2025 St. Andrews trip planning, looking for advice

[tad950]

6 hours ago, S Waldo said:

Does St. Andrews send out any notification or heads up when they open up the advance drawing for 2025 tee times? If I sign up for the St Andrews newsletter will it coming through that way? I've read it's usually in August or September. 

Sign up for their newsletter. Information about the 2025 lottery will be released in August. And notification of success or failure goes out mid October, if I recall correctly. 

[Yoshifan151]

Royal Dornoch and North Berwick are secured! I'm really excited with how this trip is coming along so far. Now we hope for the best with getting an advanced time at TOC.

[McMunch]

Yoshi- Enjoying your planning and trip vicariously- Make sure you pack drop cloths, paper towels and maybe a mop. I wish I had because when you get to Scotland your head is going to explode. 

[hammergolf]

On 7/5/2024 at 11:24 PM, Yoshifan151 said:

Carnoustie is booked! Went with a Sunday round since TOC is closed then so hopefully I'll have better odds with the annual lottery for the other days.

Looking forward to reading about your trip.

Edited July 23, 2024 by hammergolf

[Yoshifan151]

1 minute ago, hammergolf said:

If you are looking to play another round on your way back to St. Andrews after Carnoustie on Sunday, take a look at Panmure. It’s a GREAT links course and stays in excellent condition.

Yup Panmure has been on the list since the start lol.

[Yoshifan151]

40 minutes ago, McMunch said:

Yoshi- Enjoying your planning and trip vicariously- Make sure you pack drop cloths, paper towels and maybe a mop. I wish I had because when you get to Scotland your head is going to explode. 

Thanks! Hoping it'll help out some other users who are planning first time trips as well, and I've been getting some good advice here too. I appreciate it a lot.

 

Will do with the extra towels. My dad and I have full rain gear, but we're going to get waterproof golf bags. When we played Old Macdonald earlier in Feb this year, we stayed dry in the rain and 40 mph winds but our bags were drenched lol. Not having that happen again!

[NDSwim]

Just got back last Friday from a 10 day trip.  Unbelievable weather, only 12 holes with rain.  Little weather.  Totally not what I had planned for.  
 

happy to help if you have any questions!

[Yoshifan151]

37 minutes ago, NDSwim said:

Just got back last Friday from a 10 day trip.  Unbelievable weather, only 12 holes with rain.  Little weather.  Totally not what I had planned for.  
 

happy to help if you have any questions!

That's awesome to hear, glad you had a blast over there! Appreciate it.

[jvincent]

5 hours ago, Yoshifan151 said:

My dad and I have full rain gear, but we're going to get waterproof golf bags. When we played Old Macdonald earlier in Feb this year, we stayed dry in the rain and 40 mph winds but our bags were drenched lol. Not having that happen again!

 

Not having a waterproof bag, especially when you're carrying, is a rookie mistake. A soaked bag probably weighs an extra 5lbs.

[Yoshifan151]

41 minutes ago, jvincent said:

 

Not having a waterproof bag, especially when you're carrying, is a rookie mistake. A soaked bag probably weighs an extra 5lbs.

We used push carts thankfully! I only carried at Trails.

[ALTSean]

On 5/18/2024 at 8:22 PM, McMunch said:

PS- New and Jubilee are so similar that you could play one and get the idea for both...

The Castle course was fun too. Also in that area is Lundin, Levin, Kingsbarns and Dumbarnie. You cant go wrong anywhere.

 

Another vote for a day trip to Lundin and Levin to play 36. Have lunch at one clubhouse between rounds and then have dinner at the other clubhouse and you get more of a local vibe than some of the big "name" courses and it is a fun day.

[flognut]

23 hours ago, ALTSean said:

 

Another vote for a day trip to Lundin and Levin to play 36. Have lunch at one clubhouse between rounds and then have dinner at the other clubhouse and you get more of a local vibe than some of the big "name" courses and it is a fun day.

now that sounds like a great idea. next time i go i will def do this

[ALTSean]

3 minutes ago, flognut said:

now that sounds like a great idea. next time i go i will def do this

 

We played 36 at Lundin and Levin last August and had a great time. One of the guys in our group liked Lundin so much that he reached out to their Pro Shop this spring and asked if we could buy additional swag and they helped him out, shipped internationally, and even sent our foursome personalized Lundin bag tags.  🔥

[flognut]

6 minutes ago, ALTSean said:

 

We played 36 at Lundin and Levin last August and had a great time. One of the guys in our group liked Lundin so much that he reached out to their Pro Shop this spring and asked if we could buy additional swag and they helped him out, shipped internationally, and even sent our foursome personalized Lundin bag tags.  🔥

awesome

[Yoshifan151]

1 hour ago, ALTSean said:

 

We played 36 at Lundin and Levin last August and had a great time. One of the guys in our group liked Lundin so much that he reached out to their Pro Shop this spring and asked if we could buy additional swag and they helped him out, shipped internationally, and even sent our foursome personalized Lundin bag tags.  🔥

Now that's awesome!

[S Waldo]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:58 PM, tad950 said:

Sign up for their newsletter. Information about the 2025 lottery will be released in August. And notification of success or failure goes out mid October, if I recall correctly. 

