The Solheim Cup provided incredible sporting drama last month and thanks to the Solheim Cup Club Ambassador Programme, plenty of local club golfers were able to enjoy the ride.

In perhaps the tensest Solheim Cup in memory, there was almost nothing to choose between Team Europe and Team USA at Gleneagles until Suzann Pettersen held her nerve to hole the winning seven-foot putt in the final singles match for Europe's first Solheim Cup win since 2013.

It was an event that anyone who attended will never forget – and that includes all 162 Solheim Cup Club Ambassadors who had the opportunity to witness history as the best female golfers went head to head.

The aim of the programme was to engage with women in golf clubs up and down Scotland in the build-up to the tournament and 152 clubs, with 164 ambassadors, got involved.

Cathcart Castle GC in southern Glasgow was one of those clubs and had 42 members heading to Gleneagles to watch the opening day of the Solheim Cup – with assistant professional and Solheim Cup ambassador Nikki Ferguson proclaiming the scheme a success.

“Women’s sport probably isn’t advertised as much as the gents are, so it was great to create a bit of buzz about the event and get a lot of people interested,” Ferguson explained.

“It’s something that hasn’t really been done before at the golf club, so it’s good to get a group of ladies together and watch some female sport.

“I love the fact the members are so close – we’ve got a really good ladies’ section here who are always up for social events together, so being able to generate an interest in the Solheim Cup is great.

“I’m so glad the bus is full – we started off with about 20 people coming but then momentum built and we ended up with a full bus of 42! We were really excited to be there.”

The Club Ambassador Programme was created by Scottish Golf, working in partnership with VisitScotland and the Scottish Government, who led on the delivery of the 2019 Solheim Cup, and was key in helping promote the event’s return to Scotland.

Ambassadors not only helped promote the Solheim Cup with fun, social activities at their club, but like Ferguson, they also had the opportunity to experience the excitement of the event first-hand.

The Solheim Cup was an undoubted success on and off the course and Team Europe’s victorious captain Catriona Matthew admits the Club Ambassador Programme played its part.

“I was excited to hear about Scottish Golf’s Solheim Cup Club Ambassador Programme,” said Matthew.

“It was a great way to ensure that members of all the various clubs in Scotland had the information they needed in order to make it as easy as possible for them to come to the Solheim Cup.

“We knew local support was going to be really important to us in our bid to win the Cup back from the USA.

“The Ambassadors programme allowed us to engage with women across the golfing community in Scotland and hopefully they will be inspired get more involved in the running of their clubs in the future through other volunteering roles.”