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Scotland in May '24

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El Rayo X

El Rayo X

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My wife and I are going to Scotland in May 2024 for 3 weeks.
Family heritage, sightseeing and 4-5 rounds of golf.
Hoping to get on the Old Course as a single, then hit various other courses throughout the country as we travel.
We are staying a few days each in Inverness, Aberdeen area, Glencoe, Edinburgh and St Andrews.
Going to try to get a round at Cruden Bay and Stonehaven. while in that area.
Any other suggestions for reasonably priced ( Old Course and Cruden Bay are my $$$ plays) ?
 
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I stay in Inverness there are some great courses within 60 mins. Castle Stuart, Nairn and Dornoch are great but on the expensive side. Fortrose (spittal of land surrounded by sea is great and is 20 mins from Inverness). Tain and Golspie (40and 60 mins away are fantastic too). Hopeman and Spey Bay near Elgin are great too and would be on your way through from Aberdeen to Inverness.
 
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Let me know if you need anymore info on any of the courses and I can get it for you. I would say that the Old Course is a must, so much history you get goosebumps just going round.
 
I’m playing Crail and Kingsbarns in July. Crail is much more affordable and an Old Tom Morris course. Never played any of them but very much looking forward to it. I hear Dumbarnie Links is quite good.
 
Couple suggestions. Look up ginger beer golf. Chris created ballot buddy system. Singles can't ballot Old. This system puts singles in contact so they can ballot. If have to walk on Old be prepared to sleep out starting at 10pm. Simply put there are many just like you. Place is over run with wanna players.
Crude is Fab they have extra 9 St Olafs. It's consid e Ted best 9 holer in all of Scotland.
Pretty much you get what you pay for. Most of the club's are private but allow ov e depending visitors. It subsidizes their members. But the club's have been ov e r run. So they are increasing visitor rates a lot and restricting. No one really wants a walk up single. Write in advance.
Top100golfcourses.com is a great resource. Take a look by region to come up with potential plays.
Ellie best of lower cost in St Andrews. Kingsbarns Dumbarnie are best but are 400 to 500.
Good Luck
Crail is about 6 Good holes. Pay up for Dumbarnie instead or go to Elle @TheHeez
 
GolfTravelDude said:
Couple suggestions. Look up ginger beer golf. Chris created ballot buddy system. Singles can't ballot Old. This system puts singles in contact so they can ballot. If have to walk on Old be prepared to sleep out starting at 10pm. Simply put there are many just like you. Place is over run with wanna players.
Crude is Fab they have extra 9 St Olafs. It's consid e Ted best 9 holer in all of Scotland.
Pretty much you get what you pay for. Most of the club's are private but allow ov e depending visitors. It subsidizes their members. But the club's have been ov e r run. So they are increasing visitor rates a lot and restricting. No one really wants a walk up single. Write in advance.
Top100golfcourses.com is a great resource. Take a look by region to come up with potential plays.
Ellie best of lower cost in St Andrews. Kingsbarns Dumbarnie are best but are 400 to 500.
Good Luck
Crail is about 6 Good holes. Pay up for Dumbarnie instead or go to Elle @TheHeez
Click to expand...
PS St Olafs is free with play on Championship.
 
GolfTravelDude said:
Couple suggestions. Look up ginger beer golf. Chris created ballot buddy system. Singles can't ballot Old. This system puts singles in contact so they can ballot. If have to walk on Old be prepared to sleep out starting at 10pm. Simply put there are many just like you. Place is over run with wanna players.
Crude is Fab they have extra 9 St Olafs. It's consid e Ted best 9 holer in all of Scotland.
Pretty much you get what you pay for. Most of the club's are private but allow ov e depending visitors. It subsidizes their members. But the club's have been ov e r run. So they are increasing visitor rates a lot and restricting. No one really wants a walk up single. Write in advance.
Top100golfcourses.com is a great resource. Take a look by region to come up with potential plays.
Ellie best of lower cost in St Andrews. Kingsbarns Dumbarnie are best but are 400 to 500.
Good Luck
Crail is about 6 Good holes. Pay up for Dumbarnie instead or go to Elle @TheHeez
Click to expand...

