is that the present agreement is unsatisfactory. He said discussions are under way to try to find a compromise. If no compromise is found Mr Selfridge’s party, the SNP, could find the access agreement an issue at the next Angus Council elections.

Local golf shop owner Mr David McNicoll said, “We have got to get sitting round the table. The hotel is providing employment and it is right that it should have access to the course. But it is a question of numbers.

“I hope that with some compromise a solution can be found. The links management committee has asked for a meeting and if you do not speak you end up with an impasse.

“The feeling in the town now is outrage at this stifling agreement and they want something done. If it is not we will consider putting up candidates at the next election. That is something the politicians will understand.”

For non-season-ticket holders who live within Angus Council’s boundaries discounts are in operation - £53 for the Championship Course instead of £70, £12.50 instead for £25 for the Burnside and £10 instead of £20 for the Buddon.

To qualify for a season ticket for the Championship Course players must live within the Angus Council boundaries and first hold a seven-day ticket for the Buddon. They then can join the waiting list or a £250 local season ticket.

The Angus-only rule was introduced three or four years ago. Previously it was open to all, which explains why there are those on the waiting list from around the world. Those who hold season tickets can apply to have them renewed.

A spokesman for Carnoustie Golf Course Hotel said they would make a statement on the access agreement within the next two weeks.