After three years of bitter wrangling with local residents,   environmentalists and local and national government, work is now officially underway on the Trump International Golf Links Scotland at Belmedie, Aberdeenshire – at least for the time being.

If completed the £1billion project will encompass what American business magnate, and self-professed Scot, Donald Trump called “the greatest golf course in the world” along with a five-star hotel, 1,000 holiday, 500 houses and a clubhouse.

Despite getting the go ahead to commence the early construction phase of introducing new grass types and stabilising the sand dunes, many are still dead set against the development and hope to stamp it out.

Environmentalists, angry at the plans to build on a Site of Specific Scientific Interest, have been backed up by residents of the Menie Estate who may be evicted against their will should the finer details of Trump’s “masterplan” be approved by Aberdeenshire councillors. Read more…

You’ve got to love the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, don’t you?

Taking place for the tenth time this year, the event is a real breath of fresh air and a unique pleasure for both golfers and golf fans.

For tour pros, it is a great opportunity to play for a prize fund that is unusually large for an event scheduled so late in the season (the purse is an estimated $5million) over three of the top courses in Scotland, if not the world.

For guys battling to retain their cards, that’s a seriously big incentive, just as it is for those competing at the top end of the Race to Dubai standings. Read more…