Planning a golf trip in 2025? Golf Away Tours Owner TJ Rule joins Adam Scully to reveal the top golf travel destinations this year — including Ireland and Portugal! They share expert travel tips, unforgettable courses, and funny stories from years of travelling together.
Whether you’re dreaming of links golf in Europe or looking for insider travel advice, this episode has it all.
🏌️♂️ Best golf destinations for 2025
✈️ Travel tips for golfers
📍 Why Ireland & Portugal are must-visits
🤣 Golf travel stories with TJ & Adam
Don’t miss this guide to planning the ultimate golf getaway in 2025!
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🌍 Learn more at Golf Away Tours: https://golfawaytours.com
#golftravel #golfdestinations #golfawaytours #ireland #portugal #culture #golftips
tj Rule Golf Away Tours hello TJ how are you hello Skully good to be here it is always good to sit down and talk with you and and we’re going to get into golf travel and some of the latest hot destinations and something I’m really looking forward to doing is we’re going to go through our top five golf courses all around the world that’s coming up in our next segment tj’s going to be here for the next uh 25 to 30 minutes or so as as we talk all things golf all things travel but you’ve been cruising around here at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley what have you felt so far yeah you know what first time I’ve been here in a long time uh I played the course well before the renovations um and uh didn’t come out yesterday so here for the first time in a while and I’m really impressed i love the look of the golf course um I know Ian did a lot of work uh you know with the changes and and lengthening it out for a PGA Tour tournament and um you know I’m really impressed it it’s it shows well and I think uh I think the guys are enjoying it so far so good i totally agree it’s too bad we got that rain yesterday to soften things up i didn’t think a 61 was going to be out there because I know this is going to surprise you a couple things mark and I played the celebrity proam on Monday mark’s like I think we should tip it like do we need Yeah okay sure sounds like a Mark thing and not only did we tip it it was one step off the back oh jeez so it was just under 7,600 yards probably my low back is still in agony from carrying Mark well no yeah yeah and then my fianceé Taylor was catting for me and Heather was caddying for Mark so so they love the day they loved it they love the 6 hours out here they love cruising around but no it was fun it It’s a great golf course and I loved some of the runoff areas too but uh it’s a cool place to But 7600 that’s kind of in your range for the how far you hit it right yeah you know what i was I was 76 so I I played Okay i was driving it nicely wow uh driving it nicely uh Mark’s back sort of went out on him the last couple holes at least he says his back went you know his excuse i know for a radio audience I just did some air quotes there yes but you have a buddy who’s playing out here right now right well buddy you know a fellow member at Scarbo Golf Country Club who’s uh you know roasted me in the club championship on many occasion and u so he’s your enemy actually yeah great great guy though you know he’s he’s only 18 years old he’s going to school down in Mississippi oh wow and just finished his first year matthew Javier and uh you know he’s qualified in the in the final qualifier at uh where was it at Pulpit I think on on Monday and Yep or Sunday and uh and he’s out here playing and and uh you know representing Scar Bro well and and we’re super proud of him and and he’s you know first and foremost he’s a great kid and uh so it’s really it’s really great to see him him succeed out here and uh he is currently two over for the tournament he just unfortunately made a triple bogey a couple holes ago yeah we’re not supposed to talk about that we’re supposed to talk about the two birdies he made before that good vibes only i mean he is your enemy though right not at all not at all not at all i love that uh well for those of us those who have followed us on Golf Talk Canada for years we’ve done a number of travel specials with Golf Away Tours we were in Spain coming up on four years ago now which is just mind-boggling to believe we were in Portugal last year which is great too it was so much fun and there’s a lot going on in the world right now uh specifically Canada the US which we’re not going to get into the politics side of this but but in terms of the golf travel side of it are you seeing more people maybe wanting to go elsewhere maybe other parts of Europe now yeah definitely i mean you know the most the majority of our business is Europe as you well know like UK Ireland uh and in Spain and Portugal and other places over there but you know US doesn’t represent a ton of our of our business although we do you know work with some of the bigger resorts down there but we’re getting a lot of people just calling us up and saying “We don’t want to go to the US anymore,” which I get totally you know we’ve got a group of 20 guys that have been down to Myrtle Beach for you know 23 straight years or whatever and we need an alternative so yeah we’re getting a lot of that got a lot of those calls recently and and people just looking for alternatives because they just don’t want to don’t want to go down there right now and and I get it it’s a shame really because obviously there’s there’s so much uh great stuff down there and uh and hopefully this blows over sooner than later but um but in the meantime yeah we’re we’re looking at alternatives for people so yeah and one of those great alternatives is Portugal and we went we’re in Portugal last March i think Ron Judge from Golfway Tours has been 14 times since then it seems I think he’s getting his his uh passport soon does he live there now full time but for those who we’ve been obviously we enjoyed such a cool experience but for those who haven’t been to Portugal to golf what’s the experience like well it’s great right and we got to experience it last year and I was glad you were able to join us over there and um you know it’s a destination that’s always been very popular especially for Brits uh going down it’s kind of like their version of Florida California