Article -Scottish Golf Trip by Train

[Charles Lund]

I have mentioned the train system as an option for golf in Scotland.  Here is a link:


https://www.linksmagazine.com/scotland_by_train/


Charles Lund

[Jon Wiggett]

Calling Garland for your expertise in golfing in Scotland using public transport.

[Cal Seifert]

Been thinking about doing this on a trip to london to play the heathland courses. I’ve seen some posts online by people who have claimed to done it and had no issues.

[Mark Chaplin]

Claimed? Very simple many good courses walkable to stations including Sunningdale, West Hill, New Zealand, West Byfleet, Royal St George’s and Royal Cinque Ports. Dozens a short cab ride away.

[Charles Lund]

I used train to play The Princes and take in a practice round at Royal St. George's.  Took train to play The Grove.  All from London.


Used train from Glasgow to Prestwick to get car and used train and bus to connect from Prestwick to ferry to Belfast and back from Belfast to Glasgow.  Also used train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh and back on Scotland trip.


Finally, I took train from Paddington to Exeter to pick up car from Hertz for trip to Devon/Cornwall Coast.


Happy to see this covered on the link I provided.


Charles Lund

[Garland Bayley]

I did the Buda trip by train and bus. It takes a while to understand the websites for the train and bus, and to figure out the schedules. Once you get a handle on how to plot your way it becomes quite convenient. initial investigation started on Google Maps, which is capable of giving you an idea of what is available, by setting options for date and time, then go to the train and bus websites to finalize plans. I walked at most a mile to a course from a way station. Interestingly the least served destination of my trip was Dornoch.

You can buy almost all of your tickets online. In the case of the bus, the ticket is downloaded to your phone for showing to the bus driver. In the case of the train, you have to pick up the ticket at a station, which is a problem if the station doesn't have the machine to pick up the ticket. Once again this rears its ugly head with connections out of Dornoch as Tain is the nearest train station, but the station doesn't have the ticket machine. The station building is occupied by a bar/restaurant.

[David_Tepper]

"Interestingly the least served destination of my trip was Dornoch."


Dornoch does have good bus service on the line between Inverness and Thurso. It is a short walk between the bus & train stations in Inverness. It is a short walk from the bus stop in Dornoch to the first tee at Dornoch.

[Garland Bayley]

"Interestingly the least served destination of my trip was Dornoch."


Dornoch does have good bus service on the line between Inverness and Thurso. It is a short walk between the bus & train stations in Inverness. It is a short walk from the bus stop in Dornoch to the first tee at Dornoch.

I am comparing to most of my destinations which had a bus every hour.

[Garland Bayley]

More details on my trip.
Flew to Edinburgh, took the tram (total rip off) to Edinburgh Gateway station, and train to Nairn. Chose Nairn for two links courses, and lower B&B price. B&B was right by bus station, but 1/2 mile from train station. Played Nairn  day 2 after 1 mile walk from B&B. Day 3 took train to Elgin, and bus to Lossiemouth (bus every hour with bus stop right outside Moray Golf clubhouse) to play Moray Old. Day 4 left B&B and took bus to Inverness (1 at least every hour), stored luggage in locker at train station next door, took bus to Fortrose (about 1 per hour), walked 1/2 mile, played Fortrose and Rosemarkie, bus back to Inverness, retrieve luggage, bus to Maryburgh where Jon Wigget picked me up and took me to their Guest House. Day 4 John dropped me at Dingwall train station to rail to Tain, bus to Portmahomack, played all 10 holes, loved it, bus back to Tain, played Tue/Thur 2-4 pm special for 25 pounds, began to hit the ball quite well with rented clubs, train back to Dingwall. Day 5 played Brahan with Jon and Steve Wilson, and rested for Buda, Day 6, 7, 8 had Jon chauffeur me to Buda stayed in Dornoch evening of day 8. Day 9 played Royal Dornoch, bus back to Nairn, Day 10 played Nairn Dunbar.

Scotrail has several discount cards that can save you 33% if you qualify. The card costs 30 pounds, and I figured it would come out about the same with or without the Senior card for my limited stay and train needs. The bus company is Stagecoach, and they have an app that allows you to buy tickets, will identify the nearest bus stop, and hold your tickets for showing the bus driver. They also have dayrider tickets that are cheaper than to buy a two way ticket. The best deal there was the dayrider ticket i used for the 4 bus trips made the day i went to play Fortrose and Rosemarkie. I went practically to boundary limit in three directions.

[Michael Whitaker]

Garland - I’ve used the trains often for golf related trips... London to Deal, London to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Inverness, Edinburgh to North Berwick, etc. It is a fun way to travel, especially for Americans who don’t often (if ever) have the opportunity to “ride the rails.”

