GLENEAGLES, SCOTLAND | Back in the Fifties, people would refer to the Gleneagles Foursomes (1953-66) as “the last major event of the season.” Thirty-two top professionals, mostly Ryder Cup men, would receive invitations for themselves and the amateur partner of their choice. To name just one couple with the “wow” factor of the day, three-time Open champion Henry Cotton picked a three-time Amateur champion in Ireland’s Joe Carr.
This old favourite of a tournament has been revised and will take place on 2-4 May 2025. What is more, so well-received was the news that every place in the 64-pair field – now a mixed affair – was filled within the space of 24 hours. The contestants are coming from as far afield as the United States and Iceland, with the waiting list at 50. Entry fees are £300 (about $389) per pair and, when it comes to handicap requirements, male professionals will play off plus-1, with the female professionals playing off scratch from slightly forward tees. Amateurs of both genders are asked to have handicaps of 12.4 or better.
First-round losers, incidentally, have no reason to go home. They have a consolation four-ball, better-ball event beginning the following day when they switch from the King’s Course to the Queen’s and play for a silver salver.
When it comes to the prize money, it is not exactly of the highest order. LIV men might scoff in that it amounts to £200 (about $258) for the winners and a voucher apiece for an overnight stay for two in the hotel. However, as former Ryder Cup player Neil Coles has been quick to explain, “The old edition was never about the money. … It was about the venue, the camaraderie and the match play.
“Spectators poured in because they loved the event and the venue as much as we did. If you had to liken it to anything on today’s golfing schedule, I would go for the Sunningdale Foursomes.”
Coles, who turned 90 in September and won his last event (the 2002 Lawrence Batley Seniors) on the European Senior Tour at age 67, never won the Gleneagles tournament, though he did capture a trio of Sunningdale Foursomes titles.
“We’re testing the water in ’25,” said Andrew Jowett, Gleneagles’ director of golf. “And if everything goes well, we’ll increase the size of the field and make some further tweaks for 2026.” That’s when he thinks there could be the same mix of quality players as turn up for Gleneagles’ now 8-year-old International Pro-Am.
Meanwhile, for the purposes of golf addicts looking to watch golf at a higher level, there is always the Senior Open, which comes under the wing of the R&A and is likely to make its return to the King’s Course before too long.
There are plenty of other fresh events on the hotel’s updated agenda, including a Ladies Open Amateur stroke-play championship which is due to be held on 18 May with an entrance fee of £85 (about $110). Again, there is an under-17s mixed Stableford for two sets of youngsters – one for those with handicaps of 28 and below, the other, on the Wee Course, for those of 28 plus. Though the ’24 tournament had to be cancelled in October because of high winds and rain, it will be back next year at a date which has yet to be confirmed.
“Fifty percent of the field for our International Pro-Am, for example, will be staying in the hotel, but whatever the event, there will usually be several of our club members who live locally and want to play in whatever is on offer.”
Andrew Jowett
There was no hint of a washout when GGP visited the resort at the end of October for news of its multiplying fixtures. The sun was out, jackets were off and umbrellas were down. What is more, all the courses, from the PGA Centenary Course to the little par-3 in front of the hotel, were enticingly busy.
Jowett made plain that the hotel is picking its new golf agenda with care. Essentially, officials do not want anything too rowdy. True, the Ryder Cup of 2014 was followed by a concert, but you can only suspect that the touch of Scottish ballet and Scottish opera went down as well as Europe’s victory. The winning 2019 Solheim Cup side, for its part, had the Scottish rock band Texas to lift spirits at their opening ceremony.
When GGP asked if most of the latest tournaments are aimed at Gleneagles’ well-healed visitors, Jowett was quick to say that notion no longer applies.
“Fifty percent of the field for our International Pro-Am, for example, will be staying in the hotel, but whatever the event, there will usually be several of our club members who live locally and want to play in whatever is on offer,” he said. “Moving on from there, we get those from further afield who just love to treat themselves to a bit of competitive play over our courses. To give a bit of background, it’s because people so enjoy coming here that we decided to expand things on the golfing front and to do our bit to grow the game in the process.”
Of course, people want to know the price of an annual subscription at Gleneagles and the answer is £3,780 (about $4,875). It may sound a lot, but to put a more cheerful spin on that number, if anyone were to play 365 days a year – whatever the weather – he or she would be paying not much over £10 (about $13) per round. A bargain.
E-MAIL LEWINE
Top: An aerial view of Gleneagles, with the Gleneagles Hotel in the background
DAVID CANNON, GETTY IMAGES