Crieff Golf Club Welcomes New Pro and Chef

Crieff Golf Club Welcomes New Pro, Allan Knox and New Chef Iain MacDonald

Following on from David Murchie, who announced his retirement after 39 years of service to Crieff Golf Club, the club are delighted with the appointment of Allan Knox. 

Allan was the Head Professional at Aberdour Golf Club, where he had been resident for the last five years. Prior to that he was Head Professional at King James VI Golf Club and before that Assistant Professional at Dunbar Golf Club. He is an accredited teaching professional with all levels of golfers from beginners to professional standard, so should be able to help all of us lower our handicaps (or keep them from going up!)  His coaching at Aberdour has helped over 50 beginners and converted them to full adult membership. 

Crieff Golf Club are convinced that they have identified a professional with the necessary experience and teaching capabilities that are required to support the club into the future. Allan has expressed a particular interest in the coaching of juniors. During his five-year tenure at Aberdour, Allan has expanded his “Junior Academy” from the small group he inherited into one of the largest in Fife, with 90 academy junior members. 

Equally important to his experience, Allan has close connections with Crieff. Long standing members may remember that Allan started his career as David Murchie’s Assistant, a position he held for seven years in the 1990’s. All in all, the Board is confident that Allan will prove to be an able and enthusiastic replacement for David and we trust all members will welcome him to Crieff Golf Club.

Along with a new golf pro, the club also has a new catering franchise with Iain Macdonald. Starting in January, Iain is a passionate Chef with over 15 years of experience working in professional kitchens across all aspects of the catering industry.  Iain studied professional cookery at Perth College and during this time he competed in various cooking competitions.

Spending many years at The Royal Hotel of Comrie and Wilde Thyme, learning a lot of skills which he says helped shape him into the chef he wanted to be.  Following his time at Wilde Thyme Iain went on to work at Carlowrie Castle, an award winning and leading events venue in Scotland, it was here where he really honed his skills as a chef and took his career to the next level.  More recently he headed up the kitchen at The Royal Hotel in Comrie where his reputation as a quality chef only grew stronger.

Iain stated “I have great passion & drive to produce excellent quality meals using the finest of ingredients. I love cooking with Scotland’s natural larder, I feel that Scotland has some of the finest produce in the world and I look forward to showcasing some of it in the dishes that I will be cooking at Restaurant 1891 by Iain Macdonald within the Golf Club”.

We have been extremely lucky to attract a chef of Iain’s calibre and so far the start of the year has been manic with members experiencing truly mouthwatering food – a shout out to Iain’s Cullen Skink …. With one word, delicious!

Crieff Golf Club