No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 86: Scotland Trip Part 2 with Shane Bacon and Ru MacDonald

Episode Date: July 10, 2017

We’re back with a second Scotland episode, bringing the grand total to three hours worth of chat about Scotland golf. We debrief with Shane Bacon about our run from Carnoustie to North Berwick, with stops... The post NLU Podcast, Episode 86: Scotland Trip Part 2 with Shane Bacon and Ru MacDonald appeared first on No Laying Up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may have noticed that the fine folks at PGATOR.com have transformed the player plate pages on the website. Pages are much cleaner to consume and offer a wide variety of content from statistics and also links to social media. You'll easily find key data about career performance of your players right at the top in a new graphic-oriented layout. Check it out at Pga-tor.com Even though the Sirus standbag from OGO was only 3.2 pounds I'm still a member of the pushcart mafia and I am using it on a trolley over here in Scotland It's loaded with pockets. It's got plenty of place to store all of your rain gear Which is a necessity on this trip find out more at ojo.com Get a right club. Be the right club today.

Yes! That is better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. The ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. Sorry for the delay in this podcast, but as promised, going to deliver the goods on planning a trip to Scotland, there's a lot of information within this podcast. We had to split it up into two parts. Tips and tricks for planning it out to figure out some accommodation, getting

from location to location, getting your clubs around, and I want to give a shout out to our friends at Lugage Forward who actually helped me get my clubs across the pond to Scotland. You may not be that familiar with them, but they have been a leader in this industry since 2005. It's 12 years of experience experience making sure your clubs get to the location that you need them. They do all the work for you. They mail you the shipping tags. They come and pick it up at your doorstep and my clubs were waiting for me there at Castle Stewart.

They're going to be the most cost effective method of getting your clubs. If you're taking a trip to Scotland or Ireland or anything like that, they ship all kinds of stuff. If you're going on a ski trip, they can move your skis for you or any other kind of luggage. So it's not just limited to golf clubs, but for limited time, only our listeners, if you go to luggageforward.com slash no laying up, you get a special 10% off any shipment that you're using. So again, a reminder, go to luggageforward.com slash no laying up and check out the awesome options they have for getting your clubs to and from the pot, to and from wherever you're going on your next trip.

So first up on this part two of the Scotland wrap up is going to be Shane Bacon. We go about 45 minutes talking about the leg of the trip that he that we were on together and then the final half of this episode is going to be the rest of my conversation with Rue McDonald from the Scottish Golf Podcast about some of the courses I played in the week after our little run through the St Andrews and Aberdeen area. Those courses are going to include Rue Aberdeen, Trump International. I'll talk a bit about Nairn and then MacriHannish and just some more Scotland advice as well. So stick around for that and thanks to both Rue and Shane for joining.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No-Langout Podcast. The next guest is no stranger to the show. He is host of the Clubhouse with Shane Bacon Podcast. Shane Bacon himself, no longer just my internet friend. Have you recovered from the jet lag? How is your Scotland debrief going? Yeah, I mean, it was a lot of work following. So, I mean, I literally landed Boston the next day.

We had meetings and enrolled into the senior, but it was good. You know, I actually, as goofy as it is, my Scotland to Boston travel situation was actually shorter than my Boston to Phoenix travel deal with a couple of delays. So yeah, it's actually pretty easy if you're on the east coast to get over there. Well, what is what about your Phoenix or Phoenix to Scotland travel issue? Was it because that was a little bit more than one day?

Do you want to tell that story or should I? Oh, yeah. So, yeah. So when you're book and travel, a key thing to do when you're doing it, I learned this, is you want to arrive on the correct day. And if you arrive on the incorrect day, that can really throw a wrench and somebody that's been playing in a call trip

for like eight months, like Ashley Mayo was doing. So yeah, I had arrived a day late. And so, you know, they say you wanna get to a party, you know, a little late, fashionably late. So I was fashionably a day late and I only got to miss, maybe my favorite golf course in Scotland to play. So that was a fun start.

