Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland
St Andrews, Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Muirfield, Royal Dornoch, Turnberry, Carnoustie, Royal Troon, North Berwick, Kingsbarns, Portmarnock, Castle Stuart, & Gleneagles
The Par 5 - it doesn't get much better than this. Because it can't!
Faraway Fairways describe our ‘par 5’ offer as the best golf tour of Scotland and Ireland … because … well because, it is! In fact, we wouldn’t be certain that we aren’t under-selling it? This 13 night calling has claims to be best package tour in the world! Surely a hyped claim you might say? well…. we’d certainly concede it would be theoretically possible to play a combination of similarly ranked courses in the United States, but you’d need a racing car for transfers, a personal fast jet to get to them, and the ability to go without sleep, to do so. That’s before you consider influence in very high places for access, and to do so in two weeks?. By contrast the Faraway Fairways ‘par 5’ package is both accessible and brought to you at a Scottish price.
Even if you needn’t be persuaded that it’s best golf tour in the world, we’d still settle for something a bit more modest and suggest that it’s the best package golf tour that many of us are ever likely to be able to play! So where is the down-side? Opportunities to play these titans of the game sequentially tend to be limited. We will probably need to begin the process 18 months beforehand, but otherwise, that’s about it.
To view Itinerary Summary arrow right or swipe left >>>>>>>>
The Itinerary
Sunday – Portmarnock
Monday – Royal County Down
Tuesday – (fly to Inverness) Royal Dornoch
Wednesday – Castle Stuart (Culloden)
Thursday – Gleneagles
Friday – Kingsbarns
Saturday – St Andrews New Course (St Andrews town)
Sunday – Carnoustie
Monday – North Berwick
Tuesday – Muirfield (Edinburgh)
Wednesday – Turnberry
Thursday – Royal Troon (fly or sail to Belfast)
Friday – Royal Portrush
Important note – We will contest St Andrews Old Course ballots for the Thurs, Fri, & Sat. You can read these days as XYZ / St Andrews Old Course. We will probably only be able to contest one singles ballots for play on Sat
Sunday - Portmarnock
With a rich history closely aligned to the progression of golf in Ireland, Portmarnock has hosted numerous Irish Open Championships, the Walker Cup, Irish Amateur Championships and the British Amateur Championship, and the rumour that it’s being lined up as the next course to be introduced to the Open rotation doesn’t look like dying down (we think this one has legs)
From Sam Snead to Seve Ballesteros, some of golf’s best-known names have tested their skills against this majestic narrow tongue of shallow dunes-land, just north of Dublin.
Considered by many as one of the fairest links courses in the world it delivers an incredible challenge and true test of golf.
Perhaps five-time Open Championship winner Tom Watson summed up the links best during his visits saying, “There are no tricks or nasty surprises, only an honest, albeit searching test of shot making skills.”
Monday - Royal County Down
Periodically Royal County Down can displace the likes of Pine Creek or Cyprus Point as the world’s highest rated golf course (its that good).
It is framed in one of the most stunningly natural links settings in golf. The Murlough Nature Reserve provides the stage, the magnificent Mourne mountains the backdrop. The narrowest ribbons of fairways thread their way through as impressive a set of sand dunes as could be imagined. The fairways are surrounded by purple heather and golden gorse, so beautiful to look at, but so punishing for any who may stray from the prescribed path. The ‘bearded’ bunkers are world famous, featuring overhanging lips of marram, red fescue and heather. The greens are fast and many are domed, rejecting any shot lacking conviction.
The ninth hole is one of the most photographed holes in world golf, a 486 yard par 4, it is played from one side of a huge mound down to a fairway some 60 ft below and 260 yards from the tee. From the bottom of the slope the second shot is played over two bunkers to a raised green.
Tuesday - Royal Dornoch
Golf Digest has rated Royal Dornoch the highest of Scotland’s many worthy candidates, and it remains one of elite quartet that vies for the title of best courses.
