Caddie Golf Tours

A wonderful weekend of golf lies ahead of your St. Andrews caddie. The first of the premier annual amateur competitions begins this Saturday with the St. Rule Trophy.  This is played by the leading lady amateur golfers from across Great Britain, Europe and the rest of the world that have a handicap of 4 or better. In this years event I shall be caddying for one of Scotland's bright young talents, Laura Murray. We met in this very event in 2007, when I was caddying for the British Ladies Amateur Champion, Heather MacRae, Laura played in our grouping and then was once again in our trio of players for the 2008 tournament, both times with her father carrying her bag. I met Laura in earlier this year, in March, at the Scottish Golf Show  and it was there that she asked if I would be interested in working for her during the St. Rule Trophy. I truly jumped at the chance. The opportunity to work with one these great young Scottish golfers cannot be turned down and it always adds interest, ...

The former British Amateur Champion, 2005, Heather McRae who is now working as an assisitant professional at the wonderful Gullane Golf Course, based forty minutes south of Edinburgh, has played herself into a starting spot in the Scottish PGA Championship to be played at Gleneagles in June. Heather lined up at the qualifier, played over Downfield Golf Club in Dundee, and was one of 47 to get through the 18 hole shoot out, which will make her the first women golfer to contest the Scottish PGA since 1933. I caddied for Heather during the 2007 season at St. Andrews in the St. Rule Trophy, one of top level amateur tournaments held during the golf season, finishing a respectable 10th. We then went on to play at the final qualifying over the New Course at St. Andrews for the Ladies British Open eventually won by Lorena Ochoa and in the resurrected Scottish Ladies Open played at the Carrick on Loch Lomond. The Scottish PGA will be a great event and all the better for having Heather McRae to ...

The Swiss Open , the first proper Ladies European Tour event, was completed today and I am really pleased to report that three of the Scottish Rookies performed admirably, making the cut as well as earning a few thousand Euros for their efforts. The top placed of the Scottish girls was, the very focused, St. Andrews protege Krystle Caithness who finished tied for 18th on -6. The wonderful Michele Thomson, former Scottish Amateur Champion,  followed with a tied position of 35th at -1 and Pamela Feggans finished with a score of +1 and a tie for 44th. This will give these girls a massive confidence boost, completing four rounds in their first professional tournament and finishing so well. They all now know that they can compete at this level so I would hope that this experience will stand them in good stead for the forthcoming events. Well done all.  

In what must be the first time for many years Scotland will have six representatives taking part in Deutsche Bank Swiss Ladies Open, in what is effectively the opening tournament of the Ladies European Tour (LET). The super six are LET stalwarts, over the last 3 years, Lynn Kenny and Clare Queen who will be joined by no less than four LET rookie who include Michele Thomson, Krystle Caithness, Vikki Laing and Pamela Feggans. All of the girls have been working real hard over the winter with Michele winning her first professional tournament during April, in Florida. We wish them all well and for a really good start to the golf season.

The legendary American golfer Mr. Arnold Palmer is to play the Old Course, St. Andrews, on Thursday 7th May in what will be his 80th year. Mr. Palmer will be playing in the annual Spring Meeting of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A) which begins on the Old Course on Monday morning. His playing partners are the current Captain of the R&A Mr. H. Ritchie and five time British Amateur Champion Mr. M. Bonnalack. Unfortunately I am not caddying for Mr. Palmer (drats!) but my good friend 'Eck' has been given the honour of following in the footsteps of the revered St. Andrean caddy Tip Anderson who caddied for Mr. Palmer over 40 years when he played in Great Britain. Together they won numerous events along with two back to back Open Championships in 1961 / 62. When I asked 'Eck' what he was hoping from the round he replied " As long as I get him over the bloody Swilcan Burn & on the green I'll be delighted"! I shall naturally be in position to see...

