St. Andrews pilgrimage advice and tips for planning

[dcmidnight]

Nah. I've said this in previous write ups. The best thing to calm your nerves is to watch the people teeing off before you. I watched a huge block of R&A members tee off in the morning and each group had at least one person either miss the fairway or hit just a putrid shot. Has a way of putting the mind at ease.

[Argonne69]

Hopefully you'll get a tee time at the Castle course before ToC. You can work on your links game there. Remember, if you can putt, putt, even if you use a fairway wood or hybrid.

 

[jvincent]

> @dcmidnight said:

> > @jvincent said:

> > The wind was off the left, so the smart play would have been to aim down the first fairway. Nope.

>

> Lots of people have recommendations about the "smart play" - and then before you know it its actually you standing up there on the tee box. With the ocean and the town in the background. And 15-20 people watching. And cars driving by.

>

> You know Tyson's saying, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth? So teeing off on 1 or 18 of TOC is something like that LOL.

>

 

Try hitting a solid tee shot with a 50 kph wind blowing into your face!

 

I hit a smother hook into the middle of the 18th fairway on the first tee. IIRC I had about a 6i into the green.

 

On a positive note, it was downwind when we played 18. I almost drove the green. It went most of the way up the front before it came back into the valley of sin.

 

 

[tiderider]

just get up there and rip it ... forget about where it goes ...

[Mignuz]

> @dcmidnight said:

> I used a tour company, stayed at the Fairmont for 7 nights, and including the 6 rounds of golf we paid @ $2,700 the first week in August. If we stayed at a smaller place downtown, we probably could have spent closer to $2,000.

>

> That doesnt include the flight but dont rule out a tour company just because you *think* it might be expensive.

 

Flights from Italy are waaay cheaper than from US (last time I spent 150€ with my golf bag), but spending 2.700$ for staying in an hotel one week, in my opinion, is crazy.

Count this: if you go there for playing golf, you'll be outside for the whole day, so I don't care staying in a beautiful hotel.

There are a lot of beautiful air bnb and you spend 45/55£ a day, which is 350£ for one week for sleeping/breakfast.

A car for one week is about 200/300£ (depending on car) but you share it with your mate(s).

except for the famous courses you can find good offers for last minute golf on www.teeofftimes.co.uk . last time I spent 35£ for playing Kittocks (one of the 2 courses of the Fairmont).

If you play in famous courses, let's say TOC, kingsbarn and Carnoustie you spend around 650£ and you can play 3 other different courses spending between 150/200£ or even less (last time we played 3 courses with 100£ with the website above).

So you total for one week of golf including the famous corses is around 1.200/1.400£ ($1450/1700). Just add plane and what you spend for eating and buying stuff.

So I think that if you just do it youself you can save a lot of money.

And with $ 4.000 as a budget you can enjoy yourself.

 

[Malvern]

Start it right of this one

[youtu.be/9N99wIOJyuY](

"youtu.be/9N99wIOJyuY")

[jonnymc44]

> @jvincent said:

> > @dcmidnight said:

> > > @jvincent said:

> > > The wind was off the left, so the smart play would have been to aim down the first fairway. Nope.

> >

> > Lots of people have recommendations about the "smart play" - and then before you know it its actually you standing up there on the tee box. With the ocean and the town in the background. And 15-20 people watching. And cars driving by.

> >

> > You know Tyson's saying, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth? So teeing off on 1 or 18 of TOC is something like that LOL.

> >

>

> Try hitting a solid tee shot with a 50 kph wind blowing into your face!

>

> I hit a smother hook into the middle of the 18th fairway on the first tee. IIRC I had about a 6i into the green.

>

> On a positive note, it was downwind when we played 18. I almost drove the green. It went most of the way up the front before it came back into the valley of sin.

