Help Me Plan My Scotland II Trip For 2023

[scott_Donald]

Wow this is some trip!

 

amazing in lots of ways, looking forward to seeing how this goes!

[EmperorPenguin]

6 hours ago, hammergolf said:

I put it in my golf travel bag. In fact, I have modified my travel bag and had velcro sewn into it that I put some of my clothes in packing cubes (underwear, socks, t shirts, shorts, polo and a garment bag (trousers, polos, coat) then put my golf bag on top of it. Have it almost down to a science to get it the 44lbs limit. 

Amazing!  Would you be so kind to take a picture of it and show us?  I think this will prove useful to the readers of this thread so they can apply this knowledge.

[EmperorPenguin]

So far things are looking good.  I am ten months early, but for now I am just taking a quick look at plane tickets.  The plan is to fly first into Glasgow, and at the end of the journey return home to San Francisco.  Aer Lingus offers the most direct route, from San Francisco to Dublin and then to Glasgow, and return from Edinburgh to Dublin and back to San Francisco.  I have never flown with them before, so if anyone can give me fair warning that it is a bad airline let me know so I can book British Airways instead.

Edited July 24, 2022 by EmperorPenguin

[hammergolf]

51 minutes ago, EmperorPenguin said:

So far things are looking good.  I am ten months early, but for now I am just taking a quick look at plane tickets.  The plan is to fly first into Glasgow, and at the end of the journey return home to San Francisco.  Aer Lingus offers the most direct route, from San Francisco to Dublin and then to Glasgow, and return from Edinburgh to Dublin and back to San Francisco.  I have never flown with them before, so if anyone can give me fair warning that it is a bad airline let me know so I can book British Airways instead.

Aer Lingus is good. I’ve flown several times with them. Better service than any of our domestic carriers. Not to mention, chances are BA will route you through London, and you should avoid that at all cost.

Edited July 24, 2022 by hammergolf

[hammergolf]

50 minutes ago, EmperorPenguin said:

Amazing!  Would you be so kind to take a picture of it and show us?  I think this will prove useful to the readers of this thread so they can apply this knowledge.

I’ll take some pics in the morning.

[hammergolf]

15 hours ago, EmperorPenguin said:

Amazing!  Would you be so kind to take a picture of it and show us?  I think this will prove useful to the readers of this thread so they can apply this knowledge.

Here are some pics of how I modified my travel bag. As the pics show I used squares of Velcro and added one side to my travel bag and the other side to my 2 packing cubes. Last trip I was able to pack my socks, underwear, t shirts, pjs, polo shirts, long sleeve mocks, and vests and weigh in right at 43lbs with my clubs. When I went to Scotland I added my light garment bag folded in thirds horizontally on top of the packing cubes then put my clubs and bag on top.  

[cardia10]

21 hours ago, hammergolf said:

Here are some pics of how I modified my travel bag. As the pics show I used squares of Velcro and added one side to my travel bag and the other side to my 2 packing cubes. Last trip I was able to pack my socks, underwear, t shirts, pjs, polo shirts, long sleeve mocks, and vests and weigh in right at 43lbs with my clubs. When I went to Scotland I added my light garment bag folded in thirds horizontally on top of the packing cubes then put my clubs and bag on top.  

I'll say after my trip 2 weeks ago, be careful packing too much in the golf bag. They seem to be getting left behind in favor of regular luggage and you may not see them until you return home. I took a backpack with a few days worth of golf clothes, rain gear and golf shoes and glad I did. Golf clubs never made it and luckily I just had balls and an extra pair of shoes there. 

[hammergolf]

18 minutes ago, cardia10 said:

I'll say after my trip 2 weeks ago, be careful packing too much in the golf bag. They seem to be getting left behind in favor of regular luggage and you may not see them until you return home. I took a backpack with a few days worth of golf clothes, rain gear and golf shoes and glad I did. Golf clubs never made it and luckily I just had balls and an extra pair of shoes there. 

I ALWAYS fly direct from the US to my destination and never had an issue with bags. As many have posted, those who flew direct from the US to Edinburgh didn’t have an issue. However, if you connect in the UK it’s 50/50 at best if your bags arrive. 

