Finally Booked a St Andrews Trip!

So after years of dreaming of going to St Andrews I finally booked it! Tired of waiting for buddies to commit (and girlfriend doesn't fly) I'll be going as a single, which I actually don't mind. Will be there 8/16 - 8/24 - less than two months away! Booked a Bed & Breakfast a few blocks from market street Friday-Tuesday and have Wednesday - Friday (fly home Saturday early) open . Of course my main goal is to play The Old Course. After reading countless articles, blogs and forums I feel pretty confident I will have success! With the help of BallotBuddy I will be entering the ballot for Monday thru Wednesday. Worse case scenario I will camp out at the starters shack early one day. I've checked busy days at TOC and my week looks fine, weather permitting

Going as a single so I will be pretty flexible and I have the following itinerary mapped out:

Friday - Arrive to St Andrews mid day. Explore town

Saturday - Play Fairmont Kittocks/Torrance - can book as single. about $85

Sunday - Play a locals course either Ladybank or Charleton - about $50-75

Monday - If not TOC, try as single to get on The New Course, Drumoig backup

Tuesday - If not TOC, try Castle Course Drumoig backup

Wednesday - The Old Course no matter what - starters shack 2am

Thursday - open

Friday - open

Saturday - fly home 9am

So wednesday night - Friday are open with no room booked yet. Idea i'm floating is heading back toward Edinburg and staying at The Golf Hotel in Crail and playing the two courses there. Looks a little quiter and I'm not sure if its the best idea as a single. Of course I can always head a little north, stay around Carnoustie and roll the dice there or just stay in St Andrews. Leaning towrds just staying in St Andrews, plenty of golf within 30 minutes to keep me busy.

As you can tell, there is a budget but I am flexible.

Any feedback/input would be greatly appreciated!

If you want to play Carnoustie you should be able to see their tee sheet for those days right now and book online.

You could maybe stay in North Berwick later in the week and play there and Gullane.

You can stay around st. andrews and play a lot of great courses, even 2 courses per day, as there's enough light.

Besides TOC, you could play jubilee and the new course there in st. andrews, carnoustie is 30 mins by car, then you can play crail (15 mins from st. Andrews), Elie, Kittocks (5 mins from st. andrews), kingsbarns (5 mins) , Leven or Lundin, Duke's, and many others.

Check the site https://www.teeofftimes.co.uk/ for discounts on green fee for backup courses.

enjoy

Nice. I just booked a very last minute trip there as well, arriving 8/27 through 8/31. Have 8/27 booked at Kingsbarns in the afternoon, but still figuring out the rest of the schedule.

I'd fit in Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and North Berwick and stay in St. Andrew's

Generally speaking what are the prices of those course , St Andrews , Carnoustie, Kingsbarn

hope you have a great time op , I hope to do it myself one day.

> @alpineto said:

> Generally speaking what are the prices of those course , St Andrews , Carnoustie, Kingsbarn

> hope you have a great time op , I hope to do it myself one day.

TOC - $240

Kingsbarn - $365

Carnoustie - $270

Figured I'd pay $250 +/- each for two rounds leaving $500 in the budget for 4 or 5 more rounds.

> @cardoustie said:

> I'd fit in Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and North Berwick and stay in St. Andrew's

It may come to this but trying to stay on a budget...…….we know how that will end!

Random thoughts as I read through this thread...

My understanding is the local courses are difficult for tourists to play on the weekends. Weekend rounds are best saved for courses like Kingsbarns, Carnoustie, the Links Trust Courses, etc.

The drive from St Andrews to N Berwick is longer than you think. Not sure I'd make that long of a drive to play one course, especially if you plan to go back...you could easily do a East Lothian trip with all of the great golf there.

The courses Mignuz listed above seems to me to be a very good list of golf w/in 30 mins of St Andrews. Of the Links Trust courses, we enjoyed TOC, the New, the Jubilee, and the Castle...tho love for the Castle is not uniform on this board (YMMV). I'd pick Lundin over Leven, and Crail Balcomie was a fave in our group.

Plan to spend Sunday afternoon walking TOC with a yardage book. I've done it twice...nothing quite like it for a golf geek.

For those on a budget...

1. Any talk of staying in St Andrews and playing outside its immediate vicinity should include Elie.

2. Consider playing The Eden and The New. Combined, these courses will cost less than one big swing and you will get just as many great holes. You should be able to get on both courses without too much difficulty. Don't be put off by the walk up only policy of The New unless there is a comp on or something.

3. To make up for three big swings in TOC, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, consider playing Anstruther. Maybe even play it as a late afternoon game.

4. While fine courses, none of Leven, Lundin or Crail are as good as The New. That said, Leven is very under - rated and does offer very attractive twilight rates.

Ciao