I have a question about your travels... did you use buses and long walks to avoid taxi/Uber fees or just to see if you could do it? It seems to me you could have enjoyed more time at the clubs or relaxing at your B&B if you had just taken a taxi from the train station instead of waiting an hour or more for a bus... not to mention the long walks hauling your luggage and clubs.

Wasn’t all this exhausting?

[Garland Bayley]

Whitty,

Not exhausting, conditioning! You may have noticed that I did the 36 hole walks at Buda with plenty of energy to spare.

I hadn't done much conditioning before the trip, so the extra walks to the course and back helped with that. I hadn't done any 36 hole days before the trip so I needed the conditioning. Besides, walking is free. Riding trains and buses was cheaper than renting a car and paying outlandish insurance costs. Furthermore riding trains and buses is far less stressful than driving on the other side of the road on roads that don't exactly match the width of what we are accustomed to here. Since I only did 18 holes the first 3 days, I had plenty of time for relaxing. Since buses were usually every hour or better, I didn't have to wait long at bus stops, since I knew when the bus would be there, and I didn't need to be there much earlier.

Additional note, my luggage was pretty small, and I had 8 clubs in a small Sunday bag without an excess of balls etc.
If I did a 3 week trip like I did in the past, luggage handling would have been more difficult.

My trip was 3 weeks but the first week and a half was on a cruise ship which laundered my clothes before I disembarked.

[Niall C]

Garland

Interesting. I agree that the websites take a bit of working out and not sure I’ve ever felt I’ve been 100% successful in navigating my way round them.

Putting that to one side, interested to get your feedback on the courses played. I hadn’t realised you were going to be spending so much time on my old home patch. What’s your thoughts on the following courses;

Moray Old (presumably you didn’t play the New ?)

Nairn

Nairn Dunbar

Did you look at playing Elgin ?

Niall

[Bill Crane]

Garland - I’ve used the trains often for golf related trips... London to Deal, London to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Inverness, Edinburgh to North Berwick, etc. It is a fun way to travel, especially for Americans who don’t often (if ever) have the opportunity to “ride the rails.”

I have a question about your travels... did you use buses and long walks to avoid taxi/Uber fees or just to see if you could do it? It seems to me you could have enjoyed more time at the clubs or relaxing at your B&B if you had just taken a taxi from the train station instead of waiting an hour or more for a bus... not to mention the long walks hauling your luggage and clubs.

Wasn’t all this exhausting?

I notice that the train station in North Berwick was just a block up the hill from the clubhouse.    With Gullane and other courses nearby this could be a really easy and less expensive way to have a Scottish golf trip.   


Easy train to Edinburgh.   Could even stay there in the summer.  My friends daughter was in Vet school there and had an open flat when she was home for summer break.   These places must show up on Air BnB periodically. 


Although No Berwick is such a nice town would be a great place to stay.

[Garland Bayley]

Garland

Interesting. I agree that the websites take a bit of working out and not sure I’ve ever felt I’ve been 100% successful in navigating my way round them.

Putting that to one side, interested to get your feedback on the courses played. I hadn’t realised you were going to be spending so much time on my old home patch. What’s your thoughts on the following courses;

Moray Old (presumably you didn’t play the New ?)

Nairn

Nairn Dunbar

Did you look at playing Elgin ?

Niall

Nairn Dunbar. The scorecard signals a problem with the links when there is a hole named "The Flats". The front 9 has some interest with the par 3 8th a highlight. However, after you get past 12, the rest of the course might be called "The Flats".

Nairn I played in sideways rain the whole round. So my memories are more of the rain than the course. I found that in the inclement weather I could hit knock down 4 irons onto the fairway from most tees. Correspondingly when my swing went bad at Moray, I resorted to the same shot and found I couldn't reach many fairways. Playing yellow tees in both cases. I can see why Moray is well thought of with its green complexes of high interest. However, if you can't see the details of the approach through the rain on you glasses it doesn't matter much.

Moray Old (didn't play New, thought of doing the package for both, but didn't think my conditioning was ready for that) is a good solid links. Most interesting holes being the 1st and last in my book. Doesn't hold a candle to Tarbat Golf Club with it's severe dunal undulations and high memorability.

[Bernie Bell]

Came across this interesting website looking for something else.  I don't believe the site has been mentioned here before, but please excuse me if it has.


https://scottishgolfbytrain.co.uk/

[Tom_Doak]

A friend was relying on taxis to get around the Gullane area during the Scottish Open last week, and I was shocked how sparse the service was - cabs would come all the way from Edinburgh to get him, but it was 30+ minutes to wait.  That's a shame as all of the courses are close together and it's silly to need a rental car to drive 5-10 miles per day.

