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Official OGBoards Golf Thread

Here is my Scotland itinerary for next week.

Wednesday: Dornoch
Thursday: Dornoch x2
Friday: Trump Aberdeen and Carnoustie
Saturday: possibly doing the Old Course lottery but definitely playing Kingsbarnes
Sunday: Castle Course and New Course
Monday: fly to Portugal

Going to be a lot of golf in a short amount of time.
That looks incredible

Our AirBNB host offered to take us into St Andrews Golf Club. I assume we should take him up on the offer?
 
Has anyone played the Lake Oconee courses down in GA? Thoughts for a guy's golf trip down there? Thanks.
 
Here is my Scotland itinerary for next week.

Wednesday: Dornoch
Thursday: Dornoch x2
Friday: Trump Aberdeen and Carnoustie
Saturday: possibly doing the Old Course lottery but definitely playing Kingsbarnes
Sunday: Castle Course and New Course
Monday: fly to Portugal

Going to be a lot of golf in a short amount of time.

If you really want to play The Old Course and don’t get a spot in the lottery, go down to the first tee the night before you want to play. They’ll have the next day’s tee sheet posted. It there are any twosomes or threesomes, you can get in on a first come, first served basis. It will mean lining up at the starter’s shack at 3 or 4 AM, though.
 
If you really want to play The Old Course and don’t get a spot in the lottery, go down to the first tee the night before you want to play. They’ll have the next day’s tee sheet posted. It there are any twosomes or threesomes, you can get in on a first come, first served basis. It will mean lining up at the starter’s shack at 3 or 4 AM, though.

I did this and brought my handicap index card with me. Not sure if things have changed (this was quite a few years ago) but I was around scratch at the time and despite being behind a number of other singles I got placed very early in the matchup process, as did another single digit player. I joined a threesome where one of the players was a part time caddie on the Old Course - basically those groups aren't forced to pick someone up but usually will do so, I think they get some say into who they end up with. One guy ahead of me definitely didn't have a card with him and didn't get called.
 
I did this and brought my handicap index card with me. Not sure if things have changed (this was quite a few years ago) but I was around scratch at the time and despite being behind a number of other singles I got placed very early in the matchup process, as did another single digit player. I joined a threesome where one of the players was a part time caddie on the Old Course - basically those groups aren't forced to pick someone up but usually will do so, I think they get some say into who they end up with. One guy ahead of me definitely didn't have a card with him and didn't get called.

Excellent point which I forgot to mention. Make sure you bring your handicap index card with you. The maximum allowable handicap to play The Old is 24.
 
I'm a big fan of the New course..the only time I broke 80 in Scotland. I finished bogey bogey to shoot 76 and that was the worst in our group that day. Fun track
 
Excellent point which I forgot to mention. Make sure you bring your handicap index card with you. The maximum allowable handicap to play The Old is 24.

My dad just made his bucket-list Scotland trip & was one of the guys in his group to be selected to play the Old Course. Of the 7 courses he played, it was by far his least favorite. He got some great pictures there, though.

He is right around the 24 mark, so i was a little worried about him playing there but he made it around OK.
 
My dad just made his bucket-list Scotland trip & was one of the guys in his group to be selected to play the Old Course. Of the 7 courses he played, it was by far his least favorite. He got some great pictures there, though.

He is right around the 24 mark, so i was a little worried about him playing there but he made it around OK.

The Old is not my least favorite course in Scotland, but it is far from my favorite. It’s just a course anyone who loves golf has to check off his list.
 
Not surprised at all that a 24 wouldn't enjoy the Old Course. Pretty common complaint actually, a lot like Pinehurst #2 feedback.
 
Why is that? It’s not like The Old Course is the hardest course in Scotland.

Definitely not, and I don't mean to come off as judgmental as this isn't as anecdotal as just hearing it from a few people. It's a really popular opinion that I (and plenty of others) don't share. But I can see how if you aren't all that good a player, and you just take the Old Course with its lack of scenery, often dreary weather, the hype, etc... I can definitely see how it would be underwhelming, and the same goes for Pinehurst. Neither are scenic or beautiful in a traditional sense, and while there are memorable greens and unique features on each, one trip around definitely inspires some "huh, that was it?" reactions.

I think the payoff for those courses is when you really play them well, and to do that you need to be a decent player. On one hole I hit a choked down 2 iron that never got 20 yards off the ground but probably rolled out to 300 yards because I cut it off the correct side of the mounding of the hole. Another guy hit a driver too high, wind killed it and he had almost no shot from the opposite side. I drove one of the double greens on the wrong side and had a 100 yard putt. I got up and down from behind the road hole with a flop shot and birdied 18 from the valley of sin with a bump and run. The Old Course usually doesn't beat people up outside of the road hole, but it was just so rewarding and fun to play it well because of the variety of shots you had to hit to get the ball into places where you could make birdies.

That being said, I only played 5 courses while I was there, one was Carnoustie (loved it almost as much as the Old Course) and one was Kingsbarns (that's the one I thought was overrated on our trip). The others weren't big name courses, so I'm far from an expert. LK probably has the best takes on the area...
 
