Every hard-core golfer dreams of playing golf where the sport was born, and as I discovered over a glorious nine-day span in September, 2012, Go Ahead Tours Golf Vacations can make your dreams come true.
On September 22 I traveled from Buffalo, NY to Newark, NJ before leaving on an overnight flight for Glasgow, Scotland. Over the next six days I’d play seven rounds of golf on the links courses at Western Gailes, Turnberry’s Ailsa Course, North Berwick, and the Castle, New, Jubilee, and Old Courses at St. Andrews. I’d run on the very beach made famous by the movie Chariots of Fire and tour castles once visited by Robert the Bruce and William Wallace (yes, that’s Braveheart).
The trip, dubbed “Highlights of Scotland Golf Vacation” by Go Ahead, certainly lived up to the billing. Join me as I recap my trip, talk of some of my own highlights, and share as many pictures as I can reasonably fit in one article.
Who am I? A long-time avid golfer turned golf instructor. I’ve got a busy schedule, and though I could have arranged a golf trip myself, I chose Go Ahead’s Golf Vacations division because they handled everything and did it at a price that was likely lower than I could have arranged on my own or with another tour company.
The days are getting shorter, there is a chill in the air, and a lot of guys no one has ever heard of played in this weeks PGA Tour event…it must be Fall! Another week has gone by Sand Trappers and I have returned with one more edition of Hittin’ the Links.
As I watched Steve Stricker’s chip shot on the 17th hole during the Ryder Cup roll past the hole about four feet, my heart sank into my stomach. I had a feeling at that moment that we had lost the Ryder Cup. Stricker would make a valiant par at the last and force Kaymer to make the putt to win, but it just seemed that after the bogey on 17 the outcome was all but certain.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock that doesn’t get WiFi for the last few days, you’ve likely heard the story of how the United States lost the Ryder Cup. Leading the European team 10-6 going into the Sunday singles matches, the U.S. got off to a slow start, and although they did manage to knock over a few dominoes in the middle of the day, a par putt on the 18th green gave the victory in the penultimate match to former world number one Martin Kaymer.
This September Mizuno released four new sets of irons aimed at all levels of golfers. For the better player they have released the MP-64, a better players cavity back. For those looking for something a bit more forgiving without giving up too much of the workability, there is the new MP-H4 which targets scratch golfers to those with handicaps up to around 15. In addition to the two new MP sets, there are new JPX irons as well (which if you remember replaced the MX line last year). They are the JPX-825 and the JPX-825 Pro.
