Caddie Golf Tours

A trip across to St Andrews and our first Old Course tee time of the New Year at 10:20am. Thankfully we have decent weather with a 18 - 20 mph wind from west. 1st tee Old Course St Andrews http://www.standrews.com/Ballot/Ballot-Results?date=08/01/2015

Our San Francisco golfers arrived in St. Andrews this evening and we meet in the legendary Dunvegan Hotel, 120 yards from the Old Course, to have a wee chat about the golf arranged this weekend. Dunvegan Hotel & Bar St. Andrews After a couple of business (heavy) meetings in Paris and London the golfers have reached the peace and quiet of St. Andrews, and my goodness the classic Scottish links golf lined up for these two chaps will allow them to be subsumed into golf in Scotland...without them even realising it! The 18th Tee Old Course, St Andrews The weekend itinerary follows, it is intense, a degree of fitness is required, but my goodness it is good:  28th March 7:00am Old Course, St. Andrews 28th March 1:00pm New Course, St. Andrews 29th March 7:50am Old Course, St. Andrews 29th March 1:30pm Kingsbarns Golf Links, St. Andrews 30th March 7:30am Jubilee Course, St. Andrews 30th March 2:00pm Carnoustie Championship, Dundee The bridge to 18th green Car...

The Village at Machrihanish Dunes on the rugged and breathtaking Mull of Kintyre in Scotland continues to garner awards for its excellence with golf industry leaders Golf Tourism Scotland and the readers of Scotland's golf magazine Bunkered naming it 2013 " Resort of the Year" and "Scotland's Best Golf Experience" respectively. 9th green at Machrihanish Dunes Our Exclusive Golf Offers , in conjunction with the Village at Machrihanish Dunes , provides Stay & Play Packages throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn of 2014. Ugadale Hotel at Machrihanish Village March Offers  Bed & Breakfast at Ugadale Hotel & golf at Machrihanish Dunes GC 1 nights stay, 1 round of golf - £88 per person 1 nights stay, 2 rounds of golf - £119 per person 2 nights stay, 2 rounds of golf  - £175 per person Spring April Offers Bed & Breakfast at Ugadale Hotel & golf at Machrihanish Dunes GC 1 nights stay, 1 round of golf - £119 per ...

Yes a great accolade from  Golf Digest Magazine   that highlights the quality of three classic Scottish links golf courses at Royal Dornoch (6) in the romantic and rugged Highlands, the Old Course (7) in the historic town of St. Andrews and at Muirfield GC (8) venue for Phil Mickelson's 2013 Open triumph and located just south of Scotland's capital Edinburgh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Image from and of Royal Dornoch GC   With a little bit of planning all golfers can have the opportunity to tee it up on these legendary courses. No need to find a member to sign you on, some forward planning with Caddie Golf Tours and you can golf here...Fore! http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/2014-02/worlds-100-greatest-golf-courses More of Scotland's golf courses feature in the full list of 100 published by Golf Digest with the world famous Turnberry (19), Carnoustie (31), Kingsbarns (50), Trump International Links (56), Machrihanish (57), North Berwick (65), Crud...

Caddie Golf Tours are preparing for 2014 and beyond with the addition of backroom support, now official, from Lorna Boyne and Andrew Thomson. Lorna & John Boyne My beloved wife Lorna's support and professional advice, through the initial years of Caddie Golf Tours, has proved invaluable and now moving into our 8th year we are in a position to build upon the momentum arrived through that hard work. The arrival of Andrew Thomson, my long suffering golf partner, into the Caddie Golf Tours fold has been long overdue and his golfing knowledge of Scotland and business acumen will be a great asset. Andrew Thomson, Old Course Hotel St Andrews The team at Caddie Golf Tours will continue to promote the Home of Golf, Scotland, to our overseas golfers with enthusiasm and optimism. We look forward to seeing you tee up the wee white golf ball on our great golf courses...FORE!

