Golf Resort Plans Get the Green Light

Plans have been approved to develop a new golf resort on the outskirts of St Andrews.

The accepted proposal from Alvarez and Marsal Golf will see an 18-hole golf course built on the Feddinch Mains site, just a few miles south of St Andrews. The plans also include a short Par 3 course, a practice range, a clubhouse, and a golfer’s hotel, as well as a restaurant, cottages, a greenkeeper’s service yard, and a halfway house.

Despite numerous attempts, the Feddinch Mains site remained undeveloped for years before the plans from A&M Golf were approved.

A&M Golf have taken into consideration local desires, stating on their project website that they had updated their development design following “feedback received from neighbours and the local community.” Some of these key design changes include the scaling back of the clubhouse to be “more appropriate for the setting.”

There has also been a considerable effort to ensure that the resort does not change its surrounding landscape, instead following the natural contours of the land “to seamlessly integrate the development into the environment.” According to their website, A&M Golf are “refining the idea of structures being ‘of the land’ rather than ‘on the land’.” These new design changes “align the development more closely with its natural surroundings, delivering a project that is both visually and environmentally considerate.”

The golf resort will also benefit locals by offering numerous job opportunities. The website promises “approximately 200 full-time equivalent jobs during the construction phase and over 100 jobs once operational.” These jobs will offer opportunities to increase golf, tourism, and hospitality skills, in either seasonal or full-time positions. Local companies have also joined the project, with Alvarez and Marsal hiring local design and development teams, as well as a local sustainability engineering firm. By collaborating with local businesses, the Alvarez and Marsal website claims that “much of the economic benefit stays within Fife and Scotland, helping to support local enterprises and create job opportunities for the community.”

A&M Golf states they are developing the project as quickly as possible, but no confirmed completion date has been announced yet.

Image by Madeleine Rea