>

>

 

I nearly snap hooked my 3 wood left out of bounds. Ended up no too far from the swilcan bridge leaving a 9 iron into the green, which I fatted into the burn. I teed off at 6.30am and was so stiff from sleeping outside the starter's hut it was untrue. I'm surprised I even made contact with the ball. Conversely, on 18 I pushed one into the hotel that ended up missing the parked cars, just, and bounced just back in bounds. Chipped on and made 2 putt par. Regulation play!

[jvincent]

Nice par! I wonder how many balls come back in play off the hotel and cars over the course of a year.

[TerpFangolfer]

> @dcmidnight said:

> > @jvincent said:

> > The wind was off the left, so the smart play would have been to aim down the first fairway. Nope.

>

> Lots of people have recommendations about the "smart play" - and then before you know it its actually you standing up there on the tee box. With the ocean and the town in the background. And 15-20 people watching. And cars driving by.

>

> You know Tyson's saying, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth? So teeing off on 1 or 18 of TOC is something like that LOL.

>

>

>

 

Gree 100% - played last June. 1 was straight downwind, so 18 back into the wind.

On 1 I knew there would be people about - but on our nice day, there was way more than I thought. Bladed a hybrid, that ran & ran...at least got across the road.

On 18 I pushed it, and thought for sure I was going over the wall, but I guess the wind had just enough cross pushing back towards the fairway. Whew, ended up ~ 6' inside the fence. Had to hit 6 to the green with the wind. Got it hole high & parred

[cardoustie]

I too was over by the Swilcan bridge .. hooked 5w

My caddie wanted me to hit 6i or 7i off the tee and I said, nope I need something with a larger margin for error ... red wine, no warm up, etc etc

my 2c, the Castle was fun but the top 3 should be TOC, Kingsbarns, Carnoustie .. stay in town and if I was you find a way to tough it out and play The New and Jubilee (which as a single should be easy as pie to get on)

[magix]

> @tiderider said:

> just get up there and rip it ... forget about where it goes ...

That's usually my golf buddy's mentality. He always tells me golf is simple...hit the ball. lol

 

> @jonnymc44 said:

> I nearly snap hooked my 3 wood left out of bounds. Ended up no too far from the swilcan bridge leaving a 9 iron into the green, which I fatted into the burn. I teed off at 6.30am and was so stiff from sleeping outside the starter's hut it was untrue. I'm surprised I even made contact with the ball. Conversely, on 18 I pushed one into the hotel that ended up missing the parked cars, just, and bounced just back in bounds. Chipped on and made 2 putt par. Regulation play!

This is the stuff of heroes! Slept out all night and tee off at 6:30a, wow! Great way to end the round on a high note. :)

 

> @cardoustie said:

> my 2c, the Castle was fun but the top 3 should be TOC, Kingsbarns, Carnoustie .. stay in town and if I was you find a way to tough it out and play The New and Jubilee (which as a single should be easy as pie to get on)

Man, all these comments about playing Carnoustie have me rethinking strategy! There's so many courses to play in and around town. Without a rental car I have to figure out if the 90 minute round trip is worth the trip as I hear taxi can be expensive. I guess it's another chance to take in some new scenery while I'm there.

 

 

[davep043]

> @magix said:

 

> Man, all these comments about playing Carnoustie have me rethinking strategy! There's so many courses to play in and around town. Without a rental car I have to figure out if the 90 minute round trip is worth the trip as I hear taxi can be expensive. I guess it's another chance to take in some new scenery while I'm there.

>

If your heart is set on it, you could take a bus to Carnoustie, something like 1h to 1h 20 minutes each way with a change in Leuchers or Dundee. It looks like the stop in Carnoustie is maybe 10 minutes walk from the course.

https://www.travelinescotland.com/

 

 

 

[Mignuz]

> @magix said:

 

> Man, all these comments about playing Carnoustie have me rethinking strategy! There's so many courses to play in and around town. Without a rental car I have to figure out if the 90 minute round trip is worth the trip as I hear taxi can be expensive. I guess it's another chance to take in some new scenery while I'm there.

