Scotland Trip Recap

[zilli1010]

Just back from a 10 day trip to Scotland. Courses played include Cruden Bay, Kingsbarn (twice), North Berwick, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Old Course(twice), Gullane #1 and Castle.

 

Everyone's favourite course was North Berwick. Other than Gullane #1, Old Course ranked second to last. It has all the history ( we all understood that) but after Holes 1, 11, 17 and 18 it was nothing special.

 

The toughest test is hands down Carnoustie. That course is just relentless with the wind. You see exactly what's in front of you, but you are killed for any bad shot. I loved playing it so much, this is the one course I would fly over to play again.

 

Muirfield is spectacular, course is immaculate. With that said, it is the stuffiest course I have ever been to. Everyone there other than the caddies believe you are beneath them. You have to wear a jacket and tie to dine in the dinning room, too stuffy a scene for us. We are in our 40s. Average age there was at least 65+. Food was very good.

 

Gullane, had terrific views but the course was nothing special in my opinion.

 

North Berwick is a gem among gems. Classic 9 out and 9 back in. Views from every holes. Hitting over walls on the drive, approach and chip made it a terrific round for everyone. We capped it off with a trip down to the ocean where we ate at the Lobster Shack. We arrived 30 minutes before closing. Owner looked at us and said he had 4 lobsters and mussels left. We cleaned him out and had chips(fries) and purchased a couple of bottle of wine. One of the best meals I had. We were sitting on a picnic table overlooking the ocean, eating and talking about North Berwick for hours.

 

Kingsbarn is a stunning course, views of the ocean very hole. It ranked 4th by all 7 golfers behind Berwick, Carnoustie and Muirfield. The service is fantastic and the food is terrific. It's 235 pounds a round. I would rather play North Berwick twice. We played it twice as the second round was half price if played within 7 days

 

Nothing gets a debate with the locals going like the Castle course. People either love it or hate it. The locals hate it, most of us liked it. It is sort of a Dunes type course. We got it as we won the lottery for the Old Course and the gave us this course as the option. Was a fun time.

 

Cruden Bay was a 2.5 hour drive so we tackled that right away as soon as we landed. It is a beautiful course with stunning views, lots of elevation change. The only downfalls to the course is there are blind shots to par 3s and other holes which we didn't care for and the food at the clubhouse was not the greatest.The course for the price represents great value.

 

Lastly the Old Course… The Home Of Golf. There is no feeling to describe walking down the road to the starters hut. The 18th, the first tee and the R&A. Teeing off on the first tee, the hair on the back of your neck stands. Sadly after 1, you have to wait till Hole 11 to say what a course. You then need to wait to 16 as you know the drive over the the hotel awaits, the walk by the Jigger inn and then finally the 18th back to the R&A over the swilcan bridge. It's a must to play once, but sadly that was enough for our group. 2 of us that played it earlier(Monday) were trying to see if we could get refunded and we were going to drive to play North Berwick again. We had our most disappointing dinner at The Seafood Restaurant. We have one guy in our group who does not eat seafood, so we checked the website. They had chicken and steak on the menu. We arrive, sit dow order drinks. Stunning views of the ocean. Menus come, only option is duck. We ask about the chicken and steak on the website. We are told"that hasn't been updated in 8 months". My buddy is a trooper and says he'll have mussels ( only thing left on the menu). We order, I order the seafood medley and we order a bottle of wine for the table. We are having a great time talking about how great the trip is. Waitress comes and says, they ran out of mussels. They only have one portion left for my seafood medley. I ask her to give me a couple of more scallops and to give my mussels to my friend. They agree. 10 minutes later, waiter comes by and says they are out of the wine we ordered. We laughed which he found rude. I explained they are out of the wine, out of the mussels and website is 8 months past an update. We get to dessert, waitress explains the cheesecake is super 2 of us order it….. guess what!!!!!!! 1 got it and they ran out. Joke of a restaurant service wise. Food that actually came was good though.

