Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Rise in turnover at St Andrews links

US golfer Zach Johnson holds the Claret Jug after winning the 144th Open Championship at The Old Course last year.
US golfer Zach Johnson holds the Claret Jug after winning the 144th Open Championship at The Old Course last year.

The charity that runs the courses at the home of golf received more than £20 million in income for the second year in a row.

The near £20.6m taken in by St Andrews Links Trust in 2015, was a rise of 1.5% from the previous year.

More than half – £11.5m – was directly from golfing income with the fees from visitors playing the town’s seven courses amounting to almost £7.7m.

The visitor fee income was down 14.3% from the £8.9m in 2014, reflecting the period that the Old Course was closed for the Open Championship.

Golfing income in 2015 also included £1.4m in yearly ticket revenue from local players and a contribution from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

The rest of the trust’s income was from sources including catering, rents, merchandising, royalties and bank interest.

Maintaining the historic Old Course and six other courses in top condition does not come cheaply.

The trust, which has a workforce of almost 300, had expenditure of £19.6m, a rise of 2.3%.

In their joint statement, RD Muckart, chairman of trustees, and SG Race, chairman of the links management committee, said the year  in which The Open is played on St Andrews Links always presents additional financial challenges.

“Despite the considerable reduction in green fee income in 2015 we were pleased to see turnover increase.

“This reflects ambition, enterprise and professionalism on the part of all our members of staff, particularly those on the financial and commercial side of our activities.

“Success in these areas provides the enabling element of long term development as well as assisting in the delivery of our day to day operations.”

The chairmen said the commitment to delivering memorable experiences for every golfer at St Andrews came under real scrutiny in 2015.

The amount of planning, preparation  and the physical effects of hosting the 144th Open was huge, and the staff rose to the challenge in presenting the Old Course in fantastic condition.

Their task was even greater because “unprecedented weather conditions prompted only the second Monday finish in the history of the championship.”

The chairmen added: “In front of a global TV audience the greenkeeping staff produced a truly herculean effort, fittingly recognised a few months later as they received the British and International Golf Greenkeeper’s Association Championship Team of the Year Award.”

Just hours after Zach Johnson was crowned the winner, many aspects of the  links were operational again and available to every golfer.

Visitors this year are paying up to £175 for a round on the Old Course. Local members enjoy privileges which in 2016 allows them to buy a full links ticket for as little as £205 to play all year.