Ever wanted to know the perfect St. Andrews golf itinerary?
St. Andrews, located on the east coast of Scotland, is widely regarded as the “Home of Golf.” This historic town is home to the iconic Old Course, one of the oldest and most famous golf courses in the world. Golf has been played in St. Andrews since the 15th century, and the town is steeped in golfing history and tradition.
Being the home to so many golf courses such as, The Old Course, The Castle Course, Dumbarnie Links and Kingsbarns Golf Links this is an unmissable podcast from the experts at Your Golf Travel if you could potentially see yourself taking a golf trip to Scotland.
00:00 – Intro & Guess the Golfer!
00:29 – The Old Course
03:44 – The Jubilee Course
04:52 – Fairmont, St Andrews
06:57 – Dumbarnie Links
09:27 – Kingsbarns Golf Links
13:07 – The Jigger Inn & The Dunvegan
15:07 – Outro & Guess the Golfer
Host: David Hewitson – Senior Golf Travel Specialist – david.hewitson@yourgolftravel.com
Guest: Sam Greenslade – Golf Travel Team Manager – sam.greenslade@yourgolftravel.com
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Here’s a question for you which golfer famously slept on the beach at St Andrews before the 1955 Open, that then went on to be a major winner? Answer will be later on in the show now on that subject of St Andrews I’ve got my colleague Sam here an expert in the area recently back from St Andrews lucky boy yeah we’re going to be going through the old course golf courses around it and what is the best itinerary in our opinion yeah definitely good stuff so obviously the old course speaks for itself it was your first time playing it was it my first time playing how was it it was amazing um everything I ever expected and more um I was very lucky I went through the new ballot system for the singles okay um was very lucky my first attempt got on I played it in horrendous weather but it was amazing just to tick It off the bucket list and I feel like there’s a sense of satisfaction and completion in my golfing career now that I’ve played the uh the old course so how did that feel with the ballot like what was what was the process of the new singles ballot yeah so the day before we had to go to the old pavilion which in itself is amazing because you’re right next to the the first tee the old green that’s it yeah so you’re kind of almost there and you’re in around the the building so that was pretty cool uh there’s a couple of iPads in there you just put your details in I got a text message to say congratulations you’re in the ballot um and then later on that day at 5:00 i got a text message say the ballots closed 10 5 um the ballots being drawn and then at half past 5 I got my tee time and um yeah I sat there in my chair and just went come on yes it’s a it’s a good experience isn’t it I’ve balloted twice been lucky enough to get in both times and wait well it was the email back then before the singles queue changed to the the text message thing but when you get that email that sense of relief and that sense of I’m about to embark on something like incredible like there’s so much history yeah it there no different feeling for me there’s there’s nothing there’s nothing better in in golf that I’ve experienced than than getting that like you’re in yeah message I think the amazing thing as well like my heart started going straight away and I I automatically went what am I hitting off the first I was like you’re already playing it in your head you’ve seen it so many times from the open yeah and everyone always goes the widest fairway in golf and you’re like how I just don’t want to mess this up I’ve seen someone missed it twice really twice off the first and once off the 18th yeah and 18 was left yeah which is a long way a long way left it’s so far left we actually picked the ball up on the way back to the car par that’s how far left it was yeah that’s that’s a long way left now you know the the old course we’ve seen it so many times with the open obviously we saw tiger recently go over the bridge everyone expected him to perhaps retire yeah um yeah it’s a special place for him he says it’s his favourite course in the world what was your what was your favourite hole cuz I’ve got mine and it’s for me it’s difficult to dislodge that hole as my favourite hole yeah um I’d have to say probably 177 for me was was my favourite I think it was being able to actually look down the fairway and see you know he got a cut across the the corner of the the club uh the hotel it was a left to right wind and I was actually aiming at the Russacks hotel which is like 50 yards left of where you’re supposed to be aiming and even then it just it cut back into the middle of the fairway and it was just the the history of that hole and people’s scorecards have been made and being wrecked on that hole and it was amazing just to sort of I did make a bogey it wasn’t uh wasn’t great but it was um it was amazing just to to sort of see it and then obviously you got 18 in the background as well it was yeah I think that was my favourite now with St Andrews as we said earlier there’s more to it than just the old course uh you’ve got the golf courses that are on site with St Andrews links trust uh you know we were talking about it offline just before you know we came on and you know the Jubilee is probably the the toughest of the rest yeah and would you say it’s the best of the rest um the ones that are on site so you know not talking about up at The Fairmont or down the coastline at some other courses that we’ll discuss yeah shortly but do you think that’s that’s going to be the best of the rest for you know our you know the Your Golf Traveler’s that are going up there I think so yeah I think it’s um it’s a proper test of golf um I do also like The Castle and the new course as well I think a lot of people that I speak to who returned from there they say they are evenly matched I know The Jubilee is supposedly the hardest of the of the three but to be honest with yourself I think just being on the links trust and and playing those golf