You missed the greatest round of golf ever. You'll never be replicated. It may have been enhanced by the fact that you were not there. We're not just going to glance over this part of the story about how you drove to the airport on the day you were thought you were flying out. I was driving to the airport. Now let me tell you this. I could have boarded that flight. I just would have been in New York for an extra for a full day and a half because my flight out was a full day later than I had originally planned. And to be fair, it was, it was about as bad a planning job as you could do. I mean, I literally landed

at 11 p.m. in New York for a 7 p.m. flight that I thought was leaving that day. So I literally had it screwed up twice because I was thinking I was leaving on a 7 p.m. flight that day. So I literally had it through up twice because I was thinking I was leaving on a 7 p.m. flight that day, which I would have got it four hours late, and really it was a whole day later. So yeah, it was, it wasn't my best. It wasn't my best moment, but I did only miss one hole at Cornews. That was nice. I mean, my first time traveling, I probably made a very similar mistake. I don't remember when that was, but thank God you don't have to travel for a living or anything like that. I know, I know. If I had to book this stuff all the time, you know, it really is, like you said,

it is quite embarrassing to show up to something like that and with that big of a bone-headed move. But the good news was you guys did get to play Cruden Bay, which I mean, Cruden Bay will overshadow anyone coming on a trip, so I was not worried about that, and you guys had a good time. And then, like I said, I thought I was going to roll up to Carnousey like 30 minutes before we teed off, but when we landed in Scotland, like 6 a.m., we sat on the tarmac for like an hour, and I was doing the whole like traveler stress out thing where you're tapping your foot and nothing can really change.

But yeah, I only missed the first hole at Kernucy, which is probably the least interesting hole on the property. And after that, I was ready to roll. We gave you a generous four on that opening hole. But the ironic part is I've been trying to get you to book flights for this trip forever because we were gonna try to latch on some extra rounds of golf.

So Ashley Mayo and Rume McDonald basically planned this entire trip and gave us seven rounds of golf over four days at some amazing courses around the St. Andrews area. But my whole thing was like, if I'm going to Scotland, I want to spend more than four days if I can. And yeah, you not only did you bail on me for not playing extra rounds of golf, I had to go do all that on my own. You didn't even show up for the first round. But, well, to say I bailed is, I would say it's incorrect.

I would have loved to stay in Scotland for weeks on in with you, but I have a job and I had to work the week before and the week after and it squeezed in perfectly, but it was a big bummer. Wow, rub it in that I don't have a job also. It's okay. It was one of those things, again, it was as I felt as stupid sitting on my couch

looking at my computer as I've ever felt in my entire life. And then I'm just, you know, then you just try to figure out what to do. Do I fly to New York and just sleep there for the night and do nothing? I mean, I haven't been home at all. I mean, I'd literally been home for like a day and a half after, you know, basically eight days in Wisconsin.

So I ended up sucking it up and paying a few extra miles to be able to stay home with the half after, you know, basically eight days in Wisconsin. So I ended up sucking it up and paying a few extra miles to be able to stay home with the wife for, you know, another 12 hours before I flew out. Well, you showed up for, so it's already raining at Karnuicy when you show up. You roll out of the cart in your full rain gear, like ready to roll. Didn't even need an offer of red eye,

like playing one of the hardest courses in the world. So how did that, how did that day go for you? It was okay. I had some I had a rough go about it during kind of the middle of the round But I will say I hit the best lag put of my entire trip I think I'm a very first hole and after that it was a little bit downhill but we as a group played that final three-hole stretch of car news tea incredibly well I thought I mean you know we played

16 17 18 pretty well which is kind of when you want to peak but yeah I mean it was rough I was driving uh... to the course in that in the taxi I was changing the back of the back of the taxi I felt bad for that guy I'm like throwing sweat pants on and and putting pants on and I'm

looking outside and it's rain and sideways and by the time I got there luckily it wasn't that bad I mean it was probably the worst weather day we had I guess besides I mean I'm looking outside and it's raining sideways. And by the time I got there, luckily, it wasn't that bad. I mean, it was probably the worst weather day we had. I guess besides having long schedule can't win, but it was stressful. Like, it was like 20 hours of stress straight. That's not good for anybody.

No. Well, for those that listen to this podcast for a long time, you'll know that we have done podcasts together for about, I think three years now, I think we're past the three-year mark, but for whatever reason had never actually met in person ever, despite talking in some capacity basically every single day. And you just, you just had to be dramatic about it,

made your triumph with the run. I know, I thought it was. It's right, I was that was what it was about. It was fun and unique. It was fun and unique. Yeah. Yeah. Can roll it, roll in one day late, and on the second hole at a golf cart. One of

