Kingsbarns Golf Links Receives Plaudits

We are not particularly into printing press releases from PR companies just for the sake of it but at least they do put the business back into your mind and so it was over the weekend with the bog standard stuff about a golf course receiving a new award and being placed higher on some golf course listing or another. We have become cynical about tourism awards in general as you can't move for yet another version of hotel/attraction/course of the year for here there and everywhere.

World banqueting business would drop by about 20% if it wasn't for the number of Annual Tourism Awards Ceremonies the industry holds!

Anyhow according to the release Kingsbarns Golf Links has finished the 2014 season on a high with special recognition at Scotland’s golf Oscars and a prominent showing in the latest edition of one of the UK’s most respected course rankings. The Fife course rounded off the year by picking up the top award at the Scottish Golf Tourism Awards and climbing up Golf Monthly’s top 100 UK & Ireland golf courses list for 2015/16.

Located near St Andrews, the links course has been one of the most discussed venues in Scottish golf tourism terms for more than a decade and for many was responsible for shifting some of the more dated service attitudes of the older Open Championship courses. It has benefited most certainly from being the close neighbour of The Old Course and world wide media and celebrity endorsement after co-hosting the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship for more than ten years. It is now scheduled to host the Ricoh Women’s British Open in 2017.

Discarding the awards for a second, the course really does deserve a mention. We haven't been operating as golf tour operators for some time but when we hosted our series of Drambuie Golf Classics around Scotland, Kingsbarns invariably came out with the best feedback.

The course got the mix right way back at the start and the management team recognised that the quality of the course could be complemented with quiet efficiency rather than out and out ostentatiousness. The welcome was always informal and very Scottish; the clubhouse surroundings comfortable and relaxing with no unnecessary formality; the staff local and lacking pretension.

Okay this was a couple of years back and we worry a little that the course now has a Chief Executive rather than a simple manager but what's in a title! The cost has risen quite substantially over the years but we are sure that it is still in safe hands under the watchful eye of Art Dunkley, director of Kingsbarns Golf Links whom I had the good fortune to meet during one of our events.

He was delighted with the award. “We have been extremely fortunate to receive so many compliments about our course and facilities,” he said. “This latest honour at the Scottish Golf Tourism Awards is especially important as it reflects our focus on creating the best possible links experience which includes more than just an enjoyable round of golf. Exceptional customer satisfaction is a large part of our total golf experience and I am extremely proud that the dedicated Kingsbarns team has been recognised for their constant focus on our customers.”

If you're planning a golf trip to Scotland Kingsbarns should be one for your list. Not cheap but rewarding.

Kingsbarns Golf Links set to reopen on April 1 for 2011 season

Kingsbarns Golf Links is looking forward to its second decade in operation after a successful 10th anniversary season in 2010.

Having celebrated the anniversary last year by staging qualifying for the Open Championship the highly rated links in the East Neuk of Fife saw more than 27,000 rounds played throughout the season.

The main focus of the green keeping team, led by Course Manager Innes Knight, was to continue improvements to all playing surfaces. In 2010, with the help of 'state of the art' fairway cutting machinery and the addition of an extra patching team, the maintenance team were able to work ahead of daily play unnoticed. This winter's maintenance included work to augment the existing fairway drainage system by improving certain areas which have been affected in the past by torrential downpours. Maintenance has also included work such as bunker revetting, tee and walkway alterations and coastal defence improvements.

The green keeping team work closely with the Sports Turf Research Institute, the leading independent turf care body, to monitor the quality of the greens. The STRI uses highly advanced turf quality measuring equipment on the playing surfaces to help Innes and his team consistently achieve traditional links conditions and true running surfaces.

"The course performed very well in 2010," said Innes. "The Final Qualifying for the Open in June and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the beginning of October were our biggest events of the year and we received very favourable feedback from both tournaments. We have been very busy over the last few months working hard to lay the foundations for a successful start to the 2011 season."

Improvements have also been made to the facilities for golfers including the upstairs locker room, 1st tee starters hut and to the half-way house. The half-way house has undergone a makeover and will continue to sell a selection of chilled beers, hot or cold drinks and snacks, along with its world famous hotdogs.

The green fee at Kingsbarns for next season is £185 with a 50% discount for golfers playing a second round within seven days.

For booking information contact 01334 460861 or visit www.kingsbarns.com and you can check availability for short breaks at Kingsbarns with online accommodation bookings in Fife