The Championship course represented a paradigm in design that endures today. The ‘bump-and-run‘ was the traditional shot to mitigate a links wind. Elevated plinth greens were introduced and ringed with fiendish pot-bunkers to guard them from any such commando approach. Without completely taking the traditional ‘stock shot’ out of the equation, a degree of risk was added. Dornoch therefore challenges you to go the aerial route, and ride the wind. Iron play is the key to the course. The rationale is simple: hit a good approach shot and you should be rewarded. Hit a bad one, and you pay the penalty.
Tom Watson said of Dornoch “the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course”.
The bunkerless 14th, ‘Foxy’ is often regarded as the signature hole and one of the toughest par 4’s in Scotland
Wednesday - Castle Stuart
Castle Stuart is another modern addition to the golfing landscape having opened in July 2009.
The course is set on two-tiered balconies overlooking the dark and foreboding waters of the Moray Firth. Players enjoy stunning panoramas from the highest elevations. The course is rich in the textured signature landscape of Scottish ‘whins’, gorse and broom, heather, and marram from beginning to end. These change colour with the seasons as nature commanded, and weave a tapestry of highland hues into this landscape mosaic of rugged beauty.
The course has quickly established a bit tour pedigree when it hosted the prestigious Scottish Open, where Luke Donald and Alex Noren have triumphed. It was used successfully by Phil Mickelson in 2013 as a springboard to Open success a month later at Muirfield
Thursday - Gleneagles
The majestic trio of courses at Gleneagles are a masterpiece of golf course design, which has caught the imagination of both professional and amateur alike. Lee Trevino remarked whilst standing on the first, “that if this is heaven I sure hope they have some tee times available”.
The regal King’s Course is certainly one of the most beautiful and exhilarating places to play golf in the world, with the springy moorland turf underfoot, the sweeping views from the tees all around, the rock-faced mountains to the north, the green hills to the south, and the peaks of the Trossachs and Ben Vorlich on the western horizon.
Threading through high ridges on the north and west sides of the estate, the Queen’s course is the most aesthetic of the Gleneagles trinity. It presents you with lovely woodland settings, lochans and ditches as water hazards, as well as many moorland characteristics.
Having hosted the 2014 Ryder and 2019 Solheim Cups, the Centenary Course is the longest and probably the most recognisable today. It plays out towards the dark glen, sweeping up the Ochil Hills to the summit of the pass below Ben Shee, which joins it to Glendevon. Course architect, Jack Nicklaus, described it as “The finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with”
Friday - Kingsbarns
There are records of golf being played at Kingsbarns from 1793, but the modern course opened in 2000, and is set on three-tiered levels, sloping towards the coast. Nearly every hole has stunning views of the North Sea.
Kingsbarns quickly racked up rave reviews and earned a world ranking of about #50, a position which it’s held more or less since.
The par 5, twelfth hole that plays along the arching shoreline to an exposed green, and the par 3, fifteenth, which involves playing a tee-shot across the waves, are often considered to the courses signature assignments. It was the fourth and fifth that caught Tom Doak’s eye when he described as Kingsbarns
“as piece of construction work, Kingsbarns is one of the best projects I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it for myself”
Perhaps of greatest significance is the number of times it beats more illustrious neighbours in surveys amongst visiting Americans since its always immaculately presented.
Kingsbarns completes the trio of East Coast giants that host the European Tour’s Dunhill links challenge each year alongside Carnoustie and the Old Course.
Saturday - St Andrews New Course
“New” in the context of St Andrews means 1895!
The course is often said to be the town’s favourite. It’s a tighter and more defined course than its regal neighbour, and aided by yellow gorse bushes, it tends to be more aesthetic too. The ‘New’ runs adjacent to the Old course and as a consequence has similar characteristics. The fairways are undulating but not as dipped as the Old course, leading to fewer hanging lies. A traditional out and back nine, only the 3rd and 15th share a green. The burn wends its way through a low dune system and features some particularly charismatic holes. The 464yd tenth is often cited as the pick. Think about it logically. It’s likely that the newer course that was designed for purpose, would be the better golf course than the ancient artefact. The good folk of St Andrews know!
