TOC application accepted: Guess I'm going solo to Scotland!

[jvincent]

I've been regretting an April trip knowing that 40s and partly sunny is likely my best-case weather scenario@philsRHman We went in April and weather in the high 50's and even low 60's. Prepare for the worst, but you can actually get pretty good weather that time of year.

[tiderider]

you don't need a jacket/tie at muirfield, unless you eat lunch with them (and intend to play the alternate shot in the afternoon) ...

 

would cut back on the exercising and play some golf during this time ... that's what the trip is for ...

 

excellent idea about the putter ...

[philsRHman]

Understood on the working out but I’m so out of shape I know I need to improve in order to enjoy the golf. To be honest I don’t care what I shoot over there, I just want to enjoy it and I know back and hip pain are the fastest way to ruin the trip. Of course that said, this weekend was perfect weather for golf and hiking and I spent most of in bed sick. Ugh.

[philsRHman]

Really been on an emotional roller coaster the last few days. Today has been very rough. I was supposed to leave four weeks from tomorrow. I've now cancelled my lodging and all the rounds that allowed. St. Andrew's is saying I can apply a credit to 2021 or 2022. No word from Carnoustie but a week or two ago their only offer was to reschedule in 2020. North Berwick had a 30 day full refund policy, which I just did. My flights with United is a sticking point. As of now they'll give me credit for $1000 but I have to use it within a year of booking (November). No way I'd use that much on domestic travel between when we can travel again and the expiration.

Thought I'd bounce an idea off you guys. St. Andrews says they can guarantee me a tee time in 2021 on TOC, but I see that pre-Open, I'd likely be playing on fairway mats (if I'm reading it right).

I really feel like I want to reschedule for September for a few reasons. I feel strongly I don't want to go without a tee time at TOC but between what's bound to be a long tail of cancellations, Ballot Buddy and waiting in line, I feel confident I could get myself out. It brings me to think about scheduling myself to be there for 1-2 days that are currently considered Busy Dates. I'd think a really large group might be more likely to cancel early and maybe I could get lucky and have a whole day of tee times open up.

Yet, when I get to this point, I just think, how do I know if we'll even be past this by September? Will I be back in the same boat in July and August wondering what to do? Not asking anyone to play God or virologist so let's just assume things are better by September. And now as I look at the calendar, September is basically shot, only week I could do so everything would have to be perfect. What's SA like in August or October? I'd rather give it more time than August, but I'd guess October weather is kind of shaky and days are short. But maybe October would be my best bet for getting onto TOC. I have no idea anymore.

Can you tell I'm spiraling here? If not, I am! LOL

[duffer987]

^First: CTFO. You can look up the acronym :-)Second: Here are TOC's pre Open Championship playing conditions (they are not as bad as you think): https://www.standrews.com/Play/Busy-dates/The-Open-2021-Course-Info-and-ClosuresThird: If heart says September, go September; But 2021. If this is a once a decade trip or one and done trip, I wouldn't want the hassle of whatever could still be lingering that could impact travel, come this Sept. If Sept 2021 doesn't work, than go in May next year and have a great time!

[philsRHman]

LOL, CTFO is EXACTLY the advice I needed. Helps to hear it from someone else, so thank you.

Not sure why this built back up today. I felt at peace once I knew over the weekend the UK was added to the travel restrictions. Still just feels so unsettled. I'm not sure how the airlines get away with what they do when it comes to refunds. To be honest, I'd be 100% fine if they said I got a credit with more flexibility than November. I've been saving for this trip for years, so to watch $1000 go out the window is going to be a bitter pill.

[duffer987]

Oh sure, just because it's not a matter of life or death doesn't mean it's not a huge disappointment and very frustrating! Totally normal to be PO'd about it and doesn't hurt to have a whinge :-)

Losing money out of the deal can suck, but at least you're not mid-trip somewhere spending more money to get home. If you have to wait another year, just use the time to do nothing but hit knockdowns and watch Stenson vs Phil over and over!

[Bbo569]

Do they use mats a month ahead of the Open or the beginning of the season through the Open?