the guys from Karnusti drove me out on a buggy. I didn't even know they had golf carts there. I was surprised that too. He was he was rolling over bumps. I had all my bags in the pro shop. I mean, it was it was as much of a hurricane cluster as you could possibly have in the sense of entrowing to a skyling golf trip. And I mean you're literally, I mean, no sleep, you know, sleep a little bit on that slide, but not a time. And you're rolling out it like a like an 8 a.m. second-hole startup car news to you. And I mean you've got all of a sudden just slowed down. And that's not the easiest thing to do. I mean we we had some we had some rough holes, but I mean all in all I actually think we

we played car news to, not at bat. Yeah, and for the eight minutes, whatever that I've been slagging you on this, it turns around because you rolled off that red eye and actually beat me, despite me getting a full practice warm-up session in and you rolling off the plane and still managed to one up me at carnoosey, which was expected, but that was not your first time

playing carnoosey, but what is your overall takeaway from Karnusti? Is it one of your favorites in the area? I know a lot of people are really hard on it for being very tough and it is tough, but to me it's one of the most fun courses you can play in that area, but what's your overall stance on Karnusti? I mean, I'm with you. I think that you show up to Karnusti and it's a little bit, to me, Karnusti and Royal's a little bit, to me Karnusti and Royal

Trunor in kind of the same capacity. I mean, if you're going to play trueling golf, they're two of the best in my opinion. But I mean, if you're going to see this like beautiful, majestic, linked golf course, you know, outside of two or three holes on both those golf courses, that's not really it. And I mean, I think that's where people get mixed up. You know, old course, turnberry, Kings Barnes. I mean, you got a chance to go up and see Dornick

and Brewer and those types of places. I mean, they're beautiful. You know, those are beautiful golf courses. And I don't know if Carnouse or Gerald Trunor are beautiful, but they're fun. And I mean, there is Link's Golf as you're gonna get in my opinion. I mean, there is as tough and, you know,

bunkery and, you know, different types of holes and tough finishes. I mean, that's what you kind of expect maybe when you think of Blinks Golf. And I just think sometimes people, you know, they overlook it because they're comparing it to the wrong golf courses. I think if you compare it to the right ones, you'll be pretty satisfied. Yeah, we did, I mean, it was super windy that day and basically for the whole trip once you arrived and it was a challenge. It was way more challenging this time around than the first time I played it. You get to stretch this six and seven, six is a par five.

I think it's called Hogan's Alley that plays dead into the win with OB barely off the fairway to the left. I might as well have placed a ball out of balance there. There was no chance I was not hitting one. So, same. I mean, we all three, I think we played with Ashley and Jeff. So the three guys were playing a T-back, Ashley. And I mean, I think we were combined 180 yards out of bounds with three balls. I mean, it was not even close.

But like you said, it would have been hard to keep a ball in balance. You know what I mean? That's how hard it was with it. Yeah, and it was super, super tough, and it was a completely different perspective in the course than the first time I played it with it in the sunshine, and that's what you get when you go to these places. It's almost, I don't know, like the shots I'm replaying in my mind

from two years ago are not even close to the same the second time around, and you picture your way around it and think you know your way around the course and then you come out in different conditions and it's a completely different golf course but that's part of the deal you get with some of these courses and I mean I'm just surprised you made it this long without even mentioning your drive on 18 because I've been waiting to talk about this in a public space. So it's dead down on 18 and I lean on one or you went first I guess you you you busted one down the 18 and I lean on one. Or you went first, I guess. You busted one down the right side and hit a hit.

Well, no, no, no, it was Jeff first, Jeff pounded one. And I mean, he's a big hitter. I mean, he can beat the hell out of the ball. I mean, this guy's, you know, what is he? 6'4, 6'5 and moves it pretty good. And he hit it down the right side. And it took a bounce kind of bounced off those mounds on the right over those bunkers

kind of back into the fairway. It was a good ball. I mean, it was exactly where you wanted to place it. You know, we didn't necessarily know that at the time, but it was kind of where you wanted to hit it if you were gonna miss it. And go ahead, just tell what you did, like whatever. Well, you brought it up.

I know, but it was like, I hit a good ball and it kind of on the same line. It did the same thing. It kind of took that kick off the right side and just took a pretty friendly bounce. And I mean, it just kept going. I mean, you know, you get those, you hit one of those hard balls with not a lot of spin, which I didn't hit many of on the trip. But if you hit with minimal spin and you can get that thing going down those, those firm fairways, I mean, the fairways are firm and car news to you. I mean I

don't have to bring not rain much or something, but that thing was it was down there. I mean it was close to the burden. That's for sure. So I leaned on one didn't get the balance you got, but you got me by a clean 60 yards if I'm if I'm rounding down probably. So it was it was not a prideful moment. I'm still thinking about it still having a bit of nightmares about it. But overall, we had a great day at Carnegie Usti. It's 45 minute drive up from St. Andrews. Obviously, a must play if you're going to be in that area.

