Itinerary 1

Typical 6 day tour for 4 golfers, the version below for a Swedish test traveler, October 2021. This trip Ingvar (TroonSwede) and Cameron will play along, but on other trips we may be caddying, depending on the preferences of the group and caddie rules on the course we play.

Monday 11^th October, arrival day & Lochgreen

Your direct SAS flight that departed 8 AM from Arlanda is due already at 9.15 AM, since there is a 1 hour gain in time difference. We meet and pick you up on Edinburgh airport. By 10 AM we will be on our way down to Troon, a ride of about 80 minutes, so we should arrive by 11.30 AM.

Accomodation is normally in a hotel or self-catering apartment but this time we are staying in the Heritage Golf Apartment, close to Troon South Beach.

Troon South Beach

After a welcome drink and hearty lunch we are off to the first round of true links golf. The first round will be a gentle link golf starter 2.30 PM at Lochgreen, where Jack Nicklaus qualified for the Open in 1962, which was won by Arnold Palmer.

Back at home around 6 in the afternoon for some AfterGolf-talk and a beer and later a dinner. We have a beer and a wee dram and a blether, walk through the itinerary of the week, the history of golf in Ayrshire and much more. To allow time to meet and talk, we will cater food and have dinner at home the first day.

Tuesday 12^th April – true links golf at Western Gailes

Breakfast at home and then a 15 minute drive to Western Gailes (1987) for a round on the Championship course. The club has a jacket and tie policy, so we will arrive and leave in a dapper style. After the round we enjoy the atmosphere in the 1909 locker room and the lovely showers and finish it off with a lunch in the dining room.

Back at home we use the afternoon to explore the wee town of Troon and the South Beach toward Prestwick.

Dinner in the local pub and we make arrangements so we can see Sweden’s football World Championship qualifying match vs Greece with KO around 8 PM.

Wednesday 13^th April – Isle of Arran

This is a full day tour over to the Isle of Arran. Breakfast at 8, we leave at 8.45, check in for the ferry before 9.15 and the sailing is 9.45 with arrival 10.40. On arrival in Brodick we drive south toward Lagg, arrive 11.30 for a pre-booked tour of the Lagg Whisky Distillery, lasting about 1 hour. Lunch in the distillery is pre-booked for 12.45.

After lunch we take a short drive north along the west coast of Arran to the famous 12-hole Shinkine links, tee time 2.30 PM. We encourage everyone to play this course with hickory golf clubs (included).

After the round (ca 4.30) we will have the opportunity to encounter a truly Scottish 9 hole course called Corrie, located in Sannox just north of Brodick, and that very well illustrates how less can be more (not least the wee clubhouse/shack). Be prepared for some mountainering since the holes climb up and down a mountain side. Greenfee is managed with an honesty box. Given that it is not a foggy day, the views will be stunning. We should be able to play the 9 holes before sunset at 6.25.

Dinner around 7 PM in the local pub in Brodick, most likely with live music. We need to check in at the ferry terminal in Brodick no later than 9.10, departure 9.40, arrival on the mainland 10.35 and back at home before 11 PM.

Thursday 14^th April – walking the footsteps of the Open

Prestwick Old Course is booked for 10.13. It was here Willie Park of Musselburgh won the first The Open in 1860 with 174 shots on what was then a 12 hole course laid out by Tom Morris and that 8 players played 3 rounds on. The Open has been contested 24 times on Prestwick and 9 times on Royal Troon, both venues visible from the windows of our accomodation base camp in Troon.

The original 12 hole course is since long gone, but will be recreated for hickory play during 10 days in October 2022 for the 150th anniversery of The Open which that year is played in St Andrews.

After-golf we will learn of the heritage of the area and pay a visit to the clifftop Culzean castle in Turnberry, a fashionable stately home by Robert Adams with an impressive armory and much more.

On the way home we stop for a surprise visit to a church for dinner.

Friday 15^th April – daytrip to St Andrews

An exception to the rule of staying in Ayrshire is made today. If we leave at 8 and should arrive in St Andrews by 10.30, allowing time to visit the British Golf Museum and have lunch before we tee off at 12.56 on the Jubilee course, considered the most challenging of the old links in St Andrews and located by the beach. After golf we take the opportunity to have another meal as there is an abundance of nice bars and restaurants. The drive home is about 2,5 hours.

Saturday 16^th April – Girvan and Marr rugby

Today Girvan is on the agenda, tee time at 10.00. This is a very typical Scottish golf experience, beside that the first 8 holes are links and the final 10 are parkland, so a great variation is to be had. The old vulcano island of Ailsa Craig is located right outside the 1st tee and sometimes feel so close that you can almost touch it, although it is a fair bit (10 km) out in the Firth of Clyde.

At 3 PM is kick-off time for Marr RFC who are hosting Musselburgh RFC for a regular fixture in Scottish club rugby union series Tennent’s Premiership. The match is played on Marr’s home pitch, the Fullarton Fortress. Beer and banter in the bar to be expected and we will take a 30 minutes sobering-up-walk home some time after the game is finished.

There may be lunch served at the rugby club before the game, this is still to be investigated. We may change the tee time at Girvan for an earlier one. Prestwick St Nicholas and Irvine Bogside are alternatives to Girvan, so plans for this day may change.

Sunday 17^th April – final round and homebound

Preliminary we return to Western Gailes a second time for a last loop of the links, for shower and lunch.

We will have a couple of hours after the golf to organize luggage before driving up to Edinburgh to catch the late SAS flight to Arlanda.