Second Sunday - Carnoustie
Dubbed ‘Car-Nasty’, Carnoustie is considered by many to be the most difficult links in the Open Championship rotation
In recent years it has seen some dramatic finishes, none more so than in 1999 when Jean van de Velde took an eight at the 72nd hole to throw away the claret jug. Iconic images of him paddling in the notorious ‘Barry Burn’ have entered golfing legend. The final four holes are the hardest finish on the rotation. After the carnage of 1999 (6 over won) Sport Illustrated described it as
“a nasty antique that was brought down from the attic after 24 years …the rough was deeper; and the R&A made the fairways as narrow as an eel’s appendix scar”.
Whereas the eighteenth is the hole that has often generated the most drama. The par 3 sixteenth has the highest average scoring par 3 on the Open Championship rotation as indeed the closing four are the hardest. The Par 5, sixth ‘Hogan’s Alley’, is another famous hole with a punitive out of bounds fence running down it’s left
1999 Carnoustie reduced Sergio Garcia to tears after successive scores of 89 and 83
Second Monday - North Berwick
The links of North Berwick are a traditional out and back nine. Undulating fairways, blind shots, tricky burns and even stone walls make their presence felt in the landscape. The course really is a throw back to the experiences of the game’s pioneers who had to interpret the landscape and weave the hazards nature handed them into their own personal tapestries. North Berwick has an endearing old-fashioned feel.
North Berwick also possesses the original ‘Redan’ hole, (15). Found the world over, ‘Redans’ are the most copied hole in golf.
The Redan completes a trio of holes from 13 which is rarely surpassed in Scottish golf, perhaps only Turnberry’s 9 to 11, and Carnoustie’s 16-18 has better claims for being the best consecutive 3 in a row.
North Berwick is one of those rare courses you never hear a bad word said about, and we’re always struck by the fact that it seems to be the most knowledgeable and the best judges who enthuse most about it.
It would be wrong to think that it’s a curiosity relic though. It’s a beguiling world top-50 ranked course on merit.
Second Tuesday - Muirfield
Frequently ranked inside the world’s top 10, Muirfield is the ‘blue-blooded’ aristocrat of Scottish golf and always immaculately presented. It doesn’t really have any weak holes. So impressed was Jack, he went back to Ohio and built Muirfield Village in homage to the original.
Muirfield instigated a then revolutionary design of two loops of nine. This was to prevent players dialling into the wind of the traditional out and back nine and adjusting. This design ensures that the wind is constantly changing direction so as to test all aspects of your game and reading of a ball in flight. All three paradigms of golf design penal, heroic and strategic.
The prestigious roll call of Muirfield Open championship winners is perhaps its best testimonial. Player, Nicklaus, Trevino, Watson, Faldo, Els & most recently of course, Mickelson. It offers golfers choices and then requires you to execute. It is a golfers, golf course.
Muirfield is notoriously exclusive however, access is limited. Booking early isn’t just advised, it’s pretty well essential.
Second Wednesday - Turnberry
The iconic Stevenson lighthouse sitting on its craggy headland in amongst the ruins of Turnberry castle, and with views of Ailsa Craig and the Isle of Arran out to sea, plus a tendency to put on spectacular sunsets, Turnberry is the most aesthetic of all the Open venues. In modern golfing legend Turnberry is forever etched in the pages of history as the location for the ‘duel in the sun’ from 1977 when Tom Watson narrowly prevailed over Jack Nicklaus with the rest nowhere. Myths are made in moments, but legends last a lifetime.
In 2016 the course finished it’s stunning redevelopment. The new holes 9-11, look set to become the signature stretch. Not so much Amen Corner, as perhaps a Rocky Horror! The fifth is the hardest on the course and has been toughened up further. The fourteenth, an infinity hole out to sea might become the most awe inspiring.
Is Turnberry the best course in Scotland? We don’t know, it’s a hotly contested accolade, but it’s certainly in any conversation
Second Thursday - Royal Troon
Troon is a traditional links and has hosted the Open a total of ten times. Make your score going out. The inward nine against the omni-present wind is always a trial, made harder by hideously deep rough interspersed with thick gorse and broom.
