Course ‘a dream come true’ for golf champion

The Courier, 16 October 2004

The chance to design a championship standard golf course at St Andrews is a “dream come true”, former Open champion Tom Weiskopf told The Courier yesterday.

Weiskopf has been linked with the design of the proposed 18-hole private development at Feddinch for some months, and his interest has only been public knowledge for a matter of weeks.

But yesterday as his involvement was confirmed and he arrived on-site with his senior design associate Phil Smith to determine the course lay-out, he was not to be put off by a prolonged downpour of torrential rain.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for anyone. St Andrews has somewhat instant credibility and notoriety. It’s a dream come true for me to be involved,” he said.

Weiskopf and Smith were accompanied at Feddinch yesterday by St Andrews International Golf Club representatives who confirmed that the former champion, who won the Open at Troon in 1973, was now on board.

Weiskopf, who runs his company Weiskopf Designs from his base in Scottsdale, Arizona, has been responsible for the design of 55 golf courses across the world since he went into business in the late 1980s.

He is already famed as the man who designed the course at Loch Lomond and is hoping that Feddinch will be a similar success.

He told The Courier yesterday that he first became aware of the Feddinch project in the early part of the summer when one of his associates at US-based Troon Golf - a company responsible for managing 140 golf projects around the globe - contacted St Andrews International Golf Club to express an interest.

He was due to be in St Andrews for the 250th anniversary of the R and A in June and decided to find out more about the project during his trip.

He recalled, “That was the first time I saw it. I had seen a topographical map. That’s something we’re always interested in looking at even before we make the trip. It gives us a good sense of what the terrain is like. But the name St Andrews speaks for itself, so when you have an opportunity like this you try and get your name in the hat, and that is what we did.”

Weiskopf, who spent much of yesterday marking potential tee and green points in muddy fields, said the location of the potential development was “excellent”.

He was currently trying to establish routing and grading of the course before a detailed planning application was submitted to Fife Council, anticipated now for the first week of November.

Weiskopf said the weather was an important consideration when designing a golf course—and judging by yesterday’s conditions, it seemed nothing could be more true.

He said, “We know the prevailing winds already, where they normally blow from, and that’s always a consideration for the strategic quality of the golf course.

“This is a wonderful piece of property because it affords us the opportunity to continuously change the directions. Now that’s a little bit different to most golf courses.”

Yesterday St Andrews International Golf Club spokesman Alastair Doig said the proposals for the multi-million pound project were continuing to make good progress and he was “very pleased”.

The applicant had been subject to a long list of conditions, including a section 75 agreement, since outline planning permission was approved by Fife Council’s east area development committee in March.

The outline application was approved in the face of strong opposition from a number of St Andrews groups.

Mr Doig said the Fife Council conditions had now “more or less all been met” and a more detailed golf course application was ready to go in by the first week of November.

Subject to permission for more detailed plans being approved, he said they hoped to start on site early next year.

The aim was to have the development ready in time for the Open Championship at Carnoustie in 2007.

Located to the south-west of St Andrews, the Feddinch development would involve creation of an 18-hole course and development of 40 two- bedroom suites.