November 20, 2023 – Leading Courses, the online platform that helps players in Europe to find the right golf courses, book their tee times and share their reviews and experiences with the golf community, has announced the appointment of Rik Ruts as its new CEO. Ruts succeeds Ruben Meiland from the 1st of December 2023 as CEO of the Europe’s largest community platform for and by golfers.

Ruben Meiland has led the transformation of the platform as CEO for the past 3.5 years. A lot has been invested in product development and introducing new business models. This has led to the company being in a great state right now, from both a technical and financial perspective. With this phase completed, even more golfers can now book their tee times on Leading Courses. And now the platform is looking for the next phase of growth.

On the arrival of Rik Ruts, Ruben Meiland says: “As the company enters the next growth phase, we need a CEO to provide commercial leadership and direction for the platform and organisation. Rik has extensive knowledge and experience in the media, content, platform & sports industry. With his sales and marketing profile, I am convinced he is the right person to lead Leading Courses through its next growth phase. As a future member of the advisory board, I will give Rik maximum support to further build on the success of Leading Courses.”

Rik Ruts on joining Leading Courses ads: “In my golf career, I have played on hundreds of golf courses in dozens of countries. Golf courses are often in the most beautiful places and it is always fun and interesting to play a new course and enjoy the surroundings and the experience. Since 2013, I have been using Leading Courses to find new courses, read reviews, book my tee times and leave a review after playing”.

“The platform has undergone tremendous development in recent years, allowing golfers not only to find the right information about a course but also to book tee times at more and more golf courses. In the coming years, together with the entire Leading Courses team, I want to introduce even more golfers in Europe to our platform and facilitate them in booking a tee time. In addition, we will continue to excel in serving our existing customers, partners and visitors so that our impact continues to grow.”

Leading Courses has been helping golfers find and play the best and most suitable golf courses with the help of hundreds of thousands of reviews for over 10 years. The website and app provide information on more than 25,000 golf courses worldwide.

Leading Courses has over 400,000 website visitors per month and offers tee times for over 3,000 golf clubs in more than 20 countries. This makes it Europe’s largest community platform for golf course tee times and golf course reviews. For golf courses, Leading Courses provides increased (national and international) reach and revenue, valuable insights (trends/reviews) and opportunities for digital and e-commerce solutions.