- Gleneagles wins trifecta of accolades at Scottish Golf Tourism Awards 2017 -
- Named Scotland's 'Best Golf Experience', 'Best Pro Shop’ and 'Best Large Hotel’ -
Significant investment in golf operations and enhancements to its three championship courses sit at the heart of why Gleneagles, the iconic Scottish hotel and global luxury destination, won three key accolades at the annual Scottish Golf Tourism Awards 2017.
Decided by 33,000 votes from golf consumers across Scotland, and highlighting the continuing upgrades to the 850-acre Perthshire estate, Gleneagles was awarded 'Best Golf Experience', 'Best Pro Shop' and 'Best Large Hotel’.
Gary Silcock, Director of Golf, commented: "Our new owners, Ennismore, continue to invest in both our people and our three 18-hole championship golf courses and our customers are now seeing new levels of service and experience when they visit Gleneagles.
"We have invested heavily in our team and our product to ensure we remain one of the great golf experiences of the world.
"People sit at the heart of this investment, whether it is creating the green-keeping stars of the future through the expansion of our apprentice scheme; having Scotland's largest team of fully-qualified PGA professionals at our PGA National Academy, or our consistently high delivery from our golf operations management team, that all come with five-star hospitality experience."
Gleneagles monitors its monthly performance with the help of 59club, Europe's leading customer service benchmarking company, who precisely analyse service levels throughout the golf operation.
Gary added: "Receiving monthly consumer insights and satisfaction statistics from across our golf business, via 59club's analysis, is crucial in our drive to constantly push the golfer experience forwards. This service-related data is helping us fine-tune all key aspects of day-to-day operation, from the service in The Dormy Clubhouse through to the experience on our three golf courses."
These consumer insights come as Gleneagles, host venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup, prepares to host two more significant events over the next two years on its PGA Centenary Course - the 2018 European Golf Team Championships and the 2019 Solheim Cup.
The latest awards also coincide with the completion of a detailed renovation project on The King's and The Queen's courses. The King's Course, the #1 inland course in Scotland*, which will celebrate its centenary in 2019, has been taken back to James Braid's original design vision last year, and similar work was undertaken last winter on The Queen’s Course.
"You could be forgiven for thinking that being host venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup was the pinnacle of the journey for us. We, in fact, see it as the beginning, and our story will continue to get stronger and stronger.
"Illustrating this is the fact that all three courses will host major events in 2018. In addition to the European Team Championships on The PGA Centenary Course, the King’s Course will stage the 100th playing of the Scottish Stroke Play Championship, and the Queen’s Course will welcome the second Mixed event for Scottish Golf," concluded Gary.
ENDS
*Golf Monthly Top 100 Courses Ranking, 2017
For more information contact:
John McKenzie, Landmark Golf Marketing & Communications
Tel: +44 (0)1780 723056
E: john@landmark-media.com
Image 1: Gleneagles collects a trifecta of accolades at the Scottish Golf Tourism Awards 2017. (From left to right) Houssem Belabed, Dormy Restaurant Manager; Val Eglinton, Director of Sales, and Gary Silcock, Director of Golf.
Image 2: Gleneagles: Hosting major events on all three of its championship courses in 2018.
About Gleneagles
An iconic country estate set beneath the beautiful Ochil Hills, Gleneagles has been a luxury destination for nearly a century. Located just one hour from Glasgow and Edinburgh airports and with its own railway station, Gleneagles offers the perfect retreat for those looking for relaxation, fun and adventure. Three championship courses have established Gleneagles’ reputation as a golfer’s paradise but the hotel offers so much more than golf. The 850-acre estate epitomises the natural beauty for which Scotland is famed and offers guests a glorious playground of country pursuits and activities. Whether you come to golf, fly a Harris’ Hawk, ride horses, play tennis, go off-roading, train gundogs, shoot game, fish, enjoy Michelin-starred dining, or relax in an award-winning spa, Gleneagles offers a world of unforgettable experiences. www.gleneagles.com
About The PGA Centenary Course
• Opened for play in 1993, The PGA Centenary Course (formerly known as the Monarch’s Course) is a Jack Nicklaus-designed layout and his first creation in Scotland.
• The course hosted The 2014 Ryder Cup, which Europe won 16? – 11? and will host The 2019 Solheim Cup.
• Jack Nicklaus has described the course as “the finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with.”
• The tees are graded at each hole in five stages, with the course measuring 5,322 yards from the red tees, up to nearly 7,300 yards from the back tees – making it the longest inland course in Scotland.
About The King’s Course
• The James Braid-designed King’s Course was opened in 1919 and is the No.1 inland course in Scotland (Golf Monthly).
• The King’s Course hosted the first informal Ryder Cup match between Great Britain and the USA, with a strong British team, which included James Braid, winning 9 points to 3.
• The King's hosted a famous match between the 'Big Three' of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player in 1966.
• The course underwent an extensive development programme in 2016, which included taking the fairway cut lines back to the original James Braid design, alongside a comprehensive bunker refurbishment programme designed to aid drainage and further enhance the aesthetic design of the course.
• All the holes have evocative and pithy Scottish names. For example, the fifth, "Het Girdle" (Hot Pan), is a challenging par 3 with trouble everywhere except on the green, while 17th's name, "Warslin' Lea" (Wrestling Ground), reflects the difficulty so many golfers have had with this long, sweeping par 4.
About The Queen’s Course
• Originally a nine-hole layout, the James Braid-designed Queen’s course is now one of the finest par-68 golf courses in the UK.
• Threading through high ridges on the north and west sides of the estate, the Queen's golf course cuts through a woodland setting, with lochans and ditches as water hazards, as well as many moorland characteristics.
• A number of the world’s best golfers, as well as great names from the entertainment and sports world have played the Queen’s course, including Seve Ballesteros, Sean Connery and Alan Shepard (the only man to have hit a golf shot on the moon).