Caddie Golf Tours

To help entice you avid golfers out there to come over to Scotland for a golf tour this summer I will be posting some pictures of my favourite Scottish golf courses over the next few weeks.  It is going to be a super golf season here in Scotland with the Open Championship returning to Turnberry in July and the majority of our major golf courses having retained last years prices. Added to this the strength of the Dollar against the British Pound, it really has never been a better time for visiting golfers to tour in Scotland. Golf tours are approximately 20% cheaper than last year!  This is the unique Cruden Bay located just north of Aberdeen on the east coast of Scotland. An astonishing links golf course that one will find hard to prepare for in a golfing sense...in fact nothing can prepare you for Cruden Bay! A one off. The view from the clubhouse over the Starters Hut to the magnificent links. It is a truly splendid links golf course with a tremendous location 20 or so miles north of...

The young English golfer David Horsey, whose career I have been following closely over the last couple of years, put in a tremendous final round of 64, with a fantastic 29 on the back nine, at the Malaysian Open to finish in a tie for second place, one shot behind the winner Anthony Kang of the USA. David Horsey and his caddie, me, on the 18th fairway of the Old Course at St. Andrews This is Davids best result in his rookie season on the European Tour and the 'Race to Dubai'. It propels him up the money list and into 23rd position.  He said "I am pleased - I would have certainly taken that score at the start of the day but then there is a little bit of disappointment not to win having gone so close. I am very pleased with how I have applied myself". "I managed to birdie the last three holes so I couldn't have done much more. I have just tried to put myself up there which I have sort of done so far, especially this week I have got up there and given myself a g...

An unexpected invitation to play at one of Scotland's historic links golf courses is one that cannot be passed up. The North Berwick West Links was formed in 1832 and it is believed to be the 13th oldest golf club in the world. It sits on the Forth Estuary, south of Edinburgh, on the east coast of Scotland. A view of the sea is visible from almost every hole with the playing conditions at the vagaries of the wind blowing from it. On this Saturday afternoon, on February 7th, it certainly blew hard and cold. Wooly hats, thermal shirts and waterproofs were essential garb. My playing partners, Andy and Neil, are great golfing buddies and Andy set up this surprise visit to North Berwick. I had last played here with them two years ago, give or take a couple of weeks, so it was good to have the opportunity to take on the links, once again, in  good company. The views on many of the golf holes at North Berwick are absolutely stunning as can be seen from this selection of photographs. Above...

The wonderful young talent of Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, still only 19, has won his first professinal title at the Dubai Desert Classic. A wire to wire win to boot!   He edged out the Englishman Justin Rose, who has returned to a wee bit of form recently, by one shot finishing on 19 under par. Rory had a bit of a wobble on the back nine with a few bogeys allowing Rose to get within a shot thanks to a great eagle and some birdies but he held on and with a good up and down from a bunker at the 18th, after Rose missed his 15 foot birdie putt, to secure his first title in his short professional career.   This win takes Rory up into the top 16 on the World Rankings and into 2nd place behind Garcia in the European 'Race to Dubai'. This young guy has it all, great temperament, steady driving, superb iron play and invention around the greens . It is going to be great to watch him, Kim and Villegas battle it out over the next few years. A new generation is coming to golf...fantasti...

The infamous Swilcan Burn directly in front of the first green on the first hole of the Old Course, St. Andrews, has been causing much upset for over four hundred years with many a poor golfer coming to grief within it's shallow watery depth, though a few have benefitted.   One such golfer was Mr. L.M. Balfour who in winning the 1895 Amateur Championship saw his last three matches going to the 19th hole (the 1st). As they played down the 19th Mr Balfour watched in amazement as each of his opponents, Mr W. Grey, Mr. L. Auchterlonie and Mr J. Ball (the eventual runner-up) put their respective approach shots into the Swilcan Burn, and each in turn then had to retreive their golf ball and count a penalty shot, which subsequently lost them the hole and the match.

I was looking through one of my fathers old golf books last week and came across this delightful report of a round of golf played by the legendary American golfer, Bobby Jones:- "In the Southern Section Qualifying Competition for the Open Championship of 1926, played over Sunningdale in the south of England, Mr Bobby Jones did rounds of 68 and 66. The round of 66 by Mr. Jones may be ranked as one of if not the most perfect rounds ever played in championship golf. It was the perfection of  execution with the club and the ball. He was out in 33 and 33 in. He had 33 putts and 33 other shots. He was 3 under par each side. He failed to reach the green with his second shot at the ninth, where he ran through, and at the short thirteenth, where he was six yards short. The achievement in detail, showing the distance, the number of putts, and the score. are truly worthy of record. They are: Hole Par Dist Score Putts                                                               ...

A couple of years ago we had a good bunch of golfers over from North Carolina, USA, and as so often happens when the guys stay in town and are playing the courses of the St. Andrews links a rapport builds up between the caddies and their respective golfer. On the third day of the tour and playing the Old for the second time the golfers had reached the 6 th , Heathery, a 374 yard par 4 that requires a blind tee shot over intimidating gorse bushes to the safety of the fairway. Doug, alias Stitch, a big powerful man who could hit the golf ball a country mile fairly crushed his drive and though it flew left of the intended target we caddies knew that the sanctuary of the 13 th fairway, which runs parallel to the 6 th , would give him a comfortable approach into the green. The pathway from the 6th tee to the fairway ahead. T he remaining golfers had all hit successful drives over the gorse bushes and as we discussed our respective approaches, from the centre of the 6 th fairway, to the ...

