Analysis of a Tour Offering

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The following remarks and analysis are directed particularly at trips to Scotland where little discounting occurs in the travel industry. In Ireland there is a more established pattern of discounting for operators at golf courses and at some lodgings. But, whether it's Scotland or Ireland, the principle is the same: operator profit is HUGE by any standard.

I have analyzed dozens of tour offerings to both Scotland and Ireland and have arrived at the following guideline—the most important sentence in this website: Tour operators typically mark up their "product" by a factor of fifty to one hundred percent or more.

That wouldn't be so bad if they were buying at wholesale and selling at retail the way most businesses do. But that's not what is happening. In Scotland, with few exceptions, tour operators are buying services at RETAIL and re-selling them to travelers for one and one-half to TWO TIMES RETAIL.

In their colorful brochures and expensive advertisements—all couched in romantic language—tour operators are good at implying that you're getting a retail package at a wholesale price. But here's the truth: (1) golf courses in Scotland don't give discounts to anyone; (2) rental car agencies don't give serious discounts to anyone; and (3) only a handful of hotels (e.g., Turnberry, Gleneagles, St. Andrews' Old Course Hotel) pay commissions or grant operator discounts. And, even if a hotel discounts bookings, what good does that do you, the traveler, if the tour operator just pockets the difference between the discounted rate and the advertised public rate?—and, believe me, it happens all the time.

All "self-drive" golf packages include three basic elements:

•   a rental car, van, or minibus
•   tee times (or, as the operators like to say, "guaranteed tee times")
•   lodging

If you can get a handle on each of these elements, analyzing real tour costs becomes easy.

Thanks to the internet, PerryGolf is going to help us with an example. At www.perrygolf.com, anyone with a computer can enter the module "PLAN YOUR OWN TOUR," submit information, and get a quote on a trip. The next step is to simply uncover the real costs with a few phone calls or a copy of my book, Golf in Scotland: A Travel-Planning Guide . . . .

In January 2005 I finished a client's trip that I could replicate on the PerryGolf website. Here it is:

TRIP ELEMENTS

•	Rental car: four people in a minivan - 9 days
•	Seven rounds of golf at the following courses: Carnoustie, Crail, Kingsbarns, Scotscraig, St. Andrews' Jubilee, St. Andrews Bay Devlin and Torrance courses,
•	Eight nights lodging at The Scores Hotel - double occupancy (this is a 3-star Best Western hotel near the 18th green of the Old Course)

PerryGolf's price: $4,624 for the golfer; $3,035 for the non-golfer

Now, let's look at the actual cost of this package (exchange rate: £1 = $1.92). All costs per person.

Actual costs for the golfer
$   231 rental vehicle (minivan - nine days - £482 ÷ 4 = £120.50 x $1.92)
1,021 greens fees at the seven courses cited above
  1,203 eight nights lodging at The Scores Hotel
$ 2,455 Actual cost if booked direct (± 5-10 percent)

Thus: $4,624 Tour Price
         - 2,455 Actual Cost
         $ 2,169 GOLFER SAVINGS (operator markup: 88%)

Actual costs for the non-golfer
$ 231 25% share of rental vehicle
       0 (obviously, no greens fees)
1,203 lodging
$1,434 Actual cost if booked direct (± 5-10 percent)

Thus: $3,035 Tour Price
           1,507  Actual Cost
          $1,528 NON-GOLFER SAVINGS (operator markup: 101%)

The only party benefiting from this "deal" is the tour operator. I know what I'm talking about. I know the rates at the hotels. I know exactly what it costs to rent a minivan. The bottom line? Buying a golf trip at an "all inclusive" price—without knowing the cost components—is just like buying a "pig in a poke."

The Lesson of this Story: you can achieve incredible savings by learning the ins and outs of golf in Scotland and Ireland from Ferguson Golf.

Save Thousands of Dollars!
A golfer and a non-golfer could take a trip identical to the one described above for about $3,700 less than the advertised price. Just think what a foursome of golfers could save! In this case, four couples (for example, 4 golfers, 4 non-golfers) could save $12,000 to $14,000 by booking this trip themselves or through Ferguson Golf!!

If I can provide you with this kind of information, doesn't my modest planning fee look like the real good deal?

If you think this is just an "isolated example," give me a call at 800-835-6692 and ask for an analysis of a tour you are considering.

A Word About Pre-Packaged Golf Trips
Many tour operators can give you a good golf experience, though most of them specialize in resort-based tours to Scotland and Ireland's best-known courses (where you'll see mostly other Americans). In all fairness, most operators "know the territory" and are genuinely interested in seeing that you have a good trip. I think the Scottish and Irish companies are generally better than their American counterparts. The problem is, no matter what kind of trip you take, you pay a big premium for the services of a travel operator. Even if you want to play only the British Open courses and stay at resort hotels, I still would encourage you to save money by booking through Ferguson Golf. Maybe it's the Scots in me, but Ben Franklin was right when he said, "a penny saved is a penny earned." Nevertheless, if you're sure you want to use a tour operator, give me a call; I'll give you a quick cost estimate on your trip so that you can bargain effectively with them. Call me at

1-800-835-6692

For more on tour operators, go to What the Tours Don't Tell You

To learn more about Ferguson Golf, go to Fee Detail, A Summary of Ferguson Golf Advice and How Ferguson Golf Works

If you've read enough and are already convinced, go to Contact Ferguson Golf. Or just get on the phone right now and call me at 1-800-835-6692.