courses are special within itself it’s all the same land isn’t it you’re hitting off the same turf as the old course it’s just they just don’t have the same nuances with the shared greens and yeah they all add up to 18 all the shared ones which is really cool uh you know we touched on it just now and you’ve been lucky enough to stay there The Fairmont two awesome courses yeah in The Torrance and The Kissocks European tour venue as well yeah what can people expect from from staying up there um well I mean the hotel in itself is is amazing a Fairmont isn’t it exactly what it says on the tin type thing it was uh I mean the main foyer that you have there I mean you could literally have an 11 size football match in the middle of it it’s it’s huge it’s almost feels too big the hotel uh it’s fantastic and obviously you got two courses on site as well as a little drive down to those um and they’re both really really good golf courses um the kitty goes towards The Castle Course a little bit more down towards the town and then The Torrance is is on the opposite sides and both really good Links golf courses as you said European tour venue the hero open yeah um so yeah really really good golf courses quite um feels a bit American massive wide fairways big good big bunkers and and greens so yeah it’s uh it’s a good venue to go to always got good availability for tee times as well all right Saturday and Sunday always got tee time so if people are looking for a Friday to Sunday trip then you know placing yourself at Fairmont is actually a really good option and then you know perhaps look at other golf that we can help them with as well absolutely so with the with The Fairmont is a little bit out of town do you feel disconnected from it or is it quite easy to get down there no not at all I mean the good thing with Fairmont is that they have Mercedes Sprinter vans and they actually take you down into town so every every half an hour they run a shuttle into the center of the town so um you don’t really feel disconnected from it at all you’re not missing out on The Jigger Inn you’re not missing out on the Dunvegan walking the street what’s the golf shot the famous one by the Dunvegan I can’t remember the name don’t ask me to pronounce it funny old name but that’s that’s like incredible spot yeah exactly it’s they’re like landmarks they are they are but yeah you definitely don’t feel distant from it it’s only a 15 20 minute journey at max into the town so yeah I mean it’s it’s a great base to have yourself really excellent now I am a big fan of Links and you know playing The Old was something super special uh I was lucky enough to play it quite early in the day and I was able to then go out in the afternoon and play somewhere else and that’s the the logo that’s on your top yeah new course Dumbarnie Links I’d played it not long after it opened you played it very recently yeah I thought it was incredible like one of my favourite rounds of golf that I’ve ever played yeah it’s something very different to the rest because there obviously the big high Junes it’s not quite as Scottish if if you like as as some of the others but what was your what was your opinion on Dumbarnie when when you were there was it the same trip that you did it all on yeah it was the same trip yeah I was blown away by by Dumbarnie the service that you get we we took our clubs out the car in the car park and someone came along grabbed the golf clubs they said they’ll be waiting for you on the range you kind of walk through the clubhouse you got the pro shop on the left and the bar on the right and just the service that you get there was it was just amazing I I love that about it that’s your American result kind of feel isn’t it absolutely yeah and I mean I could imagine a group of Americans would would absolutely love that um the range was huge grass range as well no mats or anything it was absolutely Immaculate um again you get your little is it your little drama of whiskey as well the first as well so again that was really cool and I mean we was we was going around the we was on the ninth hole and I remember saying to my colleague Martin was saying this course is four years old it’s so new and it’s it’s it’s fantastic it’s really good like I can only imagine what it’s like in 10 years time yeah absolutely I think there’s enough space that that they own as well that they could perhaps put another course in absolutely yeah I wouldn’t be surprised because that that bit of property is amazing the views across the uh across the river to um North sort of area uh yeah just fantastic isn’t it is it’s really really good some real interesting holes yeah quite a bit of elevation change as well for a link which is quite uh quite different yeah because like the first you go down the hill second you sort of play around yeah and then third you go down again it’s well I don’t know how I’ve got I’m started so high and I’ve played two downhill holes yeah you never really feel the elevation change even while it’s a fairly easy walk um but no I I was really impressed with it it’s one of those courses as well you take your phone out and the first time go that’s a great picture and then second hole you take your phone out again and so on it continues it’s really really good really good no I’m glad you uh feel the same way as I do about Dumbarnie it’s a really cool place now Sam you were lucky enough to play somewhere that I not played it’s on my list to do I just need to to get back up to to Scotland and that was KingsBarns yeah relatively new not quite as new as Dumbarnie yeah you know it’s well known by probably everyone in the golf world now part of the Dunhill uh rotation as well yeah how was how was Kingsbarns amazing I mean I don’t really know what more I can say it was just amazing it was it’s the best golf course I’ve played yeah yeah it’s it’s um I’ve always sort of seen things about it and I was never quite too sure about it but actually playing it and being there it’s it was amazing the clubhouse is really oldy worldy really sort of like a