>

>

I strongly reccomend you to rent a car.

You can visit great places with it, it's easy to go to st. Andrews from Edimburgh (and back) and you can play different courses.

Just take in serious consideration to rent a car.

 

 

[Argonne69]

> @davep043 said:

> > @magix said:

>

> > Man, all these comments about playing Carnoustie have me rethinking strategy! There's so many courses to play in and around town. Without a rental car I have to figure out if the 90 minute round trip is worth the trip as I hear taxi can be expensive. I guess it's another chance to take in some new scenery while I'm there.

> >

> If your heart is set on it, you could take a bus to Carnoustie, something like 1h to 1h 20 minutes each way with a change in Leuchers or Dundee. It looks like the stop in Carnoustie is maybe 10 minutes walk from the course.

> https://www.travelinescotland.com/

>

>

>

 

You can also take the train. The train station is right across the street from the course.

 

[magix]

> @Argonne69 said:

> > @davep043 said:

> > > @magix said:

> >

> > > Man, all these comments about playing Carnoustie have me rethinking strategy! There's so many courses to play in and around town. Without a rental car I have to figure out if the 90 minute round trip is worth the trip as I hear taxi can be expensive. I guess it's another chance to take in some new scenery while I'm there.

> > >

> > If your heart is set on it, you could take a bus to Carnoustie, something like 1h to 1h 20 minutes each way with a change in Leuchers or Dundee. It looks like the stop in Carnoustie is maybe 10 minutes walk from the course.

> > https://www.travelinescotland.com/

> >

> >

> >

>

> You can also take the train. The train station is right across the street from the course.

>

Just looked at the Carnoustie website and it looks like I would need to email them to book a tee time since I'm a single. However, it looked very easy to purchase a tee time for 2 people right now for the summer of 2020. Everything will be easier to plan once I hear back from the singles lottery to see if I got one of my preferred weeks and the tee times for TOC and Castle. From there I can stuff the calendar with tee times from bookable courses. Does anyone know if the advanced reservation system tells you if you didn't get picked?

 

[dcmidnight]

> @Mignuz said:

> > @dcmidnight said:

> > I used a tour company, stayed at the Fairmont for 7 nights, and including the 6 rounds of golf we paid @ $2,700 the first week in August. If we stayed at a smaller place downtown, we probably could have spent closer to $2,000.

> >

> > That doesnt include the flight but dont rule out a tour company just because you *think* it might be expensive.

>

> Flights from Italy are waaay cheaper than from US (last time I spent 150€ with my golf bag), but spending 2.700$ for staying in an hotel one week, in my opinion, is crazy.

> Count this: if you go there for playing golf, you'll be outside for the whole day, so I don't care staying in a beautiful hotel.

> There are a lot of beautiful air bnb and you spend 45/55£ a day, which is 350£ for one week for sleeping/breakfast.

> A car for one week is about 200/300£ (depending on car) but you share it with your mate(s).

> except for the famous courses you can find good offers for last minute golf on www.teeofftimes.co.uk . last time I spent 35£ for playing Kittocks (one of the 2 courses of the Fairmont).

> If you play in famous courses, let's say TOC, kingsbarn and Carnoustie you spend around 650£ and you can play 3 other different courses spending between 150/200£ or even less (last time we played 3 courses with 100£ with the website above).

> So you total for one week of golf including the famous corses is around 1.200/1.400£ ($1450/1700). Just add plane and what you spend for eating and buying stuff.

> So I think that if you just do it youself you can save a lot of money.

> And with $ 4.000 as a budget you can enjoy yourself.

>

 

I wasnt trying to win a prize for cheapest trip. Someone mentioned that a travel agent was very expensive and I was pointing out that no - it really isnt, you can have a full service trip for well inside your budget.

 

Sorry, it wasnt a contest to see who could do it even cheaper than that.

[scott_Donald]

I stayed at the Old Course hotel last night, we lucked out and ended up getting the Rory McIlroy room, it was great just sitting there watching folk hit off 17. I would highly recommend that hotel.