Newsletter was sent out with details about the 2025 advanced old course ballot. It mentions the Swilcan Package option which includes Old Course and another St. Andrews links course. Swilcan Package page is live to bookmark on Aug 15th and the application window is open between Aug 26th and Sep 4th. Are they only offering the Swilcan Package to apply for or am I able to only apply for an Old Course tee time Aug 26th?

[Yoshifan151]

On 8/13/2024 at 6:58 AM, S Waldo said:

Newsletter was sent out with details about the 2025 advanced old course ballot. It mentions the Swilcan Package option which includes Old Course and another St. Andrews links course. Swilcan Package page is live to bookmark on Aug 15th and the application window is open between Aug 26th and Sep 4th. Are they only offering the Swilcan Package to apply for or am I able to only apply for an Old Course tee time Aug 26th?

From what I've seen them posting so far, this package looks like the only way. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but in the past I think they also required an additional round aside from TOC.

[Yoshifan151]

Submitted my TOC advanced lottery application, let's hope the golf gods help a brotha out.

[Messma]

Does anyone know if selecting “any” for your second course improves chances? I know they say it’s completely random, but I wanted to check before submitting my application. 

[tad950]

1 hour ago, Messma said:

Does anyone know if selecting “any” for your second course improves chances? I know they say it’s completely random, but I wanted to check before submitting my application. 

Last year, the Castle Course was the only option. I’m guessing that it wouldn’t make a difference. The date you want to play is probably more important. My 4some this past season was composed of singles fall 2023 lottery picks.

 

p.s. The Castle Course was much more enjoyable to play this time than the first two times I played it. One of the caddies told me that some of the greens complexes have been redone. No more clown mouth putts. And they now have their own caddy program. So you will no longer get a caddy that hates to be there. It’s a much easier and more lucrative loop in town.

Edited August 27, 2024 by tad950

[EricWGolf]

1 minute ago, tad950 said:

Last year, the Castle Course was the only option.

We selected Jubilee as our other course and were chosen.  Played TOC and Jubilee the second week of July this past summer. Twosome. 

[tad950]

21 minutes ago, EricWGolf said:

We selected Jubilee as our other course and were chosen.  Played TOC and Jubilee the second week of July this past summer. Twosome. 

Maybe because I was a single application ? Or maybe I didn’t hit the drop down menu 😄. 

[tad950]

Just looked at the 2025 offering. Castle is the only option for a single.The older I get the more I question my memory. And the price went up 50 GBP. 😄

Edited August 27, 2024 by tad950

[mshills]

On 8/26/2024 at 2:29 PM, Yoshifan151 said:

Submitted my TOC advanced lottery application, let's hope the golf gods help a brotha out.

Right there with you, hope we get that jackpot!

[Bsarosi]

Our threesome was lucky to be selected in the Swilcan Package for April 2025 (notified this morning via email) - super pumped! I was able to move our Carnoustie tee time to accommodate the TOC tee time but our Castle Course tee time is when we're scheduled to play Kingsbarns. My question is: how easy is it to switch the Castle Course tee time to another day? Or should I move the Kingsbarns tee time instead?

Edited October 3, 2024 by Bsarosi

[Yoshifan151]

1 hour ago, Bsarosi said:

Our threesome was lucky to be selected in the Swilcan Package for April 2025 (notified this morning via email) - super pumped! I was able to move our Carnoustie tee time to accommodate the TOC tee time but our Castle Course tee time is when we're scheduled to play Kingsbarns. My question is: how easy is it to switch the Castle Course tee time to another day? Or should I move the Kingsbarns tee time instead?

Congrats! I haven't gotten anything yet, hopefully that doesn't mean I'm just SOL...

 

As for your times, if it were me I'd call Kingsbarns first and see if they can move that.

[Bsarosi]

59 minutes ago, Yoshifan151 said:

Congrats! I haven't gotten anything yet, hopefully that doesn't mean I'm just SOL...

 

As for your times, if it were me I'd call Kingsbarns first and see if they can move that.

 

Thought I saw somewhere that entrants would be notified by Oct 22. Maybe they're going in order of month since April 14 was the earliest one could apply for and we're heading there April 18.

 

I'm leaning towards adjusting the Kingsbarns tee time but that was the day my father was going to take a day off from golf while my brother and I played Kingsbarns. So I'd prefer to move the Castle Course tee time so pops can still have the day off...

[Yoshifan151]

43 minutes ago, Bsarosi said:

 

Thought I saw somewhere that entrants would be notified by Oct 22. Maybe they're going in order of month since April 14 was the earliest one could apply for and we're heading there April 18.

 

I'm leaning towards adjusting the Kingsbarns tee time but that was the day my father was going to take a day off from golf while my brother and I played Kingsbarns. So I'd prefer to move the Castle Course tee time so pops can still have the day off...

I saw that as well. The month batches makes a lot of sense now that you mention it.

 

Gotcha with the plans you had. I'd also contact the St. Andrews team to see if they can move the Castle time, should hopefully not be too hard since it seems like TOC is the only course with very strict guidelines. But I haven't been there at all so maybe some others can give insight.

[mshills]

….Furtively searches Gmail inbox and spam….

 

No word yet for me. 

[Poor Mans Ty Webb]

I applied for mid-late April and have heard nothing yet either…