{"id":521697,"date":"2026-04-09T16:04:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/521697\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:04:19","slug":"the-gailes-in-ayrshire-appoints-homegrown-golf-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/521697\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gailes in Ayrshire appoints homegrown golf pro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Mr Kirkham, 24, took his first swing at The Gailes driving range back in 2005 when he was just three years old. Inspired by his grassroots golfing experience, he later joined The Gailes\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gaileshotel.com\/golf\/juniors-do-golf\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Juniors Do Golf<\/a> programme from 2010 to 2012.\n<\/p>\n<p>  The Herald Scottish Golf Survey is back in 2026 with some important changes we hope will be particularly useful. If your organisation has not received an invitation to take part, please contact <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/news\/26005238.gailes-ayrshire-appoints-homegrown-golf-pro\/mailto:kristy.dorsey@newsquest.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">kristy.dorsey@newsquest.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n  As a junior he played at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ayradvertiser.com\/local-news\/troon-news\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Troon<\/a> Welbeck and represented Ayrshire on multiple occasions before turning professional in September 2022. He completed his PGA training at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/news\/25255372.digger-says-dundonald-links-ready-scottish-womens-open\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dundonald Links<\/a> in 2025 and has also competed on the Tartan Pro Tour, as well as playing at various open golf venues around Scotland, Spain and Portugal.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Under the leadership of head pro Scott Garrett, Mr Kirkham is now coaching individual and group classes for all abilities at The Gailes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe Gailes is where my passion for golf really ignited as part of the Juniors Do Golf programme in 2010,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Coming back to the venue 20 years later as a PGA professional has an even greater personal significance for me and an achievement that I\u2019m extremely proud of.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Read more:\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cI fell in love with golf because it\u2019s in my family. My dad was a huge factor in getting me started in the game. I\u2019m now the third generation in a row of professionals, which is pretty cool.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cBeing part of The Gailes\u2019\u00a0PGA pro team, I\u2019m really looking forward to coaching people of all ages and abilities and helping them be the best player they can be.\u00a0Ultimately, I want to encourage more people into the sport, inspire the next generation of golfing talent, and put my coaching skills to the test.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Gailes, which has the largest junior programme in the west of Scotland, is owned by Ayrshire hospitality group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/business_hq\/19588248.firm-hotels-troon-irvine-sees-tourists-return\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">SimpsInns<\/a>. The hotel has immediate access to Dundonald Links, Western Gailes and Gailes Links, with Royal Troon, Turnberry and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ayradvertiser.com\/local-news\/prestwick-news\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Prestwick<\/a> within easy reach.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/my\/account\/profile\/?newsletter=3401&amp;ref=ed_direct#emails\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Click here to sign up for The Herald&#8217;s Business of Golf newsletter, out every Sunday.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Business of Golf logo\"\/>(Image: Damian Shields)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mr Kirkham, 24, took his first swing at The Gailes driving range back in 2005 when he was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-521697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521697","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=521697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}