Introduction - Golfing In Scotland, 1999

In August, 1998 I got the idea of going to Scotland to play golf. My nephew, Robert Thomson (Bob), has been an outstanding golfer most of his life so I invited him to go along and play golf at the 'home of golf', Scotland.

There was much planning to do - plane reservations, golf reservations, places to stay, how to travel around Scotland once we got there. So, I used the internet to first look for golf tours in Scotland. As you would imagine there are quite a few in Scotland as well as travel agencies here in the USA that could arrange such a trip. I emailed several tours and in a few short weeks I received their material.

For the plane reservations I used a travel service in Anderson who I had worked with before and trusted with the arrangement, High Advanture Travel. Debbie Owens, as before, provided us with the service we had come to expect. Since I would be traveling from Greenville, SC I optioned to fly to Scotland through Charlotte, NC on British Airways. Bob would be coming to Charlotte from South Bend, IN.

It was not difficult to select the time period to go to Scotland as Bob had vacation time available during the last two weeks of May. And since I am retired I could go anytime. We soon found out that May is the start of the tourtist season in Scotland and the weather would being to break, i.e. less rain and warmer temperatures.

Selecting the golf courses was not that easy as there are so many great courses in Scotland. Perhaps the main requirements were: (a) accessability of tee times (b) distance from lodging and (c) difficulty of the course. With these parameters in mind we selected the following courses:

• Gullane No. 1
• North Berwick
• Carnoustie No. 1
• Old Course
• Jubilee
• New Course

Gullane No. 1 was reported to be a very tough course and is often used as a qualifier course for the British Open. North Berwick is quite old and a seaside course. Carnoustie No. 1 is where the British Open was held in the summer of 1999. The Old Course in St. Andrews is always THE place to play and hosted the British Open in 2000. The New Course and Jubilee are also at St. Andrews.

The plane trip from Charlotte, NC to London takes about six hours due to the tailwinds. But the trip back from London takes about 8.25 hours due to these same winds. Once in London the plane trip to Edinburgh is about 1 hour and 20 minutes. All the courses we played were within about two hours of Edinburgh but the hotels we stayed in were only an hour away from the airport.

Our last night in Scotland was spent at the Edinburgh airport hotel, the Stakis, which is about a short par 4 from the airport terminal. It was strange to be that close to an airport and not hear a plane take off or land. The main reason for this is the distance from the terminal to the runways.

Money exchange is fairly easy as they have exchange booths right in the terminal. However, there is about a 3 pound charge for the exchange each time and the conversion from dollars to pounds was at about 1.7$/pound whereas the exchange from pounds/dollars was at 1 pounds = 1.5 dollars. So you really lose both ways!

To read about our advanture on the various courses and see some photos of where we were, please select one of the locations below. You also can return to either of my other main pages, wise old man or seniorchamp.