David Scott, General Manager at Dumbarnie Links, has a rather impressive CV. Over nearly half a century working in golf, he’s been a club professional, playing professional, teaching professional, facility manager, resort manager, he’s even had a brief spell co-ordinating private jets landing at Leuchars air strip!
“Yes, I wouldn’t have expected that one while I was doing my PGA training,” he says of that role with his ever-present smile.
David, for information, is one of the most positive people you’re ever likely to meet.
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It’s one of the reasons David is in such high demand within the golf world. On top of running a bustling venue, David is also the Captain of The PGA of Great Britain and Ireland for one year and, in May, it was announced that David would be just the sixth ever honorary professional at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
Born and bred in St Andrews, David follows in the footsteps of greats like Allan Robertson and Old Tom Morris, who preceded the R&A honorary professional role, then those who have held the post, Andrew Kirkcaldy, Willie and Laurie Auchterlonie, most recently Jim Farmer – proper St Andrews professionals.
As St Andrews changes and becomes increasingly international in terms of residents, perhaps David will be the last of a kind.
“I hope not. I don’t think so,” he says. “The PGA programme is so diverse today that I would hope there will be plenty of young people from St Andrews following that route.
But, yes, to follow the likes of Andrew Kirkcaldy, the Auchterlonies and Jim Farmer is something I’m very proud of.”
Born in a hospital on the edge of St Andrews, David started playing golf at the age of three. His father was a good golfer, a St Andrews Club champion, and the family home was on Hope Street, just a wedge shot away from the famous Dunvegan pub.
“As a kid, I would just walk out of the front door in my spikes and click my way down to the links with friends,” he says. “In the summer holidays I would play seven days a week.”
And, after finishing school and spending a couple of years at college studying quantity surveying, David decided to focus on a career in the game he loved.
David Scott lining up a putt
(Image credit: The Loop/Dumbarnie Links)
“It was my mum’s suggestion actually,” he says. “I applied for a job at Blairgowrie Golf Club. I got it and the rest is history as they say.”
But it wasn’t quite a done deal as that. Man of many talents, David is also a musician and did consider that option for a spell before his golfing career kicked on properly.
“I play clarinet and saxophone and I played in a few bands. I made a few pounds that way and thought that was possibly something I could do,” he says. “I still play a bit as a way to relax.”
But golf won out and David moved on to be the head professional at a now closed resort called Letham Grange, not far from Carnoustie. He stayed there until 1996, when he moved to Balbirne Park Golf Club just outside Glenrothes.
“It’s a members’ club and I was their first professional. It was interesting and a great experience. But I felt I wanted to be able to make more decisions and get into management.
Obviously, at Balbirnie it was the members who did most of the forward planning,” he explains. “So, I went to business school in Glenrothes and got some further qualifications.”
That proved a useful move as three years after joining Balbirnie Park, an opportunity came up at a new venture in the East Neuk of Fife at a place called Kingsbarns.
“I met with Mark Parsinen and we struck it off,” says David. “Fortunately, I got the job of Director of Golf. It was such an exciting project as it was something totally different.”
Kingsbarns was a new concept in Scotland that has now been much replicated – a visitors only model, charging a sizeable green fee.
“We were £85 when we opened. That was £5 more than the Old Course!” David says.
“But we wanted to provide a full experience, and we introduced things like a complimentary course guide, a pouch on the first tee, course marshals and caddies in uniform, a halfway house. It proved very successful.”
David stayed at Kingsbarns for eight years before deciding on a new direction in 2008.
“Kingsbarns was running like a well-oiled machine,” he says. “And, in all honesty, I wanted something a bit more challenging.”
That opportunity came with the Kohler Company and the Old Course Hotel where David took over as manager of the Dukes course.
That gave him some great experience in managing other aspects of a golf facility – the food, the maintenance team etc. He was widening his skill set.
And those skills were set to be further increased in 2013 when the General Manager of the whole Old Course Hotel resort stepped down. Herb Kohler sat David down and asked him to take over as interim GM. For two and a half years he held the position.
“I was managing seven food and beverage outlets, the spa, golf, maintenance, concierge. It was crazy,” he said.
“I was someone with five O grades from school, I was running a five-star, 144-bedroom hotel! It was great fun though.”
When The Open was at St Andrews in 2015 the Old Course Hotel hosted the World Golf Hall of Fame dinner. It was a career highlight for Scott.
“We had Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nancy Lopez, Sandy Lyle,” he says. “These were heroes of mine growing up and I was a bit starstruck. I was also a little nervous when Mr Kohler asked me to stand up and say a few words of welcome with about five minutes notice. I think I coped ok as no bread rolls were thrown and I kept my job!”
Herb clearly had a great deal of respect for David and, when a new GM was appointed, there was a new task the American tycoon wanted David to take on. Kohler wanted to land private jets at Leuchars air strip and David was tasked with the logistics of that.
“Permission was granted by the RAF and air traffic control,” he says “And suddenly I was co-ordinating private jet arrivals. My new title was ‘Leuchars Aviation, Golf and Estates Manager.’ It was quite bizarre really.”
(Image credit: Dumbarnie Links)
David stayed at the Old Course Hotel until the Dumbarnie role came up.
“There was just such a buzz about the opportunity,” says David. “I had the Kingsbarns experience and all those skills I’d developed at the Old Course Hotel, so I didn’t feel daunted. I knew I could pull together a strong team and deliver memorable experiences.”