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 first win of a golfer's professional career is momentous and the confidence boost is truly huge so on reading the news that Scottish Rookie Michele Thomson has won her first tournament, in Florida at a Suncoast Ladies Tour Event, I was really excited for her. Michele was so excited herself she forgot to pack her golf clubs and had to travel the 30 miles back to the course to pick them up! I caddied for Michele during last years Curtis Cup match against the USA, played over the Old Course in St. Andrews, when she was the Scottish Amateur Champion. A big hitting golfer with great determination and a big happy smile I hope that this first professional win will give her the hunger to continue winning many more tournaments. Her first event on the Ladies European Tour (LET) is expected to be the Swiss Ladies Open in May. She intends to play some more SunCoast Tour events in a bid to get some competitive golf prior to the European season beginning in earnest. Michele was pleased to se...

Boy  oh  Boy . This is some links golf course. Absolutely fantastic.   A shame I played like a complete   idiot for the first nine holes or so. I did improve on the back nine, regaining some pride, thank goodness. The 'extra' red wine the evening before was probably not my best preparation for golfing on such a great links course for the first time. Andrew picked me up at 9am (hic..) and after our 45 -50 minute journey, a cup of coffee, a lot of water and some putting on the practise green I was less than ready to hit the first drive. An over swing and big pull has me on the 18th fairway, only 65 yards off line. Wonderful. The good news, and there is good news..., this is a links golf course in Scotland which means few, if any, trees and there is always a route back to the true fairway. A bogey ensued.   It did not get any better over the following holes but then again not really too bad considering I was nursing a general body numbness. The first nine did try my patience mind ...

For the first time in a long, long time Scotland will have six representatives in the Deutshe Bank Swiss Ladies Open which begins on Thursday. Tour regulars Lynn Kenny and Claire Queen are to be joined with fellow Scots and tour rookies Michele Thomson, Krystle Caithness, Vikki Laing and Pamela Feggans. Go fly the flag girls!

The young Argentinan Estanislao Goya, a tour rookie, won at Madeira by one shot after an extraodinary final back nine from another rookie, the Scot, Callum Macaulay.  Macauley shot a 28 on the back nine with eight birdies, six of those were in the final six holes! Goya held his nerve after double bogeying the 16th with two pars to win his first European title and a two year exemption. My 'adopted' player for the 2009 season, David Horsey, played all four rounds finishing in 23rd position.  

The European Tour's 'Race to Dubai' continues this weekend after the big events in the USA over the last couple of weeks. This is a hardcore, run of the mill, tournament no matter how you package it and is the the sort that has really good players in the field but the cream are resting, after their exertons of late. Poor souls.   Good to see my adopted rookie golfer for the year, David Horsey, make the cut, reasonably comfortably, with a pair of 73s'.   There are a couple of guys I've caddied with (not for) at the top of the leaderboard - Damien Mcgrane at the Scottish Open Loch Lomond. He is a delightful man and a winner on the tour last year. The other is Joaggem Haeggman who I encountered a couple of years ago at the Dunhill Links jamboree, held in October over the Old, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns. Poor lad was going through a real loss of form and eventually lost his card. Good to see him back as he was really corteous to my (amateuer) golfer and genuinely depor...

Just a quick entry to let you golfers out there know that tee times for 2009 are available on the Old Course at St. Andrews. More importantly they are at cost price of £130 British pounds. Every year, around February/March, the St. Andrews Links Trust publicise tee times for the Old Course that have been 'returned' to them from tour companies or individuals that have been unable to commit to them. This year there are a number of tee times during May, June, July and August. A minimum of two golfers and maximum of eight can apply and one other golf course at St. Andrews has to be chosen along with the Old. Applications will be accepted from 10.00am on Monday 23rd March 2009 to the St. Andrews Links Trust. Please contact Caddie Golf Tours for further information or visit the official site for the application form at: http://www.standrews.org.uk/golf/book_golf/advanced_old2009.html Now is a great time to golf in Scotland with the dollar at its strongest, for many years, against the...

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...

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.