Have a weekend to kill in Edinburgh

2,023 Views | 23 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by original12thfan
Dale Earnhardts Stache
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AG
I'm headed to the EU for work and I'll have a couple of weekends to kill. I've chosen to spend one of those weekends camped out in Edinburgh. I'm taking the train from London early in the morning on 6/15. Current itinerary is below but I'm looking for suggestions, tips/tricks, thoughts, etc.

6/15:

5:30pm tee time at Kilspindie...likely the only golf I'll get to play that day

6/16:

8am tee time for 9 holes at Musselburgh

1pm tee time at North Berwick

6/17:

Nothing booked at the moment...only plans that day are to hop the 7:30pm train out of Edinburgh to Newark

Muirfield is booked up as you might imagine.

Any hidden gems that I could throw in on that Monday morning?

Am I best to just cab from Edinburgh to the courses? Or do I dare rent a car and navigate myself? Never driven a car over yonder.

Any must sees or do's outside of golf in Edinburgh itself?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Aggie369
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AG
It's like a 2 hour drive to Turnberry....
'03ag
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Damn I love golf but if I had a weekend in Edinburgh I wouldn't spend the bulk of my time on a golf course.

I'd be drinking as much scotch as possible and soaking in the city. It's a great town with a ridiculous amount of history.

I gotta hit the Powerball so I can buy my summer home in Scotland.
OAg
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Dunbar is a fun track. We also hit Brunswick in Edinburgh. Although that was after we met a member at a bar and he got us on.

North Berwick is a blast. My favorite round of our trip. Really unique.
OAg
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AG
Daisy Nels is a fun pub live Scottish music. Definitely worth a visit.
terradactylexpress
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About an hour and 15 to St Andrews
Rlcoker
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Next door to Muirfield is Gullane. It has three courses. An Open qualifier was held at #1. It's a challenging course. I believe a composite of holes made up the course for the 2018 Scottish Open.
Texmid
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You can take a train to St. Andrews. If you book a room overnight you have a a really good chance of getting to play the old course. Get to the club house around 4 am. I've done it this way four times.
Dale Earnhardts Stache
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Texmid said:

You can take a train to St. Andrews. If you book a room overnight you have a a really good chance of getting to play the old course. Get to the club house around 4 am. I've done it this way four times.
Thanks for all of the feedback. I need to catch the train out of Edinburgh at 7:30pm on Monday. So I'd need to to be done with my round no later than about 5pm that day.

How does it work with showing up the morning of? Do they just fit me in wherever they can? My concern is that I go to all of that trouble only to get an afternoon tee time and not be able to play.

I'm going to call North Berwick tomorrow and see if I can move that tee time to Monday morning or Saturday evening. That would free up all day Sunday to make things happen at St. Andrews.
Dale Earnhardts Stache
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Also, the St. Andrews website says that the Old Course requires a handicap certificate. Surely showing them my GHIN from the app will suffice, correct?
terradactylexpress
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If you are by yourself that's how it works. If you have two people you can book open tee times 48 hrs in advance through a lottery. I played 2 months ago and showed up around 7 and was on the course at 11,but it was a cold rainy day so there were more openings and I think more of an off time. There are a few other courses there but I don't know how hard they are to get on
terradactylexpress
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Yes it will, I just showed my grint app
EKUAg
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Perchance if the Old Course gets to be tough to get on that day St Andrews has 4 other 18s including The New Course which I thought was a tougher test.
terradactylexpress
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Yeah I wish I had time to play another one there, I didn't think the old course was very difficult but it was well worth the experience
Texmid
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Dale Earnhardts Stache said:

Texmid said:

You can take a train to St. Andrews. If you book a room overnight you have a a really good chance of getting to play the old course. Get to the club house around 4 am. I've done it this way four times.
Thanks for all of the feedback. I need to catch the train out of Edinburgh at 7:30pm on Monday. So I'd need to to be done with my round no later than about 5pm that day.

How does it work with showing up the morning of? Do they just fit me in wherever they can? My concern is that I go to all of that trouble only to get an afternoon tee time and not be able to play.

I'm going to call North Berwick tomorrow and see if I can move that tee time to Monday morning or Saturday evening. That would free up all day Sunday to make things happen at St. Andrews.
I have done it this way every time and the latest I went out was around 11. The last time there were two of us. We got there at 4am and we were second in line. Ended up getting to play together and were off around 9. They just take the people in line and pair them with the existing tee times. If people in those groups don't show up or they have tee times for two or three you get paired with them.
Aggieangler93
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What's the rate for 18 at the Old Course? Someday I hope to get there.
Class of '93 - proud Dad of a '22 grad and a '26 student!
terradactylexpress
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I want to say it was about 125 pounds
garym2001
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Dale Earnhardts Stache said:

I'm headed to the EU for work and I'll have a couple of weekends to kill. I've chosen to spend one of those weekends camped out in Edinburgh. I'm taking the train from London early in the morning on 6/15. Current itinerary is below but I'm looking for suggestions, tips/tricks, thoughts, etc.

6/15:

5:30pm tee time at Kilspindie...likely the only golf I'll get to play that day

6/16:

8am tee time for 9 holes at Musselburgh

1pm tee time at North Berwick

6/17:

Nothing booked at the moment...only plans that day are to hop the 7:30pm train out of Edinburgh to Newark

Muirfield is booked up as you might imagine.

