Tag: Scotland

This famed Scottish golf club is believed to be the first to add defibrillators to golf carts

With access to a defibrillator in addition to CPR, the odds of someone’s survival can jump.

Royal Dornoch, a historic golf course in the northern reaches of Scotland which can trace its roots in the sport back to the early 17th century, is renowned for taking care of its members.

In keeping with this ethos, it is now thought to be the first club in the world to install life-saving defibrillators on all its golf buggies.

There are more than 30,000 cardiac arrests annually in the UK, with “an unacceptable” survival rate of less than 8 percent.

With access to a defibrillator in addition to CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) the odds of someone’s survival can jump from around 6 percent to 74 percent.

Royal Dornoch has installed a Phillips AED (automated external defibrillator) on all five carts that are hired out to golfers with medical conditions. Another will be used by the club’s “roving ranger.”

More: Golfweek bounds across Scotland, from Royal Dornoch around to St. Andrews with stops all along the way

The club already has two kits in its clubhouses but Neil Hampton, general manager of the club, said he wanted to go further after meeting Surrey businessman David Sullivan and former England international footballer John Salako, who are both ambassadors for the Heart Start campaign.

Sullivan took part in a three-month, 1,100-mile fundraising challenge last year which saw him hit golf balls from John O’Groats to Lands’ End, teaching CPR skills to 40,000 people en route.

He said: “Neil Hampton and the team looked after me during the challenge, listened to my story and expressed an interest in fitting their buggies with defibrillators.

“Royal Dornoch is the first course in the world to install potentially life-saving defibrillators and first aid kits on each of their golf buggies but, hopefully, it won’t be long before others follow suit,” said Sullivan, who embarked on his crusade after suffering the tragedy of losing four close friends in their forties, all to cardiac arrest.

Royal Dornoch has installed a Phillips AED (automated external defibrillator) on all five carts that are hired out to golfers with medical conditions. Another will be used by the club’s “roving ranger.”

“We are seeing more and more golf clubs around the UK purchasing defibrillators for their clubhouses. That is fantastic. But we believe clubs can go one step further to protect members and visitors by providing defibrillators in every buggy going out onto the course.”

Royal Dornach’s general manager believes other golf clubs will embrace the concept.

“We were very impressed with what David and John have been doing to promote the use of defibrillators,” he said. “We have had one at the clubhouse and at the halfway house for several years. Luckily, they haven’t been called into action so far, but defibrillators have a track record of saving lives.

More: Where does Royal Dornock place on Golfweek’s Best classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland? Very high

“Now we have installed a Phillips AED on all five buggies that are hired out to golfers with medical conditions. Another is used by our roving ranger and that could prove particularly invaluable if someone is in distress.

“They are simple to use, the machine talks you through what to do in the event of an emergency.”

A heart attack is when blood flow to the heart is blocked.

Sudden cardiac arrest is when the heart malfunctions and suddenly stops beating. A heart attack is a “circulation” problem and sudden cardiac arrest is an “electrical” problem

Sullivan said: “Our mission is to increase investment in life-saving defibrillators and educate as many people as possible on how to perform CPR.

“The chances of a victim of cardiac arrest surviving are enhanced greatly if a defibrillator can be used within the first three minutes. Stats show the survival rate can be boosted by around 70 percent.

“Given the size of your average golf course, it makes sense to kit out buggies with equipment that can be called upon quickly in an emergency.”

Code Blue CPR offers a support package to golf clubs and defibs that require no maintenance as they self-analyze every day and alert staff of any issues, such as a low battery.

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Video: Dundonald Links offers modern twists in classic Scottish golf country

Recent renovations have Dundonald Links in prime condition to host the 2023 Women’s Scottish Open.

As Scottish golf is booming with international travelers flocking to the well-known historical links courses — consider booking extremely early for any trip, as in get your plans in order now for 2024 — it’s worth noting there are several modern courses around the game’s home country that are more than worthy of a round.

Count Dundonald Links in Gailes, on the western side of Scotland, among them.

Designed by Kyle Phillips and opened in 2003, Dundonald Links ranks No. 35 on Golfweek’s Best list of best modern courses in Great Britain and Ireland. It hosted the Women’s Scottish Open in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and it will again be the site of the co-sanctioned LPGA/Ladies European Tour event this August. It also was site of the DP World Tour’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open in 2017.

The club – which serves as a handy base for golf excursions to other courses such as Royal Troon, Prestwick and Western Gailes – has recently undergone major renovations to its clubhouse and accommodations.

Golfweek videographer Gabe Gudgel was there recently to take it all in. Check out his accompanying video to see how modern golf looks in a classic land.

Golf travel: Bounding across Scotland, from Royal Dornoch around to St. Andrews with stops all along the way

From the Scottish Highlands around to St. Andrews, a series of true links astonish with variety, playability and charm.

