WELCOME TO LOCH LOMOND
WELCOME TO LOCH LOMOND
Nestled alongside the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond is a parkland that has come to be known as Loch Lomond Golf Club. A private club for the exclusive use of its members and their guests, Loch Lomond sits on the historic Clan Colquhoun estate, which is steeped in Scottish tradition dating back to the 12th centuary. As Scotland is known as the birthplace of golf, Loch Lomond Golf Club enjoys the history and tradition associated with golf in the homeland, yet the Club provides an experience uniquely its own.
Designed by Tom Wieskopf and Jay Morrish, the golf course is currently ranked 44 in the top 100 courses in the world. Rossdhu House, an 18 century Georgian mansion which was once the ancestral home of the Clan Colquhoun, has been restored to its original splendour and now offers extensive facilities for members including exceptional dining and accommodation. This coupled with the restoration of the Carriage House and Garden Cottages provides a total of 23 suits on the estate each having a unique personality, with a blend of antiques, soft furnishings, a fire place and stunning views of the golf course.
Aside from golf, Loch Lomond members enjoy a wealth of outdoor pursuits, from boating on the loch to driven pheasant shooting, fly fishing and hill walking. An exciting winter calendar of events also allows members to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year in front of roaring fires at Rossdhu House and to learn some of Billy Campbell's culinary tips and even participate in a traditional Burns Supper.
With the club only 25 minutes from Glasgow's city centre, and within driving distance of many of Scotland's other fine golf courses, a stay at Loch Lomond provides members and their guests both sightseeing and shopping opportunities as well as the chance to play at some of Scotland's most historic courses.
The owners of Loch lomond Golf Club, the Lyle Anderson Company and DMB, both companies based in the United States, deeply appreciate the opportunity they have been given to create an international club on such hallowed ground. As the Club continues to mature, the owners are very proud to see Loch Lomond evolving as one of the finest private clubs in the world.
Loch Lomond Golf Club rest on 660 acres of the 50,000 acre Clan Colquhoun estate, a clan that has been an integral part of Scottish history for centuries, Rossdhu, now the clubhouse for Loch Lomond Golf Club, has served as home to chiefs of the clan since its completion in 1773. The Georgian manor house was built by Sir James Colquhoun to replace the 15th century Rossdhu Castle. It is thought John Baxter, a well-known architect during that period, likely designed Rossdhu House. The remains of 15th century Rossdhu Castle still stand behind Loch lomonds's 18th green.
The clan's present chief, Sir Ivar Colquhoun, served in the second World War in the Middle East and in Germany. Sir Ivar was an officer in the King's Company (now Queen's Company), serving as a captain in the Grenadier Guards. He is Deputy Lieutenant, Justice of the Peace and Honorary Sheriff of Dunbartonshire. He is also Hereditary Bearer of the Pastoral Staff of Kessog, the local saint, and is entitled to depict the staff as one of his heraldic badges, but alas the holy staff itself has long sinced vanished. Sir Ivar and Lady Colquhoun have a son and daughter, Malcolm Colquhoun, Younger of Luss, and Iona, Duchess of Argyll.
The Colquhoun Clan was formed before 1368 when Sir Robert Colquhoun, chief of a clan that had fought for Robert the Bruce, won the hand of an old Celtic family's heiress, the fair Maid of Luss. With her she brought the estate's beautiful mountains and islands to the armored knight.
The Colquhoun coat of arms, the chief's heraldic supporters of two greyhounds, together with their crests of a red stag's head and motto "Si Je Puis" (If I Can) is strongly linked to an old tale. As the story is told, the King asked the Colquhoun chief to regain Dumbarton Castle from his enemies. To that, the Scots and Gaelic speaking chief replied, "Si Je Puis," and then pursued a stag with his hounds past the castle gates. The garrison joined the chase, whereupon the clansmen rushed the castle and recovered it for the King.
When the Colquhouns went to war, the chief dipped a charred wooden cross in goat's blood, and sent this fiery cross by relays throughout the entire district of Luss. The bearer mounted on a garron pony would shout the name of the gathering place as he passed. Soon the armed men would assemble and were issued arms if they had none. Each was also given a badge of hazel, the lucky plant of the clan, to wear on his bonnet.
One of the more noted battles in Colquhoun family history is the battle of Glen Fruin. The great battle between the Colquhouns and the Macgregors took place in 1603 when the wild clan Macgregor made a ferocious raid into Luss after two of their own had lost their lives at the hands of the Colquhouns. The Colquhoun women aroused King James VI's sympathy by bringing him the bloody shirts of their dead. It is rumored they added extra shirts dipped in sheep's blood to make the situation appear worse. The Macgregor chief then invaded again two months later and massacred the Colquhouns at the Battle of Glen Fruin, for which the Clan Gregor were outlawed by a special act of council. The Macgregor chief was captured by Campbell treachery and was executed along with eleven of his principal clansmen. All others who dared to call themselves Macgregor were hunted down by bloodhounds and put to death. It was generations before the name was finally allowed again. In future years, the forgiving Colquhouns sometimes would sympathize with the outlaws and sometimes illegally sheltered fugitive Macgregors, causing themselves to be prosecuted and fined.
The initial thought of a golf tournament at Loch lomond advanced by Lyle Anderson was that the Club might host a tournament committed to quality in every detail with a distinctly international flavour as to the competition and the players. From the earliest consideration, the Loch Lomond Golf Club partners committed to emphasize quality, the comfort of the players and their families and international competition. A similar commitment by Anderson has proven successful at The Tradition which received acclaim and became regarded as one of the four majors on the Senior PGA Tour in only four years.
Subsequently, Loch Lomond Golf Club determined that the best approach 
was to seek to have the event sanctioned by the PGA European Tour and to strive for the broadest global television exposure. The structure for the tournament, negotiated with PGA European Tour Commissioner Ken Schofield, provides a conductive to the evolution of a significant international event. It provides automatic invitation for the top 60 ranked players in the world and allows the tournament a number of additional invitations. Agreement for worldwide television of the event was reached with PGA European Tour Productions and the BBC, as well as with The Golf Channel in the United States.
The tournament's unique charter, carefully conceived to create a strong invitational aspect to the field, will continue to gain strength over time to bring the world's greatest players
to Loch Lomond. Based on the strength of the inaugural event in 1996, the Tour agreed to install the tournament on the date one week prior to the Open Championship. With this great week on the golfing calendar, the ability to invite a world-class field, a great golf course in an unmatched setting and with the history and traditions of Scotland, one of golf's finest events is evolving.
The world focuses on golf in Scotland and the UK every July. The world's best golfers return to Britain to be a part of the lore of the great game. Inspired by events given to quality like The Masters and The Tradition, the tournament has now teamed with Standard Life to build a great international partnership. As the largest company in Scotland, 173 years old, and as Europe's largest assurance company, Standard Life is uniquely positioned to lend its global reputation and emphasis on service and quality to the event. The Standard Life Loch Lomond Golf Tournament was born, and has emerged as one of the leading new events in the world.
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