Any hidden gems that I could throw in on that Monday morning?

Am I best to just cab from Edinburgh to the courses? Or do I dare rent a car and navigate myself? Never driven a car over yonder.

Any must sees or do's outside of golf in Edinburgh itself?

Any input is greatly appreciated!


-The Old Course should be your #1 option. Go the evening before and check with the starter and see what open time swill be available. They should be able to give you an idea how early you need to show up. People start lining up around midnight (or ealier). Being a single is much easier.

-If Old Course is a no go, Kingsbarns is nearby and fantastic as is Elie.

-If you don't want to venture north across the bridge, look at Gullane, but if it were me I'd play North Berwick a second time. Might be my favorite golf course in the world.
Dale Earnhardts Stache
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Just got back to Edinburgh after a round at North Berwick. What a fantastic course.

Headed across the bridge to St Andrews at 9. Should be in town and checked into the hotel by 10:30pm. Plan on being in line at 3am. Will there still be St Andrews staff around at that time that I could discuss the tee sheet with? I guess it doesn't really matter because I'll take whatever I can get.
Dale Earnhardts Stache
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What an experience.

Finally made it into St. Andrews about 10:15pm Sunday night. Checked into the Golf Inn, dropped my bags in the room, and then took a walk over to the Old Course Pro Shop. Believe it or not, there were already 2 people in line...a father and son. They informed me that there were only 7 guaranteed tee times open for Monday so they were just going to wait it out. Having come that far, I wasn't going to get turned away. So I went back to the room and put my golf attire on. Made it back and was officially in line at 10:30pm. Luckily, the father/son in front of me had mom and another son in town with them so they were able to run us beers from the Dunvegan while we sat in line. Myself and the son were even able to sneak away from the line for about 30 min to go grab beers at the Dunvegan. The 4th person finally showed up about 1:30am. It started filling up fast after that. We had 15 people in line by about 2:45am. My initial plan of being in line at 3am would have left me disappointed. All in all, we ended up with over 30 people in line by the time they opened the doors.

The Old Course employees showed up about 5:30am, explained the process, and then finally opened the doors just before 6am. My initial plan was to take the earliest available tee time but after being up all night I decided it was best to take the 11:40am tee time and go back to the room for some sleep.

The walk up 17 and 18 gave me goosebumps. Excellent experience. Can't wait to get back and play some of the other courses in the area.

TL;DR - I stayed up all night waiting in line to play the Old Course at St. Andrews
Texmid
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Dale Earnhardts Stache said:

What an experience.

Finally made it into St. Andrews about 10:15pm Sunday night. Checked into the Golf Inn, dropped my bags in the room, and then took a walk over to the Old Course Pro Shop. Believe it or not, there were already 2 people in line...a father and son. They informed me that there were only 7 guaranteed tee times open for Monday so they were just going to wait it out. Having come that far, I wasn't going to get turned away. So I went back to the room and put my golf attire on. Made it back and was officially in line at 10:30pm. Luckily, the father/son in front of me had mom and another son in town with them so they were able to run us beers from the Dunvegan while we sat in line. Myself and the son were even able to sneak away from the line for about 30 min to go grab beers at the Dunvegan. The 4th person finally showed up about 1:30am. It started filling up fast after that. We had 15 people in line by about 2:45am. My initial plan of being in line at 3am would have left me disappointed. All in all, we ended up with over 30 people in line by the time they opened the doors.

The Old Course employees showed up about 5:30am, explained the process, and then finally opened the doors just before 6am. My initial plan was to take the earliest available tee time but after being up all night I decided it was best to take the 11:40am tee time and go back to the room for some sleep.

The walk up 17 and 18 gave me goosebumps. Excellent experience. Can't wait to get back and play some of the other courses in the area.

TL;DR - I stayed up all night waiting in line to play the Old Course at St. Andrews
There really is nothing like those last two holes. That tee shot over the hotel and then the walk over the Swilcan Bridge. I've played it four times and it feels surreal each time.
Bud Fox
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I'll be in Edinburgh on business in September. I was thinking of trying to play St Andrews. I've never taken time to get a real handicap. Is handicap requirement strictly enforced? Is it just up to the starter I guess? Would a letter from my club pro suffice?
Dale Earnhardts Stache
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Bud Fox said:

I'll be in Edinburgh on business in September. I was thinking of trying to play St Andrews. I've never taken time to get a real handicap. Is handicap requirement strictly enforced? Is it just up to the starter I guess? Would a letter from my club pro suffice?


They did look at mine. I just showed them my "card" in the Texas GHIN app. I've heard of people showing them their Grint app. Letter from your pro will work. If you belong to a club then you should be able to establish a GHIN through them prior to your trip.
Bud Fox
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Thanks!

Any checking before one gets to starter? Just seems weird they'd toss someone right at end with slots at an absolute premium
original12thfan
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Bud Fox said:

I'll be in Edinburgh on business in September. I was thinking of trying to play St Andrews. I've never taken time to get a real handicap. Is handicap requirement strictly enforced? Is it just up to the starter I guess? Would a letter from my club pro suffice?
The Old Course definitely enforces the handicap requirement. The guys in my group all had letters from their club pro, and the letters were looked at before we were offered a starting time.
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