Caddie Golf Tours

The St Andrews caddies got a fantastic day of golf on the Eden Course for our annual Dinger Bell Trophy and Stumpy Memorial Plaque, our thanks goes to the St Andrews Links Trust for their assistance with our tee times, it is truly appreciated. The golfers prepare... The field was a little light this year due to these two great caddie competition being played a month later than is usual but nonetheless they are still being played and we thank the competitors for turning out. Nicky smooths it down the 1st fairway Captain Coyne drives with carefree abandon.. The understated and mistakenly overlooked Eden Course, established 1914, at St Andrews is our venue and as always proves a demanding test for our competitors albeit today it was in the most delightful of November weather conditions, a stunning no wind day with some gorgeous sunshine appearing through the round. 3rd tee Eden Course St Andrews The legendary St Andrews caddie Nicky Findlay is victorious this y...

This morning I noticed that my bedside table was starting to build up a pile of golf books. I completed the 'Tom Morris Colossus of Golf' a couple of months ago, but have found that I am still dipping into it for the depth of information contained therein.  I am currently reading 'Golf on the Rocks' a fun golf travelogue around the island golf courses of Scotland, an easy to read light humoured wee book, with author Gary Sutherland honouring his father's memory and trying to find the hole with his inherited putter. He has unearthed some amazing courses that I did not know about and now intrigue Caddie Golf Tours to find out more.   Golf books on the table 'Tommy's Honour' has finally arrived on the table and although only a couple of chapters in I know that it is going to give some good light golf history relating to Old Tom Morris and his legendary son Tom and be an easy page turner. A movie of the book was made last year, it should be in c...

As we progress through October and wind down our golf tours in Scotland I find it is time to reflect on the Caddie Golf Tours 2016 season, and here is a follow up to one of them, the 'Lads in Scotland Golf Tour' that took place in July. Todd & Boyne with Old Tom Morris at Tain GC It began with picking up our friend Todd, from Washington USA, at Edinburgh Airport and driving north into the glorious Scottish Highlands where we golfed at the legendary links of  Tain Golf Course designed by Old Tom Morris in 1890. Todd on par 4 12th tee Tain GC Tain GC was the first of 18 holes that Todd would golf in Scotland, over a 10 day visit, that was scheduled for 14 golf courses but knowing Todd I do believe he may have sneaked in a couple more! Todd & Boyne at Tain GC Todd drives par 3 17th at Tain GC This was a great return to Links golf for Todd as he prepared for his personal highland golf tour in Scotland to include Brora GC Royal Dornoch GC and Castle S...

I was delighted to be invited to take part in the annual 'Showman Golf Weekend' held at the wonderful parkland Blairgowrie Golf Club in the Angus region of Scotland, only an hour north of St Andrews. Boyne on 1st tee Rosemount Golf Club The golfing gang from the Glasgow area always play the legendary Showman this 1st weekend in October at a venue in Scotland kept secret until the very last moment. I am usually involved with caddying at the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship but as this is a Ryder Cup year the Dunhill tournament is pushed forward a week, (congratulations USA on your victory), which means I was available to golf with the 'Showman Golfers' and jumped at the opportunity when the invite was extended to me. 1st tee Rosemount Course Our fourball, Ally, Boyne, Neil & Andy The competition this year was over all three courses at Blairgowrie Golf Club, the 9 hole Wee Course and then the 'big' 18 hole Rosemount and ...

2015 St Andrews Caddies Outing, Charleston GC The annual St Andrews Caddies golf outing takes place tomorrow Sunday 28th August at Thornton Golf Club  We have 9 tee times from 11:00 - 12:20pm and the weather is set fair on this lovely parkland course 50 minutes south of St Andrews and 35 caddies taking part. The coach begins the pick ups at 8am in Dundee then onto St Andrews followed by the towns of Cupar and Leven arriving at Thornton GC around 10am. Morning Beers will be supplied for caddies on the coach. The new St Andrews Caddie Trophy for Champion Golfer A new Trophy, a Claret Jug replica, has been purchased with contributions from the St Andrews Caddies for the Champion Golfer amongst us. We also have a wonderful accumulation of prizes donated from local businesses that include Old Course Hotel The Dukes Golf Course Kingsbarns Whisky Distillery Dunvegan Hotel Aucherterlonies Golf Shop St Andrews Links Trust The Royal & Ancient Golf Club  the legend...

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...