Scottish Golf to work with European Tour winner

The two-time European Tour winner, Stephen McAllister, is to work with Scottish Golf to increase business opportunities that will benefit Scottish golf clubs.

Writing exclusively in The Golf Business, Blane Dodds, the chief executive of Scottish Golf since last August, said there are opportunities for the game and McAllister, 55, who is also a successful businessman, will join Scottish Golf on a consultancy basis to help open up new markets and explore wider commercial opportunities.

“Stephen is to assist us on a commercial level through his business contacts around the world and help exploit the value of Scotland’s position as ‘The Home of Golf’, working closely with myself,” explained Dodds.

Blane Dodds (left), CEO of Scottish Golf and Stephen McAllister, former European Tour winner. © Craig Watson

“He will now seek to utilise his extensive business network in the domestic market to grow commercial partnerships for Scottish Golf, while aiming to attract new overseas investment from the likes of North America, the UAE and China, tapping into the affinity for Scotland.

“Stephen has an excellent record and experience of dealing with corporate clients at the highest level and he’s going to be introducing more people to us for events and commercial opportunities.”

Dodds added that this partnership should be beneficial to the 587 golf clubs affiliated to Scottish Golf.

“A key objective for me is increasing income from a wider number of sources to invest it back into the game and support affiliated clubs, performance and participation programmes,” he wrote.

“We need to open our horizons to other income streams and I believe what we have in Scotland is of high value. Growing income will allow us to invest back into the game and provide more support to clubs, attract new audiences to golf and harness the potential of our talented players.

“The game has challenges but there are also opportunities. There is no doubt we all need to take a fresh look at our priorities and deliver solutions that will grow the game in a sustainable way and I look forward to the journey ahead.”

The full article by Blane Dodds can be found in the April issue of The Golf Business