A group of historic Fife golf clubs is looking forward to a new decade after celebrating a remarkable year in which some of its best-ever figures were recorded. Links with History, which features a selection of the finest courses in Scotland, confirmed it had seen some of its best year-on-year booking figures during 2019 with some months witnessing five-fold increases.
The group was formed around four clubs and five courses that shared a golfing legacy stretching back 700 years. Featuring links, heathland and parkland courses designed by some of the legends of the game, including Old Tom Morris and James Braid, Links with History celebrates golf’s golden era.
A sound growth
The compelling combination of history and sport has helped the group record a significant boost to the number of rounds booked with overall year-on-year totals up nearly 25 percent during 2019.
David Roy, secretary manager at Crail Golfing Society, noted:
— The increase has been especially pleasing given the geographic spread of our visiting golfers and the increasing influence of tour operators.
Crail Golfing Society (the 1st, 2nd and 14th hole pictured above) is the seventh oldest golf club in the world and the second oldest in Fife after the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. In 2020, it will officially reopen the old Balcomie Links after a major renovation project during a special invitational golf day marking the 125th anniversary of the course opening.
Ladybank Golf Club is presently working on a bunker renovation project which will see eleven holes complete this winter and the remaining seven holes in the winter of 2020/21. In June next year, the club will host the Scottish Ladies Amateur Championship.
Visitors who have enjoyed Crail Golfing Society, Ladybank, Lundin Links and Scotscraig golf clubs during 2019 have travelled from around Scotland and England to take advantage of the special rates offered by Links with History.
In addition to visitors from Great Britain, a lot have also come from Germany, Austria, Canada, the US, Sweden, Holland and Australia. What’s more, the golf travel industry is playing an increasingly important role in bolstering the figures with over half of golfers booking rounds during August doing so through tour operators.
Links with History is a group of great golf courses and glorious histories. The clubs involved include former Open Championship Final Qualifying venues as well as trailblazers from golf’s golden era.
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