Charleston, SC. – Fe. 3, 2005 – Golf course owners throughout the United States plan to file a lawsuit this month against Royal Links USA. Royal Links USA entered into written agreements with over one thousand golf courses throughout the United States, in which golf courses would use Royal Links' beverage caddies to display and sell food and beverage items on the golf course.

This "no cost beverage caddy" program involved golf courses leasing the caddies from third-party leasing companies, and Royal Links USA agreeing to reimburse the golf courses for their lease obligations. Royal Links USA proposed to make their revenue from advertising display panels on the beverage caddies.

In October 2004, Royal Links USA notified golf courses across the country that it planned to cease making monthly reimbursement payments to all customers. Each golf course has a written agreement with Royal Links USA, which obligates Royal Links to pay courses approximately $300 per caddy per month, an equivalent amount to the lease obligations. Most lease obligations are for sixty months, and most golf courses have seen less than one year's worth of reimbursements from Royal Links USA, thus leaving an obligation to pay four more years of lease payments. In some cases, golf courses were sold on the program within days of the written correspondence from Royal Links USA.

The Chicago-based laws firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP has assisted in the investigation of Royal Links USA and will assist course owners in their efforts to obtain recovery from Royal Links USA. A task force of members of the National Golf Course Owners Association has been meeting since October 2004 to discuss the situation. Through the efforts of this task force and NGCOA, nearly two hundred golf courses responded to a request for information on their agreements with Royal Links USA and the fourteen different leasing companies that contracted with golf courses. Additional factual investigation concerning the role of the leasing companies continues at this time.

Representatives from Lord, Bissell and Brook will be on hand for a special meeting during the NGCOA Solutions Summit on February 10th at 3:15 p.m. at the Rosen Plaza in Orlando, Florida. If you have not registered for the Solutions Summit and want to attend this meeting, please contact Cristin Kennedy at 800-933-4262, ext. 212, 843-412-0988 (mobile) or ckennedy@ngcoa.org . You may register for the full conference at www.ngcoa.org.

In order to file and execute a successful class action suit, the plaintiff is requesting any Royal Links USA customers to contribute to the Royal Links USA Legal Fund. NGCOA is acting as custodian of the funds and will return any unused funds back to contributors in a pro-rata share. The plaintiff is asking for minimum contributions of $500. If courses have multiple beverage caddies, the request is to contribute a higher amount.

All contributions can be sent to NGCOA at 291 Seven Farms Drive, 2nd Floor, Charleston, SC. 29492. Please write "Legal Fund" on the memo line if sending a check. Those interested in paying by credit card can go to www.ngcoa.org, where you will find more information on the Royal Links USA matter.

With more than 6,000 member courses worldwide and an audience of more than 18,000 through Golf Business magazine, NGCOA is the leading resource for golf course owners and operators looking for tools to assist them in making their businesses more profitable and successful, while promoting a high level of service to partners, customers and members.

For more information, visit www.ngcoa.org.

Contact:
Jay Karen
Director of Membership
843-881-9956 ext. 211
jkaren@ngcoa.org