Caddie Golf Tours

The 2010 annual Dod Stewart Memorial Trophy will be played between the Caddies and the Links Trust on Monday 28th February 2011. This is the rearranged match from last November which was cancelled due to the severe weather. 1st green on the Eden Course It means that Boyne has, fortunately, got the call to participate as a clash of dates last November meant he had to pull out for the first time since he began caddying at St. Andrews in 2002. I shall be partnering my old golfing companion the impressive Mr. A. Howie and our tee time is 09.12am on the Eden Course. The competition is Fourball Match Play with a total of six matches. Let the games begin!

Great news announced today that the Scottish Open will be based at Castle Stuart Golf Links for the next three years, taking over from Loch Lomond. Here are some photographs of this new links, based a few miles east of Inverness, that I took when I had the opportunity to play it in September 2009. The fabulous Art Deco designed clubhouse at Castle Stuart Golf Links. The facilities offer the golfer a truly top class experience prior to and then after your round. The first tee hard against the lapping waves of the Moray Firth on your right. The various tee positions of the Par5 2nd hole. Boyne playing out of the greenside bunker on the Par5 2nd hole. The Par4 third and the last hole of the front nine with the water and beach on your right. The fourth hole and first Par3 playing to a tiered green with the lovely backdrop of Castle Stuart. A delightful view of the Par5 6th green from the 5th tee and the now elevated section of the course. Fairway bunker on th...

The Scottish Open looks likely to have a new venue for 2011. The tournament, played the week before the Open Championship in July, has been staged over the fabulous Tom Weiskopf design at Loch Lomond since 1996, but after months of speculation a spokesman for the club confirmed that the members were set to complete a buy out from the Bank of Scotland who have been in control since the former owner, American financier Lyle Anderson, lost control back in 2008. The members have raised the necessary funds and appear set to sign documents next week bringing ownership of the golf course under the banner of a new company called Loch Lomond Members Club. A spokesman for the members executive committee said, "The support we have received from the members has been exceptional and highlights what great affection there is for the club. The goal now is to move forward with plans to consolidate Loch Lomond's reputation as one of the foremost private members' clubs in the world....

It just gets better and better for Graeme MacDowell as he has been awarded the MBE in the Queen's New Years Honours List. He started 2010 with a World Ranking (WR) of 50 and ends it with WR 6, throw in four tournament wins along the way, including the US Open victory at Pebble Beach, and the defining moment for European golf this year when GMac sinks the 'winning' putt at the Ryder Cup. The awards have came thick and fast over these last four weeks of December, here are the ones that I could find... MBE  Queen's New Year Honours List European Golfer of the Year   alongside Martin Kaymer European Tour Player of the Year  Golf Writers Association of America Professional of the Year  Irish Golf Writers Person of the Year  RTE Irish Televsion Thank you for a great year Graeme and all the best for more accolades and tournaments during 2011, cheers!

Good news for those golfers wishing to play a round over the venerable Old Course during 2011 as the St. Andrews Links Trust have recently announced that they will be accepting applications for " Late Availability Tee Times" on Wednesday the 5th January   at 10.00 GMT.  The 1st tee, Old Course There are tee times available for the Old Course during the high season of April, May, June, July and August. A maximum of eight golfers and a minimum of two are allowed on each application.   The green on the   17th Road hole. Further information and the official St. Andrews Links Trust application can be found using the following link: http://www.standrews.org.uk/Playing-golf-in-St-Andrews/How-to-book/Advance-Reservations.aspx 1st tee, 18th green and R&A Clubhouse Old Course St. Andrews Good luck with your application and we look forward to seeing you on the 1st tee of the Old Course during 2011.

A request came in a few weeks ago from a great friend of Boyne, and Caddie Golf Tours, as to whether I could access a round of golf over the Old Course for our 50th Birthday gift to the legendary Brophers? This was met with a positive response...YES! I would obviously also caddy for him if we managed to secure a tee time.   Brophers arriving on the 1st tee, Old Course Thomson putts out on the 4th green Needless to say Caddie Golf Tours did get the luck of the draw in the St. Andrews Links Ballot, for three golfers playing on Friday 12th November at 9.50am. The three were Brophers and the brothers Thomson. Upon arrival at the Starters Box a single golfer Matt, a Canadian but now based in St. Andrews, asked if he could make up a fourball and was duly invited to do so.   The 50th Birthday 4ball on the tee, 17th Road    Brophers and the iconic 18th tee of Old Course The weather played a big part of the experience for Brophers with a real strong w...

Last Wednesday we took off and had a delightful midweek break to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary  staying at the Marine Hotel in North Berwick. Golf was on the agenda and a wee breezy round at Craigielaw GC started it off.   The Boyne's wrapped up at Craigielaw GC LB wins the match on the Par3 17th, 2up, which extends her lead over the year to 3. I've a bit of work to do to claw this back before LB establishes a lead that could see her comfortably win the 2010 title. Only 7 weeks to go and the golf will become ever more weather dependent.     LB limbering up on the 1st tee Craigielaw GC.   Boyne holding that stomach in!   LB relaxing before our meal in the Marine Hotel. On the second day the wind has disappeared and we go a couple of miles up the road to Gullane to play the No.3 golf course. This is the 'smaller' of the three courses at Gullane but proved to be the perfect choice for a November golf game with both No.1 & No.2 looking...