Played The Dukes course yesterday which is great except the 9th and 18th holes. Played the Jubilee today which was great fun, still not sure which I prefer between that and the New. One last thing I thought today is how lucky I am with Royal Aberdeen, its better than all the courses there, well except the privilege of playing the OLD. Dam I love the atmosphere of St Andrews.

[Mignuz]

> @dcmidnight said:

 

> I wasnt trying to win a prize for cheapest trip. Someone mentioned that a travel agent was very expensive and I was pointing out that no - it really isnt, you can have a full service trip for well inside your budget.

>

> Sorry, it wasnt a contest to see who could do it even cheaper than that.

 

My only intent was to say that there is the possibility to have a perfect golf trip with a low budget and for doing that organizing the trip yourself can save a lot of money.

Of course travel agency can be a easier way but I saw that it costs at least 1000$ a week more than if you organize it yourself.

For example, from Italy there is a package for 5 nights, 4 green fees playing TOC, Carnoustie, Gleneagles (PGA & king's) starting from € 2.879 per person (plane not included): https://www.iviaggidiseve.com/gleneagles-st-andrews-tour/

I played the same exact courses (except Gleneagles Kings, but played also Lundin, Castle and new curse) and I spent less than € 1.400,00 total, including plane, food and car rental.

What I mean is that you can have a perfect golf trip with half the money rather than a travel agency.

So, IMHO, travel agency are expensive.

[dcmidnight]

(smh)

 

The comment wasn't "how can I do a super cheap trip by myself?" The comment was, "travel agents are expensive".

 

And my answer was "they dont have to be and heres an example".

 

I get it, you did a budget trip and saved a lot of money. But you're giving an answer to a question that hadn't been asked - and certainly not one I was trying to answer.

[magix]

> @scott_Donald said:

> I stayed at the Old Course hotel last night, we lucked out and ended up getting the Rory McIlroy room, it was great just sitting there watching folk hit off 17. I would highly recommend that hotel.

>

> Played The Dukes course yesterday which is great except the 9th and 18th holes. Played the Jubilee today which was great fun, still not sure which I prefer between that and the New. One last thing I thought today is how lucky I am with Royal Aberdeen, its better than all the courses there, well except the privilege of playing the OLD. Dam I love the atmosphere of St Andrews.

 

Thanks for sharing Scott! Amazing view and it looks like you're getting great weather. Fairways and greens! Have a great trip

[Bingo1976]

Just to echo others in saying that Carnouste is a must play - I can't vouch for how much and how hard to book as we got comped a round. We also got on TOC in the next days ballot - ended up as a 2 ball in the midst of 4 balls, so had a very slow round. A caddy is a must for TOC, and I would highly recommend one for Carnoustie, if only to get some great stories about who they have caddied for in the ADH - my caddy had looped for Samual L Jackson and Justin Timberlake. The pound is on it's arse at the moment thanks to Brexit, so food and drink will be cheap, but I can imagine the courses will be busy with overseas visitors as a result.

[Hawkeye77]

> @dcmidnight said:

> > @jvincent said:

> > The wind was off the left, so the smart play would have been to aim down the first fairway. Nope.

>

> Lots of people have recommendations about the "smart play" - and then before you know it its actually you standing up there on the tee box. With the ocean and the town in the background. And 15-20 people watching. And cars driving by.

>

> You know Tyson's saying, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth? So teeing off on 1 or 18 of TOC is something like that LOL.

>

>

>

Just about two minutes before I teed off a gull swooped in and attacked a sandwich I thought I was going to eat just as I was taking a bite. The resulting injury and blood on my finger (very minor) I had to tape up kind of took the edge off, lol, but we teed off very early a.m. and pretty much nobody watching - I think that probably helped. If we'd teed off later in the day, and had to wait and lots of folks watching and just letting the tension build I'm sure the fairway would have looked a lot smaller. I was lucky and had a good round and was super nervous off the 17th, super nervous, but my caddie said what he said most of the day on several holes, haha, "remember, you can hit it as far left as you like." Well, I pulled the crap out of one that ended up between the two holes and wasn't all that far, but it was in play!

