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Scotland Hidden Gems Tour

pgapromex

pgapromex

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Heading to Scotland this Saturday for 3 weeks. Flying into Manchester, renting a car, and then driving up into Scotland. I've been there before, have played most of The Open rota courses, this trip is more to play some courses I haven't been to, and to scout out some hidden gems. It looks like a lot of driving but most of my drives between locations are only 1-2 hours. I'm thinking about joining one of these courses and spending next summer there. Florida is just too hot in the summer! Will post photos and reviews as I go, all comments welcome.

Courses on the itinerary include:

Day 1 -Windemere UK
Day 2 -Siloth on Solway UK
Day 3 - Southerness
Days 4-6 Troon: Dundonald, Western Gailes, Glasgow Gailes
Day 7 - Royal Aberdeen
Days 8-10 Aberdeen Trump International, Murcar, Moray Old
Day 11 Castle Stuart
Day 12 Boat of Garten
Days 13-14 Pitlochry, Rosemount
Days 15-19 Kingsbarns, Castle, Crail, Elie, Lundin, Anstruther
Day 20 - Roxburghe
Day 21 - Fly home​
 
Have a great trip
 
Sounds phenomenal and I am really interested to hear about it.
 
Very interested to hear about everything. I have a pass for a guys trip in the next 2 or 3 years. Safe travels, play well and will follow along!

JM
 
pgapromex said:
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Heading to Scotland this Saturday for 3 weeks. Flying into Manchester, renting a car, and then driving up into Scotland. I've been there before, have played most of The Open rota courses, this trip is more to play some courses I haven't been to, and to scout out some hidden gems. It looks like a lot of driving but most of my drives between locations are only 1-2 hours. I'm thinking about joining one of these courses and spending next summer there. Florida is just too hot in the summer! Will post photos and reviews as I go, all comments welcome.

Courses on the itinerary include:

Day 1 -Windemere UK
Day 2 -Siloth on Solway UK
Day 3 - Southerness
Days 4-6 Troon: Dundonald, Western Gailes, Glasgow Gailes
Day 7 - Royal Aberdeen
Days 8-10 Aberdeen Trump International, Murcar, Moray Old
Day 11 Castle Stuart
Day 12 Boat of Garten
Days 13-14 Pitlochry, Rosemount
Days 15-19 Kingsbarns, Castle, Crail, Elie, Lundin, Anstruther
Day 20 - Roxburghe
Day 21 - Fly home​
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Awesome !
 
Have a great trip and that looks like you got a list of good courses there.


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Looks a fantastic trip, enjoy and remember...…..drive on the left hand side of the road.
 
Scoot over to the Northeast of England and play cleveland, that's a proper links course. It's near the Middlesbrough bit
 
Great extended golf trip I would like to take someday.

Could I ask for a little advice from someone with experience? My daughter graduates next June and we are planning a big trip for the family before she goes off to college. She is a good high school golfer who loves to play so looking for a combo option. Would you choose the Fife region or East Lothian region as a place where the two of us could get in a round of golf and then whole family some local culture & flavor in the same day? Also looking at 2-3 days in Edinburgh with no golf for the family as well. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
#goals!

Will be reading all that you post about your trip!
 
Thanks for all the comments.

So I arrived Manchester airport yesterday morning. Good flight in premium economy on Thomas Cook.

Picked up rental car at Europcar at airport, they had the best deals. Got a Hyundai Ioniq which is a hybrid hatchback. Automatic, gets great mileage. Also clubs fit in the back. Brought a Garmin with UK maps on Amazon before I left, a must for a trip like this. Also bought a UK sim card with 20GB and 3000 minutes UK calls on Amazon for $21. Drove up to Windemere Golf Club and played 9 holes, too knackered from the flight to play more, it's a short track, very hilly, not something to go out of your way for, I just picked as it wasn't long drive and on the way to Silloth. The Lakes area is beautiful, lots of mountains and lakes, plus gazillions of tourists on weekends. Driving is an adventure on the roads.
 
Today I played Silloth on Solway, and it is a bad*** links course, one of the best I have ever played. Better than some Open courses I have played. Top notch conditioning and awesome greens. It was raining when I got there but then cleared up right when I teed off. First 9 holes were playing into a 3 club wind, coming back was with the wind.

Super friendly clubhouse, members were very nice and glad to see me, had a couple pints after the round. Here are a few photos.

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Sounds like a great trip. My fave in the Aberdeen area is Cruden Bay. If by chance you have a chance whilst in that area...It's fabulous. Trump Aberdeen is quite nice. Hope you have great weather.
 
If you go farther north you'll hit the origins of my family name. Reay Golf Club is the farthest north course in Scotland. This is a bucket list trip for me also before I stop playing golf. So envious of you. Enjoy your journey.
 
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I in Troon now, staying at Marine Hotel, view from my room is of #1 and #18 Royal Troon. Nice hotel with indoor pool and spa. Troon is a cool little town. Played Dundonald today, nice modern links, great greens. Just got bought and they will build multi million dollar clubhouse plus onsite rental units. It's a Scottish Open course well worth playing. Not much wind so scored pretty well. Yesterday was supposed to play Southerness but heavy rain and lightning made that a no go. Playing Western Gailes tomorrow. Will try to post more pics but it's a pain on a cell phone.
 
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Played Western Gailes, it is a qualifying course when The Open is at Troon. It's a par 71, not too long, but has several longish par 4s. Tight narrow fairways and some tricky greens. There was no wind, I hit every fairway and had 16 birdie putts, made only 2 on back 9 par 3s, lipped out several. Playing Royal Aberdeen this afternoon weather permitting.
 
So what does the average round cost on most of those courses? Definitely would love to make that trip sometime!!
 
The last time I played Dundonald it was blowing 70mph. I got soaked through on one hole and the wind dried me out on the next one going the other way.

Madness.

You'd need a year to play all the good golf in Scotland

Enjoy your trip
 
Qwkz51;n8637942 said:
So what does the average round cost on most of those courses? Definitely would love to make that trip sometime!!
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The Open rota courses range from $200 up too over $300, and courses like Kingsbarns and Trump International are over $300 also, so it's not cheap. But you can play very high quality links courses on my itinerary for a lot less, and some of them are just as challenging. I think Silloth is about $100 or so. I am a PGA member so a lot of the courses comp my round. The expensive ones give me a good discount, paid $100 for Royal Aberdeen and Trump International.
 
I am in Aberdeen now, played Royal Aberdeen yesterday and Trump International today. All I can say is wow.

These are two of the best golf courses I have ever played, and in my opinion better than most of The Open rota courses. Why? If you compare them to Carnoustie, considered the toughest Open course, the big diference is elevation changes. Carnoustie is flat, both RA and TI were built on rolling terrain with lots of elevated tees, and very rumpled fairways. All three get lots of wind, but making solid strikes in 30 mph winds is even harder when you're playing from sidehill/downhill/uphill lies. Carnoustie is 7400 from the tips with slope rating of 145, and it can make tour pros cry. RA is 6900 with slope of 141, Trump International is 7400 with slope of 149. I will continue later need to charge my phone.
 
Aw hell I've only just seen this thread - I live in Aberdeen, I'd have bought you a beer! Plenty of amazing courses a little bit off the radar - certainly Boat of Garten is incredible, a real experience!
 
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