As always, one of the biggest attractions to Scotland is the ever-increasing appeal of golf in the country where it all began and where there are now more than 550 courses.
Sean Connery lent his support to the Homecoming celebrations by pointing out: “I’ve been a lifelong supporter of golf and Burns, so to combine the two seems very appropriate.”
Today, thanks to some exciting changes over the last couple of decades, Scotland offers golfers an irresistible combination – some of the world’s best, most challenging and beautiful golf courses, alongside some of its finest hotels and resorts. These days, most major golf resorts have gone gourmet, with fine dining facilities becoming par for the course.
In Scotland, there are four exceptional venues to delight the most demanding visitor – St Andrews, Turnberry, Gleneagles and Carnoustie. Mere mention of the names is enough to spark the imagination of most golf enthusiasts. But link them with luxurious hotels or resorts and you have a sure-fire formula for success. If you’re going to play these classic courses, then there’s only one place to stay – the hotel or resort situated just a long putt from the greens and fairways.
The superlative St Andrews Old Course is the most famous in world golf, the spiritual home of the sport, and the ultimate pilgrimage to which every golfer aspires. Even America’s prestigious Golf Digest magazine has acknowledged this by naming St Andrews as the world’s “pre-eminent destination” for golf. The hallowed turf of the Old Course is the classic seaside links – although the sea is rarely in view other than at the first and last holes. Obligingly, the fairways are wide and the double greens immense – but the bunkering is among the severest to be found anywhere the game is played.
The Old Course Hotel
This legendary course boasts an exceptional hotel – the Old Course Hotel St Andrews (www.oldcoursehotel.kohler.com) – to complement the golfing experience of a lifetime. It features spacious and stylish guest rooms, along with every stay-and-play luxury including the widest selection of whiskies, more than 200, of any bar in the land.
Away from the temptations of the bar, the hotel is perfectly placed for all five of the St Andrews links courses as well as its own Peter Thomson-designed Duke’s Course. A team of PGA professionals are on hand for those needing a golf clinic, and there are practice areas, two pro shops and even a 19th century pub by the Road Hole fairway where you can discuss the highlights of your game over a relaxing drink. The hotel also has a spa offering head-to-toe treatments encompassing aromatherapy, reflexology, massage and beauty therapies. There are 125 guest bedrooms, plus a swimming pool and fitness centre. After you’ve worked up a healthy appetite walking the greens, the Old Course Hotel offers six unique dining and drinking experiences, ranging from a gourmet experience in the Road Hole Fine Dining restaurant to an award-winning afternoon tea.
Since re-launching in April last year, the Road Hole Fine Dining has rated 3AA rosettes and head chef Paul Hart offers a diverse selection of dishes using Scottish and, where possible, organic ingredients. There are three menus: à la carte, an eight-course tasting menu and an accompanying vegetarian menu, which all change on a seasonal basis. The two tasting menus are paired with a selection of champagne and wines specially chosen by the hotel’s sommelier Richard Coulson.
St Andrews is north of both Edinburgh and Glasgow, a 60-minute and 90-minute drive from their airports respectively.
The Turnberry Resort
The Turnberry Resort (www.turnberry.co.uk) boasts one of the most stunningly beautiful settings ever to grace the royal and ancient game, and much more besides. It occupies a dramatic location on an 800-acre estate overlooking the Atlantic, with extensive world-class golf course and training facilities, plus its own spa.
Shortly, it will become the focus of the entire golf world, drawing in visitors from all over the globe as the venue for the 138th Open Championship, from July 16-19. It will be only the fourth time Turnberry, 55 miles south of Glasgow Airport, has hosted the Open, after an absence of 15 years.
Every year, thousands of golfers of all abilities enjoy the thrill of playing an Open Championship course that’s open to all, and this year’s spin-off from the TV and Press coverage should attract as many visitors as ever.
With the sea by your side and that famous lighthouse in the distance, there are few courses in the world that can match Turnberry for scenic splendour and atmosphere. The hotel stands on a headland looking out towards the Isle of Arran and the Mull of Kintyre one way and the immaculately manicured championship links the other. If you demand more privacy than a hotel can offer, there are lodges and cottages available on the sprawling estate.
Fans booking in for the Open can expect a sparkling new look. The former Westin-branded resort closed for restoration last November and does not reopen until July after a £30m refurbishment.
Turnberry’s Ailsa Course, a true Scottish icon, is, of course, where Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson fought out their unforgettable “Duel in the Sun” in the 1977 Open Championship, and the layout of today – long and very demanding – is the work of eminent golf course architect Mackenzie Ross. If you feel the need for some coaching, there is the Colin Montgomerie Links Golf Academy, and if you fancy a break away from the golf, there are country pursuits for all ages, ranging from falconry to fishing, shooting and 4×4 off-road driving.
Gleneagles
Meanwhile, at Gleneagles (www.gleneagles.com), nicknamed “The Riviera of the Highlands” through its many links with the rich and famous, everyone is looking forward with eager anticipation to 2014, when it will host the 40th Ryder Cup tournament.
The hotel, which was the venue for the G8 Summit of world leaders four years ago, has 232 spacious rooms, including a variety of luxury suites. Just an hour from both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, there are three room types, three restaurants and bars, plus swimming pool, gym, squash, fishing, shooting, horse riding and falconry. There is a selection of shops and free access to the leisure club and tennis courts.