The par 3, eighth, described by Willie Park as “a pitching surface skimmed down to the size of a Postage Stamp” is the signature hole. The name stuck, and today it’s one the most recognisable short holes in the global game
It’s the par 4, eleventh, ‘the Railway Hole’, that’s the most feared though. In 1997 Tiger Woods carded an eight here. Jack Nicklaus was even more chewed up. He returned a ten in 1962. You have to wonder if there is a hole anywhere in world golf where Jack and Tiger have each signed for quadruples?
More recently Troon staged the memorable 2016 Championship. Henrik Stenson edged Phil Mickelson in one of the most stunning displays of head-to-head play in Major Championship history. They pulled a remarkable 11 shots clear, both shooting record equalling 63’s en-route.
Second Friday - Royal Portrush
Royal Portrush is constructed on an area of natural dune land framed by limestone cliffs. The Open was held here in 1951, and won by Max Faulkner. In 2019 it returned, Shane Lowry playing the elements best of all to prove a popular local(ish) winner, whilst Scottie Scheffler obliged in 2025 (note how quickly the R&A came back!)
The Dunluce Links is home to one of the most stunning par fours in golf, the 411 yard 5th hole. A dogleg hole played from an elevated tee towards the ocean, it rewards the daring shot across a wide expanse of rough. An overly long approach shot will end up on the sand of the White Rocks beach which lies just beyond the rear of the green however. Carnage!
Calamity Corner, the 210 yard par 3 16th hole is the other feature hole. Between the tee and the green is a yawning chasm, which must be cleared to stand any chance of making your three. This is a score wrecker coming at a decisive moment in the round.
Non Golf Options
CLICK, button below to view non-golfers Edinburgh
CLICK, button below to view non-golfers St Andrews
CLICK, button below to view non-golfers Highlands
CLICK, button below to view non-golfers Scotland (general)
CLICK, button below to view non-golfers Northern Ireland
Featured Group
What's Involved?
Constructing golf tours are rarely as straight forward as drawing lines on maps. The long format ‘Par 5’, Faraway Fairways ‘Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland’ is no different. We always need to navigate a challenging array of visitor restrictions which denies us the chance to pick and choose our ‘best fit’ days of the week. Naturally trying to get a full house is a challenging assembly
The ‘Par 5’, Faraway Fairways ‘Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland’ is more characteristic of a ‘point-to-point tour than it is a daily back-to-base model. With 13 consecutive days play it’s going to make demands of us too
We’ve modelled a Dublin in and Dublin out, structure. To include Royal Dornoch, we’ll need a connecting flight from Belfast to Inverness (ever since the flight from Dublin was cancelled).
The return journey will see us fly from Glasgow to Belfast, although we could also take the car ferry from Cairnryan to Belfast too. Door to door (including check ins) the ferry is actually faster. It completes the sailing in 2 hrs 20 mins, but it’s likely to generate a prohibitively expensive one way car hire of Inverness pick-up, and Dublin return. There won’t be many vehicle hire companies who’ll accept that booking
The ‘Par 5’, ‘Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland’ is laid out as a thirteen night duration that observes a point-to-point itinerary, staying at:
- Portmarnock or Dublin – 1 night
- Newcastle or Belfast – 1 night
- Inverness – 1 night
- Pitlochry – 1 night
- St Andrews – 3 nights
- Carnoustie – 1 night
- Edinburgh – 2 nights
- Troon or Turnberry – 1 night
- Portrush – 1 night
- Belfast – 1 night
13 nights is beginning to take us into the sort of territory where we might need to consider introducing a rest day, although the booking timeframe that Muirfield and RCD requires us to observe tends to ensure that 80% will miss out there anyway as they’ll leave it too late
If we had to suggest a day to lose by way of the contribution it makes and whereabouts in the itinerary it falls, we’d nominate Gleneagles, and moving Kingsbarns onto the Thursday to free up the Friday for a slightly better distributed 5/7 split
At about 1050 miles, the ‘Par 5’, ‘Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland’ is a very high mileage, medium intensity transport burden.
