Calendar release

HOME-GROWN SUCCESS FOR
GOLF PHOTOGRAPHER

International golf course photographer Mark Alexander has made a timely return to his hometown of St Andrews by providing all the images for the official 2013 St Andrews Links Trust calendar. The dramatic A3 publication features a selection of stunning shots of the Old, New, Jubilee and Castle Courses alongside iconic views over the Swilcan Bridge and several distinctive vistas across the famous links.

The Fife-based photographer, who was also commissioned this year to shoot the celebrated Spanish resort of La Manga for its 40th anniversary and Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club ahead of this year’s Open Championship, said he was thrilled to be involved in the calendar project. “It was a great honour to shoot the courses for the official Links Trust calendar, but for me it was particularly special because St Andrews is my home town. I grew up there; I went to university there, so it was wonderful to do something that would hopefully capture the essence of golf at its spiritual home.”

The striking calendar has also been a commercial success with stocks already running low. “We commissioned Mark to provide us with iconic views but also some different shots of St Andrews Links,” explained Kevin Liddle, retail manager at St Andrews Links Golf Shops. “We have been delighted with the response of our customers. Mark has captured the spirit of the Home of Golf wonderfully.”

It has been a busy year for the award-winning photographer, whose work regularly appears in golf magazines such as Golf Illustrated, Golf World and Golf Digest. Indeed his images have played a key role in the build-up to both the Curtis Cup at The Nairn Golf Club and the Irish Open at Royal Portrush.

More recently he has collaborated with Golf Course Architecture magazine to produce a series of prints celebrating the art of golf course design. “We were delighted to team up with Mark,” said Toby Ingleton the magazine’s publisher. “His photography captures the very best of golf course architecture. I could stand and stare at his prints all day. They really highlight the character and charm of these wonderful courses.”

Reflecting on what has been a packed schedule of appointments around Europe, Alexander said he was looking forward to an equally busy diary next year. “There is a lot of travelling in my job, but it pays off when you see the client’s reaction to the images,” he said. “This year I have been lucky to work with some great clubs, tourist organisations and magazines, and if I can do the same next year, I will be more than happy.”

To view Alexander’s work, visit www.markalexanderphotography.co.uk

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Note to editors:

1) Mark Alexander is an award-winning golf course photographer and established journalist. His work has appeared in consumer magazines, newspapers and b2b titles.
2) Alexander is based in Fife but travels across the world shooting golf courses for resorts, architects and golf clubs.
3) In 2009, Alexander picked up Creativefife’s Best Commercial Photograph award for a portfolio of images depicting Turnberry’s Ailsa course.
4) The St Andrews Links Trust calendar features a selection of stunning shots of the Old, New, Jubilee and Castle Courses. Each page also contains an interesting fact about the course featured that month. For more information visit www.standrews.org.uk/shop/Golf-Gifts-Gift-Packs/2013-CALENDAR-63103/BLACK-GOLD.aspx
5) For more information about the Golf Course Architecture prints, visit www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/prints
6) For more information about Mark Alexander, visit www.markalexanderphotography.co.uk.

New images just posted

I have just added some new pics of Comrie Golf Club to my website. I think this club is fantastic - a typical undiscovered beauty that proudly rubs shoulders with its more illustrious neighbours. Located in the centre of Perthshire, this beautiful nine-holer is a pitch and putt from Gleneagles, yet I bet you've never heard of it. If you haven't, I would recommend you play it ASAP.

Check out the images and tell me what you think - http://www.markalexanderphotography.co.uk/ComrieGC/

OPEN DOOR POLICY

As Mark Alexander finds out, the decision to offer up tee times at the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle provides a rare opportunity to sample the lives of the rich and famous

Although the Home of Golf may be famed for its public links where young and old play the world’s finest courses for next to nothing, there is a new swathe of ultra private clubs which are offering something different to the world’s mega wealthy. It seems that millionaires’ golf is alive and well and flourishing in Scotland.

In fact, there is a splurge of these private retreats coming onto the market. Loch Lomond Golf Club was created in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is famed for its elite membership, while the Renaissance Club near Edinburgh sits alongside one Scotland’s most revered gentleman’s clubs at Muirfield. In Fife, St Andrews International promises to be the first private club in the Auld Grey Toon to have its own course, and next to Gleneagles a new heathland gem (know as gWest) is being created to rival the Queens, Kings and Centenary courses.

What they have in common are business models that rest on the desire of the world’s financially elite to play golf in Scotland safe in the knowledge that their post-match confab will be shared with millionaires and oligarchs in suitably opulent surroundings far from prying eyes. Wealth, privacy and golf seem to be the perfect bedfellows.

In the north of Scotland, near the adored links of Dornoch, another hideaway haven has taken the first tentative steps at reversing this trend by offering a tantalising glimpse of this exclusive world. The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle, which accommodates around 3,000 rounds a year, is offering eight tee times a week from Monday to Friday until October.

Read the full story at http://www.golfmanagementnews.com/gme/current-issue.html