Regarding comments about St Andrews

Letter to Editor, The Scotsman, 26 October 2000

Alan J R McGregor, General manager, St Andrews Links Trust, St Andrews

While agreeing with Michael Kelly’s point that private golf clubs have the right to keep their courses empty for the members who own them (Opinion, 24 October), I must correct his comments about St Andrews.

First, there are six links courses at the home of golf, including the Old Course.

Secondly, local golfers play 60 per cent of the 200,000-plus rounds of golf played here, and they have tried and tested mechanisms for playing all the courses.

Thirdly, it only takes five hours to get round the Old Course if you are playing in the Open Championship. Usually, if you appear to be heading for more than four hours, the Course Rangers “encourage” a speed-up; slow play is disliked here.

Finally, the golf courses at St Andrews are run under an act of parliament by the St Andrews Links Trust, a charitable organisation which is financially self-standing and is not part of the normal municipal set up.

The trust has the difficult duty of balancing the needs of locals against the overwhelming worldwide demand, which provides virtually all of the revenue to run the largest golf complex in Europe.