Apart from Golf one of Scotland's other great exports to the World is, of course, our unique National Drink....Whisky. So, upon your behalf, dear reader, Caddie Golf recently subjected himself to the gruelling situation of visiting the stunningly beautiful Glengoyne Whisky Distillery , located two miles north of my village Strathblane.  After a journey that almost lasted an incredible 5 minutes, we had arrived!  A crisp winter's day, a lovely pale blue sky perfectly framing this 19th Century whisky distillery which was founded in 1833.  After a short walk around the grounds where we saw the distilleries very own picture perfect waterfall we all headed indoors for a tour and short lecture about the production of this distinctive Single Highland Malt Whisky. The vast 'golden stills' within the distillery play an important part in the process of making the famous golden Scottish drink, that is so appreciated across the world. A great day was had, in a gorgeous setting for ...

A wonderful short film of the legendary St. Andrews caddy Jimmy Reid. A trusted friend, long may he continue on the Old Course.

The young English golfer David Horsey, who has now joined the main European Tour after winning the order of merit on the European Challenge Tour for 2008, tees off from the 12th tee  on the Old Course at St. Andrews during the summer of 2007, carefully watched by his caddie and fellow player. This event pictured in 2007 was one of David Horsey's last as an amateur golfer. He went onto represent Great Britain & Ireland against the USA in the Walker Cup later that summer and then turned professional.    2008 proved to be a fantastic year for David with a couple of big wins on the Challenge Tour and a string of top ten finishes ensuring that he finished as the top earning golfer for the year, setting a record earnings  on the Challenge Tour.  He has now played in five of the first European Tour events for the 2009 season, making the cut in them all and securing 17th, 19th and 21st in his last three competitions. David currently sits in 32nd position on the Tour's 'Race to ...

Mr FG Tait, a well known local and golf enthusiast over the links of the Old Course at St. Andrews, once, incredible as it now seems, drove his golf ball through a man's Tall Hat and subsequently had to pay the owner the princely sum of five shillings to purchase a replacement. At the end of his round, now ensconsed in the bar of the St. Andrews Clubhouse, he was grumbling about his misfortune to the legendary Old Tom Morris about the injustice of this particular shot when the grand golf sage of St. Andrews interrupted him, "..eh, Mr. Tait, perhaps you ought to be glad it was only the cost of a new Tall Hat you had to purchase and not an oak coffin".

There are so many interesting, astonishing and curious facts related to the golf links of St. Andrews that one has great difficulty in believing them to be true. I suspended my belief long ago having witnessed some incredible incidents first hand through caddying upon the Old Course. The stories/articles that I will be posting under the title Tales from the Old Course have either been viewed by myself and fellow caddies or have been well documented in the annals of golf at St. Andrews. I hope you all enjoy reading them. The Burn A couple of years ago I invited couple of friends to play their first game over the Old Course. We were fortunate and got a picture postcard day, light wind blue skies and a warm sun. I was really pleased to see that they both held their nerves on the first tee and hit super drives down the fairway. Well done indeed but it is the second shot to the first green that poses the difficulty with the infamous Swilcan Burn (stream) running directly in front of the gr...

I regularly return to this life affirming poem from the great English poet John Betjamin, it's simplicity and joy show the beauty of playing golf on the links (seaside) golf courses of Britain. Seaside Golf How straight it flew, how long it flew It cleared the rutty track And soaring disappeared from view Beyond the bunker's back - A glorious, sailing, bounding drive That made me glad I was alive. And down the fairway, far along It glowed a lonely white; I played an iron sure and strong And clipped it out of sight, And spite of grassy banks between I knew I'd find it on the green. And so I did, it lay content Two paces from the pin; A steady putt and then it went Oh, most securely in. The very turf rejoiced to see That quite unprecedented three. Ah! Seaweed smells from sandy caves And thyme and mist in whiffs, In-coming tide, Atlantic waves Slapping sunny cliffs, Lark song and sea sounds in the air And splendour, splendour everywhere. John Betjamin

On the 19th November 1932 , R.S. Little and K.G. Sherriff, students at St. Andrews University, played a cross country match from Ceres, an inland Fifeshire village, to the 18th home hole at St. Andrews Old Course. The conditions were that each was to use one club, they were allowed to tee the ball up on each shot, and to hole out in less than 300 strokes. The distance was nine miles and they took eight hours. Mr. Little holed out in 236 strokes against Mr. Sherriff's 238.

The Dod Stewart Memorial Trophy is played for once every year in a golf match between the St. Andrews Caddies and the St. Andrews Links Trust Staff. The St. Andrews Links Trust staff failed to win the Spring match so they challenged the St. Andrews Caddies to a return game at the end of the year. Therefore the second golf match of 2008 between the St. Andrews Caddies v Staff of the Links Trust was held on Friday 28th November at the Eden Course in St. Andrews. Due to a cold snap, with frost covering the golf course, the start was delayed by a couple of hours this resulted in the first two matches being played over eighteen holes and the remaining four games being played over nine holes. The games were in the 'fourball' matchplay format which means that two teams of two golfers play against each other with the lowest score from one of the golfers winning the hole. Another tense golf day ensued. My match was the first one out and Eck, playing partner, and I found ourselves 3 h...