SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, January 15th, 2014 – Legacy of the Links LLC, a specialist golf travel and event management company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, today announced the creation of the Top 100 Hall of Fame to honor the great visionaries and golf architects that have built and designed the many iconic Top 100 golf courses around the world. The Induction Ceremony will be held each year in conjunction with the Top 100 Invitational event that Legacy of the Links has also created and which will be held annually at different Top 100 venues, both nationally and internationally.
Said Kevin McGrath, Co-Founder of Legacy of the Links: “When my partner and Co-Founder, Taba Dale, was invited by her good friend, Dr. Tony Parker, the Curator for the Golf Collections at the University of St. Andrews in the Home of Golf, to become a Global Ambassador for the new Centre for Golf Collections they were planning, we put our collective heads together to find ways of raising much needed funds to build the new Centre. As a Top 100 Panelist with Golf Magazine, I came to the realization that there was not a single “Top 100″ event that was open to all clubs in the Top 100 Rankings to compete in, so we created the Top 100 Invitational and plan to debut this very exclusive event in 2015 at one of the premier Top 100 venues in the United States. The event will be open to any club or course that has ever been ranked in an official Top 100 Ranking List published by the main golfing magazines and to date we have identified approximately 400 that will be eligible to enter. Teams will be two golfers playing a better-ball format to USGA or equivalent handicaps from around the world and each eligible club will be able to enter a maximum of two teams.”
Adds Taba Dale: “As a passionate golfer myself and a private art dealer for over 35 years, I recognized that the many great visionaries and architects that have created these iconic Top 100 “masterpieces” have never been truly honored. As a result, I set out several years ago to write a TV Documentary series called Legacy of the Links that would profile all of the passionate people that had created these beautiful artforms on the broadest canvasses in the world and have so far written and copyrighted 12 film treatments. Consequently, when Kevin came up with the idea of the Top 100 Invitational event, I immediately saw the opportunity to honor these great visionaries and architects in a different way and suggested that we create a Top 100 Hall of Fame, with the Induction Ceremony to be held each year in conjunction with the Top 100 Invitational event.”
As a preview of the Top 100 Invitational that will debut in 2015, Legacy of the Links are hosting an intimate event for 24 golfers, with each one representing a Top 100 Club, at an exclusive private club in Florida immediately following the annual PGA Merchandise Show. At the Awards Luncheon following golf, they will confer the award to the first recipient, Mike Keiser of Bandon Dunes fame, who will be the sole Inductee in 2014 to the Top 100 Hall of Fame.
In selecting Mike Keiser, Legacy of the Links are paying tribute to a true visionary whose many accomplishments started with him building The Dunes Club in New Buffalo, Michigan. In his own words, “it was so much fun” that he aspired to build a great American links course, which eventually translated in to the creation of Bandon Dunes. Mike’s journey started with looking for suitable sandy land on the east coast but eventually led to him being drawn to 1,200 acres in southern Oregon, consisting of a mile of ocean frontage and covered in gorse and Scottish broom. In this mystical landscape, not unlike something you might picture when reading Michael Murphy’s Golf in the Kingdom, Mike Keiser established Bandon Dunes. Inspired by some of his favorite links courses, which include the Old Course in St Andrews, Lahinch and Royal County Down, Mike, in creating five distinctly different courses, all in harmony with their natural environment, has captured the essential spirit of the game. Not only is Legacy of the Links paying tribute to what Mike has achieved in Oregon, they are also saluting his contributions to the spectacular developments at Cabot Links in Nova Scotia and Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania, and they tip their hat to him for contemplating Sand Valley, a multi-course golf experience he is planning in central Wisconsin. His absolute appreciation of classic architecture and consistent idealism, especially for preserving the soul of the game, has earned Mike Keiser this lasting legacy of being the first Inductee to the Top 100 Hall of Fame.
About Legacy of the Links LLC
Legacy of the Links, LLC is a management and consulting company for tournaments, travel, fundraising projects and other events, combining the passion and talents of its founders Taba Dale and Kevin McGrath to Create Legacies that Last Forever. The core focus is golf-related activities on a global level. Their golf travel division specializes in creating custom trips to the great links of Great Britain and Ireland and they have recently started to promote unique Tours to play the Top 100 courses in England, Ireland and Scotland.
Contact:
Kevin McGrath
Taba Dale
480-219-0280
kevin@legacyofthelinks.com
taba@legacyofthelinks.com