For those golfers that desire to golf in Scotland next year, 2014, may I suggest that now would be an excellent time to confirm your travel dates, tee times and accommodation. Golf Guru Tony, 2nd tee of Old Course St Andrews, July 2013 The planning of the Scottish golf tour is always exciting and to arrive at the Home of Golf, St Andrews is rather special. There are so many astounding links courses to choose in Scotland that one can get giddy and gre edy! Please take the time to talk to Caddie Golf Tours and together we shall produce the golf trip you want. Kingsbarns Golf Links, Par5 12th, a tremendous golf hole

Now is the time for all golfers to look forward to the 2014 Golf Season and the organising of their golf trip to Scotland, the Home of Golf.  Iconic view towards Old Course 18th Green & R&A Clubhouse  With good forward planning tee times at the Old Course, Muirfield GC, Carnoustie, Royal Troon, Royal Dornoch and so many others can be secured in advance. Caddie Golf Tours are based in the beating heart of Scottish golf, St. Andrews, and invite all golfers to contact us for good honest advice on the best route for your 2014 golf tour to succeed. Applications for 2014 Old Course tee times will be made available from Wednesday 4th September from the St. Andrews Links Trust web site and the Official Form will be available from 19th August 2013. Information can be found at the following link: http://www.standrews.org.uk/getmedia/d9095e66-a3ac-454b-969e-2ab06c0de462/Advanced-Reservations-2013.pdf Caddie Golf Tours are here to assist with any questions you may ha...

I have just had a look at the Ballot results for tomorrow, Monday 3rd June, and the Chinese golfers have arrived and in big numbers. Old Course 1st fairway getting a trim. I wonder how they managed to secure eight consecutive tee times upon the Old Course from 09.10 - 10.20am? Extraordinary. http://www.standrews.org.uk/Ballot/Ballot-Results?date=03/06/2013 I do hope that they will respect the venerable links and maintain a decent pace of play though recent history tells me it will be a tough gig for the caddies.

This was the second golf match against our yearly Spring visitors from Sweden. These guys have been coming to St. Andrews for over 10 years and the caddies have built up friendships that has resulted in this 'Grand Match' which was won again by the St. Andrews Caddies. A superb day of golf on one of the world's great links courses with friends from Europe. We also had one of the Swedish golfers produce a 'hole-in-one' at the Par3 2nd, wonderful stuff. Clicking on the text above will take you to my G+ page and more photographs taken of the match at Kingsbarns Golf Links.

Sunshine on Caddie Pavilion at Old Course last week. Next week finally brings an improvement to the temperature in Scotland and St. Andrews in particular, at last double figures if not exactly tropical. Looks a wee bit windy on Tuesday with it blowing up to 28mph. Click on the text above to be taken to BBC Weather in St. Andrews for next week.

Seve. Never forgotten.

Oliver wins a 'cap' at St. Andrews Caddies Golf Outing! Click on the following to be taken to the CBS This Morning page and Oliver's interview. Here is my friend and fellow St. Andrews Caddie, Oliver, promoting his book 'An American Caddie in St. Andrews' on the CBS Morning Show. Good job Ollie.

The build up to the release of the MUST READ golf book of the year is only a couple of weeks away from my old (read really young & talented) friend and fellow Old Course Caddie Oliver Horovitz. This is the first review I have seen. Expect to see and read a few more. Oliver is going to be on CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose to talk about his book on Monday 18th March and I expect he may get on a few more shows...we do (not) expect fame to change him!?! I wrote a wee promotion about the book a month or so ago and it can be found on my Blog at the following link: http://caddiegolftours.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/american-caddie-in-st-andrews.html If you haven't pre-ordered your copy yet, you can do it right here, right now: http://amzn.to/WbvTVM.

All systems go for the various team members of the Oystercatcher Golf Society...a rag bag of enthusiastic (so-so) golfers that put as much energy into the "socialising society" aspect of meeting twice a year as they do the golf. 2012's first outing begins this coming weekend and the omens are for fair weather, no rain, at the historic links of  www. northberwickgolfclub .com  . Two rounds of classic Scottish links golf has been booked to play, Saturday and Sunday, on the Championship links that is used for Final Qualifying when the Open Championship is held on the great Muirfield links only 5 minutes up the road. A wonderful pedigree and a golf course that I, along with most Scottish golfers, place in their Top 5 golf courses in Scotland. The added bonus this year will be the accommodation that Caddie Golf Tours have managed to secure for the group, and a massive thanks goes to the delightful owner of the 5 Star   www. northberwickgolflodge .co.uk/  , Emma...

This is the Visit Scotland video that will be shown in the cinema, a wee bit longer.

