
A 53-year-old self-taught golfer is hoping to share his newfound passion for the sport with other golf novices in an accessible, beginner-friendly format with the launch of a new business venture, Big Golf Tours.
The entrepreneur behind the business idea, Barrie Clarke, started playing golf during the Covid-19 pandemic, with YouTube videos helping him to pick up the basics. After moving to Montrose with his wife and falling in love with St Andrews and the east coast, Barrie is now helping others to do the same and is providing opportunities to learn to play in the ‘home of golf’.
Following a funding boost of £20,000 from BizBritain and the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme, the two-day beginners academy is now open for bookings. Initially based at Montrose Links and Kintore Golf Courses, the academy includes six hours of master classes each day, aimed to help beginners enhance their practical techniques and understanding of technical terms.
The British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme has supported 122 entrepreneurs like Barrie and delivered more than £1 million in loans to new business owners in Angus since it began in 2012.
Barrie aims to create a relaxed, supportive environment by teaching from a learner’s perspective, using relatable techniques, free from jargon. Participants will be coached by Jason Boyd, who has over 25 years’ experience as a golf professional and is currently the chairman of the Scottish Regions Professional Golfers Association.
Later this year, Big Golf Tours will also start to offer longer holiday experiences, providing stays from five days to two weeks where guests can visit bucket-list courses including the likes of St Andrews Links and Carnoustie Golf Links. The ambition is to partner with up to 100 different courses to help attract 10,000 new golfers to the sport through the experiences on offer.
While learning, Barrie started his own social media channels and has now gained over 3,000 subscribers on YouTube, with his wife, Rocel supporting behind the scenes to create content and golf course reviews. Another future plan for the business is to bring this network of followers and online friends together for golfing days at some of the best hidden gem courses around Scotland.
Barrie Clarke said: “Being able to share my passion for golf with other beginners will be very rewarding, especially as I am still learning to play the game. Amazingly, a hobby I picked up during lockdown has turned into my full-time career. As I was learning, I found that there is a lot of terminology that you need to get the hang of to be able to start playing golf and a lot of instructors tend to use language that absolute beginners may not understand. My aim is to make the learning experience more suitable for people who are brand new to the sport.
“Without the support I have received from BizBritain and the British Business Bank, Big Golf Tours wouldn’t be where it is today. Since moving to Montrose and being close to so many internationally renowned courses, it seemed like a fantastic opportunity to kickstart my business. By 2025, the golf industry is predicted to grow to over £30 billion, so there could be huge opportunities for a small business like Big Golf Tours.”
Barry McCulloch, Senior Manager, UK Network, Scotland at the British Business Bank, said: “Supporting business owners is a core focus for the Start Up Loans programme and it is great to see how Barrie’s enthusiasm for golf has allowed him to turn his hobby into a viable business idea. Scotland is known as the ‘home of golf’ and, combined with the country’s thriving tourism industry, offers huge potential for ventures like Big Golf Tours to tap into a market with an international reputation.”
The Start Up Loans programme provides personal loans for business purposes of up to £25,000 at a 6% fixed interest rate per annum and offers free dedicated mentoring and support to each business.
The primary aim of the Start Up Loans programme is to ensure that viable start-ups and early-stage businesses have access to the finance and support they need in order to thrive. A network of Business Support Partner organisations supports applicants in all regions and industries throughout the UK. The Start Up Loans programme is not designed to generate a commercial profit. Capital payments together with the interest are recycled to help meet borrowers’ increasing demands for finance.
Free guides on a range of subjects related to starting a business are available on the Start Up Loans website: https://www.startuploans.co.uk/free-start-up-guides/. You can find recent media press releases here: https://www.startuploans.co.uk/media-centre/.
The funding for the Start Up Loans programme is provided by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). A development bank wholly government-owned by DBT, the British Business Bank plc is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.
The British Business Bank makes finance markets for smaller businesses work better, helping the sector to prosper, to grow and to build economic activity.
Key Statistics
- Since its inception in 2012, the Start Up Loans scheme has delivered over 105,000 loans, providing more than £1bn of funding.
- In the financial year 2022/23, the scheme provided 9,549 loans with a total value of approximately £
- The economic benefits of the Start Up Loans programme are almost six (5.7) times its economic costs.
- At Spending Review 2021, the Chancellor announced resources to provide 33,000 Start Up Loans over next three years.
Aside from the return-on-investment numbers these statistics are gross estimates and based on Start Up Loans CRM along with externally commissioned research undertaken by SQW Ltd, with support from BMG Research.
Since 2012, 31% of loans went to people formerly unemployed or economically inactive. 40% of loan recipients were women and 20% were from ethnic minority groups (not including white minorities).