Where to begin? 

That is not a rhetorical question. When laying out a bucket-list golf trip to Scotland, it’s a very serious query, part of a series of such questions that will follow you around the country. Where to begin? Which course next? Toughest of all: Which courses can I bear to skip? 

Headed to St. Andrews? There’s a lot more on tap than the famed Old Course, 30 times the site of the British Open – ahem, Open Championship, thank you very much. Will you play the New Course, which seems a misnomer, seeing how it was built by Old Tom Morris in 1895? How about the Jubilee? The Castle, which having opened outside town in 2008 is the newest of the seven courses managed by the St. Andrews Links Trust? Maybe sample a handful of the other layouts not far from the Home of Golf?

Headed into the Highlands for a dream round at Royal Dornoch? Everyone on other courses, on the way and on social media will tell you that you can’t skip nearby Brora (I didn’t) or Tain or Golspie (I missed both, but I already am planning to return). Scouting a classic links trip to Aberdeen? You can’t miss classic links such as Royal Aberdeen, or Murcar Links or Cruden Bay or a handful of others. The options are lined up along the coast. All the coasts of Scotland, actually.

Scotland
Cabot Highlands, formerly known as Castle Stuart, in Scotland (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Headed east? You’ll be told not to miss the courses to the west. Looking north? Don’t miss those gems to the south. Whichever point of the compass you choose and whatever address you plug into Google Maps, there will be dozens of opportunity costs – all those suggestions are correct, even if they create a totally unmanageable itinerary for a traveling golfer on a weeklong holiday. 

Weeks after my recent trip, when playing with a group of Golfweek’s Best course raters in California, I barely could finish a sentence about where I played before the questions poured in: Did you play this one, and what about that one? We all process the world through the lenses of our own experiences, and that’s especially true when judging the courses somebody else is, or is not, playing.

Scotland
The 18th green of the Old Course at St. Andrews sits close enough to the street and town that the afternoon shadows of old buildings stretch across the putting surface. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Such was the quandary when I started planning this trip to Scotland. I was lucky, because I knew where I would begin. American course designer Tom Doak is building a new course at Castle Stuart near Inverness, which is being rebranded as Cabot Highlands after its recent acquisition by Canadian company Cabot. I would begin there to hear Doak discuss his plans as well as to sample the original course at the resort. 

But from there? I had options. Too many options. The names of famous Scottish links courses roll on and on, and it would take months to see even half of what I had in mind. I had only 12 days on the ground, so I enlisted the help of course booking provider Golfbreaks and the local experts at VisitScotland.com to help set up a trip that would venture high into the Highlands before swinging back down the coast, east to Aberdeen and eventually into St. Andrews. 

Scotland, of course, is where the game as we know it was invented, and the best of it is all about links golf in particular. Firm, fast and sometimes almost entirely natural – I coveted the links experience. Of the 550 or so total golf courses in Scotland, fewer than 90 might be classified as true links, depending on one’s given definition – there is great debate among academics and clubhouse drunks about what constitutes a proper links. On this trip I was lucky enough to experience 11 examples. Each was distinctive, and don’t dare think of links golf as some uniform game, because it is the definitive opposite of that. The conditions might be similar, but each layout shines on its own, each bouncy shot promising something unexpected.

Scotland
Street view in St. Andrews (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

I played courses that are famed worldwide, and several that are less known outside Scotland. I played in sunshine and rain, wind and calm. I played well, and I played poorly. The only constants were the courses, the terrain and coastlines flashing through my exhausted head each night in whatever accommodations I had scheduled. The trip included planes, trains, buses, shuttles and a blue Skoda SUV – “Keep left, keep left, keep left,” I had to remind myself at the start of each drive on skinny, winding roads, because I couldn’t bear the thought of missing my next round of golf due to something so mundane as a car crash.

There were a lot of miles, a lot of different beds, a lot of nerves in the car. So many good courses, too many bad swings. And it was all perfect. 

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Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 modern courses in Great Britain and Ireland

The links layouts dominate the rankings of the best modern courses in England, Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 rankings of the Top 50 Modern Courses in Great Britain and Ireland – built in or after 1960 – as determined by Golfweek’s Best Raters.

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in Great Britain and Ireland to produce the final rankings.

Listed with each course below is its average ranking, location, designers and year opened.

*New to or returning to list

Other popular Golfweek’s Best lists include:

Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland

The traditional links courses find spots of honor on this ranking of the best classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland.

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 rankings of the Top 50 classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland – built before 1960 – as determined by Golfweek’s Best raters.

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each course. Then each layout is ranked against others in Great Britain and Ireland to produce the final rankings.

Listed with each course below is its average ranking, location, designers and year opened.