Exclusive Offer April Golf 2012  Kingsbarns and Fairmont St. Andrews Monday - Wednesday April 2012 Two nights accommodation Fairmont St. Andrews Full Scottish Breakfast each morning 18 holes of Golf at Kingsbarns Golf Links 18 holes of Golf at The Torrance Course From  £349  per golfer based on double occupancy Kingsbarns Golf Links, Par3 15th Exclusive Offer October Golf 2012  Kingsbarns and Fairmont St. Andrews Monday - Wednesday October 2012 Two nights accommodation Fairmont St. Andrews Full Scottish Breakfast each morning 18 holes of Golf at Kingsbarns Golf Links  18 holes of Golf on The Torrance Course  From  £369   per golfer based on double occupancy The Torrance Course, 18th green and fairway Please contact Caddie Golf Tours for availability of the above two offers Kingsbarns Golf Links and The Torrance Course both are used as Open qualifying venues when the Championship...

A delightful invitation from all time good guy and my golfing pal Andrew saw me heading down the west coast of Scotland to the golfing gem of Glasgow Gailes Golf Club last week. A belated birthday treat. This is one of those links courses that go about their business without any fuss and those in the Scottish golfing world know how good a course it is. It was used as a 'local qualifier' for the Open Championship when it was held at Turnberry last year and also when the Open is played at Royal Troon. I love getting the chance to play here as it is a real test of your golf. It may have came a wee bit early in the season for me, my first game since mid January...a lame/good excuse, so the fact that I managed a couple of birdies against x2 sevens, an eight was in there as well plus the usual bogeys and a few pars it was always going to be a fantastic golfing day. Andy's not just a good golfing partner he also has an unerring ability to sweeten your golfing experience at...

A wonderful days golf was organised for the St. Andrews Links caddies at the stunningly beautiful Dukes Course situated above the 'auld grey toon' of St. Andrews w ith simply magnificent panoramic views across the historic old town, the surrounding countryside and the sea. The view from the clubhouse overlooking the 18th green with St. Andrews beyond. The Golf Manager of the championship Dukes Course, David Scott, was kind enough to arrange six tee times with our very own David Coyne, laying on bacon rolls and coffee upon arrival plus a truly memorable 'High Tea' after our round was completed. A fantastic experience that all the caddies are looking forward to repeating annually. The 'Club Sandwich' was quite probably the best that our well traveled bunch of caddies had ever eaten. This was then topped by a delightful selection of scones and cakes just to finish off what was a tremendous meal. Badgers, the 6th green at this Par 5. The golf course was originally...

Golf Digest has given Scotland's great, and historic, golf courses a wonderful boost by naming seventeen of them in the 'World's Top 100 Courses Outside the USA'.  The golf links at St. Andrews has four of its' courses in the 100 for the first time, with the Old Course named as the number two behind, 2007 Walker Cup venue, Royal County Down in Northern Ireland. The New Course (63), Castle Course (65) and the Jubilee (92) make up the four at St. Andrews and this grouping has also given the grand old town Golf Digest's accolade of "the game's pre-eminent destination". The other thirteen Scottish golf courses in the 'Top 100' are: the 2009 British Open venue of Turnberry (5), Royal Dornoch (6), Carnoustie (8), Royal Troon (15), Kingsbarns (18), Loch Lomond (21), Cruden Bay (37), Machrihanish (39), North Berwick (40), Royal Aberdeen (48), Western Gailes (58) and the lengendary Prestwick (69) first British Open venue in 1860. This is a tremendo...

The Scottish golf season is beginning to slowly escape from, what seems to me, a rather long winter period which started in mid November last year. Thankfully when April springs into view the golf season will have truly arrived. The golf season on the links courses at St. Andrews generally starts on the 1st weekend of April with the now traditional event of playing the Old Course in 'reverse' or as they would have played it during the 17th/18th & 19th C enturies. The 17th green on the 'Reverse Old Course' what we now play as the first. The course is played in a clockwise direction with the 17th Road Hole green becoming the 1st.You then tee off from the side of the green to the 16th green which now acts as the 2nd hole, followed by the 17th tee to the 15th green which is now the third and on it goes......it is truly odd for the golfer because this is not how they have viewed the golf course on TV and certainly not how they would have pre-planned their route to the gr...