Caddie Golf Tours

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...

October has been a delightful month with good sunny weather that many of our visiting golfers seem rather surprised to be enjoying. Our golfer Michael, pictured, from Minnesota has been taking advantage of the benign conditions enjoying his golf with 7 of his buddies and their golf tour of Scotland culminating with a final round on the Old Course St Andrews. Michael a 10 handicap managed to play his best round of the year on the Old Course St Andrews shooting a 38 + 38 = 76. A bogey at the first did not upset and steady golf followed until a blistering burst of 3,3,3 over 7th, 8th and 9th. No daft numbers on the back nine, which supplied one birdie on the 14th, brought his last round in Scotland to a fitting climax. 

Today I was called up to  1st tee of the  Old Course St Andrews, 12:20pm tee time, to caddie for Mr. D, an R&A member, playing in the E uropean Tour's annual staging of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship that is golfed on the great links golf courses of Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course and this was the final practice round for the golfers participating in the event. I had been in Mr D's company in past years through a few R&A matches so I was scratching around my head to remember a bit of his game and shape of shot. It turns out that he has a lovely 5-10 yard fade from the tee with a low penetrating ball flight and pretty much the same with his irons. This is roughly (in my dreams) a similar game to the one I currently possess...my golf does fluctuate a wee bit and the fade can get a little extreme! Mr D shot a 68. We had one slice of good fortune on the 1st after a decent drive the approach to the green hit the retaining wall of the Swilken B...

The newly elected R&A Captain, Mr Gavin Caldwell, drove from the 1st tee of the Old Course at 8:00am as the ceremonial cannon was fired at the same time. My old friend and St Andrews caddie +Oliver Horovitz caught the Captain's golf ball as it slipped through the hands of numerous caddies on its way down the 1st fairway of the Old Course. Oliver receives a gold sovereign from the new Captain in exchange for his golf ball. This was the 3rd time that Oliver has managed to retrieve the Captain's golf ball and I may suggest to him to deliberately miss catching it next year! Oliver is the author of the book 'An American Caddie in St Andrews' that came out a few years ago detailing his growing up in St Andrews and at Harvard University while working as a caddie on the Old Course. The following link takes you to the R&A website for more details about the New Captain and the Drive In Ceremony: http://www.randa.org/en/RandA/News/News/2015/September/...