*New to or returning to list

Other popular Golfweek’s Best lists include:

My year in golf travel: Big resorts, short munis and a competitive dream that lives on for 2023

Our travel writer has played 79 golf courses so far in 2022. Here’s what stood out.

I have one of the best jobs in the world, but don’t tell my boss that I acknowledged such. Truth is, plenty of people would line up to do this travel job for free. Play golf around the world and write about it – just about a perfect gig.

There are some downsides. The 3 a.m. wakeup calls, the flight delays, the time away from family, the late nights staring at the keyboard, not to mention all the bogeys. But these are niggles, easily dismissed.

I played 79 golf courses so far in 2022, and I am likely to add at least one or two more before the calendar flips. There were affordable munis, high-end private clubs and plenty of top-dollar resorts. I see the full spectrum of golf in my travels, from dirt fairways to perfect putting surfaces. They all were among the 250-plus stories I filed in 2022, and I remember just about every shot from each round – my wife calls this ability to recall and fret about shots I struck months ago a major character flaw.

The author hits a tee shot on the Castle Stuart Course at Cabot Highlands on his trip around Scotland in October. (Courtesy of Cabot Highlands)

With the year wrapping up soon, it’s time to take a look back at several of my favorite experiences of 2022. I played from California to Scotland, and some days, courses and golf holes just stood out.

Scotland named world’s best golf location by World Golf Awards

The World Golf Awards, which is held annually, is in its ninth year and celebrates excellence in golf tourism.

Scotland has been named the world’s best golf destination in a prestigious award being held in the Middle Eastern City of Abu Dhabi.

The World Golf Awards, which is held annually, is in its ninth year and celebrates excellence in golf tourism with the winner selected by tour operators, golfing media, and fans from around the world.

Beyond winning the world’s best golf destination award, Scotland was also named Europe’s best location to play golf in.

This is the first time the home of golf has picked up both of these awards in the sport’s prestigious prize-giving event.

Scotland, which has more than 550 golf courses, hosted the 150th Open at St. Andrews in Fife in July of this year.

The country also hosted The Genesis Scottish Open, The Senior Open Presented by Rolex, Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open, AIG Women’s Open, and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Tiger Woods Jack Nicklaus
Tiger Woods of The United States poses for a photo with Jack Nicklaus on the 18th bridge during the Celebration of Champions Challenge during a practice round prior to The 150th Open at St. Andrews Old Course on July 11, 2022, in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

In a statement, VisitScotland’s chief executive said: “These awards are a fitting end to an extra special year for golf in Scotland and fantastic recognition for all the people who work so hard to grow and enhance our reputation as the Home of Golf.

“I’d like to extend our congratulations to everyone, as well as the wider tourism and events industries and suppliers.

“Every year, we welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors eager to play our great golf courses and relax in our accommodation after a day’s golf, enjoying local produce and visiting nearby attractions.”

Dermot Synnott, director of global partnerships for the World Golf Awards added: “Scottish golf tourism is thriving, and Scotland is a bucket list destination for most golfers around the World.

“It offers a vast range of parkland and links options across all its regions, so the traveling golfer really is spoilt for choice.”

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Q&A: Architect Tom Doak talks about his new course at Cabot Highlands in Scotland, modern design and more

Tom Doak lays out the Holy Grail of golf design, and it might not be what you think.

INVERNESS, Scotland – What do you get when you hand over some 150 acres of prime waterfront land in the Scottish Highlands to American golf architect Tom Doak? Not even Doak is sure yet.

But Cabot – the rapidly expanding Canadian company that started with the highly acclaimed Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia – is betting Doak’s work will be worth an overseas flight for traveling golfers.

Cabot acquired Castle Stuart Golf Links and its eponymous 18-hole layout near Inverness, Scotland, in June with development plans that include a second course and luxury cabins just minutes away from the Inverness airport. The property has been rebranded Cabot Highlands. Ben Cowan-Dewar, CEO and co-founder of Cabot, has hired Doak to build the second 18 with plans to break ground in 2023 and a possible soft opening sometime in 2024.

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“We’ve got to get the routing done first,” quipped Doak with a laugh as he met with a small group of American and Canadian golf writers in October at Castle Stuart.

Cabot has expanded rapidly in recent years. The company took off in 2012 in Nova Scotia with Cabot Links, a Rod Whitman design that ranks No. 2 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern Canadian courses. That course was joined in 2015 by Cabot Cliffs, a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design that ranks No. 1 on that modern Canadian list.

In the Caribbean, a Coore and Crenshaw design at Cabot St. Lucia is slated to open in 2023. In Canada, the company announced last year the development of Cabot Revelstoke in British Columbia, which will feature a Whitman design scheduled to open in 2024. And in Florida, Cabot has purchased the former World Woods, rebranded it Citrus Farms and is having its two courses renovated with a planned reopening in 2023.

