Scotland Trip Review - November 2013

[WahooJoe]

First off, I would like to say thank you for everyone's input/feedback in the forums over the years. It helped make my first trip to Scotland a fabulous experience.

 

For background, my first trip was a bit different from the "I need to get to St. Andrews" at all costs trip... instead it was constrained by my buddy who wanted to go to Glasgow last November to watch the US Men's soccer team play against Scotland. And since he was offering free airplane tix (he works for the airlines), my only condition was that we play at least two rounds of golf! And with that, we were off to plan.

 

Trip dates: Nov 13-17

 

First off, yes, you can play golf in November in Scotland!

 

Weather was in the 40s and touched 50s a bit. Dress properly and it's no issue. Most days it was UA tee-shirt, UA turtle neck, and golf jacket. Frequently didn't need the golf jacket.

 

Also, the benefit of playing in Nov is that it's just you and the locals.

 

Take note -- some courses require you to play off of mats during Nov -- no way, we excluded those. Most say it on their websites, but for ones that aren't clear, we just emailed them directly.

 

Irvine Golf Club

We arrived Glasgow ~7am and hopped in the rental car for the ~1hr drive to Irving. Driving in Scotland is easy. We had a 1152 tee time reserved through their website. The course was perfect for what we wanted, a round of 18 to get us through jet lag. Not a course to write home about, but for GBP35 or whatever we paid it was spot-on. To be clear, it was much nicer than average US muni's, just not a course you go to Scotland to play unless you're trying to get over jetlag or fit in your budget -- for either of those purposes, I highly recommend.

 

Western Gailes

As we wanted to play within an hour's drive or so of Glasgow, this was to be the highlight of our golf... and it did not disappoint! Absolutely fantastic course. Playing in Nov, we got a great discount (think we paid ~GBP85), but would be willing to pay double in the high season. All holes view the sea. 9 straight run right along it. Absolute gem. We were one of only a couple groups playing that day and really appreciated the chance to take our time and play a couple extra shots on some of the holes. #7 is a stunning, long par 3 with nowhere to miss and the hole I remember most. Staff was fabulous too, made us feel like members. Highly recommend.

 

Friday Night

US soccer v. Scotland. Bit of a dull 0-0 draw, but the stands had plenty of Americans (mostly students from Edinburgh area and expats from UK/Euro area). Counterintuitively, the highlight was listening to the Scots sing their national anthem. Awesome.

 

Saturday

Ok, my buddy only promised me 2 rounds. And I wasn't sure how late we might be out on Friday, so I opted not to book a round for Saturday. Well, we of course woke up with the itch to golf but no tee time. What to do, what to do.... So we called a few courses, which just laughed at us and our American accents on the phone for thinking we could get a walk-up on a Saturday.

 

So...... we just hopped in our car and drove an hour south to the courses! First course said no (full private course), but gave us some suggestions. 2nd course was Kilmarnock, which laughed at us, but was more than happy to take our greens fees. Wow. What a course. A real treat. My point is, that yes, when you're spending all the time and coin to head to the homeland of golf, you of course want everything planned out, but a little flexibility, touch of a smile, and some plastic, can help move things along when you find a gap in your plans.

 

So some final thoughts, YMMV.

 

Staying in Glasgow to golf in Ayrshire. Not bad at all. I was worried a bit about the driving, but it was more than manageable. Wouldn't do it for a full week, but for 3 days, absolutely. Plus hotels in Glasgow were much less expensive, so even with gas, we saved. Plus Glasgow had some variety of food/bars that we might not have found further south.

 

Driving -- I recommend driving yourself. Unless you have a huge group or some other restrictions, I wouldn't hire a chauffeur/driver. Save that cost and put it towards greens fees.

 

Tours -- Our trip was pretty unique due to the season and soccer constraints, but I had no problem setting everything up on my own via the web. Yes, of course, if you need a tour to get your St. Andrews tee-time, go there. But if you don't have a need to use a tour operator, my experience was that you can do this own your own with a few hours of research (which I enjoy, so if you hate that, then that's another reason to pay the tour operator!).

 

My biggest surprise of the trip was that it's just not that hard to go to Scotland for golf. Other than remembering your passport, it's no harder than planning a golf trip to Arizona.

 

Enjoy,

Joe

 

 

Key Resources:

Golf in Scotland by Allan Ferguson -- found this a bit late into my research, but it confirmed what took me hours to dig up on my own. Absolutely great resource for those planning trips to Scotland.

 

www.booking.com -- great hotel prices, no need to prepay, easy to cancel if necessary

 

Each course's website was great.

[WahooJoe]

Couple of photos from the trip:

[attachment=2388779:7 Tee Western Gailes.jpg]

#7 View from tee. 198yd par 3

[attachment=2388781:7 Green Western Gailes.jpg]

#7 green

[attachment=2388785:Scotland 4.jpg]

Irvine Golf Club



Irvine Golf Club

[jay65]

Like you, I'm not a huge fan of Irvine, there a quite a few that are better in the area, but on the plus side, it's a solid layout, and a decent price, and the staff are quite friendly making the experience a worthwhile track, but I agree with you, it wouldn't be the first I'd head for in the area, but it's decent enough. I also agree that Western Gailes is a pretty special place, some of the holes between 4 and 10 are as good as anywhere in Scotland. And the staff are the friendliest anywhere.

Over the railway line from Western Gailes is Dundonald, which is surprisingly very good track, in fact I like it as much as anywhere in Ayrshire.

Also, like you, I like Kilmarnock Barassie (Barassie Links), it's much maligned, but its excellent.

Having a house in Prestwick up the road allows me to play some fantastic Courses. If anyone is going to come to Ayrshire though, to really get the best out of it you really need 2 weeks, to add to the above, you can add Turnberry, Prestwick St Nicholas, Prestwick Old, Royal Troon, Gailes Links, and even the 3 Troon Municiples aren't bad for a cheap round, and most of the above are all within 6 miles of eachother with the exception of Turnberry which is half an hour down the coast, go the other way 1/2 an hour from Troon and West Kilbride is a lovely layout too.

With that many classic Links layouts all on top of eachother, it's definitely worth coming for a couple of weeks. See you there!!

[sabram]

[quote name='WahooJoe' timestamp='1408804217' post='9992897']
Western Gailes
... this was to be the highlight of our golf... and it did not disappoint! Absolutely fantastic course. Playing in Nov, we got a great discount (think we paid ~GBP85), but would be willing to pay double in the high season. All holes view the sea. 9 straight run right along it. Absolute gem. ... #7 is a stunning, long par 3 with nowhere to miss and the hole I remember most. Staff was fabulous too, made us feel like members. Highly recommend.

[/quote]

+1 Lot's of excellent holes at Western Gailes. #6 is a great par 5

[url="https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/sets/72157632041989586/"]https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/sets/72157632041989586/[/url] Wrsern Gailes photos