Ferguson Golf

[David Stamm]

I guess this should have been part of my thread in regards to organizning GCA trips, but has anyone used Alan Ferguson's services for a trip? I like what he has to say in his book, but don't know anyone personally who have gone through him. What was the experience like?

[Daryl David]

I have not used Alan, but have talked with him.  He is a great guy.  It might be a pretty good option if you want to save yourself a some time and is definitely less expensive than the big tour operators.  For myself, I enjoy doing all the logistics and believe I have extracted pretty much all the value by following his advice.  

[Mickey Boland]

David,

I just took my first trip to Scotland and used Ferguson's services.  Highly recommend him.  He was great to work with, and all of his arrangements worked out perfectly.  As Daryl said, he'll definitely save you some money over tour operators.  Be sure and get his book.  Has a lot of great advice that came in handy for my group.  After reading the book, I had a good idea of where we wanted to go and what courses we wanted to play.  He did a great job of arranging all of that and filling in some holes in our plan.  

[David Stamm]

Mickey, what ended up being your itenarary? Any courses that weren't as good as you hoped? Any better than expected?

[Matt MacIver]

A friend used him last year and was highly complimentary, and will use him again.  He did the 7- day Gullane-St. Andrews circuit.  

However, he loaned me his book...and that, plus my own due diligence, has allowed me to book our golf, lodging and car myself for our trip next year.  Either way you can't go wrong.  

[Mickey Boland]

We played Carnoustie, Lundin, Crail Balcomie, The Old Course, Royal Dornoch, Brora and Nairn, in that order.  Stayed 3 nights in St. Andrews, and then 3 nights in Dornoch.  Only course we wouldn't play again was Crail.  

Ferguson will not book you on TOC.  You have to arrange that yourself or ballot when you get over there.  I applied on the first date you could apply in Sept. 2005, but we were unsuccessful.  We balloted three days while over there, but were also unsuccessful.  We got on by just hanging around and talking with the starter, and eventually got the last tee time on a Tuesday.  I think the dates we were there (the last week in August) were bad for trying to get on TOC.  The R&A took 13 or 14 tee times each of the three days we were balloting.  

Everybody in my group liked Carnoustie.  It was not as hard as we had expected.  Not that we tore it up, but we all felt it was a very fair course.  Good shots were rewarded and bad shots penalized.  Last 4 holes were pretty tough.  In fact, my caddie said he would waive his fee if I played the last 4 in even par.  He had obviously made that bet before.  I doubt he fails to collect his fee very often, if ever.  First 5 holes at Crail were good, and in general the first 14 were pretty good.  But the last 4 holes kind of feel tacked on in some land that's apart from the first part of the course.  Not a bad course, but compared to the ones we played the rest of the trip it was the one we enjoyed the least.  All enjoyed Lundin and TOC.  As a group of courses, we all liked Royal Dornoch, Brora and Nairn better than the St. Andrews area courses we played.  That's not to say anything bad about the Fife courses, just that we really liked the Highlands courses we played.  

I've got a couple of threads going on the board that has photos from my trip.  Take a look and see what you think.  Feel free to PM me if you want to talk further.

[Daryl David]

Mickey,
Your comments about TOC and advance reservations has me sweating.  I applied this September a 1 minute past midnight on the first day you could.  I was also shooting for times the last week in August.  I have not received word yet on whether I have been successful.  I figured at first come first served, I had a pretty good chance, but listening to you, maybe not.
 

[Mickey Boland]

Well, up until the day we left everybody who had experience over there told me we would get on by the ballot, and we didn't.  Maybe it was some special event this year and not an annual thing.  I was trying to book a foursome, so if you're less than that maybe it helps your chances.  Good luck to you.  Let us know if you were successful with your application.

[Mark Chaplin]

Daryl - you should be ok with TOC applying so early

Mickey - agreed with you observations on RD, Brora and Nairn not only are they great courses but Dornoch is a nice quiet town that really appreciates golf and golfers. I even met Redanman there!

David - With some planning not only is it more fun and cheaper to organise your own trip but you can go at your own pace. Also look at some of the less known courses of which Scotland has 100s and they do not cost a fortune. Royal Aberdeen (2011 Walker Cup venue), Blairgowrie & Machrihanish are all great courses to visit.

One last tip especially in Scotland is do not book into the big expensive hotels, you are only sleeping and eating breakfast there. Smaller hotels and B&Bs are my favourite for the warmth of the host, recommendations to good pubs and restaurants and do not cost the earth.

[Gary Daughters]

David,

Alan Ferguson is extremely knowledgable about every imaginable detail of preparing a trip to Scotland.  He comes at the task from so many different angles that it's easy to overlook how solid his golf-specific (ie courses) advice is.  He makes several trips to Scotland yearly and has tons of contacts;  he is always up to date.

Alan is a proponent of the "stop and smell the roses" method of travel.  I planned my trip using his book and in addition to being a great read it saved me hundreds of dollars and probably made the trip far more enjoyable than what I would have planned on my own.

If you give him a call he'd probably add you to his newsletter, which is another excellent resource.  I believe he is branching out into Ireland.  

Gary

[Larry_Keltto]

Alan is fantastic.

In planning my first trip to Scotland, I called and asked if he would make the arrangements.

I had read his book closely, and he knew that. His answer, paraphrasing, was: "You don't need me. You have all you need to put it together, and you'll enjoy doing it."

He was absolutely right.

It's quite a thrill when you make the call for a booking at the clubs in Scotland. The people who work at the clubs typically are extremely gracious -- it's great fun.

[Andrew Mitchell]

What's the name of the book referred to above?

I couldn't find anything on amazon searching under the author's name.

[Robert Thompson]

Alan's book has come with me on all three of my trips to Scotland in the last four years.

While I don't always agree with his take on the golf (though he's usually pretty spot on), and his suggestions for B&Bs, car rentals (Arnold Clark can't be beat) are very good.

I think far too many people think they can't afford the time to book their own trip. But with the wonder of the Internet (even Muirfield now has a site), it is easy to do almost everything through email.

As for the Old Course, always worth looking at the Links Trust site to see what times are out (R&A spring and fall matches) and whether late availability comes open. We've been there twice in May and had no problem with the ballot once and once with late availability.

[Mickey Boland]

Andrew,

Golf in Scotland: A Travel-Planning Guide with Profiles of 68 Great Courses.  Allan McAllister Ferguson.

Or order direct from his website.  fergusongolf.com

I was tempted to book my own trip, but after being unsuccessful with my application for a time at TOC, I didn't want to have any more disappointments.  We were glad we used Ferguson, but I think my next trip over I will book myself.  

Gary is right about Ferguson's approach to a trip to Scotland.  His book says that the more you spend on lodging, the less you will get a real feel for the country and the people.  He also doesn't like the "If this is Tuesday it must be Troon" type of trips.  His approach doesn't work for everybody, but it was perfect for me and my group.

[Tom Huckaby]

No comment on Ferguson other than I'd echo what people are saying here, from what I hear also outside of this forum.  He's supposed to be exceedingly nice and his way is a great way to do this.

Just one caveat about self-planning (having done trips both ways):  no amount of charm will get you that Old Course tee time or Murfield slot if you haven't planned WAY WAY WAY far in advance, or just get unlucky even then... That's the real value of the tour operators - they can make happen what us normal joes can't.  But oh yes, the self-planning is a lot of fun, and all of the clubs are way more attuned to it these days... heck you can now book Muirfield over the internet.  Just do plan at least 18 months in advance or go at a very off time if you want that to work.  Outside of that, well... it's funny how these tour operators do have a way of making the impossible possible.

TH