 

We drank 2 nights at the Dunvegan and one at the Jiggers in. Great hangouts

 

I honestly caught the Scotland bug. This was supposed to be one trip, we have already agreed that 2018 we will do the highlands (Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart and Nairn) then Carnnoustie and finish off in Glasgow area to play Troon, Prestwick, Turnberry and Western Gailles

 

Lastly we all bought a ton of rain gear gear from Galvin Green. 10 days and not one drop of rain, We got really lucky. We did have a couple of days of 30+mph winds and had to wear hats as it was cold, but all in all a fantastic trip

[mdannolfo]

Sounds like a fantastic trip. Thanks for the review. Skip Nairn and play Brora. Dornoch one of my favorites. Can't wait to go back and play the west.

[thecraw]

In my humble opinion Royal Troon is tougher and nicer than Carnoustie, especially if you get any sort of wind.

[Divot License]

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip and hope you come visit our little isle again in the future.

 

Sorry to hear you found Muirfield to be so pretentious. I too have had similar experinaces at several prestigious clubs in the UK.

[kingotheworldma]

I know it is rude, but round about how much does a trip like this cost. I am just a humble nurse and don't make a terribly large sum. But I would love to do something similar one day.

[North Butte]

The cost is partly determined by how many people are in your group. Specifically how many people you will be sharing a room and your ground transportation with.

 

Airfare, food and green fees are the same for each person whether traveling soli or as a group. Plane tickets cost whatever they cost from where you live to Scotland. Anywhere from $1000 to $2000 depending on where you are in the US and what season you travel. Figure $50-$60 a day if you find cheap things to eat or much more if you want to eat fancy. Green fees at big-name courses (esp. those on the Open rota) range from expensive to OMG expensive so unless you play off the beaten track less known courses you will be talking two hundred dollars per round and up. Way up. There are a few good deals around like the 5-day Links Trust passes in St. Andrews. But most people don't travel 6,000 miles to play the New and the Jubilee every day!

 

Solo lodging can range from $70 a day in a B&B type place to maybe twice that much have a modest hotel. Sharing a room can obviously cut the per-person cost in half. If a group is going to stay in one place for several days you can always rent a house and split it six or eight ways. If you shop around in advance you can find rental car as for as little as $300 or so per week and again if you are sharing it with someone that lowers your individual cost.

 

Going solo the kind of trip being described here is going to be at least a couple thousand dollars plus airfare. And that's if you keep things frugal. Probably much more $$$ with lots of big name courses like Muirfield but two people traveling together and sharing as much as possible might could do it for, say, $2,500 each plus another $1-$2K apiece airfare.

 

But like most things this can get can get super expensive. If you start eating out at nice places, staying in expensive hotels and/or playing nothing but the most sought-after courses you can drop $5,000 before you know what hit you.

[thecraw]

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip and hope you come visit our little isle again in the future.

 

Sorry to hear you found Muirfield to be so pretentious. I too have had similar experinaces at several prestigious clubs in the UK.

 

Agree the reception we got from both the professional and staff at West Lancashire was disgusting. Some golf clubs need a reality check.

[duffer987]

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip and hope you come visit our little isle again in the future.

 

Sorry to hear you found Muirfield to be so pretentious. I too have had similar experinaces at several prestigious clubs in the UK.

 

Agree the reception we got from both the professional and staff at West Lancashire was disgusting. Some golf clubs need a reality check.

 

Duly noted :) And I'm not taking the piss, there are soooooo many enjoyable courses to play in the UK, that there really is no reason to patronize one that acts like they don't want you to be there.

 

It's the main reason I am not that keen on Muirfield in season, I'd have thought maybe going there on a 'nice day' in late autumn or early spring, they may be less-weary, after their peak season run of tour coaches and North Americans, and not be quite so dickish.

