The Highlands is poised to host an unprecedented international summit for golf course architects, developers and investors.
Dozens of the most influential figures in the sport will descend on the region next month for the pioneering global event.
Last night, the initiative was hailed by business leaders as evidence of the Highlands growing stature in the gold world – and triggered hopes of new investment in local courses.
The conference will discuss ways to rekindle the golden age of Scottish golf course design from the early 1900s, to make the sport more appealing to players of all levels.
It will be chaired by golf writer and historian Adam Lawrence, founder and editor of Golf Course Architecture magazine, and is to be held at the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness.
Yesterday, Mr Lawrence said that although the level of recent golf course development in the Highlands had been “relatively small”, there have been a number of “high profile, quality proposals recently which has taken the region from a backwater to a place where people want to come and play.”
Mr Lawrence also suggested there was scope for more golf course investment in the islands, saying the “capacity is there”.
However, he stressed that transport connections remained the biggest barrier.
Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stewart Nicol welcomed the “excellent initiative” last night.
He said: “I think the fact this is happening up here is a recognition of how well we are doing with golf both nationally and internationally.
“In Royal Dornoch and Castle Stuart and Nairn Dunbar we have got some of the world’s leading golf courses.
“Looking at the whole concept through to design and building issues is also a good thing if we are wanting to make it more fun and get young people involved in the sport.
“Scotland is obviously the home of golf but what is really important is that we are not resting on our laurels and are seeking to keep building and developing here, so that’s encouraging that this conference is part of the whole dynamic here and it’s really important we see that continue to grow and build.”
It is understood that Neil Hampton, general manager of Royal Dornoch Golf Club, proposed the idea of holding the event while representing the Highlands at a regional golf development group meeting during the club’s 400th anniversary celebrations last year.
The event has since been taken on by Scottish Enterprise through its golf tourism development group, and there has also been involvement from Highland Golf Links partnership and well as Visit Scotland and the PGA in Scotland.
Other experts due to attend include golf course managers, developers, historians and academics, and they will be joined by industry consultants, tourism businesses and representatives from the game’s governing bodies.
Among the key speakers will include Thad Layton, senior golf course architect at the Arnold Palmer Design Company, as well as acclaimed Australian course architect Bob Harrison, who is building a new course on the Ardfin Estate on Jura.
Mr Lawrence said the event’s focus will be how to design golf courses to ensure they are more “fun for ordinary golfers to play while being a challenge for the best”.
He added: “I hope we will help attendees to remember the key lessons that Scotland taught the world where golf is concerned: that the essence of the game lies not in exact yardages and flying the ball to the pin, but in interacting with the contours of the ground, and that the fun of golf is proportional to the length of time the ball stays in motion after first hitting the ground – and that golf is a game for everyone, not a self-selecting elite.”
Castle Stuart general manager Stuart McColm also welcomed the initiative and said he was hopeful the conference would generate some strong debate.
“We are losing members across the country and we have to put a case forward for changing this. It’s all part of a global effort,” he said.
“It starts with development and design and courses have to be more playable. That’s why Castle Stuart has been seen as a potential benchmark whereby there it is seen as more playable and fun – even for the professionals.”
The summit is titled “The Design Masters: The Scottish International Golf Course Architects Conference”.
It will be held at the Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness between February 28 and March 3.
