Tag Archive for: golf

Bathgate Golf Club invests in Jacobsen

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Bathgate Golf Club invests in Jacobsen: New recipients of a Jacobsen Eclipse 360 Hybrid 3WD greens mower are greenkeepers at Bathgate Golf Club.

The West Lothian club is famous for its close links to the Ryder Cup, having produced Ryder Cup captains, Eric Brown and Bernard Gallacher, and a third Ryder Cup player in Stephen Gallacher.

Bathgate Golf Club invests in Jacobsen

Bathgate Golf Club invests in Jacobsen

Head greenkeeper, Rab Burns, took delivery of the hydraulic-free ride on mower from Robert Marshall, Area Sales Manager at Scottish dealers, Fairways GM at Inchinnan.

Rab, who has been at the James Braid-designed course since 1995, said that the new arrival would bring extra precision and quality to the tees and greens.

“This is our third successive Eclipse. The others were owned for 5 years and 7 years, so this new one takes us into our 13th year. It’s brilliant, just the best cut around and not something we would compromise. We’ve had it out already and it’s fantastic and what we expected.”

When specifying the latest Eclipse, the three-wheel drive option was vital to help the Bathgate team reach two greens that have machinery access only via a steep incline.

“With two-wheel drive, particularly in the damp or wintertime, it would be tough to get up that slope. In all it runs to about 130 metres, this just makes it effortless.”

Rab, who heads a team of four, moves to a new post at Kingsfield Golf Centre, Linlithgow next month.

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New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches

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New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches: New golf business podcast, Syngenta Growing Golf, launches today across all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple and Google.

In episode 1, social intelligence experts Jacques de Guigné and Claire Martin from Ipsos join Mark Birchmore from Syngenta to discuss the findings of a pioneering social media listening project analyzing 16.1 million mentions of golf.

New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches

New podcast from Syngenta Golf launches

With a huge influx of players over the past three years, matched by the inexorable rise of social media, what are existing customers saying about golf, what do new participants think and how can clubs and courses engage prospective players?

The panel discuss key insights from the report, including golf’s negative reputation generated on Twitter by controversial figures and topics such as Donald Trump and LIV Golf, comparing it with the positive sentiment and interactivity around the sharing of golf experiences on Instagram.

Mark Birchmore, Head of Global Marketing for Syngenta Turf and Landscape, said: “Our latest golf market study, ‘Golf & Social Media: The Great Divide’, has just been published in conjunction with Ipsos and the expert analysis and commentary from Ipsos’ Social Intelligence team makes for insightful listening.

“This report is a first for the golf industry and to have access to Ipsos’ AI-enabled tools to analyze millions of posts about golf gives us valuable new insights and learnings on the golf market, helping the industry understand diverse customers’ perceptions and motivations.

“The first episode of our podcast series is designed to complement the report and we hope clubs and courses, as well as the wider golf industry, find it relevant and useful in strategic decision making.”

Episode 1 of the podcast, ‘Golf & Social Media: The Great Divide’ is available to listen to now:

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts 

To download the report, receive market insights and success stories of individuals and businesses transforming golf, visit Syngenta Growing Golf: http://www.syngentagolf.com

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Awards galore for Carnoustie Golf Links

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Awards galore for Carnoustie Golf Links: The Championship Course at Carnoustie Golf Links, ‘Golf’s Greatest Test’ and host of The 147th Open in 2018, was named best golf course in Scotland at the 2023 Scottish Golf Tourism Awards.

Carnoustie Golf Links was successful in the Best Golf Course over £150 category for the third time in recent years and the awards didn’t end there as Carnoustie pipped the competition to take home the ‘Best Pro Shop’ Award for the second time in as many years.

Awards galore for Carnoustie Golf Links

Awards galore for Carnoustie Golf Links

The Championship Course at Carnoustie was up against a shortlist which included Castle Stuart, the King’s Course at Gleneagles and North Berwick.

Links Superintendent, Kevin Stott, said “This award recognises the hard work and effort that our whole team put in to looking after our world class golf courses and facilities every day. We are extremely proud to present the courses at Carnoustie in an outstanding condition to our local, national and international guests”

Rebecca Tully, Head of Merchandise, said: “Our Professional Shop has grown from strength to strength over the years. We picked up this same award in 2022 and couldn’t be more delighted to be awarded it again this year. We are committed to providing the very best offering and experience at Carnoustie, and this award is testament to the efforts that we put in every single day.”

