Scotland or Ireland

ihatebogeys · August 13, 2012

Hi guys, I am in the intro stages of planning a trip for next year. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Any planning books or travel agencies. I just don't know the best way to start planning. What courses to play? I definitely want to play the Old Course, so any trip would revolve around that.

Thanks!

Chilidog · August 13, 2012

Then you've answered your own question. It's Scotland. Ireland would be half the cost though.

eers2u · August 13, 2012

Others will echo this comment, but get ye to Amazon and buy Allan Ferguson's book, Golf in Scotland - A Travel Planning Guide. You can also order on his website www.fergusongolf.com. Using the book and the internet, it's really remarkably easy to set up your own trip at a fraction of the cost of a packager. My brother and I spent 10 days and played 13 rounds in Scotland in 2010 for well under $4K each. We stayed in B&B's and played the Old Course, New Course, Machrihanish, Machrihanish Dunes, Royal Dornoch, Cruden Bay, Crail, Brora and a couple others you've never heard of, but were great experiences.

I highly recommend a trip to Scotland, and am currently planning on going to Ireland in near future. I'm sure it will be great as well. One tip I will give you is that if you are planning on going next year and can pin down a day you want to play the Old Course, you can apply for a tee time for that date and be virtually assured of getting a tee time, but you have to apply in early September of this year for tee times in 2013. The book has all the details and more.

sabram · August 13, 2012

[quote name='eers2u' timestamp='1344910728' post='5466328']
Others will echo this comment, but get ye to Amazon and buy Allan Ferguson's book, Golf in Scotland - A Travel Planning Guide. You can also order on his website www.fergusongolf.com. Using the book and the internet, it's really remarkably easy to set up your own trip at a fraction of the cost of a packager. My brother and I spent 10 days and played 13 rounds in Scotland in 2010 for well under $4K each. We stayed in B&B's and played the Old Course, New Course, Machrihanish, Machrihanish Dunes, Royal Dornoch, Cruden Bay, Crail, Brora and a couple others you've never heard of, but were great experiences.

I highly recommend a trip to Scotland, and am currently planning on going to Ireland in near future. I'm sure it will be great as well. One tip I will give you is that if you are planning on going next year and can pin down a day you want to play the Old Course, you can apply for a tee time for that date and be virtually assured of getting a tee time, but you have to apply in early September of this year for tee times in 2013. The book has all the details and more.
[/quote]

+1

ihatebogeys · August 13, 2012

Awesome. Thanks, I always thought you had to be part of a package to get on the old course. Hoping to play Trump Scotland too, read really good reviews about it.

jdhallissey · August 14, 2012

Do them both...... A plan flight between them is like 150 bucks round trip if you look hard enough.

joe perry · August 17, 2012

[quote name='jdhallissey' timestamp='1344916943' post='5467156']
Do them both...... A plan flight between them is like 150 bucks round trip if you look hard enough.
[/quote]

I agree play the Old Course and any others in the area that interest you (you mentioned the Trump Course) and then get a cheap flight over to Ireland. Or start and finish your journey in Ireland and play the middle in Scotland. The Euro is not very strong and the Irish economy has tanked leading to great deals.

check out http://www.northandwestcoastlinks.com/

if money is no object stick to Scotland and play Turnberry, Muirfield, Dornoch, Kingsbarns etc. but if you need to cut down costs the Northwest of Ireland has great golf at low prices !!!! another bonus car rentals and especially hotels are substantially cheaper in Ireland when compared to Scotland

example - 2 courses with wild sand dunes that are rated very highly

Trump Scotland weekend rate 200gbp = $315 us dollars

Enniscrone (Ireland) weekend rate 60eur = $75 us dollars !!!!!

[url="http://www.enniscronegolf.com/"]http://www.enniscronegolf.com/[/url]

sabram · August 17, 2012

I think its crazy to do both Ireland and Scotland on one trip. There are so many great golf courses in either place, why exhaust yourself and spend time travelling and waiting in airports and car rental offices when you could be golfing? My advice is to choose one region and play as many courses in that area as you can fit in. You can always go back to play other regions. If you want to play TOC, then center your trip around that. Besides TOC, I would start my list of nearby courses with the New Course, the Castle Course, Carnoustie, Scottscraig, Kingsbarns, Crail (Balcomie and Craighead), Elie, Lundin, Leven and Ladybank. If that's not enough, venture to nearby East Lothian and add Muirfield, Gullane (1,2 and 3), North Berwick West , The Glen, Dunbar Kilspindie, Luffness and Longniddry to your list of courses to consider. That's enough for 36 holes a day for 12 days without much travel and you may want to replay some of those courses! The courses on this list include a wide range of prices. There is no reason to focus only on the expensive ones unless all you are trying to do is check off the most famous courses. If you do that you'll miss out on some great experiences and pay more than you need to to have a fantastic golf trip. Buy the Ferguson book - that will be a big help in planning your adventure