Scotland I (2017)
This is first in a series of articles that documents my international golf travels. Up until 2017, I had only played golf in the United States and once in the Bahamas. This trip proved to be transformational in my view on playing golf internationally. Since then, I have increased the number of countries I have played in to 15 with the anticipation of adding 3 more in 2025. See my entire list of courses played here. It has been an incredible journey and one that I hope continues for years to come.
My first trip to Scotland was a result of my international travel loving brother-in-law asking me in 2016 what would it take to get me to travel to Scotland with him. This discussion came while watching the 2016 Open Championship duel between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon. My immediate response was if we could play the Old Course then I would go realistically thinking in my naive mind we would never get a tee time. I remember the back and forth battle between Stenson and Mickelson on back nine at Troon wishing it would never end. We were unsuccessful in getting a tee time to the Old Course through the fall application process that year but were able to get a tee time on Royal Troon. So, we ended up building this trip around Royal Troon. Planning a trip like this is really fun exploring the options and researching course and places to stay. As luck would have it, we ended up entering the daily ballot for a tee time on the Old Course and were fortunate to be selected. It ended up conflicting with a tee time we had at the Castle Course but the St. Andrews Links Trust is very accommodating and we were able to change the Castle Course to another day. The key lesson learned from our first trip to Scotland is that you need to be flexible if trying to play the Old Course. The 2017 Scotland I Itinerary included Dundonald Links, Royal Troon, Prestwick, Carnoustie, Kingsbarns, The Old Course, and The Castle Course.
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