Chasing Birdies in UK - a week of golf in Scotland & the magic of Isle of Skye

[bluebagger]

I'm a long time lurker here on AFF and have benefited from lots of great tips n tricks and its only fair I give something back

In the past 6 months thru a mix of good luck and good planning I've had several opportunities to travel to Europe and US and take advantage to tick some of those "bucket list" things off and the fact I can do it while I can under my own steam was always my plan This is the 1st one of those trips:

2 weeks in UK in total, a week playing 6 of the best courses in and around St Andrews, 3 days in Isle of Skye and 3 days in London, I have plenty of pics so I hope I can work out how to post and not make too many of the frustrated golfers here "green" with envy, oh and by the way we had just the best weather that early summer could offer, only one afternoon of rain in 14 days!

For the golfers amongst us we got to play St Andrews courses: ( New course, Jubilee, Fairmont, Dukes, Kingsbarns ) and then 2 day trips to Carnoustie ( stunning ) and up to Aberdeen to play Trumps course ( just amazing, well worth the drive )

Flights

I've become a big fan of Qatar since being LTG and WP for past 7 yrs running and being based in Singapore I've lost so much of what QF used to offer me, anyway the QR J class specials from various south Asian cities are just awesome, for this trip I got a special deal from Hanoi - Doha - Fra return for under $3K AUD and it was a new 777 on both legs with an STPC 8.5 hr connect in DOH ( free hotel stopover ) on the way over. The same "special" from SIN is nearly $2k more yet I'm more than happy to get a budget flight for $200 to position for this deal!

From FRA I just booked the cheapest BA flight I could get to LHR, I wanted to stay on OW but I didnt realise how BAD flying into LHR can be on intra Europe flights so next time I will probably go to LCY or even LGW...more on that later. We had planned to pick up the Hertz rental in London and drive via Lakes District to St Andrews but once I google mapped the journey and factored in the roadworks and Jeremy Clarkson's comments about speed zones and roadworks in UK I made the executive decision to pay the 50 pounds and fly BA from LGW to EDI and re-book the rental car from there....best decision I could have made, car got upgraded to a new Volvo wagon!

Accomm

We had a mix of 4/5* and local B&B, we found the B&B's to be of high quality and the hotels in London and St Andrews a little worn but maybe we have a high expectation of what 250+ pound a night buys you as I'm used to what we get for that in the Asia right now.

More on the golf and Isle of Skye experience and some nice restaurant meals...

 

[RB]

Looking forward to reading more of this- and the photos of course-you need to go to "go advanced" instead of just "post quick reply" when posting & it will give you the chance to select & update your photos

 

[TomVexille]

This sounds like great fun. Looking forward to reading it

 

[JohnK]

Sounds like a fun trip. Some of those courses are great. Looking forward to reading this trip report.

 

[Sbv72]

Interested to read the report on Isle of Skye. I am on holiday in London at the moment and will be on Skye in just over a weeks time. I do have a stay in Hoylake next week, site of last years British Open, but can't fit in a round.

 

[craven morehead]

Looking forward to the pics !

 

[Alanslegal]

I'm a long time lurker here on AFF and have benefited from lots of great tips n tricks and its only fair I give something back

That's the spirit. Looking forward to some QR pics. A mate of mine flew QR J A350 and he said it was one of his best J flights ever and that the QR DOH lounge blew him out of the water.

 

[bluebagger]

Week 1: In and around St Andrews & Kingsbarns course

We had awesome weather and first 3 days we stayed at the Old Course Hotel and then rented a house on the outskirts for a week....the hotel is in need of some TLC, its tired but it gets so much business because of where it is...hard to beat, also its a fashion fiesta with the Koreans only slightly ahead of the emerging rich Chinese who have seriously discovered the home of golf at this time of year.

View from the hotel room looking "left" and "right", that's the 17th fairway looking across the the New course and Jubilee and the 2nd pic is looking up towards the clubhouse and the famous closing hole

View attachment 51465View attachment 51466

Our favourite rounds were definitely Kingsbarns and Carnoustie and we took the chance to drive the 3hrs up to Aberdeen and play Donald Trump International course which was simply stunning and at 250 pounds a round was the most expensive as well, wait til he opens a clubhouse....

Here are some of my better pics

Kingsbarns - this was quite stunning, my golf buddy had played it previously so it was a "must do" and I loved it. A funny story, as we arrived and were waiting to tee off, we were told that there would be 2 additional players joining, no drama, we had both hired local caddies to maximize our experience anyway. As the scheduled tee time came close we still hadn't seen our "partners" at which point the starter came out of his office and said in a thick Scottish accent " aye, they be here shortly, they're just coming over the hill now" .....as you can see by the pic below...the literally did come from OVER the hill

View attachment 51468


So our 2 new friends landed next to the 1st tee, got a buggy over to the tee and introduced themselves, I won't say who they were but were with a larger group that included a famous US retired golf legend and some sponsors enjoying a " day out from Manchester"....anyway, if I wasn't nervous enough on the 1st tee then how did I feel now :shock:

The course was in great condition

View attachment 51469View attachment 51470

 

[Mattg]

I've been enjoying reading your trip report so far, but I'm afraid I can't seem to see any of your pictures!

 

[ShaneN]

I also cannot see the pictures, and looking forward to pictures of Skye.

 

[love_the_life]

Moi aussi