I just recently returned from my Trip to Scotland and I wanted to share my overall golf experience and course review. The first course was the Gleneagles – The King’s Course, I must admit I thought this course was going to be the weakest course on my itinerary but I was completely wrong, this course is now one of my favorite inland golf courses, which I didn’t expect to find in Scotland the King of Links golf. The King Course is filled with beautifully rolling hills and elevation changes, perfectly placed bunkers and challenging greens. Choose your tee box correctly, I went too far back not paying attention to Par and had three 450+ par 4s into 20+ winds. I highly recommend this course to anyone, think Bethpage Black but more intense yet smooth. The Second Course was the Old Course at St. Andrews Links, I played on a 35 degree morning and experienced, rain, snow, sleet and 25+ mph sustained winds. The Old Course showed all of its teeth and was a fun round, that said it was the more boring of the courses. The Old Course is very flat and open and without wind it would play very easily. I do highly recommend playing because of history and a fun layout but I would not seek to play again when I go back to Scotland. My third course was by far my favorite course of the trip, Kingsbarns Golf Links. Kingsbarns gave me all I could ask for from a Links course, great seaside holes, creative layout, a great combination of long and short par 4s and a strong closing stretch. While Kingsbarns is the youngest of the courses I played, it plays link a classic links course. Do not make a trip to Scotland and miss this spectacular course. After playing Kingsbarns, I thought that would be the end of my trip, the caddie Mal mentioned a great seaside short course he is a member of in Crail just 20 minutes north of St. Andrews and 10 minutes from Kingsbarns, called Balcomie. I went back to my room packed my clothes and clubs to depart that night and at 4:30pm I called Crail Golfing Society to get a last minute 5:10pm tee time to keep the good golf going. Balcomie is everything I want from a short course and more, the members at Crail are nice and welcoming to outside play and so is the amazing staff (if you play tell David the AP I said Hi and thanks). I was able to play this course in under 3 hours and walked with another member. #2, 4 and 5 you will want a picture on. Balcomie is designed by Tom Morris who designed the Old Course and this course has many of the same features, double greens, wide shared fairways and strategically placed bunkers, the big difference is the elevation changes. It’s important that if you are looking for a long course or a standard course this is not it, its max length is 5800 yards and is a par 69, Crail has Gil Hanse first solo design on property and it is a full size par 72 playing 6500, but I would treat yourself to a fun round at this locals gem at American muni prices.
My Scotland Trip was organized by Perry Golf, I highly recommend them for couple’s trips, buddies trips and even solo trips. Perry Golf is first class all the way, they took care of everything. From Keith helping us month before the flight, to Lisa who met us in Scotland and helped track down my clubs when lost by the airline, they did everything perfectly and only made the trip better for my wife and me. I cannot under sale how easy Perry Golf made our Scotland experience, we hope to use them for future trips in to future
Hotels – We stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire our first 3 nights and it was one of if not the best Hotel experience I have ever had, this property has it all and provided my wife and I plenty of activities when I was not playing. I highly recommend the Falconry School it was an amazing experience, but I also enjoyed hours of walking the property. The rooms are well specular in design and size and the staff is very friendly and helpful. I had to rent clubs at Gleneagles and while I hate renting clubs I was surprised to find out that they carried four major manufacturers clubs, I was able to move some clubs around and make some tweaks and it felt reasonably close to my personal set. The Second property is the Fairmont at St. Andrews, this hotel is located just outside of the city of St. Andrews and has two courses on property and is 3 minutes from the Castle Course at St. Andrews. Very Nice Accommodations and the best door men in Scotland.