In total, this should demand about 27 hrs of road time, which is an average of slightly over 2 hrs a day (that’s manageable)
The inclusion of Dornoch and Castle Stuart is contingent on there being a workable flight between Belfast and Inverness
We will need to decide whether to fly between Glasgow and Belfast on the return leg, or sail between Cairnryan and Belfast instead using a car ferry. We’d probably recommend the flight because of the likely penalty that a vehicle hire company will impose on an Inverness pick up and Dublin return, but otherwise the car ferry would have merit
We wouldn’t advise the use of a hired driver for the ‘Par 5’, ‘Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland’ .
The ‘Par 5’, ‘Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland’ can support Luxury, Premier and Affordable options
As ever, the scale of non-golf activity depends on whether we’re adding extra value for golfers, or building a stand alone proposal for non-golfers to run alongside a golf programme.
The ‘Par 5’, ‘Best Golf Tour in Scotland & Ireland’ is already demanding without adding too much non-golf activity to the agenda. We would advise that you give serious consideration to omitting non-golf activity and only look to include that where we are staying at, that which is in very close proximity, or that which is pretty much on a line of travel
Candidates would include
- Dublin (with Portmarnock)
- Edinburgh (with Muirfield)
- St Andrews
- Culloden (10 mins from Castle Stuart)
- Loch Ness (with Dornoch, depends on flight and tee times)
- The Giants Causeway (15 mins from Portrush)
If we have independent driving non-golfers in the party however, then they can begin to expand their horizons and make use of places like Stirling, Glamis Castle, Belfast, and Carrick u Rede
The following courses operate the following handicap thresholds for gentlemen and ladies respectively
- Royal Portrush (18 & 24)
- Royal Troon (20 & 30)
- Royal County Down (24 & 36)
- Portmarnock (24 & 36)
- Muirfield (24)
- North Berwick (24 & 36)
- Carnoustie (28 & 36)
- St Andrews (36)
Unlike some courses who needn’t be rigid in enforcing their handicap thresholds, Muirfield and the St Andrews Links Trust will do. Failure to provide evidence will result in a refusal to allow us to play
The Old Course diary is available on-line to consult for availability and is dynamic in so much as it changes every season, although there are some known block outs that occur every year, notably the first week of May, the first week of June, and a run from early/ mid September to early/ mid October
There is no play on the Old Course on Sunday
Muirfield only permit visitor play on Tues and Thurs, and only then as fourballs, up to a maximum of twelve per application. If you apply as anything other than a fourball, you’ll be rejected
Muirfield release their tee-times for play the following season in February. They are the first course to move and we need to be about 18 months ahead of the curve to succeed there
Tee-times are allocated by a lottery, albeit your chances of success are better if you go through a golf tour operator (GTO). Be aware however, GTO’s are limited to 20 nominated golfers per season, so in reality you probably need to get someone to support your application around Nov/ Dec of the year before that. Duplicate entries will lead to you being disqualified
Portrush doesn’t permit visitor play on Weds, nor Sat or Sun mornings. Their week day play is a mixture of full and half days. Tues and Thurs are full days. Mon is afternoon only, and Friday is mornings only. In order to play the Dunluce links off a morning tee-time, Portrush now require that we play a second round on their Valley course over two days. It maybe necessary to replace Portstewart under this regulation if the booking has been left a little bit later and the less restricted afternoon times have all been taken
RCD doesn’t permit visitor play on Weds or Sat, or Sun morning. They also operate a mixture of half days and full days for weekdays. Mon, Tues, and Fri are full days
Portmarnock only permits visitor play on Mon, Tues, Thurs and Sun afternoons
Troon only permits visitor play on Mon, Tues, & Thurs
North Berwick don’t permit visitor play on Fri, Sat or Sun morning. Sunday afternoon play has seemingly been restored after having been withdrawn previously, suggesting perhaps that it’s vulnerable.
