A consultation exercise on the Old Course Daily Ballot has been launched this week by St Andrews Links Trust which manages the seven public courses in the town.
The consultation exercise is seeking views on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the 24 hour ahead system which has been in operation for many years and changing to a 48 hour ahead system which has been proposed by Stayinstandrews, the hotel and guest house association in the town.
A range of different organisations and individuals with an interest in golf in St Andrews will be invited to give their views on the daily ballot by email in the next few weeks. The findings will then be collated and considered in detail by the St Andrews Links Trustees and Links Management Committee who will decide whether the status quo should continue or whether any changes should be made.
Alan McGregor, chief executive of St Andrews Links Trust, said, “We are continuously looking at ways of improving the service we deliver to our golfing customers. When we became aware of a suggestion from Stayinstandrews that we should consider changing the daily ballot to 48 hours ahead we felt it was appropriate to gauge the views of as wide a cross section of the golfing community as possible. The consultation will enable us to canvass opinion and let our Trustees and Links Management Committee make a fully informed decision on the way forward.”
The daily ballot enables a minimum of two golfers to enter their names before 2pm on the day before they wish to play. The ballot is drawn each afternoon and on Saturday for Monday play. The results are posted on www.standrews.org.uk. It is designed to give golfers who have not been able to book a tee time in advance the chance of playing the Old Course when they are in St Andrews.
If you would like to be included in the survey email pr@standrews.org.uk.
The image shows the 11th green of the Old Course.