Alliss given membership of club he helped design

Arguably the world’s most famous golf commentator, Peter Alliss, has been given honorary membership of The Blairgowrie Golf Club in Scotland, which he designed one of the courses of.

Alliss, who played in eight of the nine Ryder Cups between 1953 and 1969, and has been the BBC’s lead golf commentator since 1978, is known as the ‘voice of golf’.

He was attending the Ricoh British Women’s Open at Kingsbarns when the accolade was handed over at St Andrews.

Blairgowrie captain Brian Wesencraft (pictured left) and managing secretary Steven Morgan seized the opportunity to present Alliss with the honour, which was approved by the club’s members at the most recent annual general meeting, in recognition of the 40^th anniversary of the Lansdowne championship course designed by Alliss and the late Dave Thomas.

Wesencraft said: “The club recently ran an Alliss Trophy event to commemorate their partnership and we were delighted to present Peter and his wife Jackie with a charitable donation.

“Peter works with a number of excellent charities including one which provides powered wheelchairs for disabled young people.

“The final hole at Lansdowne has also been named ‘Alliss Hame’ in his honour.”

Alliss has long been a staunch supporter of the set-up at Blairgowrie, noting it was his favourite inland golf course in the UK.

The 128-year-old club made headlines earlier this summer when it appointed the 31-year-old Morgan as its new managing secretary.

The appointment came shortly after the club launched a flexible membership policy – another trend in recent years that has seen some golf clubs modernise.

Morgan said at the time: “The club has long been regarded as one of the best inland golf venues in the country. I still remember the thrill of coming to play here when I was a county player.

“The team here are also putting the final touches to two re-designed holes on the signature Rosemount course and so there is plenty in the way of positive momentum at the club.”