{"id":325121,"date":"2025-12-19T18:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T18:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/325121\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T18:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T18:48:10","slug":"st-andrews-old-course-chief-set-to-leave-scotland-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/325121\/","title":{"rendered":"St Andrews Old Course chief set to leave Scotland next year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Confirmation of Mr Coulson&#8217;s departure follows the announcement earlier this month that the Links Trust has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/news\/25680595.st-andrews-links-trust-seals-deal-expansion-dukes\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">completed a long-awaited deal to take over the management of the nearby Duke&#8217;s course<\/a>, which from January 5 will be known as the Craigtoun. The trust currently has seven links courses under its umbrella.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Read more:\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWe can confirm that Neil Coulson has tendered his resignation as chief executive officer,&#8221; the Links Trust said. &#8220;He will leave his position in spring 2026 to take up a new role overseas.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cNeil joined at a challenging time following the pandemic and has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/news\/24364175.st-andrews-golf-back-financial-health-record-profits\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pivotal in our recovery<\/a>, building a strong management team and shaping a clear vision for the future. Today, the trust is in a position of strength with a high-performing team, a long-term business plan, and exciting investment and community initiatives.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe board thanks Neil for his outstanding contribution and wishes him every success in his next chapter. A search for a new CEO will begin in the new year, and operations will continue without interruption.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Neil Coulson will leave St Andrews Links Trust in the spring (Image: Links Trust)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Golfers playing at St Andrews in 2024 generated \u00a348.5 million in revenue for the Links Trust, resulting in a surplus of \u00a310.8m. More than 281,000 rounds were played across its seven courses during the year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/news\/25682125.links-trust-buys-breathing-space-golf-st-andrews\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a number that is expected to be matched in 2025<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The agreement to take over operations at the Duke&#8217;s has been struck with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/news\/25510347.old-course-hotel-cuts-losses-dukes-talks-continue\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Old Course Hote<\/a>l, which in turn is owned by US plumbing conglomerate Kohler. Officials at the Links Trust have said the long-term lease agreement will run for &#8220;at least&#8221; the next 15 years.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The St Andrews Links Trust was established in 1974 by an Act of Parliament to manage and maintain the town&#8217;s public golf courses. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/sport\/uk-sport\/24879886.st-andrews-stage-open-championship-2027\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Open Championship is set to return to the Old Course<\/a>, the &#8220;home of golf&#8221;, in 2027.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mr Coulson&#8217;s new post has not yet been confirmed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Confirmation of Mr Coulson&#8217;s departure follows the announcement earlier this month that the Links Trust has completed a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-325121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}