[Hawkeye77]

> @Argonne69 said:

> > @davep043 said:

> > > @magix said:

> >

> > > Man, all these comments about playing Carnoustie have me rethinking strategy! There's so many courses to play in and around town. Without a rental car I have to figure out if the 90 minute round trip is worth the trip as I hear taxi can be expensive. I guess it's another chance to take in some new scenery while I'm there.

> > >

> > If your heart is set on it, you could take a bus to Carnoustie, something like 1h to 1h 20 minutes each way with a change in Leuchers or Dundee. It looks like the stop in Carnoustie is maybe 10 minutes walk from the course.

> > https://www.travelinescotland.com/

> >

> >

> >

>

> You can also take the train. The train station is right across the street from the course.

>

 

Most definitely, but will still need taxi or bus to the train station.

[Argonne69]

> @Hawkeye77 said:

> > @Argonne69 said:

> > > @davep043 said:

> > > > @magix said:

> > >

> > > > Man, all these comments about playing Carnoustie have me rethinking strategy! There's so many courses to play in and around town. Without a rental car I have to figure out if the 90 minute round trip is worth the trip as I hear taxi can be expensive. I guess it's another chance to take in some new scenery while I'm there.

> > > >

> > > If your heart is set on it, you could take a bus to Carnoustie, something like 1h to 1h 20 minutes each way with a change in Leuchers or Dundee. It looks like the stop in Carnoustie is maybe 10 minutes walk from the course.

> > > https://www.travelinescotland.com/

> > >

> > >

> > >

> >

> > You can also take the train. The train station is right across the street from the course.

> >

>

> Most definitely, but will still need taxi or bus to the train station.

 

Yes, the bus is cheap and runs from downtown St Andrews to the train station in Leuchars every 10 minutes.

[jkumpire]

Hello! Sorry to stick my nose in here, but is March too early to play in Scotland? I know that most people say the shoulder season starts in April, but I live and work sports outside in Ohio in March and play golf when I can then too.

 

This is probably a once in a lifetime shot, so I don't want to blow it and a ton of ff miles on watching the ocean for a week. Thanks!

[Hawkeye77]

March in Scotland is probably better than March in Ohio!

[Hawkeye77]

Looks like mats on The Old Course in March, though.

[jvincent]

> @jkumpire said:

> Hello! Sorry to stick my nose in here, but is March too early to play in Scotland? I know that most people say the shoulder season starts in April, but I live and work sports outside in Ohio in March and play golf when I can then too.

>

> This is probably a once in a lifetime shot, so I don't want to blow it and a ton of ff miles on watching the ocean for a week. Thanks!

 

The biggest issue with March is that you have to play off mats on the Old Course and maybe others as well.

 

The weather can be a crap shoot even if you go in June or July so really that isn't as big a factor.

[MikekiM]

I was there the week before labor day. Played TOC on the Thursday and had a great time. I got in through the ballot system, but I spoke with a gentleman that was waiting, and he said he arrived at the course just after 4am Thursday morning, and he was like #21 on the list. He went back to the room and took a nap and came back later in the morning. I saw him again on Friday and he said he ultimately did get a time, played just after 2pm. He was saying some folks were there as early as 2am waiting to get on the list.

 

[scott_Donald]

> @jkumpire said:

> Hello! Sorry to stick my nose in here, but is March too early to play in Scotland? I know that most people say the shoulder season starts in April, but I live and work sports outside in Ohio in March and play golf when I can then too.

>

> This is probably a once in a lifetime shot, so I don't want to blow it and a ton of ff miles on watching the ocean for a week. Thanks!

 

Personally yes. I would have only played 2 times or so on the course by March. there is no real growth by then at all.