[Adam Lawrence]

A friend was relying on taxis to get around the Gullane area during the Scottish Open last week, and I was shocked how sparse the service was - cabs would come all the way from Edinburgh to get him, but it was 30+ minutes to wait.  That's a shame as all of the courses are close together and it's silly to need a rental car to drive 5-10 miles per day.

That's the issue in outlying areas. It's easy to get a cab from the city to a nearby village, but much harder to get one the other way, because the cabs are _based_ in the city.

[Jon Wiggett]

A friend was relying on taxis to get around the Gullane area during the Scottish Open last week, and I was shocked how sparse the service was - cabs would come all the way from Edinburgh to get him, but it was 30+ minutes to wait.  That's a shame as all of the courses are close together and it's silly to need a rental car to drive 5-10 miles per day.

That's the issue in outlying areas. It's easy to get a cab from the city to a nearby village, but much harder to get one the other way, because the cabs are _based_ in the city.

And I think a little realism might be also a good thing. During an event such as the Scottish Open the number of people in Gullane is increased massively (tens of thousands). The taxi numbers are probably fine for the usual number of people. I am pretty sure that extra train and buses would have been added.

[Kalen Braley]

I look at it a bit different.

You spend big bucks for flights, green fees, lodging, food, swag, pub time, etc.  But heaven forbid you spend a little extra for a car rental! 

[Garland Bayley]

I look at it a bit different.

You spend big bucks for flights, green fees, lodging, food, swag, pub time, etc.  But heaven forbid you spend a little extra for a car rental! 

I think the issue may be that it is more a relaxing trip if you let others transport you. Having someone damage the rental while it's parked is not something you want to deal with on vacation, let alone all the sheep you would mow down with your wild, wild west driving.

[Richard Fisher]

The best 'seaside golf-by-train' vacation in the UK is arguably that to Wales, and to Borth, Harlech and Aberdovey (where the clubhouse literally abuts the platform ends). The train journey from London Euston or Paddington to Cardigan Bay, changing at Shrewsbury and/or Machynelleth, is a golfing pilgrimage to be made reverentially, with the ghosts of Bernard Darwin and his friends as ever-present companions. Once you get past Shrewsbury, the train ride is increasingly lovely, with some fabulous views of both sea and mountains as you get to the coast. There are dormy houses at both Harlech and Aberdovey, and one option is to base yourself in Aberdovey, taking the train north to Harlech (direct) and south to Borth (one change) as required. The three courses (all featured on GCA at different times) are themselves all quite different, and the Aberdovey area is notably more affluent than either Harlech or Borth. One of the hills in Harlech leading down from the Castle to Morfa Harlech and the links has just been recorded as The Steepest Street in the World', and so after 36 holes at RStD the more energetic amongst you can try walking back up, to reach the excellent Castle Cottage restaurant at the top. More importantly, you can leave the car for a week and have a wonderful week, not worrying either about having a drink or two at the end of the day's play.

[Thomas Dai]

The railway line to Aberdovey, Harlech and Borth goes through Machynlleth, Newtown and Welshpool.
Welshpool has a cracking 18-holes by James Braid and has a GCA photo tour. Newtown is 9-holes by Harry Vardon and Machynlleth is 9-holes by Braid.
Atb

[Duncan Cheslett]

I love using the train for golfing expeditions. I played my KO match against Clyde Johnson on The Old Course last month travelling up from Manchester in the morning and returning home the same day.  If I'd driven the 650 mile round trip it would have cost me more in fuel than the £87 cost of the return ticket and would have involved an overnight stay. As it was I was in work at 9am the next day!


After reading Dai's post above, I've just checked the cost of a return ticket to Aberdovey. At £44 that is again far less than the fuel cost in a car, and would save me six hours of driving!



Lugging a set of golf clubs on the train and bus gets one involved in some lovely encounters and conversations. Golfers love to spot a kindred spirit and home in for a chat about where you're going, where you've played etc.


From a financial point of view however, golfing by rail only really works as a solo. As soon as two or more are involved, it immediately makes far more sense to drive. This is a pity, as letting the train take the strain is such an enjoyable experience.

[Richard Fisher]

The only tricky aspect of Dai's additional recommendations en route to the Welsh coast is that you need a taxi to reach the hilltop/moorland gems, especially Welshpool and Machynelleth. The great thing about the seaside trio of Aberdovey, Borth and Harlech is that you can walk, very easily, from the station to the links. So no cars at all...

[Thomas Dai]

Worth the taxi fares though!
Or maybe hitch a ride in an Ifor Williams trailer behind an old LandRover on perhaps on the back of a quad-bike sitting alongside a friendly sheepdog!
atb





PS - chatting when driving into Brora once a few years ago that we hadn't seen an 'Ifor' and wondered if they were sold in Scotland when around a corner comes, yip, an Ifor being towed behind a Land Rover. Seen them in Ireland too. You can't beat an Ifor!