How to win two tickets for the Solheim Cup

Ahead of the 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles, Scottish Golf has unveiled a ‘Club Ambassador Programme’ in a bid to help clubs in Scotland benefit from the tournament.

The programme encourages all golf club members across Scotland to get involved in leading local activities to promote the event ahead of its return to the home of golf this September.

Ambassadors, who will organise and deliver Solheim Cup events within their clubs, promote the Solheim Cup to fellow club members, promote opportunities to buy tickets and be the key contact within the club for all things to do with the Solheim Cup, will be rewarded with a benefits package that includes two tickets to the Solheim Cup as well as the chance to win a club visit from Europe’s captain, Catriona Matthew, with the Cup. Other benefits include access to the PING pavilion at Gleneagles during the event.

Catriona Matthew and Andrew McKinlay with the Solheim Cup.

Catriona Matthew said: “I was excited to hear about Scottish Golf’s Solheim Cup Club Ambassador Programme. It is a great way to ensure that members of all the various clubs in Scotland have the information they need in order to make it as easy as possible for them to come to the Solheim Cup.

“Local support will be really important to us in our bid to win the cup back from the USA.”

Fiona Maciver has taken on the role as ‘Solheim Cup Ambassador’ at The North Berwick Golf Club. She said: “Not only does the initiative allow ambassadors to engage with club members, it will also promote the event within clubs around the country to ensure that the home supporters have the biggest presence and loudest voice during the tournament. It is especially pleasing for The North Berwick Golf Club to support Catriona during her captaincy and we wish her and the team the very best of luck to win the cup back from the USA.”

Scottish Golf CEO, Andrew McKinlay, added: “We will work with clubs to provide proactive, on-the-ground, awareness for members and find innovative ways to build up to the world’s greatest women’s golf team event.”

In addition, to mark 100 days to go until the biggest event in women’s golf returns to Scotland, affiliated golf clubs with a Solheim Cup Club Ambassador are benefitting from a new toolkit as part of Scottish Golf’s support of The 2019 Solheim Cup.

The toolkit, which has been developed through a partnership between Scottish Golf, the Scottish government, Visit Scotland and official event sponsor PING, will support club ambassadors to maximise the countdown to the event.

With over 150 ambassadors now engaged in Scottish Golf’s programme, the toolkit provides clubs with ideas to deliver engaging activity aimed at inspiring members to embrace the event, either through making the journey to Gleneagles in September, or by taking part in Solheim Cup themed activities locally.

Golf influencer, The Jazzy Golfer was on hand to deliver the first copy of the new toolkit at Kingsknowe Golf Club in Edinburgh and spoke about the importance of volunteers supporting the event on the ground in Scotland, saying:

“I think the Ambassadors are a key part of golf clubs, they can really get things going on the ground, they can champion the event, they can build momentum in their own local pockets which has a really big impact. I appreciate all their efforts, it’s amazing.”

Monica Doyle, Solheim Cup club ambassador at Kingsknowe Golf Club has already started using the new toolkit for a number of events at the club and added:

“I decided to become a Solheim Cup ambassador as it was a great opportunity to promote women’s golf. The ‘Ambassador Toolkit’ is going to give us some great ideas about what other activities we might undertake between now and September.

“The toolkit will be extremely valuable. It gives us fantastic ideas, and also the sharing of ideas with other Ambassadors from other clubs.”

Ross Duncan, director of development at Scottish Golf believes that the new toolkit will support clubs in encouraging new golfers to the game, saying:

“This year’s Solheim Cup provides a fantastic opportunity for our clubs to capitalise on one of the biggest events in world golf coming to Scotland, with a particular focus on attracting more women and girls into the game.

“We’ve seen some fantastic examples of innovative work at clubs up and down the country already and I’m sure our toolkit will encourage plenty more.

“The club ambassadors are doing a great job and we hope that their involvement in Solheim Cup activities will inspire many of them to take on future volunteering and leadership roles at their clubs.”

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland is delighted by the progress of the ambassador programme in Scotland, adding:

“The Solheim Cup Club Ambassador Programme is a fantastic idea and it is hugely encouraging to see that over 150 sign ups have been achieved. The toolkit is an excellent way for Scotland’s golf clubs to get behind what we hope will be the biggest ever European edition of the event.”

To sign up to be an ambassador, visit tiny.cc/Solheim