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HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL FIND BELOW

• Testimonials from golf's top contemporary writers

• Highlights of Golf in Scotland: A Travel-Planning Guide . . . .

• Table of Contents

• Excerpts

• Media and Buyer Information

• UPDATES to the Revised 4th edition

 

Rave Reviews of Golf in Scotland from Golf's Top Contemporary Writers

"If getting your money's worth in everything from rental cars to green fees is a prime consideration in putting together a Scotland golf trip, I urge you to make this book your companion. It is  comprehensive, thoughtful, and, in literal truth, invaluable."—James W. Finegan, author of  Where Golf is Great, Blasted Heaths and Blessed Greens, and many more

"Allan Ferguson has paved the way . . . . Take an iron or two out of your bag and carry this book instead."—Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated; author of To the Linksland

" Golf in Scotland is an excellent guide to the Scottish links, their inns, and many other amenities of the Scottish game."—Michael Murphy, author of Golf in the Kingdom and The Kingdom of Shivas Irons

"Allan Ferguson has written such an extraordinarily useful guide to golf in Scotland that I wish he would tackle other areas too: plumbing, tax planning, car repair, holiday decorating, anything."—David Owen, author of My Usual Game

"If you're inclined to travel to . . . Scottish courses, your best guide is Allan McAllister Ferguson's Golf in Scotland."—Lorne Rubenstein, Toronto Globe and Mail, author of A Season in Dornoch

"Laced with history and local lore as well as the nitty-gritty of modern golf travel, Golf in Scotland may prove an indispensable guide for the wise golf traveler."—James Dodson, author of The Dewsweepers, Final Rounds, and A Golfer's Life

BOOK INFORMATION
 Highlights/Contents/Excerpts/Media and Buyer Info/Updates

Highlights of Golf in Scotland: A Travel-Planning Guide with Profiles of 74 Great Courses
•When to go

• Where to go

• Thirteen itineraries—five under $2,000.

• How to bargain with tour operators

• Eight ways to get a tee time on the Old Course at St. Andrews

• The best places to stay

• An independent car rental agency with the best selection of automatic transmission vehicles

• Over 200 websites for trip planning

• Complete contact information and extensive descriptions of seventy-four great Scottish courses

Table of Contents

Prologue - AVOID THE TOURS!

Part I - THE BIG PICTURE
Chapter 1- How to Use This Book Most Effectively and FAQs
Chapter 2 - Overview of Key Issues and Decisions
Chapter 3 - When to Go
Chapter 4 - Where to Go—Thirteen Trips to the Home of Golf

PART II - THE NITTY-GRITTY
Chapter 1 - The Four Elements of a Golf Trip: Air Travel, Vehicle Rental, Tee Times, Lodging
Chapter 2 - St. Andrews Up Close: Everyone Wants to Go—and Why Not!
Chapter 3 - A Potpourri of Useful Information

PART III - THE DIRECTORY OF COURSES
Preparing for play in Scotland
Seventy-four courses fully profiled

APPENDICES - Frequently-Called Phone Numbers, Golf Readiness Checklist, Useful Internet Sites, Daylight Hours, Bibliography

INDEX

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***Excerpts from Golf in Scotland by Allan Ferguson***

opinionated - quotable - entertaining - honest - literate - informative - fun

On Golf Travel

"Many intelligent people end up buying overpriced golf trips to Scotland. They simply give up and turn their travel decisions over to an expert. I want to change that situation. I want to make you the expert."

"Apart from the dollars-and-cents side of travel, there's something more important—and that's what you gain from the process of creating a trip. It's like foreplay. . . . Getting there is half the fun."

"This is probably the single most important piece of advice I can give: Don't hurry. Savor the clubhouse (the golf equivalent of 'smelling the roses')."

"The more money you spend on accommodations the more you separate yourself from the ordinary people, the customs, and the heart and soul of Scotland (or, for that matter, any other place)."

The Courses

"Tour operators and their compliant allies in Scotland already have turned some of the finest golf courses in the world into ghettos for the rich—overpriced, overplayed, and now off-limits to most visitors (including Scots) of average income . . . . The more expensive Scottish golf becomes, the more it turns away people who love golf but who do not have a lot of money. That, in short, is the budding tragedy of Scottish golf."

"Maybe it was the persistent sixty-mile-an-hour gale blowing off the North Sea when I played Gullane #1, but, to my mind, this is the least enjoyable, most overbearing, and most overrated of Scotland's marquee courses."

"Machrihanish. Mock-ri-hon-ish. The syllables roll off the tongue, conjuring visions of Celtic clans, pipers, and warrior kings in some mythical medieval kingdom."