Carnoustie whilst usually being open 7 days of the week, visitors will have to play afternoon tee-times at the weekend
Turnberry will only allow hotel guests to play in the morning (unless a visitor is prepared to pay a frankly outrageous green fee to do so). We can play in the afternoon however
As you can see, there is a lot of ‘dancing to do’ here! Only Kingsbarns, Gleneagles, Castle Stuart and Royal Dornoch are unencumbered
With all the usual disclaimers of a lottery being random, and there being no such thing as a certainty etc plus the variable factor of availability for the specific week chosen, our prospects of winning a ballot on this programme would otherwise be considered a 50/50 (if we sought to use every opportunity to do so)
The suite of par 5, par 4 and par 3 tours were first conceived when St Andrews were operating the old ‘walk up rule’. As inconvenient and demanding as the walk up rule was, provided we were prepared to lay an early siege of the starters hut, it invariably worked. In 10 years, Faraway Fairways never had anyone fail who used it aggressively. This allowed us to adopt a two ballot and walk up strategy with a degree of comparative certainty. The introduction of the singles ballot however has reduced this strike rate, and the strategy we now have would be closer to a ‘coin toss’ (still competitive, and there is plenty of compensation elsewhere in the itinerary)
We should be able to contest three open ballots (Thurs to Sat) and one ‘singles’ ballot (Fri for Sat), for a total of four.
We normally advise against contesting ballots on the shadow of North Berwick. This would lead to a forfeit at North Berwick if we chose to do so and won. If however, we considered this a ‘price worth paying’ in exchange for the Old Course, then yes we could do it
Green fees need paying in advance and are always non-refundable against a certain timeline
Green fees need paying in advance and are always non-refundable against a certain timeline
A St Andrews Old Course ballot is drawn 48 hrs before play, and we can safely assume that this is outside any refund window! Any win in the ballot therefore will send us into a clash with which ever course we had booked that day, and we’ll a loss of the green fee unless we can get the tee-time rearranged. For this reason we don’t necessarily want to fill every day of the week up with a paid green fee and golf course. That would be designing a forfeit (we are after all setting up to win a ballot and play the Old Course)
Luckily the St Andrews New Course can’t be prebooked, and every other tee-time after 09.00 is offered present-pay-and-play-on-the-day. This is a great way of putting a placeholder into the itinerary without taking on the liability of a prepaid green fee
We try to schedule the New Course in any St Andrews swing to max out this position. If we win a ballot on the day we were going to try and play the New Course, we simply play the Old Course instead. If we win a ballot on another day, then we look to reschedule the affected course onto the day we had the New Course inked in and avoid a forfeit that way. We’ll usually try and put the New Course last in an itinerary then to give ourselves the maximum length of runway onto which we might land the rearranged round
Perversely perhaps, we’re actually hoping not to play the New Course. The reason we wouldn’t play it, is because we’ve won a ballot and are playing the Old Course instead
Whereas golf tour operators enjoy favourable arrangements with a lot of courses, one which represents a risk to any assembly in which they feature is RCD.
RCD open their diary for play the following season in February and will sell out in 36 hrs. If we’re late to the party, we’ll be most unlikely to play there. This means that we need to operate on a long-lead time.
This isn’t the only issue we face there however
RCD sell their tee-times on one hectic day by phone. This involves hitting ‘last number redial’ over and over again in the hope of landing on their limited by number call stacking system. Very often we have to spend hours and hours meeting the engaged tone.
Faraway Fairways have nearly always succeeded in getting tee-times at RCD (eventually) but we’ve had too many near misses to know that we’ll fail again in the future.
There is a known risk in this process, and whereas clients are always welcome to roll the dice themselves and see if they can get lucky alongside our efforts (can always be worth trying), but we’ve never had anyone succeed where ahead of Fairways Fairways yet
About Activities
Culloden
The battlefield of Culloden is where the Jacobite army of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ were defeated by the crown, and Scotland finally lost. If you ‘get’ Culloden, you’ll go a long way towards ‘getting’ Scotland. You can stand in the same positions that the armies stood in all those centuries ago.It’s genuine authentic history that seems all too real.