It was former Golf Monthly editor Malcolm Campbell, who lives a mile and a half from the facility, who identified the potential of the links terrain at Dumbarnie. He got in contact with old friend, former Ryder Cup player and course designer Clive Clark.
Financing was arranged and a lease secured from the landowner Lord Balniel.
Clark has designed a brilliant modern links at Dumbarnie and he did so without moving any earth onto site. All the shaping was done using the sandy soil already there.
It’s a highly playable layout, challenging but fair. With elevation changes and stunning views, it’s a striking spot for golf.
“The holes are interesting and there are many ways to play them,” says David. “But it won’t beat you up and we have great feedback from guests. We want it to be entertaining from start to finish at Dumbarnie and that’s what we really strive for on course and off.”
David has clearly developed a great product and put together a fabulous team, it’s an achievement that’s a direct result of his long and varied career within golf.
David Scott in PGA Captain’s jacket
(Image credit: The PGA)
With regards David’s other roles as PGA Captain and R&A honorary professional, both are testament to the levels of respect David has from his golfing peers, and both come with responsibilities.
When it comes to the PGA captaincy, David will attend 15 championships through this season.
“I’m very proud to represent 8,000 PGA members. I’m not often lost for words but when the Chairman Alan White and Chief Executive Rob Maxfield offered me the position, I temporarily was. I didn’t dream I would ever become captain of the PGA.”
On top of a full-time job, it’s a time-consuming post but one that David is able to work into his schedule this year thanks to a strong team at Dumbarnie.
“I don’t come back to any issues when I’m on duty for the PGA, or off for a rest day” he says. “The heads of department all do such a good job. And, I think for Dumbarnie, it’s a good thing too – to keep seeing posts of me shaking hands, wearing the red blazer of the PGA, so it’s great for me to be out and about.”
As if 2025 wasn’t an exciting enough year in the Scott household, it was announced in the spring that David is the new honorary professional for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
Since 1915, there have only been five previous professionals with that title. Andrew Kirkcaldy was the first and then Willie and Laurie Auchterlonie before John Panton and Jim Farmer. David is number six.
“It means the world to me,” he says. “Following in the footsteps of Jim Farmer. I’m trying to get my history right up to scratch, right back to 1754 and the start of the club.
I’m learning more about The Open, the trophy room and the other historical items the club displays so I can show people around properly. It’s an amazing honour to be able to pop into the clubhouse, to wear the tie, to have lunch and spend time with members. I’m proud and feel most fortunate.”
Among David’s duties as the club professional, one of the most important is to tee up a ball for the incoming captain’s drive-in on the final Friday of the autumn meeting.
“I’ve seen it many times and never thought I’d be pegging up the incoming Captain’s ball,” he says. “It’s quite an occasion with a cannon fired and then 50 or more caddies ready to try to be the one to collect the captain’s ball, return it to him and receive a gold sovereign in so doing. It’s a great spectacle.”
The appointment really puts an exclamation point on what has been an incredible career in golf.
David even occasionally finds time to play himself… At lunchtime, he’ll try to walk around the perimeter of the range and chip balls out of the rough back to where they can be collected.
He enjoyed success in his playing career. He was runner-up to Brian Barnes in the 1989 British Club Professionals Championship at Princes, and he partnered Barnes in the PGA Cup over the Turtle Point Course at Kiawah Island.
“The experience was incredible,” he says. “To partner Brian Barnes was amazing. I never quite made the team again, although was first reserve twice.”
The standout thing about David is his passion for all aspects of golf. After nearly six decades of playing the game and working in the industry, he still clearly loves the sport, and the people involved in it.
From hospitality to history, playing to promoting golf, David gives everything to it, with matchless positivity. His management style is relaxed and “can-do” and that clearly inspires all those who work with him. His philosophy is that people should focus on being a radiator rather than a drain in the workplace. Makes sense!
This year is going to be exciting, if perhaps a little exhausting for David but he appears to be taking it in his stride.
“It’s a privilege and an honour to have all three of my roles through 2025 and I will make the very most of it,” he says.
For a man who has dedicated his life to the game, his appointments are fitting recognition. He may be one of the busiest people in golf, but he is also one of the happiest and most enjoyable to be around.
The Five Previous Honorary R&A Professionals
A sign for Auchterlonies club makers
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Andrew Kirkcaldy was a top player of the late 19th century. In fact, he might have won The Open Championship. In 1889 he lost in a playoff to Willie Park Jr. In He finished in the top-10 in the event on 14 occasions. Known as “Andra,” he died in 1934 and is buried near the Cathedral in St Andrews.
Willie Auchterlonie went one better than Kirkcaldy and did win an Open Championship. He triumphed in 1893 at the age of just 21. He had a long and distinguished career as a club maker and the famous shop in St Andrews still carries his name. He lived to be 90 and died in 1963.
Laurie Auchterlonie was Willie’s son and was also known as a brilliant club maker. He took the honorary role upon his father’s death. Laurie was an expert at restoring old clubs and was hugely knowledgeable on the history of the game. He cut the ribbon on the American Golf Hall of Fame.
John Panton took the role of honorary professional in 1988 and held it until 2006. He won 44 professional tournaments and was twice tied fifth in The Open Championship. He played in the Ryder Cup on three occasions. He has a drink named after him – ginger beer, lime cordial and angostura bitters.
Jim Farmer was, like David, a Captain of the PGA. He was known in St Andrews as “Mr Golf.” A tremendous sportsman who could have been a pro footballer save for injury; Farmer played in four PGA Cups and topped the Scottish “Tartan” Tour order of merit on seven occasions.