Every year since 1986, Gleneagles has been awarded the full Five Red Star rating from the Automobile Association and it is a member of The Leading Hotels Of The World, listed as one of the Great Golf Resorts Of The World and is a founder member of the Connoisseurs Scotland organisation.
Gleneagles hosts the Johnnie Walker Championship, one of Scotland’s most exciting sporting occasions, and this year’s event will be played over the PGA Centenary Course, between August 27 and 30.
As part of the European Tour circuit, the Johnnie Walker Championship attracts the world’s best golfers, and last year it was the final qualifying event for the 2008 European Ryder Cup Team. Players can choose from four courses: the King’s, the Queen’s, the nine-hole Wee Course and the Jack Nicklaus-designed former Monarch’s Course, renamed the PGA Centenary Course in honour of the PGA’s 100 years in 2001.
The Carnoustie Golf Hotel
For golfers who relish tackling the ultimate challenge, Carnoustie, situated 12 miles north of Dundee, probably gets the vote. Many consider the Medal Course, nicknamed “Killer Carnoustie” by at least one top pro, to be the greatest test of championship golf to be found anywhere in the world. It was home to the 128th British Open ten years ago and has a history of having challenged even such golfing superstars as Greg Norman and Tiger Woods.
Allan Robertson, the first player to break 80 around the Old Course at St Andrews and now recognised as the game’s first professional golfer, was the man who laid out the original course in the 19th century, although it was five-times Open Champion James Braid who revamped it in 1926. There can be no finer tribute to this remarkable links than the role-call of champions who have won there. They include Sir Henry Cotton, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Paul Lawrie and the legendary Ben Hogan, who in 1953 won the only Open Championship he ever played at Carnoustie.
The luxurious Carnoustie Golf Hotel (www.oxfordhotelsandinns.com), host to the 2007 British Open, offers 75 beautifully-appointed en-suite rooms and ten suites with amazing views over the championship course, sea and nearby town of Dundee. There are extensive spa and health facilities, including a large heated swimming pool, sauna, whirlpool, steam room and fully-equipped gymnasium.
Skibo Castle
If you’re happy to travel to the northeast of Scotland to sample top-class golf and one of the world’s great residences, then Skibo Castle (www.golfing-scotland.com) will not disappoint. It was the venue for Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s wedding in 2000 and was described by movie star Catherine Zeta Jones as “the most romantic place on Earth.”
This private, residential golf and sporting club has two private golf courses and sits on its own 7,000-acre estate in the heart of the Highlands. It meets the highest standards for fine food and luxurious accommodation, and offers classic pursuits such as salmon and trout fishing, falconry, clay pigeon shooting, riding, tennis, walking, canoeing, bird watching and archery. The swimming pavilion is equipped with an original marble pool, beauty therapy and gymnasium. There is a full Clarins spa and immaculate gardens offering peace and tranquillity. Skibo Castle unashamedly sets out to let guests experience service and style dating back to the Edwardian era. It also offers a bonus for unrepentant golf addicts.
Top loch spots
Loch Ness is the most famous stretch of water in Scotland, but just one of more than 500 lochs, ranging from to tiny mountain lakes to deep-sea inlets.
In addition to stunning scenery, long walks, boat trips and the promise of a rewarding dram of malt, many loch side hotels now offer luxurious accommodation and gourmet food. Head for Loch Lomond, the largest in Scotland, just 20 minutes from Glasgow. Set in the Trossachs national park, it offers breathtaking views to Ben Lomond. Stay at the Cameron House (www.devere-hotels.com), which has undergone a £25m refurbishment and offers fine suites, sleek drawing rooms and sophisticated cuisine.
Sea meets peaks at Loch Inver, a two-hour drive from Inverness airport, and the place to stay for great walks or mountain biking is The Albannach (www.thealbannach.co.uk), which has just two bedrooms and three suites. Dinners are memorable – five courses of local produce, served in an oak-panelled dining room lit by candlelight. Chef/proprietors Colin Craig and Lesley Crosfield have won various awards for their skilful interpretation of modern Scottish cooking and The Albannach was recently awarded a Michelin star.
Loch Crenan, a two-hour drive from Glasgow, is a small sea loch near the Isle of Eriska, where you can spot seals, otters and badgers. Commune with nature by staying at the 1880s-built family-run Isle of Eriska Hotel (www.eriska-hotel.co.uk), where rooms range from grand Victorian to modern cottages.
Cracking castles
If you’ve always had a yen to stay in a castle, then Scotland‘s the place for you. Try 13th century Dalhousie Castle (www.dalhousiecastle.co.uk), seven miles south of Edinburgh, which won Castle Hotel of the Year 2009 in the HotelReviewScotland awards. It offers 29 bedrooms, the award-winning Dungeon Restaurant and a spa, plus falconry in the grounds.
Well placed for exploring central Scotland and the Da Vinci Trail is Shieldhill Castle (www.shieldhill.co.uk), dating back to 1199. Just 28miles from Edinburgh, it has 16 bedrooms in the castle and 10 in the converted stables, plus an award-winning restaurant.
For the ultimate romantic getaway, head off for Glengorm Castle (www.glengormcastle.co.uk), on the northern tip of the Isle of Mull. Set in dramatic scenery, the 5,000-acre estate offers five doubles, with self-catering also available in a choice of apartments in the castle and cottages on the estate.
