Scotland Suggestions for a Golfer and Non-Golfer, please.
 

My daughter "thinks" I'm the ultimate travel planner and has invited me on a 1-week trip to Scotland w/her and her SO. He is more interested in golfing and scotch tours than castles . . . their plan is I can be company for DD out sightseeing while he is golfing.

I have several questions I hope y'all can help me with to keep them "thinking" I'm still the expert.

1. Will the weather still be good in late Sept?

2. Besides St. Andrews, are there any other golf courses he should not miss?

3. Are they close to the scotch trails?

4. We'll rent a car.

5. Will this work . . . his golfing, our sightseeing?

I'm open to any and all suggestions. I'll do a search here but there's so much info that I'm a little overwhelmed.

Oh, one last question . . . from Dallas/Ft. Worth, which city would be best for us to fly into?

Thanks in advance,
Sandy (in Denton)

Yes it will work. First a bit of clearing up - you are wanting the &quot;whisky&quot; trail. Second &quot;<i>Besides St. Andrews, are there any other golf courses he should not miss?</i>&quot; oh, several hundred.

But does he simply want to play wonderful golf - or is it only the famous ones he's interested in? Famous: Old Course, Turnberry, Prestwick, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Gullane, Gleneagles, Royal Dornoch and on and on. But these will COST and for a few of these one must either stay in the (extremely pricey) hotel or be a friend of a member. The others are actually public courses - though world famous. And all are also in areas w/ LOTS to see/do

But there are TONS of other wonderful courses the length of the country.

The weather in Sept will stillbe pretty decent . . . .

You and your daughter should have a great time! There has been lots of info on this forum about golf/sightseeing. Especially regarding St. Andrews.

Either Edinburgh or Glasgow would work for flying, so pick the one with the better fare.

There are distilleries in areas of Scotland other than the &quot;Whisky Trail&quot; so you shouldn't have much trouble working that in.

Oh dear, oh dear. So many issues:)

This is Scotland. The weather may be wonderful or foul and there is NO WAy to tell in advance. Pack and dress in layers.

Golf Courses not to be missed- Turnberry, Troon, Machrihanish, Machrie, Dornoch, Carnoustie, the King's Course at Gleneagles and Muirfield.

Now, you can't get on to them all. You might not even get on to the Old Course; and you wouldn't have time for them all anyway; but you can show off by knowing about them

DO NOT CALL IT SCOTCH!. (did you get that, now?). And there is a golf course near every distillery and a distillery near most golf courses. But what exactly are you trying to plot here?

Yes, it'll work. Just tell him to bring his wallet

Is this this year? Are there any fixed points?

Royal Dornoch - used to be a British Open course, but too remote and off the schedule. beautiful. this is one of the links courses that defines the name 'links' style golf.

Cruden Bay - just it with a lilt... Crrrrrrooooooooden Bay. scenery - wow!!!

I haven't played all of the aforementioned, but I thought I'd share my input.

sorry.

I've played Royal Dornoch and Cruden Bay. loved 'em!

haven't played all the others listed although they are championship caliber courses.

Thank you all for you wonderful suggestions. We now have our tickets so have firm dates . . . and a few more days. We leave Dallas/Ft. Worth Thur, Sept 14 to Edinburgh and return Sun, Sept 24. That actually gives us 9 full days in Scotland.

And . . . after finding out how much it costs to golf the famous courses, daughter's SO has decided maybe he could play less-famous courses . . . he just wants to play.

I have a guidebook now and armed with your suggestions, I am plotting a course on a map . . . I may be back with more questions.

Thanks again,
Sandy (in Denton)

Please do. You/ daughter's SO need to understand that every little village in Scotland (well, nearly every) has a gold course and many of them are beautiful and chalenging without being expensive. Most larger towns and all cities have municipal course where access will be very reasonable- Carnoustie is owned by the Council. Golf is not so elite in Scotland, which IMO makes it more fun.

Sorry, didn't think I'd be back quite so soon with more questions.

We live in Texas and cities are quite spread out . . . we think nothing of driving an hour or so to get anyplace. By looking at my map, it appears we might be able to situate someplace and do golfing/daytrips and not be moving every night. Or . . . is moving every night part of the fun in Scotland?

I've plotted a rough course . . . Edinburgh, Ft. William, Inverness, St Andrews, Edinburgh. Could I just pick a place pretty much in the center and be able to get to everyplace in under 1.5 hrs?

Since we've never been, we don't have any experience with how long it actually takes to drive someplace. Here, we can pretty much travel a mile/min. We found that in Ireland, it was more like a mile/hr!

Any suggestions for a base? Do we need B&amp;B reservations ahead of time or can we make them on the fly (as we did in Ireland)?

Thanks,
Sandy (in Denton)

Distances in the UK are decieving. 90 minutes might mean barely 50 - 60 miles in a lot of areas.

Besides - there is no single base convenient to all those places.

But it is still a good idea to pick a couple of bases for 2 or 3 nights each. That way you aren't having to pack and move every single morning. Especially if 4 hours is taken out of the day for a round of golf.

BTW - Ft William and Inverness are probably two of the worst places you could pick to spend time.

