First Minister Alex Salmond, Louise Martin CBE, Chair, sportscotland and Scotland’s top female golfer Catriona Matthew MBE were today joined by talented young golfers at North Berwick Golf Club to make an historic announcement on the future of Scottish golf.

Lesley Nicholson is hoping to make it third time lucky when she Captains Scotland at the Women’s Home Internationals at Whitchurch in Wales in September.

Young golfers are being urged to showcase their skills against hundreds of the world’s best junior players when the prestigious U.S. Kids Golf European Championship returns to Scotland this year.

The clearest indication yet of the resilience of Scotland’s golf industry has been revealed in research released today by VisitScotland.  The 2009 National Golf Tourism Monitor, which is compiled on behalf of VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise (SE) by leading trade body, Golf Tourism Scotland (GTS), shows visitor rounds were maintained at 2008 levels despite testing economic conditions.

MARTIN DEMPSTER writes in The Scotsman (Click here to read The Scotsman online)

Catriona Matthew described her MBE award in the New Year Honours List as "the icing on the cake" following an astonishing 2009.

By MARTIN DEMPSTER, click here to read the article in The Scotsman

The Local Qualifying (LFQ) venues for the 2013 Open Championship will be Dunbar, Gullane No. 1 Course, The Musselburgh Golf Club and North Berwick.

The links at Dunbar Golf Club were first laid out in 1857 before being redesigned by Tom Morris Snr in 1894. Dramatically positioned by the estuary of the Firth of Forth, it has hosted many major Scottish championships including the Scottish Amateur and the Scottish Boys as well as the Ladies Home Internationals.

The East Lothian Courier reports - click here to read the East Lothian Courier's full version

Former Open champion Tony Jacklin is heading to Musselburgh this July to take part in a celebration to honour one of the town's greatest golfing sons, writes MARTIN DEMPSTER. Click here to read the article in The Scotsman.

2010 marks another milestone in golf history as The Open Championship celebrates its 150th Anniversary in July.

The winners of this year’s Golf Tourism Scotland Gold Standard Awards have been announced at a gala dinner held at the new-look Turnberry Resort. Across 11 categories, exponents of the very best in Scottish golf tourism were recognised from various sectors including travel, hospitality, golf courses and golf services.

The spectacular night came to a crescendo when Helensburgh local Colin Dalgleish, co-founder of international golf tour operator PerryGolf and former Walker Cup captain, received the inaugural Special Achievement Award. Earlier, Sam Adam, assistant front office manager at Rufflets Country House Hotel, was named Young Industry Person of the year - an accolade which this year came with an international scholarship trip.

Other notable winners included Turnberry’s Ailsa Course in the golf course category, Spela-Golf.com which received the award for the top tour operator and Davy Gilchrist from Kingsbarns Golf Links, who was named this year’s top caddie master.

In the hotel division, Cameron House on Loch Lomond came out on top in the resort category while the Macdonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick triumphed in the large hotel group. North Berwick also claimed the best small hotel/guest house in the form of the North Berwick Golf Lodge, and Rufflets Country House Hotel collected its second award of the night in the country house hotel section.

The East Lothian town of North Berwick completed a hat trick of awards when North Berwick Golf Club picked up the golf secretariat accolade. When St Andrews Executive Travel completed the winning line-up by receiving the transport operator of the year award, GTS chairman Nick Hunter commented that the evening had been the best GTS awards yet.

“It’s been a fantastic night during which the best of Scottish golf tourism has been properly recognised,” he commented. “The Gold Standard Awards are a great opportunity to celebrate what we do best, and I think this awards evening has been the best yet in terms of accrediting the practitioners that make our industry shine.”

Since its inception four years ago, the GTS Gold Standard Awards have become a must-attend event for the golf industry in Scotland.

MARTIN DEMPSTER writes in The Edinburgh Evening News (Click here to read The Evening News online)

writes MARTIN DEMPSTER in the Edinburgh Evening News

The R&A has named Muirfield as the venue for the 2013 Open Championship.