That’s good to know. Elie looks very nice. We have an acquaintance that caddies in the area and we’ve put him on the job of securing The Old and perhaps Dumbarnie. I think we picked Crail to make sure we played an OTM course.
 
TheHeez said:
That’s good to know. Elie looks very nice. We have an acquaintance that caddies in the area and we’ve put him on the job of securing The Old and perhaps Dumbarnie. I think we picked Crail to make sure we played an OTM course.
Click to expand...
Call has 2 courses. Both are nice. It's just that there are many nicer right in that area. Again review top100golfcourses go to Scotland and five. Safe travels.
 
GolfTravelDude said:
Couple suggestions. Look up ginger beer golf. Chris created ballot buddy system. Singles can't ballot Old. This system puts singles in contact so they can ballot. If have to walk on Old be prepared to sleep out starting at 10pm. Simply put there are many just like you. Place is over run with wanna players.
Crude is Fab they have extra 9 St Olafs. It's consid e Ted best 9 holer in all of Scotland.
Pretty much you get what you pay for. Most of the club's are private but allow ov e depending visitors. It subsidizes their members. But the club's have been ov e r run. So they are increasing visitor rates a lot and restricting. No one really wants a walk up single. Write in advance.
Top100golfcourses.com is a great resource. Take a look by region to come up with potential plays.
Ellie best of lower cost in St Andrews. Kingsbarns Dumbarnie are best but are 400 to 500.
Good Luck
Crail is about 6 Good holes. Pay up for Dumbarnie instead or go to Elle @TheHeez
Click to expand...
Awesome recommendation regarding Chris @ Gingerbeergolf.com.
 
I loved Cruden Bay when I played there in 2016. The first 2 or 3 holes I was like what is this course? After that it was amazing. Walking up to the 9th hole was amazing!
 
Another recommendation for Elie here! The views are incredible and the golf is as fun and quirky as you'll ever play.
 
El Rayo X said:
My wife and I are going to Scotland in May 2024 for 3 weeks.
Family heritage, sightseeing and 4-5 rounds of golf.
Hoping to get on the Old Course as a single, then hit various other courses throughout the country as we travel.
We are staying a few days each in Inverness, Aberdeen area, Glencoe, Edinburgh and St Andrews.
Going to try to get a round at Cruden Bay and Stonehaven. while in that area.
Any other suggestions for reasonably priced ( Old Course and Cruden Bay are my $$$ plays) ?
Click to expand...
In case you haven’t reminded yourself yet, don’t forget to apply for a Scotland visa early in 2024. Apparently we have to do that now :/
 
I think you can visit for up to 6 months w/o a visa. If one has a record that may change things for that individual

Check if you need a UK visa:​

Information based on your answers​

You will not need a visa to come to the UK​

You can stay in the UK as a tourist for up to 6 months without a visa, but you must meet the Standard Visitor eligibility requirements.
You may want to apply for a Standard Visitor visa if you have a criminal record or you’ve previously been refused entry into the UK.
 
Deets said:
I think you can visit for up to 6 months w/o a visa. If one has a record that may change things for that individual

Check if you need a UK visa:Information based on your answers​

You will not need a visa to come to the UK​

You can stay in the UK as a tourist for up to 6 months without a visa, but you must meet the Standard Visitor eligibility requirements.
You may want to apply for a Standard Visitor visa if you have a criminal record or you’ve previously been refused entry into the UK.
Click to expand...
Well thankfully I don’t have a record haha.