I think we would all agree on that. But we were a bit rushed in the finish because we did have a, somebody had some major connections and we had a 330 T time, afternoon T time at the old course. We hopped in the van, headed out there for what I'm confident in saying it was at minimum one of the most fun five rounds of golf that I've ever played in my life. Yeah, and I mean, besides me basically ruining

the first day of the trip personally and maybe to some, you know, as well. It was probably the worst decision I made, second work decision I made on the trip was pulling iron off the tee into like a 30-month-hour headwind. And you played, I mean, you played an unbelievable round of golf and started with a double. I mean, I think you would use you at 73. Yeah. And you make double in one and I mean, what is anybody that's ever seen the old course? One is as muted a start as you can expect, but I'll tell you this. This is just, I guess historically, I've never pulled driver there and it was definitely

a driver. It was definitely driver off the first tee and we hit long irons and had, I mean, I think I hit like four or five iron in and I mean, it was just brutal. Before we get to the rest of the story of how I should have taken the head cover off the epic driver at the first hold St Andrews, I want to talk a bit about something I haven't talked about on here yet. And those are the Calloway Apex Pro irons. Just got mine in the mail a couple days ago, unwrapped and put them in play today for the

first time. And I'm absolutely obsessed with them. They have a best in class look to them. They are forgiving. They are incredibly accurate. I was firing at flags with them. I'm on the quite a golf kick right now and somehow these irons got me even more fired up about playing more golf. They're workable. They're a player's iron, but they still haven't great distance. Can't wait to bust them back out Now back to the rest of the story from St Andrews So I just I had a lot more respect for what I would have assumed was your gamesmanship

I thought your play was to hit iron and you knew you could hit iron on from the or you could get on and you knew I couldn't so it was like my caddy told me to lay up with with my second shot. And he's, hey, don't go for it. Don't go for it. You were like, what are you talking about? No, I should have because I went in the burn, but I was like, I'm not allowed to lay up here. I cannot, I will be ridiculed on this for the rest of my life if I lay up on the first

whole at the old course. So had to go for it, made double. I thought I was in for quite a rough day. But we just had great sunshine and like the perfect St Andrews wind. It was on the front nine, it was into you and off the left, which made for the back nine, it's gonna be downwind and off the right for the most part.

And it's just about surviving those first six, seven, eight holes in that it kind of does feel like you're playing the same shot over and over again. I mean, it's you basically aim left and you hope to keep it on the property and try to keep it out of the wind and try to navigate your way through the second shot. And it's like, you basically have as much room to use, you want to miss left, but the further left you go, the worse your angle is, different bunkers come into play, different hills come into play. And there's just, I finally, it took me like the third time play in the course to really fully appreciate for what it is. Because

like you said a bit about car news to you earlier, if you go in with like the biggest expectations on the old course, I think you're kind of setting yourself up to be underwhelmed. Do you agree with that? I mean, I would say to start for sure. I think you nailed it. You mentioned this, I think we were probably on, I think about seven, which is, seven is kind of where the golf course changes. But one through six, especially two through six, into that headwind, you really are hitting

basically the same golf shots. I mean, you're hitting, you're trying to keep driver low, you're hitting it left, you have similar clubs in, besides the par five. I mean, then you get to seven and everything changes because you play, you know, the whacking is to the 7 and 11 and then you get to Par 3 and then you get a couple of Par 4s, you can get close to. But, no, I mean, I think you nailed it.

I think that early on, especially in that round, you know, I had people, you know, when I looped there, I had people that you could tell early on what kind of questioning the, you know, the authenticity of it? What is this place? What are we doing here? And it really takes getting to, I mean, I would even say, probably getting to 14 before you really kind of understand it.

