Do I put something about video in here?
This is no definitive template for the Scottish Highlands and St Andrews with Edinburgh Golf Vacation. If we fly via London, then we can connect direct to Inverness and treat it as a linear north to south, point to point itinerary of Inverness in/ Edinburgh out. This is the lowest mileage option. It can also run south to north as we’ve laid it out here.
The Scottish Highlands and St Andrews with Edinburgh Golf Vacation can be set up to flow clockwise or anti clockwise, all we have to do adjust to land on the favoured days of the week
It’s predominantly a point-to-point tour however, for although it travels to three distinct regions, it probably requires five overnight destinations due to the mileage
The Scottish Highlands and St Andrews with Edinburgh Golf Vacation is laid out as a ten night duration that observes a point-to-point itinerary, staying at:
10 nights is beginning to take us into the sort of territory where we might need to consider introducing a rest day, although the timeframe that Muirfield requires us to observe to book, tends to ensure that 80% will miss out there anyway, and if we fly into Inverness, then we would need to necessarily use Gleneagles to help break up the mileage, so could omit a day there too
At about 750 miles, the Scottish Highlands and St Andrews with Edinburgh Golf Vacation is a high mileage medium intensity transport burden. It involves two significant drives to highlands and back, albeit one of these could be eliminated if we flew to Inverness via London and turned it into a single flow linear path of travel
In total, this should only require about 20 hrs of road time, which is an average of about 2 hrs a day
We wouldn’t advise the use of a hired driver for the Scottish Highlands and St Andrews with Edinburgh Golf Vacation. The three regions we’re seeking to link up are too far apart so we’ll likely incur ‘driver away’ overnight accommodation costs (remember a hired driver would budget for their return journey when seeking to evaluate a day-trip)
This trip can support Luxury, Premier and Affordable options, albeit Carnoustie is a bit locked in for lack of alternatives and would be considered ‘premier’
By basing ourselves for the first two nights in Edinburgh we deliver a high-class, non-golf offer to our doorstep.
St Andrews is a legitimate point of interest without golf. The ruined old castle and cathedral are natural focus points, whereas the town also possesses aesthetic charisma and history.
The East Neuk of Fife has a collection of charming fishing villages we can wander around at leisure on a gentle afternoon combined with Kingsbarns
One of the big bonuses to the Scottish Highlands and St Andrews with Edinburgh Golf Vacation is that it opens up the north to include Culloden, Loch Ness, and Urquhart Castle.
We also have the possibility of introducing a cluster of attractions around the gateway town of Pitlochry too on the transfer between Carnoustie and Inverness, to include places like Killiecrankie, The Queens View of Loch Tummel, Blair Castle, the House of Bruar, and the Blair Athol Distillery
Glamis Castle combines well with Carnoustie and historic city of Stirling can briefly be visited enroute to the Ayrshire coast since its in a direct line of travel from Gleneagles
Muirfield ask we possess handicaps of 24 (gentleman) and 36 (ladies), so long as we can meet these, we’ll be alright with the others
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
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
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 gently favourable if we sought to use every opportunity to do so
We won’t contest a ballot on Tuesday against the shadow of Muirfield (we’d never get Muirfield rearranged) and in many respects Muirfield is an equally sought after and prestigious round than St Andrews anyway
We normally advise against contesting Monday’s ballot on the shadow of North Berwick as well. Again, this is a difficult round to rearrange, but since we arrive on Monday morning, it would be particularly disruptive to head to St Andrews. There is a realistic forfeit risk to this
We should be able to contest a total of four open ballots (Weds to Sat) and three ‘singles’ ballot (Thurs to Sat), for a total of seven.