[North Butte]

I always figured the Full Muirfield experience for visitors included having to dress up for lunch and generally being treated like a tradesman who just knocked on the front door. It's been that way for so long some punters might feel shortchanged if they were greeted like they were worthy of respect!

[jay65]

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip and hope you come visit our little isle again in the future.

 

Sorry to hear you found Muirfield to be so pretentious. I too have had similar experinaces at several prestigious clubs in the UK.

 

Agree the reception we got from both the professional and staff at West Lancashire was disgusting. Some golf clubs need a reality check.

 

Duly noted :) And I'm not taking the piss, there are soooooo many enjoyable courses to play in the UK, that there really is no reason to patronize one that acts like they don't want you to be there.

 

It's the main reason I am not that keen on Muirfield in season, I'd have thought maybe going there on a 'nice day' in late autumn or early spring, they may be less-weary, after their peak season run of tour coaches and North Americans, and not be quite so dickish.

 

Absolutely agree with that sentiment. If these types of Clubs want to act like that, then why people want to patronize them, I simply do not know, especially when, as you say, there are too many fabulous tracks that are equally as good that will gladly take your money, but in a far more pleasant atmosphere.

 

I think you got the 'rankings' about right. I must admit, I wasn't so fond of North Berwick when I played it the first time for some reason, but the second time I played it, I got it. It's a class track. I like Gullane #1 though, perhaps not as nice as some, but still very enjoyable.

 

Personally, I prefer Ayrshire over and above any other area, with the exception of Turnberry, which has too many weak holes for the good ones to make it higher in my estimation. But I like Royal Troon, and I love the area, a little more down to earth and less pretentious, and I think Dundonald, Western Gailes and even Courses like Glasgow Gailes and Barassie Links are pretty high in my esteem. favourite of them all, anywhere in the world is Prestwick. So the whole area is a golfing paradise for me personally.

 

Machrihanish this year though, I'm looking forward to that!

[tsecor]

you played the old course twice? for one of the few times in my life, I am envious....that's been a dream of mine for ever.....congrats...

[Gem]

Just back from a 10 day trip to Scotland. Courses played include Cruden Bay, Kingsbarn (twice), North Berwick, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Old Course(twice), Gullane #1 and Castle.

 

Everyone's favourite course was North Berwick. Other than Gullane #1, Old Course ranked second to last. It has all the history ( we all understood that) but after Holes 1, 11, 17 and 18 it was nothing special.

 

The toughest test is hands down Carnoustie. That course is just relentless with the wind. You see exactly what's in front of you, but you are killed for any bad shot. I loved playing it so much, this is the one course I would fly over to play again.

 

Muirfield is spectacular, course is immaculate. With that said, it is the stuffiest course I have ever been to. Everyone there other than the caddies believe you are beneath them. You have to wear a jacket and tie to dine in the dinning room, too stuffy a scene for us. We are in our 40s. Average age there was at least 65+. Food was very good.

 

Gullane, had terrific views but the course was nothing special in my opinion.

 

North Berwick is a gem among gems. Classic 9 out and 9 back in. Views from every holes. Hitting over walls on the drive, approach and chip made it a terrific round for everyone. We capped it off with a trip down to the ocean where we ate at the Lobster Shack. We arrived 30 minutes before closing. Owner looked at us and said he had 4 lobsters and mussels left. We cleaned him out and had chips(fries) and purchased a couple of bottle of wine. One of the best meals I had. We were sitting on a picnic table overlooking the ocean, eating and talking about North Berwick for hours.

 

Kingsbarn is a stunning course, views of the ocean very hole. It ranked 4th by all 7 golfers behind Berwick, Carnoustie and Muirfield. The service is fantastic and the food is terrific. It's 235 pounds a round. I would rather play North Berwick twice. We played it twice as the second round was half price if played within 7 days

 

Nothing gets a debate with the locals going like the Castle course. People either love it or hate it. The locals hate it, most of us liked it. It is sort of a Dunes type course. We got it as we won the lottery for the Old Course and the gave us this course as the option. Was a fun time.

