Advisory Panel*
The renowned Golf Architect, Donald Steel worked with Frank Pennink and joined the highly successful ‘Cotton, Lawrie, Pennink’ Partnership, welcomed the launching of this website and kindly offered to join our Advisory Panel.
Donald Steel is not only the UK’s leading living golf architect, is also a brilliant golf author and was the Daily Telegraph’s golf correspondent for many years. His book “Classic Golf Links of Great Britain and Ireland” published in 1992, containing Brian Morgan’s wonderful photography, is simply the finest book on running-links courses in GB&I ever published. His enjoyable autobiography has been reviewed by FineGolf and See his FineGolf Running-Golf Day YouTube video

Gordon Irvine MG
Gordon Irvine (Master Greenkeeper), was Jim Arthur’s protege and is nicknamed ‘Jim Arthur’s heir’. he has a hands-on educational approach, and he is simply Europe’s leading advisory turf consultant in helping return courses from weed Poa annua to fine grassed surfaces. These include Royal Cinque Ports, Hunstanton, Ganton, Hollinwell (Notts), Luffenham Heath, Royal Worlington, Broadstone, Sheringham, Pennard among many others. He was behind the idea of The R&A’s greenkeeping Scholarship and led the recovery of Askernish. FineGolf has gained enormously from his down-to-earth and trustworthy advice.
Jess Stiles is an historian of the Golden Era, between 1900 to 1930s, of golf course architecture when all the finest GB&I inland courses were developed. He is a founder member and secretary of the Tom Simpson Society.
Philip Truett, the doyen of modern hickory golf, a founding member of the British Golf Collectors Society, is a visionary for classic, traditional golf and has publicised the iconic concept of the ‘Three-Dimensional Game’. He has played an influential part in golf behind the scenes, and has been a committee member of the Royal & Ancient and Walton Heath and is a member of many other clubs.
John Philp MBE, is Europe’s most respected living, fine grass greenkeeper. After an apprenticeship at St Andrews, he was appointed Carnoustie’s Superintendent in 1985 at a time when the course had reverted through bad policies to 100% weed grass Poa annua. Nicknamed “The hero of Carnoustie” his team re-established fine grasses and allowed The R&A to return The Open Championship in 1999 after a 24 year absence. He is one of only three greenkeepers in the UK to have a hole named after them, the eleventh at Carnoustie. (The others? Tom Morris – the eighteenth at St Andrews Old and Muir – the seventh at West Lancashire). See John Philp’s FineGolf YouTube Video

Norbert Lischka MG
Norbert Lischka (Master Greenkeeper) is a leading independent, continental based, greenkeeping consultant of 30 years experience, who is nick-named ‘The Turf Fox’. He has promoted a campaign for the creation of respect between golfers and greenkeepers, while is a prolific author and lecturer Europe-wide.
John Nicholson, Europe’s leading independent habitat and landscape golf course consultant, has 30 years experience of making a difference in the attitude to woodland management on golf courses. He is brilliant at educating committees and members that management is required to create sustainable woodland and that trees often conflict with the agronomics and strategy of golf. READ the trees article he and FineGolf wrote, a well as articles on heather, gorse, friend or foe?, and downlands.
Martin Ward has been at the forefront of developing the science of healthy soil biology. He started Symbio, the environmental biotechnology company, thirty years ago, which is now European golf market leader. He has helped Conservation Greenkeepers to increasingly recognise the importance of healthy soil biology in transforming meadow grasses to perennial fine grasses. See the story of Symbio HERE

Malcolm Peake
Malcolm Peake, was Chair of Green at Temple GC during the difficult early years in the nineties, while they were pursuing fine grasses against the fashionable trend for target-golf around London. He is a leading advocate of natural conservationist (low input, lower costs) policies and is the author of two influential, STRI published, titles ” A natural course for golf “ and ” The confessions of a Chairman of Green “.

Mark Parsinen
The late Mark Parsinen was a revolutionary golf entrepreneur who broke through in 2000 in building Kingsbarns to be the first of many new build courses using the ‘running-golf ‘ format of the game rather than the 1980/90s new build ‘target-golf ‘ format. Mark then created his dream at Castle Stuart with a minimalist design centered around subtle green complexes using a pure fescue agronomy throughout a site with views to die for. We welcomed him to our Advisory Panel and recommend golfers to check out his golf ethos HERE
The late Ted Dexter CBE who joined the Advisory Panel, was perhaps the greatest cricketer-golfer Britain has ever produced. Not only influential in changing cricket’s structure but developed ‘speedier’ Rules of Golf that he published on FineGolf in 2010. They were subsequently taken up by golf’s authorities, The R&A and the USGA, when they changed golf’s rules in 2019 in an attempt to increase the pace of play and put the emphasis back on the integrity of the golfer. READ MORE.
Michael Evans and Anthony Ramm, the most brilliant website designer and programmer created the website ahead of its time in 2008. We are now pleased to be working with Roger Green of Spa Web Design who has led a rebuild.
Lorne takes full responsibility for all editorial comment, while I thank John Harris, the golf historian ( see Dunbar GC review) who has been a great support with his proof reading, intelligent comment and knowledge of English for the first fourteen years of the website.