[philsRHman]

Relatively big update. After several days I just heard back from United. In fact, if I don’t use the flight credit within a year then they’ll issue a refund. So actually now I feel no pressure to go this year at all...other than an overwhelming desire to go on this bucket list trip that’s been 10 years in the making! Lol

[Bbo569]

Have you heard back from Carnoustie yet? I know they had a Board of Trustees meeting to dicuss their policy for COVID, but havent heard back from them since then. Every course I booked my trip with has either issued a full refund or allowed reschedule through 2022. Carnoustie is the only one who is still lingering on what they are going to do...

[srs06d]

In the same boat as you. Slowing dismantling a Scotland trip I had planned for 4/25-5/4 so I feel your pain. I'm hoping to hear the same from American regarding flights. Currently the voucher has to be used this year. I've accepted the fact the trip isn't going to happen and would prefer to just move it to April of next year and not try to cram it in. Did you call United or contact them via social media?I received the following this morning from Carnoustie:

"Thank you for your patience at this time.

Carnoustie Golf Links are (currently) continuing to operate our business as usual where possible. However, we have had to make some extraordinary strategic and operational decisions to help our customers, aid public health protection, safeguard staff and support the Government’s advice to limit social contact where possible.

 

The purpose of this message, however, is specifically to address immediate concerns for our customers around the extent and ramifications of COVID-19 for existing golf bookings. For the Scottish Golf Industry, this has been an unprecedented scenario, and various restrictions have now made international travel an unrealistic option for the immediate future and has understandably caused anxiety among our customers regarding existing golf bookings.

 

To support our customers, we have altered our terms and conditions for existing bookings to recognise the current challenges we face.

 

From today, any customers with existing bookings between now and 30th June 2020 (and who are unable to travel) can be rescheduled into future years, up to and including the 2023 golf season. This will be co-ordinated through our golf reservations team."

 

 

[philsRHman]

I contacted United via Twitter and they were great. They've got some kind of system set up that you can help them triage/prioritize and once they engaged after 2-3 days it was perfect.

I got the same note today from Carnoustie. I think that was the last domino to fall for me and now I can take a deep breath and know I can pause, see where we are in a few months and then reassess. As much as I'm itching to go, I think it would be short-sighted to reschedule for later in 2020.

Since SA has pretty much guaranteed to find a tee time for 2021, do I think about trying to play the Tuesday after the Open when it reopens? My instinct is always to go when the crowds are low, but how many chances will I get to build a trip around the Open at St Andrews? Could try to arrive Saturday, attend Sunday's final round and then proceed with my week split between SA and East Lothian. For all I know, St Andrews has been booked air tight for years for that week.

[duffer987]

^Fantastic result on sorting things out!

Go with your gut. In and around The Open is surely going to be a bit of a goat rodeo; availability, prices, crowds... none of it good IMHO. And yes I reckon they are already booked out on top of that in lots of spots in Fife.

[spud3]

I have my trip scheduled to Wales and Scotland for June 7-27 and am in the early stages of Grief that it is unlikely to happen. I'm still outside of 30 days on Air B&B's and course reservations (all in East Lothian - SA was going to be winging it, as I didn't get in on the solo ballot). I can move my vacation dates pretty easily at work, but Mrs Spud is locked into a school-based schedule and it is totally unknown how the schools will be reacting to all this. Big choice for us is whether to bail on 2020 altogether and move everything to June 2021 or try for a Fall trip. I'm leaning toward 2021, but I think I'll wait a couple weeks and see how the curve goes.

 

Anyone have issues with Iceland Air and refunds/rescheduling?

[philsRHman]

If it's any help, the hardest time was while I was in limbo. The uncertainty was very difficult. That's flipped completely now that I have written off the trip. Right now I'm watching the news and last night it dawned on me that missing this trip--no matter how much it meant to me--is nothing compared to what others are going through: Sickness, job losses, closing their own businesses, worrying about loved ones.

And if I'm looking for a golf silver lining, even before COVID I started thinking about how all the anticipation was going to be over once I went and I'd have nothing to look forward to (just how my brain works, I guess). So rescheduling for next year will give me more time to think about it.

Best of luck as you sort through what you're going to do.

