Scottish Golf and The PGA are delighted to launch the new ‘Activator’ training programme that aims to help introduce more people into golf. You can read today's launch announcement here.

What is the Activator Programme?

The Activator programme will provide individuals with an interactive and practical training course that will enable them to support their PGA Professional to introduce more people to golf.

Having a trained Activator could mean that the PGA Professional is able to increase the number of participants in each group and ultimately get more people involved in junior or adult beginner activity.

This new Activator Course is a collaboration across all the Home Nations, funded and supported by the R&A and endorsed by the PGA.

This weekend of 26th September will see the 65th playing of the prestigious Glasgow Open Amateur Championship at Pollok Golf Club in Glasgow’s southside. On the original date of Sunday 8th August, there was a torrential downpour, which caused the event to be abandoned. A reduced field of approx 50 golfers will now assemble on Sunday 26th September to play 36 holes to determine who will add their name to the famous trophy. 

Unfortunately defending champion and former Scottish Amateur Champion winner Callum Macaulay, won't be available to play due to previous commitments.

Macaulay, playing out of Tulliallan Golf Club won the event last year with a 2 round total of 7 under par, 1 ahead of Cathkin Brae’s Gordon Sangster with the home club’s Brendan McKenna and Steven Manning tied for 3rd place on 4 under par.

Also in the field for the event are current Glasgow Order of Merit leader Fraser Grant of Ralston, and former British Amateur Champion Craig Watson.

Speaking ahead of the championship, Glasgow Golf Union Championship Convenor Vic Skelton said -

‘We are very much looking forward to welcoming some of the best amateur golfers from the West of Scotland and beyond to what is our flagship event. We are particularly pleased to see such a strong entry with the handicap cut off as low as 2.9, whereas in previous years it was as high as 5 or 6. This shows that the appetite for competitive golf in Glasgow remains high and hasn’t been diminished any by the troubling times of late. As ever we are grateful to Pollok for hosting the event and I’m sure all the players will enjoy the golf course which we understand to be in fabulous condition.’ 

Prize money for the event this year has been increased to a total fund of £1175 with a voucher for £400 awarded to the winner.

Gailes Links, courtesy of GGC, hosted the 2021 Champion of Champions Final, between Paul Gault of Haggs Castle and Lindsay Miller of Cawder Golf Club.

The course was in very good condition and the greens putted very well.

The match itself was evenly balanced affair but Paul moved ahead at the end of the front by winning both the 8th and 9th holes.

This lead was held until Lindsay won the 14th and 15th holes, so we were all square with 3 to play.

Unfortunately Lindsay drove into a fairway bunker down the left of the 16th hole and failed to get his 4 making Paul 1 up playing the 17th.

Again Lindsay found a fairway bunker and despite finding another bunker on this hole he still managed a miraculous 4. However Paul’s birdie 3 was good enough to win the match and the title.

The Area Team Championship, a Scottish Golf Event, took place at The Kings Golf Club in Inverness from the 3rd to the 5th of September.  There were 16 Areas competing in the stroke-play element with the leading four teams progressing to the match play stage contested on Sunday the 5th of September.

Glasgow was represented by Fraser Grant of Ralston G.C., Ryan Woods of Cowglen G.C., Blair Dalgleish also Ralston G.C., Scott Wearing of Bishopbriggs G.C., Greg Telfer of Glasgow G.C. and Craig Harper of Haggs Castle G.C.

There were many strong teams competing and unfortunately the Glasgow team did not qualify for the match-play stage.

Following the latest COVID Update from the First Minister, Scottish Golf has been working with our partners at sportscotland and the Scottish Government to receive approval on our latest COVID-19 Guidance ahead of mainland Scotland moving beyond Level 0 on Monday 9 August 2021. We have now updated our COVID-19 Guidance and all clubs should note the key changes effective from Monday 9 August:

Outdoor sport (coaching & competition) up to 5000 participant limit per day. 
Indoor Hospitality will still have to follow Test and Protect procedures, but there is now no limit on the number of households
Ahead of implementing these changes, we would recommend that clubs carry out a risk assessment that is specific to the situation at their club.

While this latest update is a further step forward in the return to golf and its traditions as we know it, until such time as restrictions are lifted fully we would urge everyone to continue to risk assess for their specific environment and respect differing perspectives in relation to risk will still be evident across the wide range of golfers in Scotland.

We know that today’s update will have a positive impact on all affiliated clubs and their members, and on behalf of everyone at Scottish Golf, we would like to thank you for your continued patience and strict adherence to the restrictions that have been in place.

Golf club membership is the bedrock of golf in Scotland and, following the increase in demand for golf in 2020/21, Scottish Golf wishes to support clubs to convert this new interest into membership and retain these members for the long term.
To provide this support, Scottish Golf is inviting clubs to apply for free funding of up to £500 per club towards Membership Marketing. There is a limit to the number of clubs the Fund can support so interested clubs should apply straight away!
The money can be used for membership recruitment campaigns and this must include paid social media advertising and the optional acquisition of professional photography and video to showcase your golf club to potential members.
Workshops Supporting the Fund - the Club Business team will deliver free to attend workshops to provide best practice guidance, examples and live demos of how to create social media graphics and paid adverts to get results. The duration of these optional Zoom workshops will be around 1 hour and will provide you with everything you need to get your Membership Marketing campaign up and running. 
Read the full newsletter here

Following the latest COVID Update from the First Minister, Scottish Golf has been working with our partners at sportscotland and the Scottish Government to receive approval on our latest COVID-19 Guidance ahead of mainland Scotland moving to Protection Level 0 on Monday 19 July 2021.

We have now updated our guidance and all clubs should note the key changes effective from Monday 19 July:

Outdoor bubbles (coaching & competition) up to 500 with no participant limit per day
Locker Rooms/Changing Facilities can re-open
Indoor Hospitality extended to groups of 10 people from 4 households
All golf course furniture may be returned for normal use, including the removal of flagsticks, standard hole cups and bunker rakes

Preferred lies in bunkers may remain in place at club’s discretion, recognising that not every golfer will wish to use a communal rake. Ahead of implementing these changes, we would recommend that clubs carry out a risk assessment that is specific to the situation at their club.

While this latest update is a further step forward in the return to golf and its traditions as we know it, until such time as restrictions are lifted fully we would urge everyone to continue to risk assess for their specific environment and respect differing perspectives in relation to risk will still be evident across the wide range of golfers in Scotland.

We know that today’s update will have a positive impact on all affiliated clubs and their members, and on behalf of everyone at Scottish Golf, we would like to thank you for your continued patience and strict adherence to the restrictions that have been in place.

Keep up to date on the latest COVID-19 Updates from Scottish Golf here.

Women in Golf Charter Webinar for Clubs. Find out everything you need to know about the Women in Golf Charter and #FOREeveryone campaign in our latest Zoom Webinar which will take place at 3pm on 24 June. On the call, clubs will have the chance to hear from Jackie Davidson, Assistant Director - Golf Development at The R&A, and Jessica Hedderman, Account Director at Performance54.

Clubs will find out more about the purpose, desired outcomes and impact of the Women in Golf Charter, as well as getting a look at #FOREeveryone, the public facing campaign designed to support clubs to increase participation amongst women and girls.

Date: 24 June 2021
Time: 3pm – 3.45pm
How to join: Please click the button below to register and you will receive an email invite with a link and instructions on how to join the webinar. 

Jackie and Jessica will also be answering any questions you may wish to ask when registering for the webinar. Read the full club newsletter here