St Andrews area solo

All,

Planning a trip to Scotland Aug 1-8 as a solo.

I have a friend on the West Side. We are gonna play Troon and another course on Aug 2-4. Then I’m planning to take the train or bus over to St Andrews for the remainder of the trip and play solo. I have lodging secured in St Andrews.

So I’m looking for opinions on courses to play over the 3 days from Aug 5-7. I figured I would queue up 1 or 2 days for TOC, and if I didn’t get it, just play other courses at St Andrews proper. I also thought about a day at Kingsbarns or Dunbarnie.

I wasn’t planning on getting a car. Is it feasible to Uber to nearby courses? Thoughts?

thanks in advance

Elie, Lundin, Leven, Crail (in that order) for traditional links in fife, outside St. Andrews.

Elie is a must imo.

Kingsbarns and Dumbarnie are the modern and pricy alternatives. Kingsbarns one of the best. Dumbarnie looks great too.

avoid dumbarnie over rated place and no members at all and zero scottish charm.. play crail balcomie, lundin, elie, or scoot doon the road and play my favorite course north berwick, the town and course the most beautiful place in scotland in my opinion.

If you are sans car just focus on the town courses. There is plenty of golf to keep you interested. The New is outstanding. Its the sort of course that if it was not next to TOC it would be far more appreciated. To a lesser extent the same is true of The Eden.

I'd queue up almost every day and get on the list, from there you can play the New/Jubilee even Kingsbarns and come back. YOu aren't guarenteed to play TOC upon queuing up so for a week trip would be nice to play it at least 2x's. Go to be early and get up very early.

A cab to Kingsbarns is 25 pounds each way, which is the standard rate according to my two cabbies. No more than 10 minutes really and respect the cab mafia. I didn't rent either my couple times there as a single.

I have done it solo (my non-golfer wife tagging along) and without a car. You might not be looking for the same experience I am but here is what happened for me:

I decided I would try to get on the old course every day of the 5 days I was there until I got to play it. I lined up at 3am on my first day (I couldn't sleep as I was very excited). I got the very first tee time of the day. I went out and shot very low and play great. Mission accomplished. I did not try again to get on TOC again as I could not top it.

I bought a St. Andrews pass for unlimited golf on the other courses, most day I played 3 rounds per day. Usually on New and Jubilee and then one of the shorter courses. As such I played LOTS of golf.

I Played Kingsbarns one day. The bus will drop you off at the gate and pick you up on the road or you can take a cab for not much.

St Andrews is a great town to hang out in and I had no trouble just staying there.

Trip had to be canceled due to quarantine rules. :(