Monday 18 December 2000
Ian Rae has been appointed as Scotland's first National Coach for Golf, with the help of sportscotland's Lottery Fund.
A £210,000 award over four years will help the Scottish Golf Union to meet the costs of appointing Rae, who only last month won the ‘Best Professional Coach’ category at sportscotland's 'Coach of the Year Awards' last month and is currently Head Coach at Scotland's Lottery funded National Golf Centre.
He said: "This is a wonderful opportunity and I am relishing the prospect. Having worked with many of the players over the last eighteen months I know just how much potential there is out there. Scotland has a wonderful pool of talented golfers - you only have to look at our results this season to see just how strong a base we have - and I am determined to build on that success."
Based at the Scottish National Golf Centre at Drumoig, near St Andrews, Rae will have a wide ranging remit involving the development and implementation of a youth and coaching strategy, a full international training and competition programme and clear pathways for player development, including talent identification. Working with the national coaching team as well as professional golf coaches the main focus will be on preparing amateur golfers for the transition to professional status.
Deputy Minister for Sport and Culture, Allan Wilson, said: "I very much welcome this appointment. The establishment of a National Coach for golf in Scotland is further confirmation of our commitment to the 2009 Ryder Cup and to the ongoing development of golf. I am sure that Scottish golf will soon see the benefits of Ian Rae's work. Some of our young amateurs of today may well be part of European teams playing for the Ryder Cup on Scottish soil come 2009."
Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland, said: "I am delighted that Lottery funding from sportscotland has made possible the appointment of the first National Coach for Golf in Scotland.
"sportscotland has already made substantial investment in developing Scotland's reputation as the home of golf, from funding the establishment of Scotland’s National Golf Centre to supporting the next generation of Scottish golfing talent. I am sure that this new role will build on these foundations and further strengthen Scotland's case for hosting the Ryder Cup here in 2009."
Hamish Grey, Secretary of the Scottish Golf Union, said: "We are delighted that Ian has accepted this new and exciting position. We have already invested in world class training facilities at the Scottish National Golf Centre at Drumoig. Now with a full time national coach in place, we can devise world class training programmes for our players to take Scottish golf to a new level."
- Among Ian Rae's achievements to date are: overseeing Scotland Under 18's winning the European Championships, Scotland's Under 21's finishing 2nd in the European Championships and Scotland's Senior Team winning this year’s Home Internationals. On an individual level he has guided Steven O'Hara from club player to finishing 2nd in this year's World Amateur Team Championships with Great Britain, David Inglis to winning the British Boy's Amateur Championship and Alistair Forsyth to the top 40 in the European Professional Tour in his rookie year.
- Ian Rae's previous position as Head Coach at the SNGC will be taken over by Adam Hunter, 1999 winner of the Scottish Professional Coach of the Year Award and coach of Open Championship winner Paul Lawrie.
- sportscotland Lottery Fund has supported the establishment of the National Golf Centre with an award of over £1.1m, and has contributed over £8.5m to the creation and development of golfing facilities in Scotland.