Caddie Golf Tours

Today I get the opportunity to redeem myself in the St Andrews Golf Club Championship Qualifying Round 2 on the New Course at St Andrews. The first round was played last week on the wonderful Eden Course at St Andrews where I managed to shoot a ridiculous 95, so though I have very little chance of making the qualifying score I will go out with a positive attitude, a wee bit of good humour and play some better golf, hopefully.

On completing my golf today on the Strathtyrum Course at St Andrews I finished the round with 2 golf tees and, on inspection, a rather odd collection of golf balls, none of which were in pristine condition. It was time to get my light pencil golf bag into the house and empty all 3 pockets(!) of the accumulated rubbish, old golf balls, some used camera batteries, and chewing gum that I have no idea how long it has been in the bag. The old golf balls have been removed and dropped into the 'shag bag' for practice and replaced with a dozen new Titleist with the Boyne mark of 2 red & 2 blue dots. The tee bag has been filled, pencil sharpened, ball markers and divot tool placed into the side pocket. Winter golf at St Andrews is over. The golf bag has been given its Spring clean and I am ready for a grand 2016 golf season on the legendary Old Course St Andrews...Fore!

Last month, after 6 years, my lovely comfortable Lambda brown brogue golf shoes eventually split along the base of the sole. A sad day. It had been sort of expected and I knew towards the end of last year that they would never see through another golf season. Time to move on and at the back of my mind, over these last 5 or 6 weeks, I have been thinking how to replace a favourite golf shoe. Yesterday, while strolling around St Andrews after a our visit to the Kingsbarns Distillery  we popped into Auchterlonies golf shop who were having their annual Easter Sale, and there they were...a light tan brogue golf shoe, just for Boyne...FORE!

With unpredictable weather yesterday and having golfed the Eden Course St Andrews on Good Friday with our Easter weekend guests we decided to take a day out and visit the Kingsbarns Distillery , located 1/2 mile outside our village of Kingsbarns. I have been several times to the Kingsbarns Whisky Distillery, naturally, it was founded by a fellow caddie and now friend Doug Clement and it was truly wonderful witnessing his dream project of bringing a whisky distillery to Fife come to reality. The first bottles of Kingsbarns Malt Whisky will be available in mid 2018 and in the meantime the gift shop offers a wide selection of Wemyss malt whisky's and their speciality gins. The Wemyss family links to the whisky industry go back to the 1800s and in Scotland they have been a prominent family since the 1500s. They have joined with Doug to produce and promote Kingsbarns Malt Whisky. Our guests enjoyed their wee visit to the Distillery and we certainly look forward to many m...

The 2016 Old Course Caddies Professional Course Guide has been collated by our good friend and St Andrews Caddie David Coyne with the assistance of legendary St Andrews golf historian, artist, and actor David Joy. These great little Old Course books are used by the St Andrews caddies to assist guiding their man around the links and the good caddies will study them for run outs to rough, distances to bunkers, danger areas from the tees and the safe areas of the course for their golfer. They are an invaluable resource for the caddie/golfer and a super little gift to plan and play out your round to come or just golfed. The Old Course Caddie Course Guides are now available from local St Andrews golf shops, Guest Houses and unsurprisingly quite a few of the local pubs like the Dunvegan Bar and 1 Golf Place both located 120 yards from the Old Course 18th green.

2016 Gailes Golf Experience West Coast of Scotland A wonderful way to begin the 2016 golf season with this Scotland Spring golf offer at three of our classic links courses situated within 10 minutes of 2016 Open venue at Royal Troon and less than 1 hour from Glasgow. Western Gailes Golf Course. March 2016   3 rounds golf at Western Gailes, Glasgow Gailes & Dundonald Links 2 nights Bed and Breakfast at Lochgreen House Hotel Two golfers sharing a room £ 350 per golfer April 2016   3 rounds golf at Western Gailes, Glasgow Gailes & Dundonald Links 2 nights Bed and Breakfast at Lochgreen House Hotel Two golfers sharing a room £ 405 per golfer   Western Gailes , established 1897, is a classic Scottish links golf course that should be in every golfer’s must play list. It has been final qualifying venue when the Open is at Royal Troon and Turnberry, has hosted the Curtis Cup and 8 Scottish A...

