Thirty minutes from Glasgow and half an inch from heaven, Loch Lomond Golf
Club offers a truly memorable experience to visitors and members alike. It is
also the ideal setting for the game's greatest contest, the Ryder Cup, writes
Paul Trow
Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. But in this case that is nonsense.
There are some things which all beholders recognise as innately beautiful. Loch
Lomond is just such a place.
The golf course on the 'Bonnie' banks of Scotland's most evocative tourist attraction
was laid out around a decade ago and its architects, the 1973 Open champion Tom
Weiskopf and his partner Jay Morrish, are in no doubt about its worth.
"I consider Loch Lomond my lasting memorial to golf," wrote Weiskopf
who first visited the site in 1989. "The opportunity of designing the golf
course at Loch Lomond carried with it an awesome sense of responsibility for Jay
and me.
"It is one of the most beautiful places on earth, endowed with mature trees
and breathtaking views with the history of Scotland lingering in the stones and
waters of the loch.
"Visits to the course since its completion lead me to believe it will become
known as one of the most outstanding in the world. Time and the golfers who come
to play it will make the final judgement."
Loch Lomond Golf Club's time has been short, but in the few years since Weiskopf's
dream took shape across the water from Ben Lomond, its holes have established
themselves among the most cherished in the British Isles.
No less a judge than Nick Faldo has declared that he "would like every course
to match the conditions here" while this year's European Ryder Cup captain
Sam Torrance, a fiercely patriotic Scot, has no doubt that "the golf course,
environment and facilities are most definitely world-class".
Colin Montgomerie, European No 1 from 1993-99, believes it to be the best new
course of recent years while double US Open winner Ernie Els has dubbed it "probably
the best course in Europe" and Tom Lehman, Open champion in 1996, rates it
as highly as Pebble Beach.
Never one to be upstaged when it comes to expressing a forthright opinion, Tony
Jacklin was astonished when he paid his first visit. "This is the best course
I've ever seen," enthused the former Open and US Open champion who captained
Europe's Ryder Cup team four times during the 1980s. "One day it will be
a venue for the Ryder Cup."
Loch Lomond is a club with a proud public face. Since 1996, it has been one of
the prestige stops on the European Tour and for the last four years has occupied
the sought-after slot immediately before the Open Championship. This year, with
double the prize money on offer compared to 2000 (£2.2 million) and a four-year
commitment until 2005, the tournament marks the revival of the Scottish Open title.
The event is one of a handful to enjoy the widespread exposure which BBC television
coverage can provide while the roll call of champions - Thomas Bjorn, Lehman,
Lee Westwood, Montgomerie and Els - underlines that this is a place where the
cream rises to the top.
In addition to an already considerable contribution to the men's tour, Loch Lomond
played an important part in the development of the women's professional game when
it staged the sixth Solheim Cup between the United States and Europe last October.
Afterwards, the victorious European captain Dale Reid declared that Loch Lomond
was "one of the best venues I have ever been to and is the best matchplay
course I have ever seen."
Loch Lomond has a largely international membership, representing over 40 different
countries, yet it remains committed to the traditions and future health of the
game. Since 1994, the club has donated fourball tee times to the Scottish Golf
Union to sell to members of other clubs. The proceeds are then used to pay for
lessons for junior golfers throughout Scotland and to date more than £200,000
has been raised for this cause.
Furthermore, juniors under the age of 16 will be admitted free of charge throughout
the Scottish Open and several leading junior events have already been staged at
Loch Lomond, including a recent round of the Faldo Junior Series.
And now the campaign is under way to bring golf's greatest show to this hallowed
corner of Scotland in 2009. Indeed, it seems remarkable that in its 82-year history,
the Ryder Cup has only once been held in golf's homeland - at Muirfield in 1973.
The owner of Loch Lomond Golf Club, the American businessman Lyle Anderson, believes
that a Ryder Cup return to Scotland is long overdue and it is hard to disagree
that this jewel of a course would be the ideal setting for the top men of Europe
and the United States to pit their skills against one another.
Each criterion laid down by the Ryder Cup Committee which candidate courses must
meet in order to qualify for consideration to stage the match has been met by
the club's vice-president Keith Williams and his team of nearly 150 staff.
"We have some very good ideas and are fully satisfied that we can meet the
criteria to stage the Ryder Cup," says Williams, formerly managing director
of Wentworth Golf Club, England's best-known inland course. "We have commissioned
professional surveys by independent consultants and our own staff into the questions
of traffic management, car parking and spectator facilities."
Should Loch Lomond win the right to host the world's third largest sports event
(after the Olympics and soccer's World Cup), an estimated £67 million will
be injected into the Scottish economy - £44 million for Scotland as a whole
and £23 million locally. To this end, £24 million of public money
has been earmarked for important transport improvements and Loch Lomond, naturally,
enjoys the enthusiastic backing of Glasgow City Council.
Glasgow airport is only a half-hour's drive from the course and most of the visitors
are expected to stay in Glasgow where the number of hotel beds is set to increase
dramatically over the next few years.
In addition to the 40,000 spectators expected to attend each day of the Ryder
Cup (more than double the usual crowd for the Scottish Open), some 5,000 people
will be working on site. Overall, the Ryder Cup is expected to create up to a
thousand permanent jobs in the area and dozens of new businesses.
There is certainly no shortage of suites on site for the teams, wives and key
officials while the nearby 100-room Cameron House Hotel can accommodate other
officials and VIPs. Apart from all the necessary meeting rooms, locker rooms and
other facilities, Loch Lomond will have at least 70 suites by 2009.
Jack Nicklaus, a close friend and associate of Mr Anderson's, is currently working
on a second 18-hole layout which is expected to open during 2002. In the meantime,
the area will become Scotland's first national park next April and if Loch Lomond's
Ryder Cup bid receives the thumbs-up in September, Luss Estates, the owner of
the property, will confirm the construction of a third course for the use of the
public on a pay-and-play basis.
The devotion with which the local wildlife at Loch Lomond is protected is matched
by the attention to detail and quality of maintenance provided by the greenkeeping
staff. No more than 15,000 rounds are played each year (about a third of the average
on most courses), and no golf is allowed at all during the winter months.
Last winter, all the greens were dug up, redrained, relaid and seeded with a new
generation of Creeping Bent. The new grass is four to five times denser than the
old variety, thus ensuring a smoother surface. It is also more resistant to diseases
and can be cut a lot shorter.
As befits an organisation which strives for perfection, Loch Lomond certainly
does not come cheap. But Williams stresses: "This is an international club
for the occasional use of members and their guests, not as the primary club for
a member. When they do visit, it is of paramount importance to our members that
their privacy is protected and to this end we maintain a 24-hour security system
on sit for 365 days of the year."
The clubhouse is based in Rossdhu House, a restored Georgian mansion built in
1773. The site has been the ancestral home of the Clan Colquhoun since the 12th
Century and the ruins of a mediaeval castle feature prominently on the 660-acre
estate along with a delightful walled garden and a small chapel which was built
in 1469. Loch Lomond also offers a wealth of outdoor pursuits from boating to
pheasant shooting to fishing for trout and salmon.
But it is the game of golf which has brought this enchanting stretch of land to
the attention of the sporting world, and to stage the Ryder Cup in 2009 would
be its ultimate flowering. A flowering for Scotland.