where they they can fly down easily they can get to uh you know a fairly reasonably priced uh destination for golf uh good weather you know right through the winter not hot in the winter but still like good golfing weather and uh so it’s ve is especially down in the Algarve in the south it’s been very popular for years and years but now as we found out last year and as we’re finding out sending our clients there a lot there’s a lot of new golf courses in and around Lisbon that are that are popping up that are world class like world class and uh you know Ron was just over there again last week of course and uh you know exploring some of them and seeing some of the courses that one of them hasn’t quite opened up yet and we played it sister course last year when we went dunis they opened up a second course called tour which is designed by Sergio yeah so it’s opening up I believe next month that’s opening up shortly and uh and Ron got a got a preview of it a couple couple weeks ago and um and by all accounts it’s it’s in the same class as as Dunish which I would say is is probably the best golf course in Portugal now so you know you’ve got those and you’ve got the Pride El Rey resort that we went to you got it Dunes west of Lisbon so there’s tons of golf within an hour and a half of Lisbon so a lot of our groups now are going up to that area as opposed to the Algarf or can combining the two destinations so there’s a lot to offer there the price point is still good and that’s why it’s a really good alternative to people who have been going to the US and going for some deals over the years and um you know finding something that’s comparable price-wise you know easy flights you know direct overnight so you know there’s lots of great reasons to go to Portugal um and uh yeah it’s just growing and growing i’m so glad you said easy to get to because it’s six and a half seven hours maybe direct flight to Lisbon and even when we went to Spain 3 and a half years ago we flew through Lisbon we might not have made our connecting flight that was a long story in itself but but but Lisbon’s a great hub to go into isn’t it to fly into there’s three airlines that fly there direct and it is a hub getting into getting into Europe and other destinations so for us like sending people there you know it’s an easy overnight flight you get a bit of sleep on the plane you play golf the next day and you’re ready to go and so yeah great reason to to go over there and uh yeah it’s just becoming one of the most popular spots certainly the most the the biggest growing destination I think for our golf travel and regardless of wherever you’re going in the world you just mentioned something there the overnight flight you play golf the next day and you’re off how crucial is that in terms of getting your body clock on the time zone versus if you’re flying overnight and maybe you nap when you get there and then your body just doesn’t know what time it is throughout the next couple days you can’t nap and it’s hard sometimes because some people can’t sleep on planes i’m not bad at it i’m not great i’m jealous that if if you can get an hour or two on the plane and then somehow get through that whole next day right and and that’s why we say to people play golf play golf so that you can get out be active and and uh and it’s easier to stay awake uh and then you you get to dinner time have a quick dinner you know get to bed at a reasonable hour but try to make it to I don’t know nine o’clock or something and then get a really good I always find that’s my best sleep ever is is that first night over in Europe whether it’s in Ireland or Scotland or Portugal wherever it is that’s my best sleep and I get up the next morning and I’m generally refreshed so so yeah we we often and it depends when your flight arrives you know but the flight’s overnight if it’s direct you usually people are getting there you know in the morning so you’ve got time to get to your destination play a round of golf and and you know stay active so you can stay awake and so I always like to do that it’s not for everybody but and you can’t expect to shoot your low score when you’re when you’re playing on that little sleep uh so temper your expectations but it’s a good way to go in my mind and obviously going on these great trips the Gulf is is number one but how important do you think it is to embrace the culture of different spots whether we’re having tapas in Spain or you know local wine anywhere versus maybe just eating something different that you normally wouldn’t do well I mean I think that’s huge and we get so many people that you know the trips that we put together are golf heavy totally they’re golfers and they want to play golf and and often especially in Scotland or Ireland like you know 36 a day we want to play twice you know like and and I try to steer people away from that you know we we believe that that you know enjoying the destination off the golf course is just as important as on the golf course and I get it the first few times I went over I wanted to play as much golf as possible I totally get it but you know what to be able to enjoy the the food and the wine and maybe do a wine tour in Portugal or Spain or a whiskey tour in in Ireland Ireland or Scotland and enjoy a bit of the culture and get out for some nice meals and it’s super important and not only that then you don’t wear yourself out where you know like if you do that too much play too much golf by the end of it you’re just worn out and and probably not enjoying the golf as much as you should so yeah I think it’s super important to enjoy the destination enjoy the culture you know it’s the reason we travel right and see different parts of the world is to to meet different people and and try different foods and and uh and enjoy the culture so I think it’s really important and we try to get that across to people yeah that’s very well said now we know the Open Championship is going back to Royal Port Rush and when we come back here on Golf Talk Canada we’re going to talk about your upcoming trip to Ireland and we’re each going to go through our top five favorite golf courses in the world that we’ve played because we both had some really cool experiences so I’m really looking forward to having this conversation