[cardia10]

4 hours ago, hammergolf said:

I ALWAYS fly direct from the US to my destination and never had an issue with bags. As many have posted, those who flew direct from the US to Edinburgh didn’t have an issue. However, if you connect in the UK it’s 50/50 at best if your bags arrive. 

I flew Toronto to Edinburgh. Had Apple air tags on my bag showing them in the airport but was not allowed to get them because it was an "international border." We could see our bags through the door sitting in a pile next to the offload conveyor but were told we would be arrested if we went through. We were in the airport with a few big name pros who were playing the Scottish Open then the Open and they couldn't get theirs either. Some of the articles name the pros who we were with. I will say, the Scottish Open people were super helpful to us as our air tags proved where the bags were as a few pros were on the same flight as us. Sat in Edinburgh airport for 3 days behind the border before being transferred to Swiss Air's bag storage warehouse on airport property. We were on the west coast at this point. Went to Swiss Air when we got back to Edinburgh and they were very apologetic. 2 of our guys clubs made it to Edinburgh and was shipped directly back to the US. Mine was in the warehouse. Friends was in airport still with air tag. They threw an orange vest on him and let him walk in the back door and grab them. Got them just in time to ship them home and be lost again for a week. Talked to other groups that also had to rent all week. They flew Atlanta to Edinburgh direct and said they were told not enough baggage handlers in Edinburgh. One group from Texas used ship sticks and they showed up for them but 3 days late and they said they shipped exactly a week early to be safe. I'm not sure there is a good solution at this point but pack as much as you can in a travel backpack for sure. Most rental sets we had were fine, but just different being they aren't yours. 

Edited July 25, 2022 by cardia10

[hammergolf]

16 minutes ago, cardia10 said:

I flew Toronto to Edinburgh. Had Apple air tags on my bag showing them in the airport but was not allowed to get them because it was an "international border." We could see our bags through the door sitting in a pile next to the offload conveyor but were told we would be arrested if we went through. Were there with a few big name pros who were playing the Scottish Open then the Open and they couldn't get theirs either. Some of the articles name the pros who we were with. I will say, the Scottish Open people were super helpful to us as our air tags proved where the bags were as a few pros were on the same flight as us. Sat in Edinburgh airport for 3 days behind the border before being transferred to Swiss Air's bag storage warehouse on airport property. We were on the west coast at this point. Went to Swiss Air when we got back to Edinburgh and they were very apologetic. 2 of our guys clubs made it to Edinburgh and was shipped directly back to the US. Mine was in the warehouse. Friends was in airport still with air tag. They threw an orange vest on him and let him walk in the back door and grab them. Got them just in time to ship them home and be lost again for a week. Talked to other groups that also had to rent all week. They flew Atlanta to Edinburgh direct and said they were told not enough baggage handlers in Edinburgh. One group from Texas used ship sticks and they showed up for them but 3 days late and they said they shipped exactly a week early to be safe. I'm not sure there is a good solution at this point but pack as much as you can in a travel backpack for sure. Most rental sets we had were fine, but just different being they aren't yours. 

I will say, the baggage situation in the UK right now is awful especially when trying to connect flights. Some say it’s a shortage of baggage handlers, I’ve heard others say it’s about contract disputes. However, even under normal times connecting through London has always been a risky issue. It’s very common for golf clubs to be lost or late when connecting and has been for years.

[njlam]

I think they should include Air Tags along with the purchase of every golf travel bag. They are as essential as a Stiff Arm.

[ND2005]

1 hour ago, cardia10 said:

I flew Toronto to Edinburgh. Had Apple air tags on my bag showing them in the airport but was not allowed to get them because it was an "international border." We could see our bags through the door sitting in a pile next to the offload conveyor but were told we would be arrested if we went through. Were there with a few big name pros who were playing the Scottish Open then the Open and they couldn't get theirs either. Some of the articles name the pros who we were with. I will say, the Scottish Open people were super helpful to us as our air tags proved where the bags were as a few pros were on the same flight as us. Sat in Edinburgh airport for 3 days behind the border before being transferred to Swiss Air's bag storage warehouse on airport property. We were on the west coast at this point. Went to Swiss Air when we got back to Edinburgh and they were very apologetic. 2 of our guys clubs made it to Edinburgh and was shipped directly back to the US. Mine was in the warehouse. Friends was in airport still with air tag. They threw an orange vest on him and let him walk in the back door and grab them. Got them just in time to ship them home and be lost again for a week. Talked to other groups that also had to rent all week. They flew Atlanta to Edinburgh direct and said they were told not enough baggage handlers in Edinburgh. One group from Texas used ship sticks and they showed up for them but 3 days late and they said they shipped exactly a week early to be safe. I'm not sure there is a good solution at this point but pack as much as you can in a travel backpack for sure. Most rental sets we had were fine, but just different being they aren't yours. 