(More on Machrihanish) "Out on the golf course you encounter 'Balaclava' (#6), 'Bruach Mor' (#7), 'Gigha' (#8), 'Ranachan' (#9), 'Nocmoy' (#10) and 'Kilvian' (#13)-and, at this point, you're likely to wonder, 'Where am I? And what language is this anyway?'."

"Sitting atop the great bluff overlooking the linksland, with its red russet roof and white facade, the Turnberry Hotel looks as if it might have been transferred wholesale from colonial America—maybe George Washington's Mt. Vernon on steroids."

(More on Turnberry) "Now what do you think about forking over the money for Turnberry? It's not an easy decision, but remember that classic bumper sticker: 'We're not extravagant. We're just spending our kids' inheritance.'"

In General

"Traveling to St. Andrews carries with it an undeniable sense of drama. I think of it as a modern-day pilgrimage to Shangri-La or Oz . . . . It's everything one hopes for and maybe a little more."

(On parking in St. Andrews) "First, take whatever advice and help your lodging host can provide. Second, take whatever space you can find and be glad you got it. Third, before getting into your car, think about the possibility of walking."

"If your travel agent says, 'I have your ticket to Glasgow and you only have to wait one hour and thirty minutes to connect in London,' your reply should be, 'Go back to the drawing board and give me three hours to make that connecting flight'."

(On golf carts) "In Scotland, golf is still considered a walking game—a game encouraging quiet conversation with companions while taking a healthful stroll through natural terrain. I am not romanticizing anything here. This is the hallmark of golf in Scotland."

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Media and Buyer Information

Title: Golf in Scotland: A Travel-Planning Guide with Profiles of 74 Great Courses
Publication Date: May 15, 2015 (Revised 4th Edition)
Publisher: WFPublishing, 1743 S. Marion St., Denver CO 80210, ph 1-303-722-3441
ISBN 978-0-9710326-5-1
Retail price: $24.95 USD
Wholesale Purchasing: Call for information

Synopsis: Seven chapters offer advice on when to go, where to go, lodging, tee times, and other travel decisions. Designed to help travelers save money and plan their own golf-centered trips to Scotland. Extensive descriptions of seventy-four Scottish courses feature complete contact information. Appendices include a golf-readiness checklist, useful websites, and a bibliography for further reading. Indexed.

The Author: Allan McAllister Ferguson helps golfers make affordable trips to Scotland and Ireland through his business, Ferguson Golf. He makes frequent trips to conduct research and refresh his contacts. He was born in Decatur, Illinois, in 1944. He is semi-retired from careers in politics, library science, and business. During the 1980s he and his wife, Ruth Wimmer, changed the look of commercial baby toys with their line of black and white infant development products, still sold under the trade name, "Wimmer-Ferguson Child Products."

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Updates to the Revised 4th edition (2015) - Golf in Scotland: A Travel-Planning Guide with Profiles of 74 Great Courses.

Current to August 2016 (holders of previous editions, please consider updating now)

p. 80 - Arnold Clark agency has raised its upper age limit to 80 for rental cars.

p. 100 - Aslar House has been sold and is now a private home.

p. 101-02 - Balmashie Cottages closed after the 2015 season.

p. 102 - #10 Links Crescent closed after the 2015 season; Old Admiralty is no longer a self-catering property. .

p. 157 - The Pictavia Museum near Brechin is closed.

p. 163 - The Craws Nest Hotel has been converted to a rest home.

p. 166 - The Red House Hotel has been reclaimed by orginal owners, Ian and Lorraine Devenish, and is now operating as the Cruden Bay Bed and Breakfast with six rooms and self-catering facilities.

p. 171 - Guy Redford is now at Loch Lomond GC; the new manager at Dundonald is Iain Colquhoun

p. 175 - Glasgow Gailes GC has been re-named Gailes Links; it remains under same management (Glasgow GC).

p. 220 - North Berwick West Links is now accepting visitors all days Monday through Friday.

p. 234 - The Red Lion pub in Prestwick has been extensively renovated; The Hollies is no longer in business.

p. 244 - The Troon-Larne (N. Ireland) P. & O. ferry is no longer in service.

p. 245 - Sandhill House actually overlooks the Old Course in Troon (not the Portland).

p. 270 - Whitekirk Golf and Country Club closed in 2016.

p. 280 - The Scottish Golf Union has changed its URL to www.letsgogolfing.com

A note to readers: If you have additional corrections and/or new information, please contact me at aferguson@fergusongolf.com.

Golf in Scotland

Allan Ferguson's indispensable guide for the savvy traveler

How to Order To purchase, order from www.amazon.com or your local independent bookseller. The book is also available in electronic format at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble

 

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