Proposed St Andrews golf course exhibition

The Courier, 23 July 2003

An exhibition mounted by St Andrews Links Trust will be showing details of its proposed new golf course - it will be the seventh to come under its administration if given the green light by Fife Council planners - opened yesterday.

The public exhibition is part of the trust’s consultation programme which will begin in earnest next week prior to the eventual submission of a planning application.

A number of local organisations have been invited to attend the private discussions, including the Kingdom of Fife Tourist Board, the St Andrews Green Belt Forum, the community councils of St Andrews and Boarhills, St Andrews Preservation Trust and rights of way groups, said trust spokeswoman Carolyne Nurse.

The proposals are on show in the Eden Clubhouse and focus on such aspects as the planned course’s layout, its an scape character, the need for its development and inter-visibility. it is open daily until Sunday from 2 pm to 9 pm and again from August 1-10 during the clubhouse opening hours.

The stand-alone project will be separate from the town’s world-famous links, which accommodate the six courses already run by the trust - the Old Course, Jubilee, New, Eden, the Strathtyrum, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and the nine-hole Balgove. However, the trust has prepared for a long planning approval process, as it is likely to face a number of constraints.

Ms Nurse made it clear that the trust is looking only to build a golf course, clubhouse and greenkeeping facilities on the 200-acre site and has no interest in constructing a hotel or a residential development.

The location for the new course is on farmland at Brownhills and Kinkell, to the south-east of St Andrews, around one mile from the town centre. It is a clifftop location, but does not include the cliffs, the braes or the coastal footpath.

The seventh golf course at the world’s largest public golfing complex is being created in response to increasing demand to play the links from local golfers. During the last four years alone, demand for yearly tickets from golfers residing around the town and further away has risen by over one-third.