Travel agent gave us the heads up about needing to apply for one. Maybe I just look like a degen
 
Just checked with a friend who visited his daughter in Ireland a month ago, no visa needed. I also spoke with another friend who has been over to Scotland multiple times the past 3-5 years to visit their daughter, she told me verbatim "no visa needed but don't forget to bring an extra pair of pants.......in case you get a hole in one"

LOL

I think we will be good with our passports.
 
El Rayo X said:
My wife and I are going to Scotland in May 2024 for 3 weeks.
Family heritage, sightseeing and 4-5 rounds of golf.
Hoping to get on the Old Course as a single, then hit various other courses throughout the country as we travel.
We are staying a few days each in Inverness, Aberdeen area, Glencoe, Edinburgh and St Andrews.
Going to try to get a round at Cruden Bay and Stonehaven. while in that area.
Any other suggestions for reasonably priced ( Old Course and Cruden Bay are my $$$ plays) ?
Click to expand...
I only got to play one round when I was there in September, it was at Royal Dornoch and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a bit of a drive north of Inverness (~45 mins) and it's definitely on the spendy side, but it was absolutely amazing. I already can't wait to return someday.

Royal Dornoch is Awesome
 
What about Carnoustie?
 
Here's my experience from late August 2023:
  • +1 on the Ginger Beer service, it's very worth it and he has a lot of extra knowledge especially on getting onto courses in and around St. Andrews and Fife in general
    • If you run out of luck signing up via the ballot, then try visiting the Old Course hotel and speak to the concierge, across from the Pro Shop entrance inside the hotel. Make sure you do it in the very late afternoon , the day before you plan on queuing up for the Old Course
    • The concierge then has a tee time list for the following day and is able to say more about queueing up - does it make sense, are there tee times left in the afternoon, how many member flights, what time to queue up etc.
      • Based on the recommendation, me and my ballot buddy queued up next morning and got to play (played on a Tuesday in late August)
  • Parking St. Andrews: go there early (4-6 AM) and park in the large parking lot across from the Old Course hotel on the other side of the fairway, there will be no parking guard until 7 AM and there is no parking barrier / gate = free parking for the day (we checked with the guard to make sure)
    • This is less than 10 minutes walking to the reception and tee box #1
  • Other courses
    • We played Kingsbarns the following day and had an absolute blast. Best course I have played - at a price, >$400,-
    • Leven & Lundin Links - around $100,-
    • Burntisland, Aberdour <$100,-
Not sure if anything has changed since then, so this info might not be entirely up-to-date.
 
ugghhhh this is only making the anticipation for this only worse. Come on June get here already.
 
Ollie, GREAT info. Thanks for sharing!!!

My count down has officially started, 2 months, 2 weeks & 5 days.

April 15th can't get here soon enough
 
Those who have traveled over, did you bring your own sticks or play rentals?
 
El Rayo X said:
Maybe, but I'm sort of on a budget. One, maybe to "high end" tracks.
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You’re going to the best of Scotland tracks. You really want to be in the shadow of some of them and not? :(

Unless you go often, then wtf lol
 
El Rayo X said:
Those who have traveled over, did you bring your own sticks or play rentals?
Click to expand...
You have to take your clubs. Makes no sense being there 3 weeks without them. Some places don't have much as rentals. Especially the 2nd tier places.
Did you connect with Chris at Gingerbeer re Ballot buddy? That's your best bet for getting on Old.
There's a 7 day golf pass for St Andrews courses. Look into that. Doesn't cover Old but if you get it and play some you may have better chance to create an angle of attack for play at Old.
Cruden Bay is best bang for buck in all of Scotland. Elaine Stephan is Sec. Give her a call.
The golf that most want to play in the areas you'll be is just not cheap. Elie outside of St Andrews is good value.
Kingsbarns, Dumbarnie, Carnoustie, Castle Stuart now Cabot Highlands, Royal Aberdeen, Royal Dornoch are all world ranked top100 courses and cost 400.
Brora a bit of a hike from Inverness but is pretty dynamic course. $150ish
 
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