{"id":846647,"date":"2026-08-07T10:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846647\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T10:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:02:10","slug":"golf-business-news-the-ra-appoints-new-operating-partner-for-golf-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846647\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf Business News – The R&A appoints new operating partner for Golf It!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The R&A has appointed Northwind Leisure Golf as the new operating partner for its Golf It!<\/a> facility in Glasgow to help it build on the success of its first three years in operation.<\/p>\n

In 2025 Golf It! programmes delivered a social value of more than \u00a320 million for the local community. The AIG Schools programme has delivered in-curriculum golf to more than 22,000 children since Golf It! opened in 2023, with more than 7,000 children actively engaging with the facility.<\/p>\n

Golf It! was profitable in 2025 and saw a 5% increase in footfall year-on-year as it has established itself as a popular community golf facility in the north east of Glasgow.<\/p>\n

Having established itself as a family facility demonstrating The R&A\u2019s purpose to open golf to the world in action, Golf It! now has the opportunity to move on to the next stage of its development working with a specialist golf leisure operator. This will also enable The R&A to focus on the facility\u2019s wider purpose, impact and role as a showcase for how innovative facilities can help catalyse the future growth of the sport.<\/p>\n

\"\"Golf It! turned a profit in 2025, with the Glasgow-based facility reporting a 5% increase in footfall year-on-year<\/p>\n

The R&A will retain full ownership of Golf It! and will have oversight of Northwind Leisure Golf\u2019s operations at the facility.\u00a0Alyson McKechin\u00a0will continue to lead the team of staff and it will continue to operate under the Golf It! brand.<\/p>\n

Mark Darbon, Chief Executive of The R&A, said: \u201cWe are thrilled with the progress that has been made at Golf It! since it opened in 2023. It has become such an important model for us in demonstrating how an inclusive, community-focused golf facility can introduce more people to the game, support healthier and more active lifestyles, and provide practical insight for national federations and other R&A partners around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur new strategy sets out clear objectives for how The R&A can help to bring more people into the sport and that\u2019s where we have to focus our efforts. By partnering with Northwind we can rely on an experienced golf leisure operator to work with Alyson and the Golf It! team on day-to-day operations and helping it to progress as a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The community, schools and disability programmes that sit at the heart of Golf It!\u2019s impact will continue, supported by The R&A Foundation. Through this partnership, Golf It! will continue to demonstrate how golf can help tackle some of society\u2019s biggest challenges and how inclusive facilities can inspire participation, well-being and social impact.<\/p>\n

Golf It! also supports regular women\u2019s and girls\u2019 programmes, disability golf activity and a greenkeeping apprenticeship pathway.<\/p>\n

Northwind Leisure Golf Ltd trades as Great Western Golf,<\/a> which operates a large golf facility in Clydebank, including golf, football, padel tennis, physio and caf\u00e9 facilities. Northwind also owns and operates 43 Goals football centres and four Soccerworld facilities throughout the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Barry McDermott, Managing Director of Northwind Leisure Golf, said: \u201cWe are delighted to be partnering with The R&A on Golf It! and are looking forward to working with Alyson and the team as we help the business to develop and cement its position as one of the UK\u2019s leading community golf facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The R&A has appointed Northwind Leisure Golf as the new operating partner for its Golf It! facility in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-846647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}