The second course at Cabot Highlands will mark the first time Doak has worked with Cowan-Dewar, but Doak has established himself as one of the premium designers of his era. His course credits, either solo or in combination with other designers, include 12 courses on Golfweek’s Best list of the top 200 modern courses built since 1960 in the U.S., including four in the top 10. He also laid out five of the top 50 Golfweek’s Best modern international courses, including three of the top five on that list.

Castle Stuart Cabot Highlands
Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen designed the original 18 at Castle Stuart in Scotland, now named Cabot Highlands. (Golfweek)

Doak met the handful of writers, including this author, at Cabot Highlands’ clubhouse, then led the group on a tour of some of the property where the new course will be constructed. It’s a stunning site alongside the Moray Firth, a huge bay that is fed from a river that flows through nearby Inverness with waters from Loch Ness.

The original 18 at Cabot Highlands, built by Gil Hanse and Castle Stuart founder Mark Parsinen (who died in 2019), sits high upon cliffs overlooking the Moray Firth with some of the most dramatic golf views in Scotland. That course opened in 2009 and ranks No. 4 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses in Great Britain and Ireland. It has hosted the Scottish Open four times.

Doak’s parcel is lower, stretching from the clubhouse, past a 400-year-old castle that gave the property its original name and down a ridge toward the water. The rolling site has been farmed with the land smoothed over as it descends toward the coast, which means Doak’s team likely will move a lot of earth to create interesting internal contours – similar to the original layout at Castle Stuart.

Doak said the new course won’t quite be a true out-and-back routing with nine holes in one direction and nine coming back, but it likely will be close to that with a few redirections along the way. Parsinen originally planned to build a course by Arnold Palmer on the site, but those plans have been replaced.

Doak spoke candidly about the opportunities, challenges and thrill of building on the site and in Scotland in general. He also spoke openly about several of his other projects around the world and how he approaches the lofty expectations that come with building on such a beautiful site. Lengthy excerpts of that conversation are included below.

Ayaka Furue fires course-record 62, captures first LPGA victory at Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open

Furue fires a 10-under 62 to set a new course record at Dundonald Links.

Sunday’s final round at the 2022 Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open is one LPGA rookie Ayaka Furue won’t soon forget.

Furue torched Dundonald Links on Sunday in Ayrshire, Scotland, firing a course record and tournament record of 10-under 62 to overcome a four-stroke deficit and capture her first LPGA victory. Japan’s newest LPGA winner finished at 21 under, three shots better than Celine Boutier, who was tied for the 54-hole lead with Lydia Ko.

“My all-around game was really good,” Furue said. “The putts I needed to make, I made. My putting was really good.”

The stats back that up. She hit 17 of 18 greens and 13 of 14 fairways. She putted 26 times, recording 10 birdies and no bogeys en route to her course record. Furue made six straight birdies from Nos. 6-11. She shot 5-under 31 on each side. And she did it without lighting up the par 5s, as she birdied only one of the four three-shotters, the finishing hole.

Women's Scottish Open
Ayaka Furue of Japan plays her tee shot at the 18th hole in the final round of the Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links  on July 31, 2022 in Troon, Scotland. (Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

Furue, 22, began the final round four shots behind the leaders but quickly made up that ground. She birdied the par-4 first before recording four straight pars. Then the birdie streak started, and more followed on Nos. 15, 17 and 18 to finish at 21 under.

By the time the final group came to the 18th tee, Furue had locked up the victory.

Boutier shot 3-under 69 in the final round, which included seven birdies. Ko, who led after 36 holes, shot her second straight 1-under 71 after back-to-back rounds of 65 to open the tournament. Ko finished five shots behind Furue in a tie for fifth place.

Hyo-Joo Kim and Cheyenne Knight finished tied for third at 17 under, four shots behind Furue.

The win could be pivotal for Furue heading into the final women’s major championship of the season next week, the AIG Women’s British Open at Muirfield.

“It builds up a lot of confidence,” Furue said. “I look forward to more tournaments and next week.”

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Picture of golf bags piled up in a Scotland airport is a sad sight to see

If you’re traveling internationally and looking to get in a round abroad, you may want to consider a rental set.

You thought the British Open ending the men’s major championship season was a bummer? Wait until you see this.

Domestic travel is bad enough these days in the United States with severely understaffed airlines leading to frequent flight delays, cancellations and of course, lost luggage. On the international scale it’s even worse, and one picture showed just how backed up high-traffic airports can be.

Just days after Cameron Smith won the British Open in epic fashion at the Old Course at St. Andrews, a pile of golf bags currently sits in the Edinburgh Airport, which is just 50 miles from the Home of Golf.

There’s a comfort that comes with playing with your own clubs, but if you’re traveling internationally this year and looking to get a round or two in abroad, you may want to consider a rental set.

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