Exclusive:Golf consortium's key men revealed as bid to preserve Scottish courses begins

The company has been founded by a group that includes Michael Wells, who worked for The R&A in the championship team and, specifically, focusing on The Open before being appointed as the first Carnoustie Golf Links chief executive in 2017.

Adair Simpson, who worked alongside Wells at the Angus venue as the deputy CEO and finance director, is also one of the founders, as is Archie Paton, a Fife-based sports consultancy expert who helped broker Ron Gordon’s takeover of Hibs in 2019. Making up a vastly-experienced bunch of people are David Roberts, a London-based lawyer, and Hamish de Run, who is the group’s expert in infrastructure investment.

Showing its hand for the first time, the company has struck a newly-announced “partnership” with Scotscraig Golf Club in Fife, while talks are ongoing with Forfar Golf Club in Angus about a similar arrangement. This correspondent has heard of another Angus venue being linked with the group, as well as one on the East Lothian coast.

“We’re carefully considering several other historic venues, though it’s a little early to outline the broader vision,” said a spokesperson for The Ancient Links Golf Company in an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday. “However, it’s certainly going to cover all the bases in terms of the venues we are looking at.”

The company’s mission statement says it was founded to “preserve golf’s legacy and inspire its future by bringing Scotland’s most historic community courses together into a curated collection”. Its goal, it adds, is “not to focus on whether a club is thriving or facing challenges, but on whether it is one of Scotland’s truly significant heritage venues”.

Aim is to ‘preserve the legacy of golf in Scotland’

As the 13th oldest golf club in the world and a one-time Open Qualifying venue, Scotscraig in Tayport was earmarked as the company’s launch project, with the new partnership being hailed by both parties as “ensuring a bright and sustainable future for this iconic course”.

The spokesperson said: “Effectively, what we are trying to do here is to preserve the legacy of golf in Scotland. We’ve got these fantastic James Braid, Tom Morris, Willie Park golf courses, which are maybe not always at the front of the golf tourist’s mind, but we absolutely think they deserve to be right up there and ensure that it’s not just the trophy venues but these other fantastic venues are on lists of must-play courses when visitors get over here.

“Scotscraig, for example, needs a bit of investment and we are working hard on that. We will be getting a new irrigation system and we have already delivered over £500,000 of John Deere machinery which arrived the day after we signed the agreement with those guys, so they are very happy about that. It needs a bit more staffing and TLC around the clubhouse and that is something we are absolutely committed to do.”

During the pair’s time at Carnoustie, Wells and Simpson masterminded the growth of the business, protecting members interests and increasing the revenue at The Open and AIG Women’s Open venue from around £4.5 million to £12.5 million while growing the staff number from 40 to over 160. In tandem with the others involved in the new company, they are now intent on implementing a model that is “investment led and member first”.

The spokesman added: “It is a changing world, as we know, and this is a way of making sure that the important history of these clubs remain for future generations in a sustainable way. This isn’t a sort of project to look at clubs that are underperforming. Some are very successful. Some are starting to feel the pinch a bit and need a lot of investment and Scotscraig was probably in that category. But each venue will require a different approach. Our goal is to protect and enhance golf’s most historic venues, ensuring they remain vibrant, successful, and cherished by members for generations.”

Within the past year or so, The Hirsel in Coldstream closed overnight while Torrance Park in Motherwell also went out of business. In May this year, Dundee City Council closed the two courses at Caird Park, the city’s last remaining public golf facilities.

With all that in mind, the emergence of a consortium like The Ancient Links Golf Company Ltd is a welcome development on the Scottish scene, especially when, as promised in that mission statement, the aim is to be “a long-term custodian, investing capital and expertise to ensure that these courses are not only preserved, but elevated to world-class standards while safeguarding their community character and protecting member access".

In short, it’s definitely not about ownership. “We are looking to work in partnership with golf clubs,” said the spokesman. “Our experience, resources, and operational support are designed to help clubs achieve their full potential while preserving what makes them special: their history, their course, and their community."

Watch this space.