[duffer987]

2021 Spud. Way too many moving parts and unknowns, especially compared to a weekend jaunt out to Bandon,, to safely game things out for this golfing season IMHO.

[spud3]

Thanks, guys. That's definitely where my head is right now. If nothing else, I might get another shot at the singles ballot, which would make scheduling so much easier. Pretty sure we'll end up there, but I do want to leave a little room for a miracle :)

 

The Open may be a complicating factor, but I need to read the link the duffer sent above to see how having a tee time a month ahead of the event would affect play, not only on TOC, but StA in general.

[philsRHman]

Well the dream of combining my trip with The Open in ‘21 appears to be dead. First B&B to respond to my inquiry quoted me 550£ a night for 7 nights (and only two of them were during the Open- Sat and Sun)! Same place quoted my 80£ on the trip I just canceled. I expected higher rates but wasn’t ready for that much mark up.

[puttnforthe8]

Where were you planning on staying? You don't have to stay that close...it's easy to get around if you have a car.

[jvincent]

You can also stay somewhere further out and just take a train in. There isn't a lot of parking in town so train would probably be a better bet anyway.

[scott_Donald]

 

My friend has a place in Kingsbarns and they expect a stupid amount for the week, they put on transport to and from St Andrews and that is it.

Edit, he replied to my text - 10000 ish

I would stay in Edinburgh and just travel up if I was a foreigner.

[philsRHman]

Reading more here, attending the Open at SA might not be all that super exciting, bad sight lines and can really just hang around the perimeter of the course since it’s so narrow. In the states I’m not a fan of attending majors in person: can’t keep up with actual play, hate the crowds, etc. Def don’t see wanting to do that more than one day. What if I stuck to this year’s plan with a slight tweak:

Arrive Saturday, 8 am in EDI. Get rental car and get to a reasonable train station and park for the day, watch golf as long as I can (want to stay awake anyway). The train back to car and proceed to North Berwick.

Sunday- Golf around East Lothian early, watch end of Open in a pub

Monday-Tuesday- North Berwick, etc (leave Monday night if I get TOC tuesday)

Wednesday-Monday- St Andrews and others I planned to play this year

Tuesday- depart for home

[bellken]

The Open at SA has been postponed to 2022, which, should help rates for 2021.

[philsRHman]

Yeah, now I'll just have to decide if I want to stick to my original plan of late April, which was designed to get there on one of the quietest weeks of the season. Or if I rather push back a bit in hopes of better weather. St. Andrew's confirmed that I can submit different dates as a request for next year but preference is being given to those with those dates from this year. They're supposed to allocate in July, but I have to think if this continues through the summer they won't be able to do that since it wouldn't be fair to give away the times for those in August through the fall.

[philsRHman]

Boy, amazing to read the posts from March with the benefit of hindsight. Got my new schedule for TOC this week. I did slide back to mid May, hoping it’s a little better weather and 2 hour longer days than mid April. I feel like I have a headstart but I was surprised how much of this information went out of my brain since planning previously. Glad I have a lot of notes lol

So I had planned Saturday to Tuesday, with North Berwick to start and get to SA on Wed. New tee times have me at Castle Monday and TOC Tuesday so I think I’ll flip things.

A few notes:

I was already on the fence about Carnoustie and I’m particularly annoyed they refused a refund so on principle I might skip them and file with my bank for a refund. But I don’t want to be spiteful so might slide them onto Wed/Thur. I’ll need to decide about Friday and whether I prefer an extra day in SA vs North Berwick. All along I’ve said I prefer to play TOC and NB multiple times vs racing all over. Especially with extra time to save, budget is a little looser so I am happy to play TOC as many times as possible so I’ll enter Ballot Buddy almost every day and hope for 3 loops. I had scratched Kingsbarns due to cost and reviews that it’s more like Bandon than Scotland, but might add it if I stick in SA an extra dayThink I’ve got a nice mix of 18 and 36 days. Muirfield is a wild card. If I could get a wait list tee time on Thursday, that sorts out Friday. But five days in North Berwick seems like a lot. It would also cost me at least one shot at a TOC ballot (maybe 2, if I decide to stay in SA Friday too). tentatively thinking:

