Home of golf staff rise to Open year challenges

LEISURE: Turnover up despite fall in visitor fee income due to championship

The charity that runs the courses at the home of golf received more than £20 million in income for the second year in a row.

The near £20.6m taken in by the St Andrews Links Trust in 2015 was a rise of 1.5% from the previous year.

More than half – £11.5m – was directly from golfing income, with the fees from visitors playing the town’s seven courses amounting to almost £7.7m.

The visitor fee income was down 14.3% from the £8.9m in 2014, reflecting the period that the Old Course was closed for the Open Championship.

Golfing income in 2015 also included £1.4m in yearly ticket revenue from local players, and a contribution from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

Other income sources included catering, rents, merchandising, royalties and bank interest.

Maintaining the historic Old Course and six other courses in top condition does not come cheaply.

The trust, which has a workforce of almost 300, had expenditure of £19.6m, a rise of 2.3%.

RD Muckart, chairman of trustees, and SG Race, chairman of the links management committee, said the year in which the Open is played on St Andrews Links always presents additional financial challenges.

“Despite the considerable reduction in green-fee income in 2015, we were pleased to see turnover increase,” they stated.

“This reflects ambition, enterprise and professionalism on the part of all our members of staff, particularly those on the financial and commercial side of our activities.

“Success in these areas provides the enabling element of long-term development as well as assisting in the delivery of our day-to-day operations,” they add.

The commitment to delivering memorable experiences for every golfer at St Andrews came under real scrutiny in 2015.

The planning, preparation and the physical effects of hosting the 144th Open were huge, and the staff rose to the challenge in presenting the Old Course in fantastic condition.

Unprecedented weather conditions prompted only the second Monday finish in the championship’s history.

In front of a global TV audience staff produced “a truly herculean effort” fittingly recognised when they received the British and International Golf Greenkeepers’ Association Championship Team of the Year Award.

Just hours after Zach Johnson was crowned the winner, many aspects of the links were operational again and available to every golfer.

US golfer Zach Johnson tees off on the 18th at the Old Course in the play-off which he won to clinch the Claret Jug.