The 2010 caddie golf season, for me, has ended. Always a wee bit sad knowing that it may be another 5 months before I get the opportunity to work on the famous links of the Old, New and Jubilee courses at St. Andrews. Boynie and his golfer in discussion.   An excellent last couple of rounds finished off my season on the Old and New courses respectively with a James a good English golf club professional who had came over last year with seven members from his golf course near Munich, Germany, where he has been based for the last 17 years. He loved it so much last year that he brought three of his best mates over this autumn for their opportunity to enjoy St. Andrews. James played pretty well over the two days scoring a 74 on a windy, but dry, Old Course and then a one under par 70 on a rain sodden New Course. Afterwards we spent a good couple of hours in the St. Andrews Golf Club discussing the round over a few beers and the odd whisky while looking over the 18th green of the Ol...

The month of September has come along pretty quickly as it seems only a moment ago that the Open Championship was being held on the Old Course at St. Andrews and the young South African, Louis Oosthuizen, was holding aloft the Claret Jug as champion golfer for 2010. We caddies at the St. Andrews Links have been working damn hard since that time and have barely came up for air over the last two months. Constant double loops from Monday through Friday with many also working at the weekend has been good, and in the main profitable, but a wee rest is required and it generally comes during the second and third week of September when the R&A play their 'Autumn Meeting' competitions. If a caddie can get three rounds on both of these weeks he will have done well. This is one of the reasons that we shall be holding our annual St. Andrews Caddies Golf Outing on Thursday 16th September. Dukes Course 18th green from the balcony of the clubhouse. The venue this year is the fabulou...

The Scottish Open begins this coming Thursday, 8th July, so I'll be heading across to Loch Lomond Golf Club early tomorrow morning to visit the Tournament Office and get my name registered on the caddie list.  The beautiful setting of the par3 11th green on Loch Lomond GC  The course is only 30 minutes drive from my village and with the Old Course closed due to the staging of the 150th Open Championship in 10 days it will offer a good diversion and with a wee bit of luck a job caddying for the practice rounds and then the tournament.

The Old Course at St. Andrews officially closed to visitors on Saturday 19th June allowing the greenkeepers three full weeks of maintenance and fine tweaking prior to the week of the 150th Open Championship. A view across Granny Clark's Wynd that dissects the 1st & 18th fairways on the Old Course. The majority of the grandstands have been erected with those along the 16th fairway and the new 17th Road hole tee nearing completion . The experience of playing the Old Course, with the infrastructure in place, for the amateur golfers is excellent and we have only seen a couple of shots from the 1st tee ending up in the seating area down the right of the fairway! The wonderful 18th green, Tom Morris, on the Old Course. The golf course is looking a wee bit green in this set of photographs but the last two weeks of warm and sunny weather has begun to 'brown' up the fairways, creating the hard running, fast, bouncy and fiery look that is an integral part of any Open Champio...

The Greenkeeper on the Old Course at St. Andrews, Gordon McKie, has been writing a wee Blog on the upkeep of the golf course prior to the Championship and his most recent entry concerns the re-building of the 17th Road hole bunker: The warm weather continues, so the dry conditions are still with us! We have spent quite a bit of time this week handwatering various areas of the course including greens, tees and bunker tops to keep them hydrated during this dry spell. Automatic irrigation is still in use from time to time as I feel it is still too early to dry things out for the tournament, once we get a better forecast we shall be able to start drying things out for the Open week itself. This week I have finalised all staff rotas and informed everybody of what tasks they will be carrying out through the week. Big job this week was to re-build the Road Hole bunker - the bunker takes a lot of play and the face becomes very eroded with sand and the feeling was that it would not surv...

I have just logged into the official web site - www.opengolf.com - of the 150th Open Championship and read the disappointing news that the legendary Seve Balesteros has been advised by his doctors not to make the journey to St. Andrews in July. A great shame that his supporters will not be able to see him play upon the Old Course once again but his long term health must take priority. The article follows: 24 June 2010 16:43 GMT On 22 June, three-time Open Champion Severiano Ballesteros visited his doctors at La Paz Hospital in Madrid. During his visit, Ballesteros underwent tests which he repeats every three months. These check-ups are routine and monitor the progress of the Spaniard following his diagnosis of a brain tumor in October 2008. The medical team, which is responsible for Ballesteros’ well-being, have informed him that at this time he should not put himself under any undue stress, or in potentially emotional situations. It is for this reason that they have advised hi...

Your very own St. Andrews Caddie, me, and good friend David Coyne will be starting our 96 mile charity walk along the famous West Highland Way which begins in Milngavie on the north side of Glasgow, winds its' way along the stunningly beautiful Loch Lomond, up and down a few mountains into the magnificent Highlands of Scotland and our final destination of Fort William. The Old Course at St. Andrews will be closing down next Saturday for three weeks as the greenkeepers make their final preparations for the Open Championship and it was felt that this would be a good time to do something worthwhile. The journey is expected to take five days, beginning on Saturday 19th June and finishing on Wednesday 23rd June. An average days walk will be 20 miles...we should manage it! John Boyne  and David Coyne  with 1998 Open Champion Mark O'Meara last Friday who supports the St. Andrews Caddies Charity Walk   Any sponsorship contributions can be made at the Caddie Pavilion adja...