First Trip to Scotland help.

My fiancé and I are taking our first trip to Scotland this fall. We are all set for the first week but have decided to add few days in the backend. I am looking for suggestions on additional rounds at the tail end of the trip. I have contacted Carnoustie and they have a few tee times available. My other thought is to work back towards Edinburgh and play a combination of Crail, Elie, Leven and Ludin.

Is Carnoustie worth the cost or would I regret not playing Carnoustie? Leaning towards option B, could probably get 3 additional rounds in for the cost of Carnoustie and closer travel.

Day 1 - Arrive

Day 2 - North Berwick

Day 3 - Gullane in morning. Possible afternoon at Kilspindie

Day 4- Open

Day 5- St Andrews - Queue for Old Course, mid morning tee time booked for Castle Course.

Day 6- St Andrews - Queue for Old Course, early morning tee time booked for New Course with possible afternoon on another course.

Day 7- St Andrews - No tee times, last resort for Old Course or play any open course.

Day 8- sight seeing

Day 9-

Day 10-

Day 11- Leave

If you get the chance to go play Dunbar I would highly recommend. My family and I were just there last fall. I also did not play the Castle course in St. Andrews but was told that it is something special too, would definitely play if/when I go back. I also loved the Jubilee!

St. Andrews is something special, Enjoy!!

i would play berwick again, but that's just me ... caroustie is worth it, but berwick is more worth it ...

Carnoustie is definitely worth it. It is the toughest course you will play in Scotland and just making your way around is an achievement. When your caddie says not to hit it in the wee burn and you comply, you will be mighty chuffed. It can get b-miserable though.

My daughter and I loved Crail. I don't see how you go wrong with any of your ideas. Some on here really like The Jubilee - we also played The Old and The New but not The Jubilee and not The Castle. Problem with The New Course for us was we spent so much time looking over at The Old Course and talking about it more and kind of short changed The New Course a bit while we were playing (but still thought it was terrific, don't get me wrong, but I had my Old Course guide out the whole time, lol).

I enjoyed the elevation changes at Crail - that last walk up is a treat. I really enjoyed the last few holes that seem trendy to criticize depending on what course reviews you read, and the first several holes in particular I thought were incredible. Loved the Old Tom Morris "vibe" IMO. And it's not that difficult, and I thought a genuine links experience. Again, you can't go wrong with the other courses you are considering.

These pics obviously - Crail.

I'm also planning a trip to Scotland this summer and trying to figure out what courses to play while also balancing 'wife time' . Currently planning to head to St. Andrews (town) and playing St. Andrews (golf course) - hopefully the old course, but the New is probably fine as is Jubilee from what I've heard. Then heading to Carnoustie and possibly Kingsbarns or another course in the area. Then trying to tour St. Andrews and Endinburgh and hopefully some of the coast as well. We're trying to get a place in or near St. Andrews with another couple. Really excited to go there and would appreciate any insight you can offer.

I'll jump in but lots of others with more experience and tons of info in this forum all over the place, it'a a goldmine.

If I'm ever back in St. Andrews will definitely play Kingsbarns - have heard so many good things about it. The courses you mentioned would all be great IMO but I've never played Carnoustie. Lots of good links options in Fife. Tons to do and see in St. Andrews (golf shops, golf museum, cathedral and castle ruins, restaurants, pubs, more shops, the university, the seaside --- all that you can walk to if you stay in town or from the car park). The big castle in Edinburgh and the whole area near and below it is really cool - pubs, shops, interesting streets, churches, statues, cemetery.

Tons of housing options and you could stay in St. Andrews or get a self-catering place on the coast, for example. We ended up with a half a duplex the owners lived in down the coast a ways (so a good 20-25 minutes to St. Andrews, but didn't care) and had ocean breezes and incredible views. That particular place probably wouldn't be good for couples, the master bedroom overlooking the sea was awesome, but the girls had to share a small, windowless bedroom with twin beds, lol - they didn't care. Point is lots of reasonably price self-catering options out there and some good sites for checking those out in and around St. Andrews if that kind of thing appeals to you vs. a B&B or hotel, but great B&Bs and hotels in St. Andrews. There is a site called Stay In St. Andrews where you can enter your dates and various lodging folks will contact you with their availability, for example. Or just look at TripAdvisor and explore sites from there for any kinds of lodging.

I guess that's all pretty general but that's what I've got absent more specifics.

if you're staying in fife, kb is a "must", for the most part ... carnoustie is an hour away and not hard to get to at all, but kb is 15 minutes away ... i would play the castle, also ... opinions are polarized, but there's more than enough 'good' to warrant a round ... if you're there in the summer, there's a produce shop on market st that has fresh strawberries (there are hundreds of acres of strawberry fields around st andrews - forever) ... freshest strawberries you will ever eat ... seriously ...

The Castle is outstanding, U.K. top 100 for me. Just difficult

We're being told by St Andrews that getting tee times for a twosome isn't a problem and that we don't really need to make reservations and can simply walk on at most courses. I understand about the daily lottery for the Old Course but wondering if that is what other people have found when playing over there. We're planning to be there the last week of July and am wondering if there is extra traffic from The Open and those people going to the tournament and going up to Scotland afterwards.

I have never had much problem getting on The New when taking into account club days.

Agreed. That's one of the cool bits about the St. Andrews Trust courses, if your happy to pick amongst Eden/New/Jubilee you can pretty much walk up and play.

With a day or two's notice - barring comps - you can likely get a tee time at any of the quality Forth-facing links courses as well :-)