a classic old Clubhouse and the golf course is is was just absolutely manicured for the middle of April it was it was in superb condition there’s a lot of hype isn’t there around uh around Kingsbarns so the cost of the green fee how busy it is as well but it lived up to all your expectations definitely yeah 100% I mean there was some really really nice holes there as well with a feature holes are um I stunning you got the for I think it’s the 12th that goes around the coastline really nice hole kind of feels a bit like turn the lighthouse hole where you go around around the corner and I think it’s 15 which is the par three which the the the full carrier across the edge of the water yeah that’s the the picture post card yeah unfortunately the pin was like right over on the left so it was fairly straightforwards but I can imagine if that pins over on the right hand side like yeah you’d be uh you’d be worried that you’re going to be losing some golf balls now with with that in mind and you know we’ve spoken about The Old Course we’ve spoken about Dumbarnie all the other ones in South in St Andrews as well what is your perfect like fornight three round trip to St Andrews what what does that look like for you yeah I mean it depends I think it depends really on on what you’re looking to spend and what you’re trying to get out of the experience I think a really nice package would be staying at Fairmont St Andrews uh they have an unlimited golf package so you can play the two courses there as many times as you like so depending on time of year you can go around to your dizzy almost can’t you stay till 10:00 exactly we get a lot of customers who come over from sort of Scandinavian countries where their courses are close and they’ll come and do 36 holes every day during the summer and really get their season worth of golf out so I mean that’s a really good option and it’s a good price but if you looking more towards the other end something sort of staying in the in the middle of St Andrews you got the Russsacks and course Hotel both famous hotels and then add in the castle course the Jubilee course and then you got and you’ve got Kingsbarns if you’re looking for a real top end trip yeah that’s I think that’s what I would go for I think I’d do stay in stay in the old course Hotel so you get the view yeah and then you’ve got The Jigger Inn next door which we’re going to touch upon in just a minute old course Jubilee to beat me up yeah and then it would have to be Kingsbarns so play Dubarnie but if Kings bars wasn’t available I’d definitely go back to Dum Barney actually thinking about doing Dumbarnie in August when I’m up there with some with some friends we’re we’re across the river but it’s not that far to get round so yeah it’s it’s an experience that I want to do again definitely yeah I think if you go do go to St Andrews you’ve got to do it properly and you’ve got to play some of those golf courses you’ve got to absolutely you know even if it means that you need to you know Skip a year and and go go back and do it properly save a little bit of money to to get some of those courses you you’ve got to do it really it’s it’s it’s an amazing trip yeah you know bucket list experiences are bucket list for a reason and it’s not something you’re going to do every year yeah and that’s why we make them so special absolutely you know you and you and the team do a great job of that uh you know we just spoke about The Jigger Inn in like touched on that staying in the uh in the old course hotel and you got the famous pub that’s just next door where players will frequent during the open yeah I know you were there uh recently yeah how was the how was the experience in there is the is the vibe good is it just literally people in their golf shoes so The Jigger Inn is going for a refer but at the moment so it was we saw it I saw it when I was playing the playing the old course and um there was there was a lot of work being done to it I think it’s kind of been due a refurb but I actually went to the Dunvegan on quite quite a few evenings to be honest with yourself and that’s an amazing bar in itself on the walls and the ceilings are all the people yeah of people that have been in there Tiger Woods has been in there John Daley pitch is really good you’ve got like a really young Dustin Johnson in there as well which um is is quite an interesting picture it’s only about 150 yards from the 18th green isn’t it you come off the 18th green Chuck is just up there on the corner it is yeah it’s um it’s in a prime location and the time that we went in in April you had all the uni students coming in and you had all the golfers coming in and on a Tuesday Wednesday night it’s it’s rocking it’s absolutely rocking in there so yeah it’s it’s fantastic it’s it’s really good and it’s almost like a golf in Mecca really there’s just people coming from all four corners of the earth you do a pilgrimage to yeah the and you you’ll be coming down the road and there’ll be someone with their golf bag on their back and and it’s just it’s just golfers everywhere it’s an amazing experience there’s nothing like it I don’t there’s anything like just wandering around St Andrews for half an hour 40 minutes I before or after you playing it’s just golfers everywhere and that’s that’s part of its its charm isn’t it yeah definitely and I mean there’s golf shops Galore as well there’s always um there’s like an antique one in there the golf sh we discussed earlier on as well funny name with a funny name yeah and yeah there’s just so much to do in St Andrews like you can never really get bored if you’re a proper proper golfer you can never get bored in St Andrews brilliant now we mentioned at the start of the show uh which golfer allegedly slept on the beach before the 1955 open you know who it was Sam I don’t know the answer to this the answer to this was Gary Player a very young Gary Player uh so anyone got it right let us know in the comments but uh thanks for watching thanks for listening and we’ll see you all again soon thank you very much.
