PR and Marketing for the Golf Industry

16. 7. 2010

The day started with a really heavy downpour. You can easily have four seasons in day but in St Andrews this week it can be in one hour! The rapidly changing weather did not put the visitors off however. The grandstands were pretty full yesterday afternoon with enthusiastic golf fans covered in waterproofs cheering on their favourite players.

I had a unique chance to be close to all the players yesterday when I was assisting with taking the golfers to their media interviews. It is an excellent experience and one most golf fans would love to have. Most people will think that when a player finishes his round, that´s it and they can just go back to their hotels. The reality is that they still have work to do before they can relax.

15. 7. 2010

Open Championship – day four. Despite the weather still playing tricks on us with rain, sun, rain and more sun again the real fun has started today. The first players were out on the Old Course as early as 6:30am and the last group teed off at 4:21pm. It is a big field of 156 players in total for the first two days before the cut for the weekend.

It was such a shame that the eagerly expected Champions´ Challenge was cancelled due to bad weather yesterday. Last night, at the Champions Dinner, the Past Champions agreed that the winning team would award the Open Champions Challenge prize fund of £50,000 to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation. The Foundation aims to channel funds into ongoing research, particularly into brain cancer, the condition with which Seve, who won the Open on the Old Course in 1984, was diagnosed in October 2008.

14. 7. 2010

It is day three of the Open week. It seems the sun has left St Andrews for the moment, it is considerably colder and the rain and wind have taken over. It might not be so pleasant but from the golf perspective it is not necessarily a bad thing.

At the press conference yesterday Tiger Woods was asked why the Old Course remains a relevant golfing challenge despite the players getting constantly better, the equipment becoming more and more sophisticated and the Old Course staying more or less the same. He thought it was exactly because of the weather. The conditions change constantly and at St Andrews you can get all four seasons in the course of one day. And since wind and rain impact heavily on the golf strategy it virtually feels like you are playing a different course every time. Here behind the scenes journalists are looking for a drama and exciting golf. And wind and rain seriously mixes the cards on the table.

13. 7. 2010

It was a fun night last night at St Andrews with two leading golf brands adidas-TaylorMade Golf and Callaway Golf throwing parties. It wasn’t easy to decide between them so the best option was to nip into both.

The adidas-TaylorMade event was held at 1 Golf Place and apart from glamorous hostesses, company representatives and staff players such as Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose I met the two finalists of the Adidas Wear-in–the-World Adventure. They are two guys from the USA, Steve Olsen and Chris Dukeminier, who are travelling to nine countries on three continents in 50 days to play some of the most extreme courses in the world for the chance to win a job at TaylorMade-Adidas Golf in California.

The Callaway party took place in the Kinkell Byre at The Castle Course. It made you wonder how a barn can make such a wonderful setting for a party but the ambiance proved to be truly spectacular. Dimmed lights and beautifully decorated tables made an amazing setting for a nice dinner in the company of the Callaway representatives, journalists and industry people.

12. 7. 2010

Arriving at St Andrews always feels special. Driving to town on the road from Guardbridge you can see the spires of the ancient town rising against the sky from quite a distance and the excitement builds up the closer you get. This morning, however, it felt twice as special. Over the last few weeks the town has transformed into a perfect stage which will host golf’s oldest major, The Open Championship, over the following seven days.

The moment you enter the town and your eyes rest on the big banner saying “The Open Championship – Welcome to St Andrews“, you know this is going to be BIG. The blue and white tournament branding is omnipresent, there are big pictures of the trophy – the Claret Jug – everywhere, and the tents and marquees seem to have sprung up from nowhere creating a small village within the town itself. The Open is a big operation and St Andrews – The Home of Golf – is the ultimate venue where the tournament returns every five years, this year on the occasion of its 150th anniversary.

11. 6. 2010

St Andrews is a very special place. For some people it represents a rich and colourful history, for others it stands for a prestigious university and the energy of student life. For me personally St Andrews is about golf. It is the Home of Golf, the place where the game was first played and has developed over the centuries. And even though golf is not the only thing that will bring people to this beautiful coastal town this year it will definitely be a major driver.

14. 5. 2010

On May 12, 2010 the St Andrews Partnership delivered Social Media Strategy Workshop which was held at the Rufflets Hotel just outside St Andrews. The session lasted whole day and was attended by the representatives of 20 businesses from the area.

27. 4. 2010

The Open Championship Press Conference held by the R&A this morning in St Andrews saw some important announcements made regarding the 139th edition of golf’s oldest major.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first staging of The Open at Prestwick in 1860, Past Champions have been invited to play four holes of the Old Course, the first, second, 17th and 18th, on the afternoon of Wednesday 14 July. The prize fund of GBP 50 000 will be donated to a charitable organisation of the winner’s choice. A 150th Anniversary Pictorial History of the Open Championship book will also be available.

23. 4. 2010

GCI has run a successful roadshow in Scotland in April 2010. Having been appointed by the largest Czech golf resort to work on the project GCI was asked to organise 20 individual B-2-B appointments between the Czech client and the top Scottish golf courses and resorts. Together with the appointments the work on the project involved designing of the itinerary, suggesting the format of co-operation between the Czech and Scottish resorts and arranging the accommodation en route.

29. 3. 2010

5th edition of the the Scottish Golf Show is now over and it was time well spent attending the event. The show is getting busier every year with more big brands, destinations as well as golf courses participating. From the point of view of the Scottish golf industry the show presents an ideal environment for an industry gathering ahead of the next golfing season and allows professionals to catch up on a formal as well as informal basis.