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Great News for Islay

PerryGolf Staff

Further to my post in January regarding The Machrie Hotel & Golf Links entering administration, I was pleased to read that the administrators have found a buyer and the property was sold for an undisclosed sum on Thursday 30 June 2011 to Machrie Golf LLP.

Machrie Golf LLP is a partnership established by Baroness Sue Nye (former Director of Government Relations at 10 Downing Street) and her husband Gavyn Davies (Chairman of Fulcrum Asset Management). The facility will now be managed by G3k, whose CEO is Stewart Smith; a Scottish golf professional for 28 years who has been involved with some very impressive golf course developments.

The Machrie

The Machrie estate is located on Islay on the West coast of Scotland and includes the hotel with bar and restaurant, lodges, golf shop and the 71-par championship golf course. The golf course is considered one of the world’s top links courses and is rated within the UK’s 100 top golf courses.  You can see further details by clicking here.  

With an array of single malt distilleries on the island Islay is a great destination for any golfers looking for something a bit different.  It can also work well with a trip to Scotland’s Ayrshire coast as you can fly there from Glasgow and this allows courses like Turnberry, Royal Troon and Prestwick to be included in a trip.

By Alastair Niven.  Alastair has been with PerryGolf for over 10 years and is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.

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Mike Reeder – an inspiration for all of us

Gordon Dalgleish
Mike Reeder at St. Andrews with caddy and film crew

Tomorrow night (July 19) at 7:00 EST on ESPN’s E:60 “The Best Stories in Sports” broadcast, we encourage you to tune in for the how a Vietnam veteran who lost both of his legs shot a solid 79 last fall at the Old Course, St Andrews!  It was PerryGolf’s distinct pleasure to accompany Mr Mike Reeder during his visit to Scotland when company Co-Founder Colin Dalgleish joined him for a game and a tour of the town.  Not only will you see an impressive golf swing, but you’ll meet a man who has turned a “bag of hammers” (a phrase Mike borrows from Michael J. Fox) into a powerful inspiration.  Mike’s visit was made possible by Challenged Athlete’s Foundation who partnered with ESPN who had seen mike interviewed by CNN.  Click here if you’d like to see the CNN interview.

Click here if you’d like to see the E:60 trailer.
 

About the Author: Gordon Dalgleish is the Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations. You can find him on Google+

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Tiger pulls out of the Open Championship

PerryGolf Staff

Tiger Woods has pulled out the Open Championship at Royal St George’s as he continues to struggle to recover from the knee injury he sustained at this years US Masters.  The news will come as a big blow to the event, the organisers and fans alike.  In a statement, Woods said: “Unfortunately, I’ve been advised that I should not play in The Open Championship.  As I stated at the AT&T National, I am only going to come back when I’m 100 per cent ready.  I do not want to risk further injury.  That’s different for me, but I’m being smarter this time.  I’m very disappointed, and want to express my regrets to the fans at The Open Championship.”

Tiger’s replacement will be American, Jason Dufner, who will play in his second Open Championship, after making his debut at St. Andrews last year.

By Keith Baird.  Keith has been with PerryGolf for over 10 years and is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.

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US Open Thoughts

Gordon Dalgleish
Colin Dalgleish, Co Founding Director of PerryGolf with Rory McIlroy at 2007 Walker Cup Matches

What a great event and wonderful to see a new era evolve in competitive golf with a friendly, attractive personality. My brother as Captain of the 2007 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team at Royal County Down Golf Club had the privelege of working with him and has consistently said that Rory was both mature for his years and a extremely pleasant young man…the camera does not always allow the “nice” to show through on television, but in this instance it did. Congratulations Rory! 

The Thursday pairings whereby the USGA grouped Spaniards and Italians together just seemed odd….the media did not seem to take issue with it but my sense is that it gave an slight advantage to players like Garcia who would have enjoyed 2 rounds with people they are comfortable with. 

Disappointing the way that the commentators decided early in the week to criticize the formula for the World Golf Rankings…that discussion would have more credibility when the US was better represented at the top of the rankings. The formula may well need to be redrawn, given the international scope of players and their event schedules but why pick now to discuss? 

An interesting statistic from the June 17 issue of Golfweek; “The British Amateur attracted only one player from USA in the world Top 100”. If that fact is correct, it would seem given the recent history of golfing achievements that younger US college players need to take a more global view than even those of their slightly older peers! 

It is great to see this new excitement in golf, some tremendous rivalries shaping up that will be for years to come….next stop Royal St. George’s.
 

About the Author: Gordon Dalgleish is the Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations. You can find him on Google+

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