I mean, I think when the city really starts to come into view and you get a chance to kind of play those, then like you said, get to play them down where you have an opportunity to actually hit some golf shots and make some birdies. I think until you get to that spot, it really, it takes kind of a while to really understand what you're doing there. Yeah, and I think that just there's so much, so much shot value in the, in the second

shots on that front nine and that, and what I appreciated, Brett was my caddy who was fantastic, just like he talks you through a golf shot in a way that you don't talk through it with Yourself and that it might be one fifty six to the pin instead of reaching for an eight or nine iron He's saying look it's one twelve to cover this swale and if you hit that's all you really want to do because you want to be beneath This hall when it's gonna run out when you land so I may be grabbing a gap wedge when I was gonna be reaching for an eight or nine iron If I start thinking about that pin number and it just the kind of talking through shots and the value of adding a caddy to the round who was just on point for the entire day made it just the most fun. And we, so you went out and even into that win, which I did not understand at all because

you, I mean, as far as much as you beat on the ball, you have a spinny driver and into those win that you were not hitting the prettiest shots off the tee. Oh, it was awful. It was, it was, it was ugly. I mean, it was like they were, they were going nowhere. They were getting beat up by the wind. They were coming right back. Abby and then like you said, I mean, when you're putting

yourself in yourself in those positions, you have to hit such good seconds, just to get it in the right area of the greens. I mean, that's what's crazy and then we get to 11 and I'll say it I've been around that off course I don't know 60 60 70 times maybe I

have never seen the pen there on 11 in my life. I mean the par three I mean never I've never seen a put up there. And it was straight into win. I think you and I both hit four irons from, I don't know, what is it, 165? Just to get it on, and we both hit the green. And I struggled to three, you had a better

first-put that I did, but I had to make like a six footer for a three-pot. It was a good three-pot. Like a four on that hole, so I've heard that hole called the shortest par five in the world. Right. And with that pin, it like legitimately was a par four. Like it was, you could not get close to that pin. If you go along, you're absolutely dead. And anywhere on the green, it's almost impossible to get your first putt close. So that was my only bogey on the back. And it was,

it's only one of the only holes on the back that plays into the wind actually. So the rest are play actually rather pretty easy relatively speaking but if that that whole that whole stretch you know when you cross so 7 and 11 legitimately criss-cross and I just always find that dynamic and that stretch of the course so crazy because it's usually it's almost every foursome is four American golfers with four caddies so there could legitimately be like 30 people between those two holes. And you can't get through them without people yelling for and just having the biggest cluster.

And it's just like, there's legitimately, you can almost see probably a hundred people over like to the eight hole, to the 10th hole right there, over to 12. There's just so many people out there. It's just, I've always said, it's like, that feels like... They always say it's like a park, and it'd be old courses like a park.

That feels like central park. There's so many bodies. I had a guy, I was playing seven, or I was cadding for a guy on seven, and I had a dude hit this like rope bullet hook, and it smoked this guy on the back on 11. And I mean, you didn't even have time to yell for. I mean, that's how like close everybody is. I mean, like hit this guy, not on the back on 11. And I mean, you didn't even have time to yell for. I mean, that's how close everybody is.

I mean, like hit this guy, not on the balance was like on the fly, bam, right in his back. Luckily the guy wouldn't hurt or anything, but I mean, that was like every day you'd loop that area, it was like so stressful, because, I mean, you've got a guy that's a 20, and you're just trying to get him to put it in the right spot. So nobody dies.

Yeah, so nobody dies. But then yeah, we turn, turn for 12 and every hole from the rest of the way plays downwind. It actually got pretty getable. We get to the road hole and my gloss and over anything did nothing really happen in between that. Anyways, can I say though, like, starting kind of right here is, and you said it earlier and I was gonna say this, but like, people listening that never met Chris and never got a chance to play golf with them, and I don't know if this has been the last four or five years,

but you were like so on brand with the no-waying up brand and that like, when you hit a golf shot, it is like the perfect twirl. And like, when you hit a great drive, it is like the perfect twirl. And like when you hit a great drive, it is like, it's not bullshit either. I mean, it's like, it's just part of it. Like it's almost like, you know, when Justin Thomas does that are like, when Tiger used to do it,

it's like, it's ingrained in his body and his blood. And he like hits golf shots and it's like club tour one step. And you're like, oh, okay, like, I don't, I can't do it. Even if I try to do it I look like a fool like you pull it off like you've got the you've got the like the sauce that you've talked about for hour many years it is like in your blood like that must be your you're like typo you know sauce for something you're born with the sauce you don't learn the sauce that's true

it runs deep in my veins so I had I this awesome flow and pretty good on the back nine. That's that that right to left wind off your back is the best possible win for a right hander. And it just it almost takes that right side out of play. You can take super aggressive lines off the tee and I was just grooving it. It started feeling it, but got too aggressive with our lines on the road hole. We were we were we went As well you know me I'm on the team like listen you got to go ride a word they're telling you and you and I were like

Grassively ride a word they were telling us you put it next to the Heather you got a nice little break You're in the rough there next to the actually like a perfect angle back left pin the hardest pin on that green I would like the and I'm like here in the Heather and there is a crowd at the jigger in and they are feeling loose it's about 7 30 at night at this time right and yeah we take off at 3 30s to probably around then yeah Sun is still shining bright and like the crowd is fired up and that again that pin is an impossible place and you're a lefty you hit like a cut punch eight iron around the road hole bunker to get back to that pin. And you got a raucous applause from the jigger in. I mean, it was legitimately louder than, I'm at the Irish open right now.