Saturday AM arrival: New/Jubilee/Eden

sunday: Elie and Crail

Monday: Castle (Pre-booked)

Tuesday: The Old Course (noon)

Wednesday: 36 at TOC ballot buddy/New/Jubilee/Eden & Ansthruter

Thursday: 36: TOC ballot buddy/New/Jubilee/Eden

Friday: Musselburgh hickories, Glen

Saturday: Gullane 2 & 3

Sunday: North Berwick 18

Monday: North Berwick 36 holes

Tuesday: depart from EDI

[spud3]

I've rescheduled my trip for the first week of August 2021. Most of the dates/tee times were easy to shift, especially with the non-StA courses. I'll be giving the TOC singles ballot another try, but hope is even dimmer given that (rightfully) there's loads of folks like you that had reservations that are getting moved out to 2021. Likely that it will be the BallotBuddy/stand-in-line approach. I'll be in the area 7 days, so my itinerary is a bit more compact than yours, but I'm hitting a lot of the same places in StA and NB (4 nights and 2 nights, respectively)

 

A few things that I've got in my lineup that may be of interest:

 

Crail has two great courses, and a Day Ticket is much cheaper than a second round at another course, plus no travel. I'm spending the whole day there

Same concept for Gullane. #1 is the main course there, and a Day ticket for 1&2 is another great day of golf and no travel between rounds

There's several courses near each other south of StA - Elie, Lundin and Leven are all real close together, and they are all near Dumbarnie, which is new and spendy, but not as spendy as KB. I'm playing some combination of those on my way out of StA towards NB (staying in Gullane, actually, as that was all that was left, lodging-wise)

I made the call to not try for Muirfield, mainly due to cost and the unrealistic chance of getting on as a single.

I also made the call against Carnoustie, as the only day they had available was the day I'd be arriving, making my ShipSticks schedule really wonky. Plus, they wanted the full payment for the tee time within 72 hours of the booking confirmation, and given that they aren't doing refunds, that was too much of a gamble.

[philsRHman]

Great thoughts, Spud. Happy to share notes as it gets closer.

I am torn on the travel outside SA. I had the four you mentioned- Crail, Elie, Lundin, Levin, and decided to pick two and then give myself more time to focus on SA itself. Wanted to include Ansthruter for the fish n chips and it’s like $15 for 9 holes lol

As for East Lothian, Gullane will probably be the casualty if I opt for another day in SA. If I remember right, #1 is pretty limited for guests on the weekend which is why I was thinking 2&3.

Good call on locking up lodging. I should probably get on that now while I can since most is refundable until we get a couple months out. I had opted for a single B&B room in SA and was already iffy on it being too cramped. Imagine being stuck in a room that tiny if the bars and restaurants are all takeaway only?

 

[spud3]

Yeah, I was surprised how little was available in EL, though I know the first week of August is a pretty busy time. I was originally scheduled to stay in NB, right across the street from the course. That place was all full for my new dates, and virtually all of NB town was locked up solid, so I found a decent option in Gullane. I went through Booking.com and neither of the places require a deposit or payment until a couple months out and offer free cancellations. My StA place is the same as my original trip plan. I go online and check for something better/cheaper/closer every week or so, both on Booking.com and Air B&B

 

I have Gullane, Crail and NB booked. The rest are going to be fit in as needed based on if I get a TOC date. I went on the StA site looking for info on the singles lottery and there's nothin. Wondering if they are even doing one for next year, given all the rescheduled rounds from 2020. You should drop an email to Gullane and see what they have available for a single. It was pretty easy, though my date is a Thursday.

 

I'm still working through the bitterness about cancelling this year's trip. The two weeks prior was going to be an anniversary trip with the missus to Wales and Scotland, then she was going to head home and I was going to get an extra week on my own to just play golf. Same plan for next year, but jeez, what a PITA to unravel the whole thing. Still waiting on refunds from Iceland Air. Won't be using them again.

[ousuxndallas]

When do applications for 2021 at TOC open up?

[spud3]

Last year it was mid-August. I've been on the TOC site and have not seen where they have announced to opening date for the 2021 applications. I'm waiting on an email response as to when (or if) that will happen.