Golf across the pond

[omahasker]

Advise, tips, sites, etc...

I'm sure this thread has been done on here before but I wasn't able to find anything after a brief search.

Anyway...I'm interested in potentially scheduling a golf trip to Scotland. I am going to talk with my brother about it and I imagine he'll be excited at the idea but I want to have a decent idea on things before I talk with him. So, for any of you guys who have done the same, what tips and advice do you have? I really don't know anything about this type of trip and I've never been to Europe (my brother has) so any information will be very helpful.

Is there a site or specific golf trip type company that is good to use or that you have used? Is it best to do that or somehow book tee times by yourself? When are the best months to go? What courses are must plays besides St. Andrews? Basically I'm interested in hearing anything and everything about this. ESPECIALLY, if you have done this same type of trip that I'm talking about.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

There's a guy lives over there whose name escapes me, something like Alan Ferguson maybe? Anyway, he wrote a book and updates it every few years that tells you how to go about arranging your own trip. Worth the 15 bucks or whatever the book costs.

In my opinion there are two approaches, broadly categorized. There's doing it with a large (four, eight, ten, whatever) group and there's doing it solo or with one other person. Fundamentally different. Having every last detail sorted and doing things like hiring a van with a professional driver make sense with a large group, the logistics are just prone to falling apart if you leave things to the last minute.

But solo or in a twosome you can't really afford to do things up "right" and make it into a chauffeured tour with an elaborately planned out tight schedule. So take advantage of that and live a little looser. Pick the two or three courses you absolutely want to play and call ahead first thing (months and months in advance if it in St. Andrews or vicinity) and find out what schedule will work for those couple of must-plays. Find some lodging near the right places on the right dates, reserve tee times then buy your airplane tickets.

Then as the months go by you can fill in your plans with additional want-to-see courses. But give the rock-solid priority to the couple or three that you'd be disappointed forever if you missed and then let the others work out or not as luck would have it for the days you have in between the big ones.

With one or two people, stay in B&B's. Period. The word "hotel" can cover a lot of ground in Scotland but quality for quality, comfort for comfort "hotel" costs way more. If it's a really nice (i.e. fancy and well staffed) hotel you can blow your whole budget on lodging. And if it's not you might just get some sub-Fawlty Towers place that still costs half again what a decent B&B will charge. Pick your towns and go to TripAdvisor.com to figure out which ones are absolutely to be avoided. Don't worry too much about choosing between the ones everyone raves about versus the middle of the road ones. Just avoid the ones with multiple bad traveler reviews.

Decide if you're going to drive yourself a rental car or try to get by with public transport. The latter will severely constrain where you can go, how much you can fit into a certain number of days and what your schedule is between courses or between locations. Rental cars and gas (especially gas) cost a lot but trains and taxis really add up as well, especially for two people. The driving is a hassle but so is any alternative to driving, that's my point.

And on that subject, here's my biggest piece of advice. Stay in no more than two places per trip. Now if the trip is 20 days or something that's a whole 'nother thing but don't plan six days in Scotland and figure on five different places to see that are each 3 hours of bad road and traffic apart. Scotland seen from a golf course tee box, pub window, restaurant patio or just walking around is far more interesting than the back end of a Scottish bus or lorry while stuck in traffic for the umpteenth day in a row. And sleep+golf can be maximized if windshield time+packing/unpacking is minimized. I'm just saying...

If you really want to play a couple place in St. Andrews but you also really want to see Turnberry then go straight from the airport to St. Andrews, settle into a nice B&B for three or four nights and play your St. Andrews golf. Then get in the car or on the train or whatever and spend half a day getting across the country. Settle in for two or three nights there and if necessary make day trips within a couple hours' radius then back to sleep in the same bed each night. When you check out of the second location, head to the airport and come home. Generally speaking, trading off some out-and-back driving time instead of packing, checking out, driving, checking in, unpacking is a worthwhile tradeoff quality-of-time-wise.

Most transatlantic flights give you one checked bag (which can be golf clubs, usually, but the times are a-changing) plus one decent-sized carryon all for free. Unlike domestic flights where the first checked bag costs. So figure out how to put shoes and rain gear in the golf bag and fit all your other clothing and belongings into one carryon-sized piece. The next bag after the free ones is a killer, cost-wise. And remember, a good GoreTex jacket will let you wear 'most anything under it and still survive cold and/or wet weather. So don't take two or three different sweaters and vests and wind shirts plus a rain jacket. Just some slacks, golf shirts, maybe a technical underlayer piece or two if you must and then a good GoreTex jacket. And also remember you'll want to buy a couple of souvenir shirts while you're over there. So take a couple less shirts than you need and just wear the new ones you buy.

Evening departures from USA, doze on the plane, then arrive in Scotland in the morning. That's the way to go. Once you leave the plane and get your luggage DO NOT SLEEP FOR EVEN 10 MINUTES UNTIL THE SUN GOES DOWN. This is the only sure-fire jet lag cure there is. Basically cold turkey on the time difference. You get on a plane, fly through the night and then when you arrive you are on Scotland time immediately. Sleeping will just put it off, not make it any better.

[omahasker]

Thanks so much for the reply. Tons of good information in there. I'll be sure to check out that book.

[bunter101]

If you have any questions about things over here golf wise, please feel free to ask and i'll try to help.

[Northside Matt]

Couldn't agree more with Fourmyle about the jetlag. I was given similar advice on my trip to the UK. I landed at Heathrow, stayed up the entire day, and fell asleep once it was dark. On day two, I felt pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. No major jetlag effects.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

It helps to be outside in the fresh air and daylight as much as possible that arrival day. Playing golf is great or one time I went straight from the airport to an outdoor play at Shakespeare's Globe. But a round of golf is good for shaking off the nasty been-on-a-plane-too-long feeling.