There is a common misconception that little golf is played in St Andrews Scotland during the winter months because of our extreme weather. May I assure you all that we are not buckled under a ton of snow, rain and howling arctic winds, well not all the time. I am finding that now we have relocated from a wee village north of Glasgow to our new permanent house in the village of Kingsbarns, 6 miles down the coast from St Andrews, that winter golf is very much apart of life for the local St Andrean golfers. All the local golf clubs, including mine at the St Andrews Golf Club, have a full program of winter competitions from beginning of January through to the end of March that I can participate in, if the mood takes, as well as some fun golf with family and friends. The winter astro turf mat at St Andrews The visiting golfer should be made aware that golf on the St Andrews Links courses during the winter months, November through to March, is played from an astro turf ...

We had our first visit of the New Year to the St Andrews Links Golf Academy the other evening to use the Practice Range. Many more visits are going to be required to bring my golf game up to a decent level for 2016...Fore! It was good to see that the range has been given a spruce up for the season ahead with a lick of paint and new mats in the covered bays. It is a great facility on the edge of the town adjacent to the Old Course Hotel and St Andrews Links Eden Course.

We have just completed this wonderful Highland and St Andrews Golf Tour for our client Mr C and his Lad's Golf Party when they are over from Washington, USA, in July 2016. Mr C will arrive first for a 3 day mini Highland Golf Tour before meeting with his four friends at Fraserburgh Golf Course in the North East of Scotland. We pick up Mr C at Glasgow Airport and transfer to Highlands and the first stage of his 10 days of Scottish links golf... Tain Golf Course. 15th July - pm  Tain GC a Tom Morris design it celebrated 125 years last year 16th July - am Brora GC  enjoying 125 years since a James Braid redesign. It is played alongside a beautiful deserted beach and the majestic Sutherland Hills 16th July - pm Royal Dornoch GC  marks 400 years in 2016. Present layout by Old Tom Morris in 1886 and he produced what is described as the most natural golf course in the world 17th July - am Castle Stuart  celebrates return of 2016 Scottish Open last played and wo...

2016, a New Year, and the beginning of a new golf book about St Andrews. This time it is one that I purchased rather than have it thrust upon me by a well meaning relative, one I have been meaning to read for quite some time 'Tom Morris of St Andrews,  The Colossus of Golf 1821 - 1908'. Published 5 years ago it has been given an astounding amount of accolades for the depth of research and warmth of writing that has made it such easy reading for the everyday golfer who likes a good book about the origins of golf. I took a walk down and around St Andrews ancient Cathedral and graveyard at the end of 2015 paying my respects to the Old Tom Morris family. Perhaps this was the catalyst to purchase and begin reading the biography of the grand Old Man of Golf.

A lovely surprise on going through my change from the local bartender at the weekend was this  commemorative 2014 Ryder Cup Scottish five pound note, in pristine condition as well. These £5 notes were produced by the Royal Bank of Scotland and given to all attending spectators at the 2014 Gleneagles event. Good to get a wee reminder that 2016 is a Ryder Cup year with the event in the USA at Hazeltine National Golf Club during late September. It is always exciting to watch the golfers jostle for a place on their respective teams as the media start to build the tension as the tournament nears.  If you are in Scotland and would like to golf at Gleneagles do not hesitate to contact Caddie Golf Tours for information about tee times, accommodation and travel...Fore!

Golf in Scotland is not all about our grand Championship courses like the Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield or 2016 Open venue at Royal Troon. There is so much more to explore for the visiting golfer and a recent trip Caddie Golf Tours made to the Isle of Arran, just off the west coast of Scotland, produced a fun golf trip that will live long in the memory. A short 45 minute car journey from Glasgow to the ferry port of Ardrossan, just north of Troon, and we sail across to the Isle of Arran on a Caledonian MacBrayne Ferry . 60 minutes later and we are driving to the wee 9 hole course at Machrie Bay , on the west side of the island, for a fun round of golf before we meet our fellow golfers at the wonderful GlenIsle Hotel in the village of Lamlash. This is the annual Autumn Oystercatchers Golf Meeting we organize and participate in with our two close golfing couples twice a year, Spring & Autumn, at great golf venues across Scotland. The Isle of Arr...