Dear Participants,

As I write this we should have concluded our World Hickory Open Championship event for 2021. It has been a difficult 18 months, but I hope this finds you all well and getting back to some semblance of normality. With the announcement only a few weeks ago that Britain is opening up its borders to people visiting from a wider range of countries, I believe we did the correct thing in cancelling the event this year, as difficult a decision as it was! I want to take this opportunity to thank the vast majority of you who agreed to roll over your deposit to the 2022 event.

On a more positive note, we can now look forward to playing the 2022 World Hickory Open next year based out of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. We have hotel rooms reserved, the main base being the Kingsmill Hotel, Inverness, and we have some great golf courses already looking forward to welcoming us. The Team event shall be played at Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf Club, with the World Hickory event being played in a ‘Round Robin’ event over three days at Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart Golf Links and Nairn Golf Club – I think we are in for a real treat! Inverness airport is only about 10 minutes from the hotel, and coaches shall be organised to take you to and from the different golfing venues; however, full details and price options shall be available when we open the applications next month.

Make sure the week of 10th October 2022 is in your diary, with the welcome party being held on Sunday 9th October 2022. Full details shall be announced at the launch in November, but we are getting ready to welcome you back! I should add that with UK borders now opening up and quarantine regulations being relaxed, for those of you who cannot wait another year to visit, we would be delighted to welcome anyone coming to St Andrews to stop by and say hello at St Andrews Golf Company (www.standrewsgolfco.com), and if you require assistance in planning your golf trip, Stuart French at Platinum Golf Scotland would be delighted to help (https://platinumgolfscotland.com).

Yours aye

Hamish Steedman

Chairman