On the first page of the brochure for the JCB Golf & Country Club is a quote from JCB founder, Joseph Cyril Bamford, stating that there is “no place for second best.”

So, when his son, and heir, Anthony – now Lord Bamford – decided to construct a golf course on land adjacent to JCB’s headquarters in Staffordshire, UK, it was evident that the board of JCB had high expectations.

A non-golfer, Lord Bamford looked upon golf as the “perfect fit for JCB as a global manufacturer” and added that his “vision for this golf course is for it to build an even stronger awareness of the JCB brand around the world and help drive increased demand for our products.”

With a clear vision, the JCB board appointed Robin Hiseman of European Golf Design (EGD) to create a tour-ready masterpiece crafted from 240-acres of agricultural land amid the lush rolling countryside.

And since opening in 2018, the course has won widespread acclaim from those fortunate enough to have played the 7,308 yard, par 72 layout.

With membership mainly limited to dealers, suppliers and customers of JCB – the course is not open to the public – the task of managing the Country Club has fallen to former deputy chief operating officer of the European Tour, David MacLaren.

Appointed as general manager in November 2019, MacLaren has significant experience of working within the industry, but has returned to his roots to directly manage a golf operation for the first time in 15 years.

MacLaren, 55, hails from a golfing family, and modestly puts his career to date down to chance. “I always think whatever success I’ve achieved in my career, is largely down to two or three things that happened that were absolute flukes, or absolute accidents or coincidences that then lead you down a particular path,” he said.

And his first flirtation with golf came about by virtue of a ‘stroke’ of good luck. Studying modern languages at Edinburgh University, and a member of the university golf team, MacLaren was selected to play in a match against The R&A, and was drawn against the late David Duckering, the owner of Strokesaver who produced yardage books.

“We played our singles match and then, as happened in university golf, consumed obscene amounts of gin and tonic in the R&A clubhouse. David said he was looking for somebody to introduce Strokesaver into France and Germany, and of course my degree was in French and German.

“As a first job in golf, it was the most incredible role that then logically led into golf club management, because working for David, I spent two years traveling the world, either measuring golf courses, or trying to sell Strokesaver to golf clubs,” he said.

“That then enabled me to make so many contacts within golf clubs, that it was absolutely logical that the next thing that I would do, would be to go to work in one of those golf clubs.”

And four years later, MacLaren accepted the position of director of golf and leisure at Hanbury Manor, which at the time was privately-owned and not part of a group. And again, lady luck played a role in MacLaren’s career progression.

“[I joined] in the early nineties, so this was during a pretty heavy recession. I definitely think we wouldn’t have survived as a business, were it not for the fact that Whitbread was looking to expand its golf portfolio and came along and bailed us out.

“I think I might have been shown the door, because Whitbread needed to make significant cost savings, [but] thankfully, one day Alan Parker who was the MD of Whitbread, was on his way to Hanbury from London in his chauffeur-driven car when he switched the radio on and listened to me giving an interview on LBC about Hanbury Manor.

“And legend has it that because he thought, ‘here’s somebody who’s clearly prepared to put himself in the frontline,’ I stayed at Hanbury when Whitbread took over.”

As Whitbread morphed into Marriott Golf, MacLaren progressed to director of golf operations for all of Marriott’s 15 venues, before accepting the position of chief executive of the PGA European Tour Courses in 2005, and what MacLaren describes as “a very entertaining two years” working for Irish billionaire, Denis O’Brien.

MacLaren worked for O’Brien until, in 2007, the Irishman sold the rights to European Tour Courses back to the Tour in a deal brokered by George O’Grady.

“It was a good deal for Denis, because he’d got what he wanted and made a profit, and it was a great deal for the Tour because they got back their brand… they got back this brand of European Tour Courses.

“And again, for me, that was a happy accident because that took me from working for Denis into working for the European Tour, which was probably a dream for a lot of people working within golf.”

When recollecting his 12-year tenure with the European Tour, culminating in commercial responsibility for the Challenge Tour, Senior (Staysure) Tour and Main Tour for Europe and the Middle East – not to mention still heading Tour Properties – MacLaren is evidently proud of his achievements.

“The Senior Tour will always be one of the most important things in my head, when I look back,” he says. “It was an amazing three years, and of course, the other thing was to find a title sponsor in Staysure for senior professional golf, [which] was just incredible.”

But life was starting to take its toll and constantly globe-trotting across the world was having an impact.

“So, I decided at that stage, before I exhausted myself and completely keeled over, [that] it was time to just step back. And there were some internal and personal politics as well, as there always are in these situations. But from my point of view, I needed to recharge my batteries.”

During his sabbatical, MacLaren caddied for his daughter, Meghan, on the LET, before JCB offered him the opportunity to “come full circle.”

“As part of my role at the European Tour, I was a director of EGD for five years, and of course, JCB had appointed EGD to design the golf course.”

As a result, when the position of general manager at JCB Golf & Country Club became available last year, MacLaren was in pole position to succeed his predecessor, Euan Grant.

But with the club predominantly for the sole use of dealers and suppliers of JCB – and with no memberships currently available – how much scope does MacLaren have to put his own stamp on the club’s direction?

“I think that the membership model here is absolute genius, and I think the reason I can say that without it sounding as self-praise is because I didn’t invent it,” he smiles.

“And again, I can say that because I was on the outside looking in, but I think one of the reasons why the feedback that we get from people that come here is genuinely incredible, is partly because of the quality of the facility, but it’s partly because there’s this mystique – if you’re not a member, it is impossible to play golf here.

“The course was built primarily as a sales and marketing platform for our brand and our company, so those constraints are very, very deliberate constraints.

“We are a venue that aims to provide world-class facilities for corporate members and customers with an attachment to JCB. And that actually make it’s quite a clear vision in some ways.”