 

Cruden Bay was a 2.5 hour drive so we tackled that right away as soon as we landed. It is a beautiful course with stunning views, lots of elevation change. The only downfalls to the course is there are blind shots to par 3s and other holes which we didn't care for and the food at the clubhouse was not the greatest.The course for the price represents great value.

 

Lastly the Old Course… The Home Of Golf. There is no feeling to describe walking down the road to the starters hut. The 18th, the first tee and the R&A. Teeing off on the first tee, the hair on the back of your neck stands. Sadly after 1, you have to wait till Hole 11 to say what a course. You then need to wait to 16 as you know the drive over the the hotel awaits, the walk by the Jigger inn and then finally the 18th back to the R&A over the swilcan bridge. It's a must to play once, but sadly that was enough for our group. 2 of us that played it earlier(Monday) were trying to see if we could get refunded and we were going to drive to play North Berwick again. We had our most disappointing dinner at The Seafood Restaurant. We have one guy in our group who does not eat seafood, so we checked the website. They had chicken and steak on the menu. We arrive, sit dow order drinks. Stunning views of the ocean. Menus come, only option is duck. We ask about the chicken and steak on the website. We are told"that hasn't been updated in 8 months". My buddy is a trooper and says he'll have mussels ( only thing left on the menu). We order, I order the seafood medley and we order a bottle of wine for the table. We are having a great time talking about how great the trip is. Waitress comes and says, they ran out of mussels. They only have one portion left for my seafood medley. I ask her to give me a couple of more scallops and to give my mussels to my friend. They agree. 10 minutes later, waiter comes by and says they are out of the wine we ordered. We laughed which he found rude. I explained they are out of the wine, out of the mussels and website is 8 months past an update. We get to dessert, waitress explains the cheesecake is super 2 of us order it….. guess what!!!!!!! 1 got it and they ran out. Joke of a restaurant service wise. Food that actually came was good though.

 

We drank 2 nights at the Dunvegan and one at the Jiggers in. Great hangouts

 

I honestly caught the Scotland bug. This was supposed to be one trip, we have already agreed that 2018 we will do the highlands (Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart and Nairn) then Carnnoustie and finish off in Glasgow area to play Troon, Prestwick, Turnberry and Western Gailles

 

Lastly we all bought a ton of rain gear gear from Galvin Green. 10 days and not one drop of rain, We got really lucky. We did have a couple of days of 30+mph winds and had to wear hats as it was cold, but all in all a fantastic trip

 

I am glad you had a great time and we have had some decent weather although a bit cooler with the Easterly wind the last few weeks.

 

My favourite place in Scotland is St Andrews but I tend to agree with you on the Old Course, you have to play it once but there are other courses worth a visit if you have already been.

I really like both Gullane 1&2 and play about 15 rounds over 2&3 each winter in the Kiwi trophy .

 

If you are going further north then Moray Old is a must play, my favourite course here in Scotland.

 

I have played the Castle course and won't go back until they dig up the greens and put proper ones in their place.

 

StAndrews is a great place to make your base though and is good for a night out.

Hope you enjoy your next trip as much.

[scott_Donald]

what club did you hit at the 15th at Cruden Bay - you wouldn't have a clue that you need to land it way short unless you had a caddy or a member with you... 14th is a terrible hole also...

 

why no Royal Aberdeen or trump if up Aberdeen way???

[HoffTTM]

what club did you hit at the 15th at Cruden Bay - you wouldn't have a clue that you need to land it way short unless you had a caddy or a member with you... 14th is a terrible hole also...

 

why no Royal Aberdeen or trump if up Aberdeen way???

 

Knockdown low tee draw with a driver to 12' personally, non humble brag alert ;-) Standard birdie