How do I begin?
This isn’t a rhetorical question. It’s not a rhetorical question. This is part of a series that will be asked throughout the country when you plan your bucket-list trip to Scotland. How do you start? What course should I take next? The hardest of all: What courses can I afford to miss?
Are you heading to St. Andrews for the Open Championship? You’ll find a lot more than the famous Old Course. It has been 30 times the location of the British Open. The New Course seems like a misnomer considering it was constructed by Old Tom Morris back in 1895. What about the Jubilee, perhaps? The Castle, which opened in the town of St. Andrews in 2008, is the newest course managed by St. Andrews Links Trust. You might also like to play some of the other layouts located near the Home of Golf.
You’re heading to the Highlands for a round at Royal Dornoch. Everybody on the course, along with those who follow you on social media, will tell you you can’t skip Brora (I didn’t), Tain or Golspie (I was unable to attend both but I am already planning to return). What is the best way to plan a classic Aberdeen links trip? Classic links like Royal Aberdeen, Murcar Links, Cruden Bay and a few others are not to be missed. There are many options along the coast. All of Scotland’s coasts are actually.
Are you heading east? The courses to the west will be highlighted to you. Looking north? These gems are not to be missed. These gems to the south are worth a visit.
After my recent trip, I struggled to write a sentence about the course I played. Then, questions began pouring in about whether I had played that particular one or another. Everybody processes the world through their own experiences. This is especially true when we judge the courses of others.
This was my dilemma when I began planning my trip to Scotland. Lucky for me, I knew exactly where I wanted to start. American course designer Tom Doak is currently building a new course at Castle Stuart, near Inverness. The course will be rebranded as Cabot Highlands by Cabot Highlands following its recent acquisition. Doak is building a new course at Castle Stuart near Inverness. I’d like to listen to Doak talk about his plans and to taste the original course at the resort.
But what if I didn’t? There were many options. There were too many options. There are so many options. My time was limited to 12 days so I reached out to Golfbreaks, a course booking company, and VisitScotland.com for help. They helped me plan a trip that would take in the Highlands, then swing back down the coast to Aberdeen, and finally into St. Andrews.
Scotland is the birthplace of the game we know today. Links golf is a great example. The links experience was fast, firm, and often almost completely natural. There are 550 golf courses in Scotland. Only 90 of them could be considered true links. This is a matter for debate between academics and drunks. This trip, I had the opportunity to see 11 of them. Each one was unique, and you shouldn’t think of links golf like a uniform game. It is the complete opposite. Although the conditions may be similar, each layout is unique and each shot promises something.
I have played courses that are well-known worldwide and others that are not as well-known outside of Scotland. I played in rain, sunshine, wind, and calm. I was good, but I was terrible. My only constants were the course, the terrain, and the coastlines that flashed through my exhausted brain each night in whatever accommodation I had booked. There were many things to do on the trip: planes, trains and buses, as well as shuttles and a Skoda SUV. I was constantly reminded to “Keep left”, at each turn of each drive along narrow, windy roads. I couldn’t bear to think of missing my next round of Golf because of something so simple like a car accident.
The car had a lot more miles than it was worth, many different beds and nerves. There were too many bad swings and so many good courses. It was perfect.
By: Jason Lusk
Title: Golf travel: Bounding across Scotland, from Royal Dornoch around to St. Andrews with stops all along the way
Sourced From: golfweek.usatoday.com/lists/golf-travel-scotland-royal-dornoch-st-andrews-nairn-cruden-bay-cabot-highlands/
Published Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2023 11:01:49 +0000
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