New Kittocks course name at Fairmont St Andrews

It has just been announced today that from October 1st 2008 the former Devlin course at Fairmont St Andrews, will be re-named as Kittocks. Fairmont St Andrews is a 5 star cliff top hotel, with two championship golf courses that enjoys panoramic views over the golden beaches and medieval sky line of St Andrews, the Home of Golf.

Speaking today, Gary Slatter, Director of Golf for Fairmont St Andrews said, We are very excited about the re-naming of our former Devlin course to Kittocks. The new name change reflects not only the millions of pounds worth of changes being made to both the Kittocks course and the Torrance, our Open qualifying course for 2010 Open championship but also reflects an essential strand of Fairmont properties worldwide, that they all have an authentically local feel. The recent decision to also improve Kittocks, will create one of the best golfing resorts in the world.

Kittocks name is taken from the SSSI area of land on the course that is inhabited by a family of deer. This protected area comes into view on several holes and provides abundant wildlife to be seen during a round on Kittocks, including pheasants, rabbits and hares, deer, grouse and badgers. The coastal land the course is built on reminded the legendary golfer Gene Sarazen of Pebble Beach when he first visited the site, as one of the course s original architects. The Kittocks course will also feature heavily in a new production of the new JJB Slazenger golf advert with Tony Jacklin, Andrew Murray and Gary Wolstenholme. The 30 minute show will be broadcast on Sky Sports Extra and Setanta Golf.

Talking today about the new design features on the Kittocks course, Slatter said. We have worked with architect Gary Stephenson to improve both layouts and to accentuate the strengths of both courses. Kittocks will have two holes from the original Torrance layout. With the re-positioning of several tees and three new greens, plus the addition of state of the art drainage systems both courses will be even better than before and worthy of their accolades including being named 18th best Golf Resort in the World by Conde Naste Traveler.

The re-design of the two courses is part of an overall £13 million upgrade for the hotel including refurbished rooms, a new sports bar with large lcd televisions and pool table plus a sensational signature Spa, featuring Kerstin Florian products that are usually only found in Oscar night goody bags!

With all the improvements on both Fairmont St Andrews courses, it is expected that with events such as the Torrance Cup with Sam Torrance next week, that the fine reputation of both Kittocks and the Torrance courses will grow and grow.