St Andrews
St Andrews is a legitimate visitor draw regardless of golf. The town is home to the third oldest university in the western world, ensuring it has a lot more life than you might expect. The ruined old castle and cathedral lend it historical relevance. Above all though, it’s a charismatic town with a sense of aura and place
Edinburgh
Few trips to Scotland could really be considered complete without the Scottish capital. Edinburgh is frequently regarded as one of the UK’s most charismatic cities. Most visitors prioritise the castle, Greyfriars Bobby, Holyrood Palace, the various galleries, and increasingly its Harry Potter connection
Testimonial
From BB Canada
“I told Alun the courses I was interested in playing and he prepared a stay and play package with 14 days of outstanding golf, but also tremendous site seeing opportunities for my wife.”
From JC Illinois
“His attention to detail is amazing--I think our travel plan booklet ran to forty-eight pages, with gorgeous descriptions of cities and sights, plus maps showing where to go to catch trains, or walk from trains to hotels, sights and golf courses, etc.”
From DF Alabama
“I will cherish the memories for a long time- especially the wonderful times spent on and off the golf course with two of my brothers and brother-in-law. None of the memories and golf would have been possible or enjoyed without your tremendous planning and logistical support.”
AS from Colorado
“Alun and Faraway Fairways created possibly the most memorable golf trip we have ever experienced. EPIC is the only word that comes to mind.”
AC, From Florida/ New York, 2025
“We were hopeful to secure a 4 ball at St. Andrews while avoiding the massive expense other operators had quoted. He was very clear about the plan for achieving a tee time at the Old Course through the ballot, including detailed instruction on how it could be done, and what our odds were. He suggested mid- to late April as the best chance of success and advised that this is also the least rainy part of the year. We took his advice and trusted the process. Well, he was right on all counts!”
From SB, Minnesota
“We wholeheartedly recommend Alun and Faraway Fairways if you’re looking for a golf trip that is effortless, enjoyable, and truly unforgettable—even for a non-golfer in the mix! My husband and I will be daydreaming about this trip for years to come. 5.5 stars!”
From JB, California
“The best part was that the service was surprisingly affordable. They were thousands of dollars below other quotes that I received, in fact the prices were very similar to what I would have paid if I would have booked everything on my own.”
From JCA, Maryland
“I would and will highly recommend your company to anyone looking to plan an unforgettable golf trip. Thank You for putting together a fantastic trip for J.C. and me”
From WF Connecticut
“I think all eight of us would agree that Alun at Faraway Fairways did an absolutely wonderful job of putting this “golf vacation of a lifetime” together for us. His focus on the details was extraordinary from the choice of courses and the timing of the tee times, the amazingly beautiful accommodations along with some excellent meal selections, and the transportation options he provided to get us from place to place.”
From DR South Carolina
“You are about to tee it up in your Major. Seek wisdom, integrity and professionalism. Alun Davies and Faraway Fairways will not disappoint you. They cannot assure a calm sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s on the Old Course.”
From MM, California
“One fantastic trip you organized, and more importantly took ownership of in terms of daily communication and stewardship during our 2+ weeks in Scotland and Ireland. The logistics were spotless…100% of the transports were on time and excellent, the lodging choices spectacular and the golf was off the charts in terms of quality and arrangements made”
DH from California
“You cannot go wrong with the support Faraway Fairways offered. I did this trip solo and all last minute but I have already begun to plan the next trip which will include my best golfing buddies.”
Enquiry
We don't need to make this an ordeal by 101 filtering questions! In reality there are probably little more than half a dozen things we need to know to build out a proposal. The guidance below might help you frame answers
Duration - usually best expressed as a range up to a maximum
Time of year - can be anything from a specific date range to a named season
Travel class - Faraway Fairways uses 'Luxury', 'Premier' or 'Affordable' for generic purposes. You might choose to reference the international 'star' rating system. We're only looking for something to help steer us into the right sector
Self drive or hired driver - In broad terms, self driving is normally less expensive, and much more flexible, but some folk just don't want to do it
Must play courses/ must do places - a few name checks is all that's needed