we had very similar situation with my dads bag - it was there in Edinburgh but he couldn’t get to it bc they wouldn’t let travelers back into the customs area. 
 

fortunately due to travel logistics I arrived the following day and they let me grab it and take it through. 
 

Yeah - combination  of personnel shortage and red-tape/regulations not letting people get to their bags even when they are sitting right there.

[cardia10]

2 hours ago, njlam said:

I think they should include Air Tags along with the purchase of every golf travel bag. They are as essential as a Stiff Arm.

Our air tags definitely got the attention of airline workers when you could point at a map and say my luggage is right there. Not that it helped, but it did give a little piece of mind knowing where our things were. We did not connect in London or go through London. We went directly from Toronto to Edinburgh on our trip but have heard horror stories about London. Honestly Edinburgh had to be just as bad as we were there 10 days total and got our clubs on our 9th day on a direct flight into Edinburgh. 

[scott_Donald]

3 hours ago, hammergolf said:

I will say, the baggage situation in the UK right now is awful especially when trying to connect flights. Some say it’s a shortage of baggage handlers, I’ve heard others say it’s about contract disputes. However, even under normal times connecting through London has always been a risky issue. It’s very common for golf clubs to be lost or late when connecting and has been for years.

 

 

basically at the end of furlough in the UK all the airports laid off most of their staff. Now they are so short staffed but in order for staff to pass all the background checks and training it takes time. The estimate for everything to be at a normal level is September. I am not doing a summer vacation abroad for 3 reasons - 7 month old, planes being screwed and I want to golf here after being away for a few years.

 

I always travel Aberdeen to Heathrow, Manchester or Schiphol and only ever lost a bag that is not my normal bag. My bike bag last August - Went Houston - Miami - Houston - JFK - Heathrow - Aberdeen and three days later I got my bike. Not going to lie my bike is top of the range so anyone knows the price of road bikes I was very worried but all good in the end. 

[hammergolf]

2 hours ago, scott_Donald said:

 

 

basically at the end of furlough in the UK all the airports laid off most of their staff. Now they are so short staffed but in order for staff to pass all the background checks and training it takes time. The estimate for everything to be at a normal level is September. I am not doing a summer vacation abroad for 3 reasons - 7 month old, planes being screwed and I want to golf here after being away for a few years.

 

I always travel Aberdeen to Heathrow, Manchester or Schiphol and only ever lost a bag that is not my normal bag. My bike bag last August - Went Houston - Miami - Houston - JFK - Heathrow - Aberdeen and three days later I got my bike. Not going to lie my bike is top of the range so anyone knows the price of road bikes I was very worried but all good in the end. 

I’m doing some early planning for next years trip to the highlands. Would you recommend flying into Edinburgh and drive up, or fly into either Aberdeen or Inverness via Manchester? Plan in staying in Cruden Bay or Aberdeen for 5 days and playing Royal Aberdeen, Murcar, International Links, Cruden Bay, and Peterhead. Then make my way over to Inverness play Fraserburgh on the way, then play Nairn and Dornoch.

[EmperorPenguin]

For my first trip to Scotland in 2019 I had already purchased the tickets when mentioned in the other thread to try to avoid connecting in LHR.  We flew from San Francisco to Heathrow and then to Inverness, which I recall is in the small town of Dundalk.  I was crossing my fingers that they would arrive, since we only had about 90 minutes to connect.  Fortunately for us, all our luggage including golf bags arrived.  I was a little worried because my golf bag was the last to come in, as a baggage handler with a fluorescent vest came into the little luggage room with my golf bag last.  Of course, this is anecdotal, as hammergolf would probably attest to avoiding LHR.  We just got lucky.

 

By the way, that airport in Dundalk was the smallest I've ever been to.  Single runway, and from one end of the airport to the other, my sand wedge would easily cover it.

