Links Trust Finally Cracks Down On St. Andrews Meddlers!

...just not the ones screwing around with the most sacred ground in golf.

No, it seems the Links Trust of St. Andrews that is charged with caring for the seven courses and the same group that rolled over when R&A Chief Architect Peter Dawson decided he could improve golf's most sacred architecture, has decided to crack down on St. Andrews companies that have been using the St. Andrews name for just a mere 150 years. How dare they!

According to an unbylined Scotsman story, the Links Trust is fighting the club and bag makers after learning they were attempting to trademark some of their stuff.

Ewan Glen, chief executive of the St Andrews Golf Company, said: “What has happened is absolutely outrageous. The trust was set up to run the golf courses and it is dripping with money received from the public in green fees. Money and power seems to have gone to its head and [it is] now resorting to bullying and threatening businesses that have been in St Andrews for generations.

“I fully understand that the ‘St Andrews’ name needs to be protected from the threat of counterfeiting and copying but the trust is acting like a hard-nosed commercial company, rather than a not-for-profit trust. They [the trustees] are pretending to be the only legitimate custodians and seem to want to play God with the name of St Andrews.”

Glen added: “We have been told by the trust they will take us all the way legally even if it means going to judicial review and they have made it clear they will spend as much as it takes to knock our company out of this battle."

If only we could get them this worked up over changes to the trademark design features.

And as you can see from the St Andrews Golf Company website, they're not exactly using the town name in vain!