Why is that? It’s not like The Old Course is the hardest course in Scotland.
This is good debate, what are the hardest courses in Scotland? From research Western Gailles seems up there
 
This is good debate, what are the hardest courses in Scotland? From research Western Gailles seems up there

Royal Aberdeen is really narrow and therefore difficult for someone that sprays the ball a little like me. Here is my unofficial ranking (favorite to least favorite) of every course I've played in Scotland (I think):

Royal Dornoch, Championship
Western Gailes
Carnoustie
Carnegie Golf Club (post-renovation)
Kingsbarns Golf Links
Trump International Golf Links
Castle Stuart Golf Links
St. Andrews, Old Course
Royal Troon
Turnberry Alisa (pre-renovation)
North Berwick Golf Club
St. Andrews, Castle Course
St. Andrews, New Course
Brora Golf Club
Nairn Golf Club
Prestwick Golf Club
Cullen Golf Club
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club
Royal Dornoch, Struie
Old Moray
Gullane (played in a monsoon, only remember rain)
Golspie Golf Club
 
This is good debate, what are the hardest courses in Scotland? From research Western Gailles seems up there

Depends entirely on the weather and seasonal conditions for growing rough. For example, Castle isn't the hardest course in calm conditions in a dry season. However, if there has been a rainy season and the rough is dense and you get it on a windy day it's harder than a wedding dick.

Last year when we went, the New Course was by far the easiest we played and I think everyone in our group posted the 1st or 2nd lowest round of the trip there. In contrast, this year I had 4 scratch or better golfers out there and it was the firmest course we played and none of us scored well in spite of the course playing crazy short.

On a calm day with moderate dry rough, my personal rankings of toughest to easiest of the ones I've played:

Muirfield
Carnoustie
Western Gailes
Jubilee Course
Gleneagles Centenary
Turnberry
Castle
Kingsbarns
N. Berwick
Gullane #1
Old Course
New Course
Crail - Craighead
Crail - Balcomie
Eden


I really need to get up to the northern part of Scotland and play some of the other courses listed by timdunk. I've heard the golf up north tends to be harder.

The Old Course isn't a hard golf course in the sense that you can get it around without embarrassing yourself and losing balls, hitting into water, etc. To me it feels like an "easy par, hard birdie" course in calm conditions. It's not all that hard to hit 16+ greens out there, but even really good golfers will end up with some 100 foot putts out there. One of my favorite approaches out there is #5 - The green is 80+ yards deep. It always cracks me up to hear a caddie say you have 175 to the front, 250 to the pin, and we want to fly it no more than 200 yards.

DCDeac nailed it that positioning means everything out there. Landing on the incorrect side of a VW size mound on the approach can cause a variance of 40 yards in your result. Off the tee the safe play is always left, but that almost always gives the least favorable angle of approach. The course plays really short, and every time I've walked off 18 I felt like I should have shot 5 or 6 shots lower just based on how many chances I had to make a score on a hole...but it always adds up to 73 or 74.
 
Royal Aberdeen is really narrow and therefore difficult for someone that sprays the ball a little like me. Here is my unofficial ranking (favorite to least favorite) of every course I've played in Scotland (I think):

Royal Dornoch, Championship
Western Gailes
Carnoustie
Carnegie Golf Club (post-renovation)
Kingsbarns Golf Links
Trump International Golf Links
Castle Stuart Golf Links
St. Andrews, Old Course
Royal Troon
Turnberry Alisa (pre-renovation)
North Berwick Golf Club
St. Andrews, Castle Course
St. Andrews, New Course
Brora Golf Club
Nairn Golf Club
Prestwick Golf Club
Cullen Golf Club
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club
Royal Dornoch, Struie
Old Moray
Gullane (played in a monsoon, only remember rain)
Golspie Golf Club
Great call on Cullen, it fell thru the cracks of my research, love the quirkiness (blind Par 3s over red rocks). Its neighboring course Old Moray looks like it has some nice holes like 18 but Cullen seems nicer and more fun. Also it is hard to beat that level of quality at 25 pounds per golfer.
 
This is good debate, what are the hardest courses in Scotland? From research Western Gailles seems up there

Did my first Scotland in May; played

Turnberry - 3x (loved it)

Crail Society (great links course by St. Andrew)

Glen Eagles (Ryder Cup Course; great venue but very "American", not links at all)

Kingsbarns (excellent; a must play if you go to Scotland)

Was I disappointed we didn't get on St. Andrews, absolutely. But, overall a bucket list trip....I can't wait to do again.
 
So, I'm playing in the Charlotte City Am starting Friday and the herniated discs in my back have been flaring up bad. Any body have any golf-specific exercises/stretches/tips to help with this? I may have asked before in the thread. It's a great tournament at 3 different local courses (Cedarwood, Myers Park, Charlotte CC) over 3 days, with cuts after each day.

Also, has anybody played Charlotte and have any tips? I've yet to get on it.
 
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