[EmperorPenguin]

43 lbs. limit for a golf bag?  I thought that one piece of luggage has a limit of 23 kg or about 50 lbs.?  If we pay $100 for the second luggage, shouldn't that also have the 23kg/50lbs. limit?  Maybe it varies from airline to airline.

[hammergolf]

I’ll just checked. I thought the limit for Aer Lingus was 20kg to not be considered an oversized bag. However, looks like they have 3 different weight classes and prices for checked bags. 20kg, 23kg, and 30kg.

 

https://www.aerlingus.com/travel-information/baggage-information/checked-baggage/#/tab-1-transatlantic-flights

Edited July 26, 2022 by hammergolf

[scott_Donald]

8 hours ago, hammergolf said:

I’m doing some early planning for next years trip to the highlands. Would you recommend flying into Edinburgh and drive up, or fly into either Aberdeen or Inverness via Manchester? Plan in staying in Cruden Bay or Aberdeen for 5 days and playing Royal Aberdeen, Murcar, International Links, Cruden Bay, and Peterhead. Then make my way over to Inverness play Fraserburgh on the way, then play Nairn and Dornoch.

 

Right now the Manchester to Aberdeen flight is hard to connect to. I am looking for flights to Houston from Aberdeen return for November into December; using the lovely Singapore flight from there but getting to Manchester with a 7 month old seems to be a nightmare. I have never thought about ever using Inverness airport, no need for me.

 

As said I would normally go through Manchester, Heathrow or Schiphol but right now they are all having problems and I assume they won't be next year. 

 

Price of hire cars then might be a decider for you here, I am guessing cheaper and more available from Edinburgh. I know hire cars were gold dust during The Open.

 

For the North East portion; I would stay Aberdeen the first 3 nights, depending on budget there is some very nice hotels or cheap ones, then go up and stay local for the  Cruden Bay and Peterhead/Fraserburgh bits(assuming a car).

 

 

[hammergolf]

8 hours ago, scott_Donald said:

 

Right now the Manchester to Aberdeen flight is hard to connect to. I am looking for flights to Houston from Aberdeen return for November into December; using the lovely Singapore flight from there but getting to Manchester with a 7 month old seems to be a nightmare. I have never thought about ever using Inverness airport, no need for me.

 

As said I would normally go through Manchester, Heathrow or Schiphol but right now they are all having problems and I assume they won't be next year. 

 

Price of hire cars then might be a decider for you here, I am guessing cheaper and more available from Edinburgh. I know hire cars were gold dust during The Open.

 

For the North East portion; I would stay Aberdeen the first 3 nights, depending on budget there is some very nice hotels or cheap ones, then go up and stay local for the  Cruden Bay and Peterhead/Fraserburgh bits(assuming a car).

 

 

Thanks for the advice. Was looking last night, and found another option to get to Aberdeen. I can connect to Aberdeen via Dublin, so that may be the way to go. Chicago to Dublin on Aer Lingus, then Dublin to Aberdeen on Logan.

[thecraw]

Royal Troon is miles better than Prestwick, Western is also miles better than Prestwick in my opinion. Others will disagree. 

 

Machrihanish is a brilliant front nine let down by an average back nine. For me Machrihanish Dunes is the better course and option. Again its all about opinions and others will disagree. I would personally recommend The Machrie on Islay over both but it adds in another travel dilemma. It is a wonderful experience and island. 

 

Whatever you chose I'm confident that you'll have a ball, enjoy your trip. Half the fun is planning these trips and making the tough decisions to favour one course over another or the agonising decision to axe somewhere from the itinerary to make it work. 

[Chanceman]

13 hours ago, thecraw said:

Royal Troon is miles better than Prestwick, Western is also miles better than Prestwick in my opinion. Others will disagree. 

 

Machrihanish is a brilliant front nine let down by an average back nine. For me Machrihanish Dunes is the better course and option. Again its all about opinions and others will disagree. I would personally recommend The Machrie on Islay over both but it adds in another travel dilemma. It is a wonderful experience and island. 

 

Whatever you chose I'm confident that you'll have a ball, enjoy your trip. Half the fun is planning these trips and making the tough decisions to favour one course over another or the agonising decision to axe somewhere from the itinerary to make it work. 

So many golf courses…..so little time.

[ND2005]

On 8/15/2022 at 10:07 AM, thecraw said:

Royal Troon is miles better than Prestwick, Western is also miles better than Prestwick in my opinion. Others will disagree. 

