After we left Liverpool, we made our way up through the Lakes District and into “the north…” SCOTLAND! Something interesting was that we noticed the terrain getting more and more rough – more jagged hills and steeper canyons that we saw in areas like the Cotswolds. Even though we love the rolling hills in the countryside in the south, there was something exciting about seeing the northern dramatic landscape.
Before St Andrews, we spent 1 full day to see the castle and old town Edinburgh. It was the most time we spent in a castle, but with its location and history, it was a full dose of medieval! We learned of sieges throughout the last thousand years that have taken place there, and we even witnessed the ceremonial One o’clock Gun that goes off every day at 1pm.
Just a short 1.5 hr drive north took us from Edinburgh to the golf holy land of St Andrews, where our “splurge” hotel awaited us. For those not as up on the history of St Andrews, it is a pretty small town of medieval origins with not even 20,000 residents. It does, however, have the claim to fame of the first ever golf course and outright inventing the game back in the 15th Century.
The Home of Golf for over 600 years
Golf at St Andrews is centralized at one main course – the Old Course, which was the first actual golf course built and designed. Since the 1400’s, more courses have been built in the surroundings, making a total of seven golf courses. The Old Course is the same course where the rules were defined, 18 holes for one round was decided, and every other part of the game was formed. It’s also the course where they played the 2022 British Open (and many other British Opens in the past), though it’s really just called “The Open.” That’s why you see the big “150th” in the grandstands, I was one of the last public rounds of golf before the course closed to prep!
During our 3 days stay in St Andrews we went all out – we stayed at the Rusacks Hotel and Dylan was able to play one round at the Old Course and another round at Carnoustie links. Our luck also continued and we had perfect weather the whole time, something in itself is a miracle for the end of April so far north.
We still have dreams of the beauty of this hotel… and we vowed that someday we would return!
Getting a tee time at the Old Course as a single golfer was not as easy as you might think…
A single golfer cannot get an advanced tee time at the Old Course, so I had to get in line at the 1st Tee Starter Box at 2am to secure a tee time for the next morning. Surprisingly, I was NOT the first one in line by 2am!! Those two guys you see above were there at 11pm and 1am before me, but luckily, I still got an 8:30am tee time being third in line.
You’ll see below that I did get a caddie, and it was 100% worth it! No, they don’t just carry your clubs 🙂 He was very helpful with course management techniques, reading the greens and helping with shot planning, too. It only makes me wish I could play with one every time. He also helped me shoot a 74 (+2) on a tough course.
They don’t call it “Carnasty” for nothing
After a perfect day at St Andrews, I had another tee time about an hour north at Carnoustie Golf Links. Known for being the harder test of the two championship level courses, I knew it would be a different experience… and I was right. I carded a 9-over 81 but overall had a lot of fun with the challenge. All the while, Kaylyn enjoyed massages at the spa a few hundred yards away.
Play hard, relax hard
At the end of the day, isn’t a vacation just about good food?
Where were we…?
Wright Around the Bend 