Carnoustie Golf Links also picked up the Leisure, Tourism and Hospitality Award at The Courier Business Awards in late 2022. The last 12 months have seen a number of other successes at Carnoustie, including the launch of their research hub in collaboration with Abertay University and the launch of its brand-new High Performance Junior Programme. History was made at Carnoustie in August 2022 when they hosted the Boy’s and Girl’s Amateur Championships – where the finals were played alongside each other for the first time ever and late 2022 saw the near completion of the Seagreen development project stage at Carnoustie which will provide Scotland, and the wider UK, with critical green infrastructure and will become Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm, helping to meet Scotland’s net-zero targets and tackle climate change.

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Major coup for JCB Golf Course

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Major coup for JCB Golf Course: A major tour event is set to make a welcome return to the prestigious JCB Golf and Country Club after the resounding success of its inaugural visit.

The first JCB Championship was staged at the Club this year as part of the Legends Tour’s international schedule, and some of the best-known names in golf competed for £600,000 in prize money. Today organisers confirmed that the event would be returning to the Rocester course in 2023 with a prize fund of £750,000 – the largest on the Legends Tour schedule outside of the Senior Open Championship. The JCB Championship is due to place from August 3rd to 5th 2023.

Major coup for JCB Golf Course

Major coup for JCB Golf Course

2022 Senior Open Champion Darren Clarke will once again host the event, with the Club bidding to attract a star-studded field. Among other big names already signed up to play are Alex Cejka, who won the 2022 Championship, Retief Goosen, Thongchai Jaidee, John Daly and Colin Montgomerie .

JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald: “We are thrilled to be hosting the JCB Championship for the second consecutive year. Last year’s event was a resounding success and with Darren Clarke hosting the occasion again, we aim to make the 2023 JCB Championship even bigger and better.”

Legends Tour Chief Executive Officer Phil Harrison said: “We are delighted to be returning to the JCB Golf & Country Club in 2023. The JCB Championship will undoubtedly attract some of the game’s biggest stars including Tour winners, Major winners, Ryder Cup stars and Hall of Famers.”

Darren Clarke said: “I was extremely proud to host The JCB Championship last year for what was a truly fantastic event. The JCB Golf & Country Club is a great venue, and we had such a great field in 2022 with so many former Major champions and legends of the game taking part.    I am really looking forward to returning in 2023 as host.”

More than 8,000 spectators attended the JCB Championship over three days, enjoying the action on a stunning course which is set in some of Staffordshire’s most beautiful countryside.  The prestigious Staffordshire club – the brainchild of JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford – has also successfully been a host venue for the Rose Ladies Series in both 2020 and 2021

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Golf clubs to become STEM classrooms

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Golf clubs to become STEM classrooms: The British & International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) are collaborating to have BIGGA exclusively present GCSAA’s First Green STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education programme in the UK.

Founded in 1997, First Green is the only STEM education and environmental outreach programme using golf courses as learning labs.

Golf clubs to become STEM classrooms

Golf clubs to become STEM classrooms

The First Green curriculum helps students apply their classroom knowledge in an outdoor setting. Using STEM concepts connected to golf course management and conservation, students find new inspiration in their schoolwork and learn about the possibility of a career in golf or a STEM-related field. Since its inception, First Green has reached students in the United States and Canada through learning labs that bring the classroom to life on the golf course. First Green also gives students a first-hand look at the important role greenkeepers (or superintendents as they are known in the US) play in their communities.

As part of the multi-year agreement, GCSAA will provide branding, training, insight and curriculum advice to assist BIGGA with establishing First Green in the UK. The two associations will share best practices and updates to ensure students will be part of programmes offering the best possible experience and learning.

This initiative was announced as part of the 2023 BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition (BTME) in a joint event attended by representatives of GCSAA and BIGGA. Initial planning is underway and a schedule of First Green events presented exclusively in the UK by BIGGA will be available when they are announced at www.bigga.org.uk.

Jim Croxton, BIGGA CEO, said: “First Green is a brilliant tool with all the assets, lesson plans and resources that any golf course needs to host an event. We’re thankful to the GCSAA for the incredible work they have done to develop the programme and also for enabling us to bring it to the UK, where I am confident it will be a huge success.”

Rhett Evans, GCSAA CEO, said: “STEM education opens the door to a wide variety of career paths including golf-related careers. While our number one goal for First Green is to support the education growth of students, we also contribute to golf’s sustainability by showcasing golf facilities’ focus on preserving the environment and creating interest in a golf-related career. Over the years we have collaborated on many initiatives with BIGGA and created a strong working relationship. This long-term and successful relationship enabled our two associations to seamlessly bring the GCSAA’s First Green programme to the UK.”

For more information about First Green in the United States, visit thefirstgreen.org

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