 

Machrihanish is a brilliant front nine let down by an average back nine. For me Machrihanish Dunes is the better course and option. Again its all about opinions and others will disagree. I would personally recommend The Machrie on Islay over both but it adds in another travel dilemma. It is a wonderful experience and island. 

 

Whatever you chose I'm confident that you'll have a ball, enjoy your trip. Half the fun is planning these trips and making the tough decisions to favour one course over another or the agonising decision to axe somewhere from the itinerary to make it work. 

 

Prestwick I thought was worth it for the history and golf architecture alone. 

 

Is it the best course in Scotland? Definitely not.

 

Is it a blast to play with some holes completely unique to the site (although frequently attempted to copy...)? Absolutely. 

 

Also had some of the best hospitality/staff/caddies/overall experience out of many of the courses I have played there. 

 

I tore myself up trying to figure out a way to make Machrihanish/Machrihanish Dunes work on this last trip (once I get an idea in my head I get a wee obsessed...). But ultimately decided it wasn't worth the travel logistics and will save it for a future trip. 

[hammergolf]

1 hour ago, ND2005 said:

 

Prestwick I thought was worth it for the history and golf architecture alone. 

 

Is it the best course in Scotland? Definitely not.

 

Is it a blast to play with some holes completely unique to the site (although frequently attempted to copy...)? Absolutely. 

 

Also had some of the best hospitality/staff/caddies/overall experience out of many of the courses I have played there. 

 

I tore myself up trying to figure out a way to make Machrihanish/Machrihanish Dunes work on this last trip (once I get an idea in my head I get a wee obsessed...). But ultimately decided it wasn't worth the travel logistics and will save it for a future trip. 

I did the same trying to fit in Machrihanish/Dunes and Machrie. It’s a logistics puzzle I still to be solved.

[scott_Donald]

3 hours ago, hammergolf said:

I did the same trying to fit in Machrihanish/Dunes and Machrie. It’s a logistics puzzle I still to be solved.

 

Is there not a way to fly there from Glasgow? 

[ND2005]

5 hours ago, scott_Donald said:

 

Is there not a way to fly there from Glasgow? 

there are commercial flights on some of the smaller carriers. But between driving from Troon area to the hassles of the airport plus checking a bag etc it did not seem worth it.
 
there used to be a direct ferry but it stopped during covid and never restarted. 
 

the other option is private hire air or helicopter 

[scott_Donald]

57 minutes ago, ND2005 said:

there are commercial flights on some of the smaller carriers. But between driving from Troon area to the hassles of the airport plus checking a bag etc it did not seem worth it.
 
there used to be a direct ferry but it stopped during covid and never restarted. 
 

the other option is private hire air or helicopter 

 

Helicopters are getting really popular right now. Royal Aberdeen gets quite a few a week from Gleneagles and Cameron House(Loch Lomond).

 

but yes I do see, I have never been and don't ever intend to.

[hammergolf]

8 hours ago, scott_Donald said:

 

Is there not a way to fly there from Glasgow? 

You can fly via Logan to Campbelltown or to Glenegedale but the issue is getting from one to the other. My first thought was to fly into Campbelltown then rent a car and take the Ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen, but rental cars in Campbelltown are almost non existent. My other through was to take the ferry from Ardrossan to Campbelltown then take the ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen. Then back from Port Ellen to Kennacraig then drive back to Campbelltown and take the ferry back to Ardrossan. However the connecting times of the ferries make it a challenge. 

[njlam]

2 hours ago, scott_Donald said:

 

Helicopters are getting really popular right now.

FYI on our Ireland trip, we looked into a helicopter taking us from Lahinch to Sligo. It was $11K for 8 people.

 

We stayed on the bus...

[ND2005]

1 hour ago, njlam said:

FYI on our Ireland trip, we looked into a helicopter taking us from Lahinch to Sligo. It was $11K for 8 people.

 

We stayed on the bus...

yes private options like that were prohibitively expensive. 
 

If we had done it would have just bit the bullet and drove, spending one night hotel onsite. But we already had a 10 day trip and couldn’t justify extending it another couple of days.
 

As has been said many times there’s just too many great courses to hit them all in one trip. I will attempt to make it to Machrihanish one day.