I was lucky enough to fill in as the 4th for one of my clients who booked a week in the St Andrews area. Not only did I get to take on The Castle Course, Dumbarnie, and Kingsbarns once again, but our group was picked for the Old Course ballot and had incredible weather while playing together on the Old Course. I was also able to cross off The Kittocks Course at the Fairmont St Andrews and finally make it to Crail!

My wife and I planned a week that had a couple days on the Isle of Skye in the middle. We started with an amazing day at Stonehaven, and made a big counter-clockwise loop. We played the Moray Old Course and found a true gem in Covesea Links. After our hiking on Skye, we took the ferry to the Isle of Islay for The Machrie. After returning to the mainland we played Irvine Golf Club and finished with Dundonald Links.

I was asked to help host a trip to St. Andrews that was sponsored by a local Milwaukee radio station. I think the trip I ended up executing would be a perfect blueprint for any group of 16+ golfers. We spent half of our time at the nearby Hawkswood Country Estates and the other half at the Old Course Hotel. We played Dumbarnie Links, Kingsbarns, The New Course, The Castle Course and Carnoustie. Quite a few in the group were also lucky enough to use the 48-hour ballot and the Daily Singles Draw to get on the Old Course as well!

I took a small group of friends up to the Scottish Highlands for a week, splitting time between an AirBnB in the Inverness area with the Royal Golf Hotel in Dornoch. Instead of a shuttle, we had two rental vans and it worked out great! We started with a round at Nairn that included a private tour of their golf archive room. We then played Castle Stuart and Fortrose & Rosemarkie before settling in Dornoch. Some in the group played Royal Dornoch before we all got to play Brora. Unfortunately we got hailed out at Dalmahoy.

I have a hard time believing I will top this trip anytime soon. Basically 3 separate trips rolled into one. First a week in St. Andrews with my personal group, playing Kingsbarns, Dumbarnie, Castle, Jubilee and Lundin Links. A couple guys in our group stood in line all night to get on the Old Course. Then Brian Weis met me at the airport while this group was departing, and we did a giant loop to visit Aberdeen, the north Coast, the Highlands, and then ending on the West Coast. We then both played in the World Hickory Open which took place on Dundonald Links, Kilmarnock Barassie, Western Gailes and Prestwick. And 2 of those afternoons we snuck out to play Royal Troon and Turnberry!

My first official tourism event was Scottish Golf Tourism Week, hosted at the Fairmont St. Andrews. The week started with a FAM Trip in the county of Fife, where our small band of tour operators got to visit and stay in different properties in the greater St. Andrews area. We also got to see the likes of Elie, Dumbarnie Links, the Duke’s Course, and the Kingarrock Course which was high on my list since they only play hickory clubs there. We got to experience the Kingsbarns Distillery and the R&A Golf Museum. During the two days of intensive “speed-dating” type of appointments, I was also able to do a little personal reconnaissance to explore St. Andrews more and visit some of the nearby vendors I had started to communicate with.