You will have the 15th - 23rd - which is not long enough to see/do everything. A sensible itinerary might look something like:

- Stay Sept 15 - 16 in Edinburgh

- Sept 17 pick up rental car and head into Fife. Stay Sept 17 - 18 in/near St Andrews. Maybe in the village of Crail. See the Old Course. This is perfect since there is no play on the Old Course on Sundays. You could walk the entire course if you wanted. Visit the castle, Cathedral and just wander around St Andrews. On the 18th play Crail, and the others can visit Falkland Palace/gardens, maybe a boat trip out to the Isle of May. Then after the golf round all of you can explore the fishing villages.

- Sept 19 drive north - visit Glamis Castle and Dunnottar. Stay near Stoneheven

- Sept 20 play Cruden Bay if possible. Others can tour any number of castles and see the Bullers of Buchan

- Sept 21/22 stay near Inverness (not IN Inverness) Possibly play Nairn. Visit Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, Culloden, Cawdor, maybe a whisky distillery.

- Sept 23 head down the A9, visit Blair Castle, maybe jog over to Stirling. end up near Edinburgh airport to stay the last night and fly home the next morning.

Just one possibility . . . .

I would agree that you can't do it all from one base.

My suggestion would be:-

3 nights in somehere like Falkland in Fife, giving you access to the links course all along the Fife coast, Glenaeagles, Auchterarder, Perth and Edinburgh; followed by 3 nights in
Nairn, giving you access to Nairn, Inverness, the Whisky Trail, and Dornoch, with maybe a day trip to Skye (which DOES have a golf course); then last night in Edinburgh.

You won't need reservations at that time of year- maybe the last night would be sensible, but.

You have two really good sample itineraries here. Either one would eliminate moving every day. I (personally) would do it like Sheila's suggestion since I tend to stay a week or more in one place so the 3 nights/3 nights is closer to how I like to do it. My loop itinerary isn't too rushed though, so if the 3 stops for 2 nights each is OK you would get visit the NE castles/Cruden Bay

Otherwise, the two plans cover much of the same territory.

Both will have TONS of stuff for the non-golfers as well as some terrific courses.

Having driven in both Texas and Scotland, I would point out that driving in Scotland is much more demanding, and not only because you will be on the &quot;wrong&quot; side of the road. Roads are narrower and twistier, signage is not as good or as frequent and you will surely get a fair amount of rain, even if it clears up in a hour or two.

I like Inverness, and will point out that there is a lovely theater there if that interests you.

I am remiss for not thanking you all sooner . . . you gave us great advice. We had almost perfect weather and Andy was able to play golf 4 times in 8 days. He ended up playing local courses and having wonderful experiences . . . he joined other golfers, some bought him drinks in the clubhouse, one couple brought him home and gave him lots of info on where to eat, etc. . . . he loved those experiences almost as much as the golf.

Even though you all told us there were courses in every town, we were unprepared for how lovely they all were . . . I think we stopped and looked at all of them, even though we were just passing through!

Thanks again for all your help,
Sandy (in Denton)

Thanks for reporting back, sandy_b. Where did you end up staying? And what did you non-golfers see and enjoy?

Sheila has mentioned Gleneagles for golf. My understanding is that it is in excess of $300 US for a round if you are not a resident at the hotel. Ridiculous in my opinion.

&quot;<i>My understanding is that it is in excess of $300 US for a round if you are not a resident at the hotel. </i>&quot;

Everything is relative I guess - Pebble Beach charges $425+.

sandyb: Thanks for getting back to us. Sounds like you had a great time.

We had a great trip! About where we stayed . . . we originally were just winging it except for the last 3 nights in Edinburgh where we had booked a 2b/2bath apt just a couple of blocks from Princess St.

Then right before we left, I got nervous and decided we needed a place for our first night since we'd be jetlagged and frazzled from driving on the &quot;wrong&quot; side. I first tried to book on my own but quickly found out that there were several events in St. Andrews (filling up most accommodations) on our first few days and resorted to the Scotland Tourist bureau site.

I sent in a request for 2 en-suite rooms and was very surprised to receive a telephone call from them . . . seems one of the booking agents recognized my email address (@unt.edu) and she had attended UNT for a couple of years as a study abroad student . . . one of those great small-world moments.

Anyway, she found us something right outside of SA. From then on, we used the Tourist Information offices or stayed in hotels. We found it was easier for us (2 couples) to find hotels, since many B&amp;Bs were either full or only had one room . . . didn't slow us down any and the hotels were the same price as B&amp;Bs and included breakfast!

I have typed up my travelog and would be happy to email it to anyone who is interested . . . just send me an email . . . [email protected]. It's 'way to long to post.

Again, thank you for all your GREAT help and advice!

Sandy (in Denton)

We have used the information offices several times in Scotland and have had great success with them. I've sent you a request for your log - look forward to reading it!

Stirling is an excellent base. History, battlefields and castles including Doune which was used in filming Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Gleneagles Golf course is 20 minutes drive, numerous distilleries closby including Glen Turret (Famous Grouse) and Glengoyne.

Have a good trip,

Kilronan : www.kilronan.co.uk