Caddie Golf Tours

This week has the only ladies 'Major' on the European Tour, the British Open, being played over the wonderful links course at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. A true links golf course in located on the north west of England it has held 10 Open Championships that have been contested by the men since 1926 and will be host to it's eleventh Open in 2012. David Duval won the last mens Open played over Lytham in 2002. The course is playing pretty tough over these first couple of days and this has been reflected in the cut being set at +9. Now far be it from me to criticise the professionalism and atheleticism of the ladies game, but it does seem that the essential art of chipping from 80 yards, and in, on the links seems to be beyond these 'modern' women professionals. Extraodinary that the highly paid golf coaches have not been advising this part of the game prior to a Major tournament being played on a legendary links golf course. I'm certainly looking forward to the ...

An absolutely fantastic Open at Turnberry. The winner and Champion golfer for 2009 is Stewart Cink who defeated the legendary Tom Watson , a winner of the Claret Jug on five occasions. This championship will live long in the memory due to the quality of the players fighting for the trophy but also for the majestic beauty of Turnberry. The golf links turned out to be a photographer's dream. No matter where one pointed a camera the picture was perfect. Next year will be the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship, the first being played at Prestwick in 1860. The tournament will be coming to my 'home' course, The Old Course at St. Andrews. I look forward to welcoming many of you there. Cheers, John.

This a great clip of two guys + one camera woman (Andy's lovely wife El) hitting the ground fast after a superb shout of FORE from legendary caddie Jimmy Reid.

If you think you can stand listening to me, talking about the 17th Road hole on the Old Course, for 1/2 an hour please feel free to watch Andy Brown's HomeofGolftv.com interview with me on the Old Course.

A really good part of the interview that Andy did with me on the 17th green. He asks and leads into promoting Caddie Golf Tours...great guy!

Goodness gracious, that was an amazingly tough St. Rule Trophy that was played on the New Course Saturday and then two rounds across the Old Course on Sunday. The wind blew, like it only does when playing golf over the links, making scoring extremely difficult. Laura Murray, my Scottish amateur golfer for the weekend, played well in the conditions and finished with a 78. Laura produced two wonderful shots 'of the day' : a 3 wood to 8 feet, on the par5 6th hole, resulting in a Birdie, and then a wonderful chip & run into the hole, from 40 yards, on the 18th for an Eagle. A fabulous finish to our first round that could have been a couple of shots worse without that fantastic 9 iron chip & run into the cup. The second and third rounds were played on the Sunday over the Old Course at St. Andrews. The par for the ladies is 76. A quiet, relaxed, start on the practice range with just a light breeze developed into a gusting 15/20 mph north easterly wind that added an extra deg...

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...