Royal Dornoch Winter Newsletter 2024

Retail Report
Another year has passed in the retail operation
with the most exciting and newest change to
happen was the return of Caitlin Boa as our Retail
Supervisor. Caitlin grew up in the area and was
one of our most successful juniors, winning and
competing in the Morcott Challenge as well as
many other club events. She then studied at the
UHI and had a brief spell in the pro shop under
Andrew before heading to the R&A in St
Andrews, returning home to replace Calum who
ventured overseas and is now across the road at
Skibo. We thank Calum for his years of service and
wish him all the best in his new role. We are
delighted that Caitlin was successful in getting the
job and I hope you all have took the time to say
hello. She has already elevated the offering we have
in our ladies section and has very exciting plans for
the 2024 season. Calum is still a member with us,
regularly plays and is always happy to chat and
catch up with you all.
After the success of 2022 which was the busiest
anyone has experienced at Royal Dornoch, we
came into 2023 a little bit unsure of what to
expect. With prices going up, a cost of living crises
and the reduction in visitor tee times we were not
expecting to achieve the sales of last year.
However, despite everything seemingly against us,
we have managed to smash last year’s sales
although that didn’t come without its challenges.
One of the great things about being a links course
near the sea, and so far North, is the cold weather
and winds it brings. You may think that isn’t great
to play in, but it usually does wonders for our sales
in outerwear with top brands like Kjus and
Sunderland to keep our customers warm and dry.
But this year the weather was so much kinder,
massively reducing our outerwear sales meaning we
had to rely on strong shirt sales. Thankfully with
some great offerings and styles from brands like
Greyson and Peter Millar we managed to have a
very successful year.
But the brands are not the most important part, it
is all about the people, especially our staff, and this
year we took on a new team of UHI students, but
also had the return of Ryan and Izy from 2022, and
thanks to their efforts and customer service, our
sales targets had been easily met. For 2024, we have
Izy and Ryan returning once again, along with Pia
and Abbie who impressed in 2023. We will have 4
new faces and we cannot wait to introduce you to
them all.
Our Wildcat Range continued to be well
supported, with bags, headcovers and Kjus
clothing all contributing to the Wildcat
Conservation Fund. We recently just offered a belt
option too and will continue to grow the range
throughout the 2024 season, so please again look
out for our emails on that, and don’t hesitate to
reach out before if you have any enquiries, there
are lots of things we can get with the Wildcat crest.
As for 2024, we are having a complete overview of
the ladies offering, introducing 2 new brands,
Travis Matthews and Zero Restriction. We are also
introducing Zero Restriction in a small Men’s
collection.
Another key area for 2024 and beyond is our
sustainability. We have already introduced local
brands like Fyfe Headcovers to try and reduce our
carbon footprint and we are also looking into
headcovers made from recycled bottles, while
seeing what else can be done from a supplier point
of view as well exploring more local products in the
accessories area. Clothing and hardware is proving
difficult, but we won’t stop aiming for the highest
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