Just Returned From Scotland

Man, what a golf trip. Me and 13 others from my club just returned from a golf trip to Scotland and it was awesome. We based our trip in Carnoustie where we rented a VRBO castle. It was $14,000 for the week, so about $1000 per man.

Played Kingsbarn and the Eden Course at St Andrew's the first day. Very windy conditions, blowing a steady 35-40mph with gust around 50. Kingsbarn was worth the price to me. Just a great golf course with stunning views on most every hole.

Day 2, went up to Royal Aberdeen and enjoyed lunch at the club then a great round. The staff at Royal Aberdeen was awesome. They emailed me and asked if they could prepare us a meal before we played. They made several trays of sandwiches along with soup and chips. Golf course lived up to its hype. Front nine was awesome, but again the winds were pretty severe that day.

Day 3, Gleneagles King course. Winds finally calm down a touch for this parkland course. The course had one of those Carolina mountain courses. You forgot you were in Scotland, but the course was in great condition. Lots of blind tee shots. Resorts feel, almost as though you were at the Biltmore House.

Day 4, made a long bus ride across Scotland to Turnberry. This was the day of all golf days. Course, caddies, weather conditions were the thing of dreams. We teed off around 2:30-3:00 and it was so perfect as the sun started to set on the back nine. Turnberry remains my favorite course of all time. Trump has magaged to take a great course even further with everything just absolutely perfect.

Day 5 Panmure Golf Club. Panmure is where Ben Hogan practiced for two weeks prior to playing his only Open Championship. One that he won at Carnoustie. Great course, but not up to what I was expecting. Just my opinion, but I like the seaside links courses better. The club allowed us to have dinner in the dining room after our round. Really a fantastic experience.

Day 6, last day of the trip was Carnoustie. One of our members is from Scotland so he had some members available to play with us. We were one member short, but as luck would have it, we got to talking to a guy in a bar who was a member who invited us out that morning. We had a USA vs Scotland bet against the members. The USA team won the bet, which was a signed Carnoustie flag. What a great golf course. Again the weather was great, with low winds.

All in all, the trip was epic. Weather was great for 75% of it. My lowest round was 76 at Turnberry and highest was 87 at Eden. I'm a 1 handicap at home, but it's just a different style of play over there. When all was totaled up, the trip cost us around $3500 for accommodations, and a passenger bus, greens fees. Food and supplies extra, and airfare compliments of Delta sky miles, which was only 71,000 miles Atlanta to Edinburgh.