Planning a trip to Scotland with my fiance

[LazyLightning22]

I'm wanting to plan a trip to Scotland with my fiance around the end of September and I was hoping to get some recommendations from y'all on whether or not to use a company or try to tackle it myself. My fiance plays golf and is actually pretty good, but I don't think she would want to play every day that we're there is the caveat. Realistically I think we would go for a week and play about 3-4 rounds. Is it worth it to use a company if we're going this route and what are some good ones to use? Also, what are some spots to visit while we're there? I've always wanted to take a trip to Scotland and I'm hoping to get the most out of it.

[mci711]

My Fiance and I are going for a week for part of our honeymoon. We booked everything ourselves and saved what I would assume is a decent amount of money. You can book all of your tee times pretty easily and find nice B&Bs with good deals online. Obviously you'll have to find a way on at St. Andrews as the yearly ballot already happened (if you want to play there). I haven't been there yet, we are going first week of September. I probably had a lot of the same questions you will have and I think the most helpful answer or advice I was given was to focus on a certain area of Scotland. There are great courses all over the country, but you don't have to travel very far to play 3-4 great courses. You can play golf 3-4 times in St. Andrews area (or any of the other regions) plus do a ton of other things and not waste time driving around the country.

[jvincent]

For just two people it is extraordinarily easy to plan and book yourself. You'll save a ton of money vs using a tour operator. The biggest challenge will be driving on the other side of the road.

 

As far as where to go, your best bet would be the St Andrews area. It's got more golf courses than you can imagine and even if you don't get onto the Old Course you can still play tourist and soak up the vibe. It's close enough to Edinburgh and Glasgow that you can do the tourist thing on the days you aren't golfing.

[Hawkeye77]

No reason to use a company for the two of you at all and a huge waste of money, IMO. We (mostly I, lol) planned a trip for the four of us last summer, planning one for my wife and I now (mostly planned at this point) for this summer. It's easy. Take a look at the UK sub-forum, there are lots of threads and tons of advice and ideas in there, pretty everything you'd want to know. Your post is a little too general - there are so many spots to see, places to play golf all over the country, in a week's time you won't see but a tiny % of what folks could recommend. You two should figure out what you want to get out of the trip in addition to golf (assuming you are interested beyond golf) and go from there - castles, photography, hiking, shopping, city sights, etc. We thought while in Ayrshire this summer we'd take a ferry to Arran, but we want to tour Ireland someday and thought it would be fun to see Northern Ireland for a day, so instead of that ferry we are skipping Arran and taking a ferry day trip to Belfast - pretty excited about that. You can find a nice place to rent for a week up north, in Fife, in Ayrshire, in East Lothian very reasonably. Easy to plan, oh I said that, lol. I'd get Ferguson's book on Scotland courses and travel - it is an awesome reference, but you can check out other courses in the areas beyond what he covers as well. Grab a current edition of a quality travel guide or go online or both for things to see and do in various areas of the country. The fun is in the planning. Just about any question you have can likely be answered on here for sure, either in threads, or new answers to any questions you have about travel or various areas of the country as you are figuring out what you want to get out of the trip. Fun!

[Roadking2003]

I agree with the above. There is so much info on the internet that you can research everything yourselves and make reservations online. I've done all of my trips without using a travel company.

You may have to use a travel company to get on The Old Course.

 

[Edinburghgolfer]

I’m rather biased but I the only place to base yourself is Edinburgh. The East Lothian courses are an easy drive away while St Andrews is only about 90 minutes north.

[tiderider]

> @jvincent said:

> For just two people it is extraordinarily easy to plan and book yourself. You'll save a ton of money vs using a tour operator. The biggest challenge will be driving on the other side of the road.

>

> As far as where to go, your best bet would be the St Andrews area. It's got more golf courses than you can imagine and even if you don't get onto the Old Course you can still play tourist and soak up the vibe. It's close enough to Edinburgh and Glasgow that you can do the tourist thing on the days you aren't golfing.

 

this ... a train can take you into edinburgh for any 'big city' things ... nice castle in edinburgh ... macbeth or hamlet castle is somewhere within driving distance of st andrews ... ya'll can do the daily lottery for TOC, or you can line up early one morning yourself as a single ... st andrews is a cool town with plenty to do, and plenty of courses within 30 minutes or so ... carnoustie is 1.5 hours ... i would check to see that your dates do not conflict with the dunhill championship, however ...

[LazyLightning22]

I greatly appreciate everyone’s input. My personal preference would be to spend a few days in the East Lothian area and then head up to Inverness for a few days. The courses I’d absolutely love to play are North Berwick, Kilspindie, and Royal Dornoch. Again thank y’all for the input.

[Hawkeye77]

Now we are talking! Never stayed in North Berwick, but have a really nice and inexpensive flat rented on the sea in the heart of things in North Berwick this summer for a week. Playing North Berwick (X2), Kilspindie, Glen, Winterfield (mixed greensomes comp with the wife), Longniddry, taking a couple chances on the 48 hour ballot and secretary at Muirfield told me awhile ago I'm on some sort of wait list, so who knows. Looks like a lot to take in around there and we can take a train into Edinburgh for short visit and see what we want to see there, catching Rosslyn Chapel on the drive from Ayrshire over to East Lothian. Royal Dornoch is awesome, Brora amazing - Inverness gives you closer access to other great courses there and to the east, really wanted to play Moray Old last summer and things got in the way. We stayed in Dornoch and can't recommend it highly enough, but Inverness would be nice or stay in Nairn on the sea. Should have a lot of fun planning. The drive from East Lothian up to Inverness will have an exit marked St. Andrews. ;-)