Louder than some of the ovation I heard at the Irish open. Louder than any of the ovation I heard at the Irish open today. And you didn't tip your cap at them. I was disgusted. Absolutely disgusted. Listen, they were having a good time. They didn't need my acknowledgement and it was, it didn't been close. Like, if I'd had like a five-footer, I think I might have given it to them, but I knew it was probably sure to where I wanted to be and I got up there. Oh, get of here. It was it was it was 30 40 score

But I mean hit a good shot, but I it was I told the guys I told the guys during the senior open I said that must be like what it feels like to be you guys you know like where you're like these Tour players that get like how how how exhilar how exhilarating must it be to hit a good golf shot and like Have all these people yet like to speed hole out. I mean that must be like the craziest feeling of all time because like 50 people doing it And you're kind of getting a little goosebumps and stuff. I got nervous because I saw it to play out of the head They're next and my ball was not sitting nice And I like chunk hooked an a diard and as for as loud as they were for your shot They were like mocking mind because like they was like a silence. It was like a moan.

It was like, oh! Oh! It somehow skirted the bunker. I was lucky to get up and down, but that was just a cool moment. People were feeling good in that stretch of the course, but that whole homecoming stretch,

there's people out walking the course, and you kind of do just have an audience for it, and it just made it that much more awesome. Let loose a club tour on 18. Great club tour. You had a pretty club tour on 18. Almost drove the green. It went to the top of the valley of sin and came all the way back.

You drove it like over the green to the left and the rest of our crew was there waiting watching it and just wrapped up, again, perfect sunshine, that amazing walk up that 18th hole. And, man, it was, again, my third time playing it. And I've, it just blew the other two times out of the water, that whole experience. And I had a new sauce in it. And you saw in a birdie. I mean, you had, I mean, you hit a good putt. But it was probably what, 7, 8, 9 features.

The word you say, and you hit it and walked it right in. I mean, it was a great finish. We have like nine presses going. And you hit like this per. Got three or four under three on the back, but you played a hell of a round on the back nine. I mean, it was great. In a way, I would have been bummed

that that one wouldn't have gone in just because I feel like you played so well. Like, you just started to kind of finish it off with a three. Yeah, I was pretty disappointing that first putt. It was actually about, it was probably about, I think it was about 15 feet short. I mean, it was not that close, but I had a good line.

I just had a good read on that putt. And I did just pre, I think I gave it a little tiger step on that one because I knew I was gonna make it. Oh, you big step. You stepped half way. I mean, you stepped it, it a little tiger step on that one because I knew I was gonna make it But you big step big you step halfway. I mean you stepped it was 15 you step seven feet By the way, I might be the worst person on the planet It's trying to figure out how far it pucks are. It's a good thing you don't I've got a call for a living awful at it

But like I mean I need to like I need to go like step them off or something I need to like go like practice this because I'm gonna like I was seven feet It's like I look on seven feet and it's like I look on the thing and it's like three feet eight and I'm like Jesus it's not very good so luckily we have all those graphics and stuff with it but lower I mean you're like no it's 15 feet I think I think every put off said distance why so far you corrected me on it. I'm petty like that so you know definitely wrong so we wrapped that day. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face.

Of course, had to wrap it at the done vegan. Popped in there, had a couple of drinks. We had dinner, dinner that night. I forget. We did, didn't we? Yeah, we went back. We went and got dropped our stuff off of that flat. And then we went back to the vegan and had dinner.

Yeah, shout out to Grayland Loomis who let us take his flat for the week. That was awesome. We had done vegan and just soaked up the St. Andrews experience. The rest of our group, we only had one teatime, the other four lined up at 3am the next day and got out as a four, played as a four ball at 7am.

Unbelievable. It was a miracle and it was awesome. I was super happy for them. So we all got to play the old course And then we headed off to ealy for the afternoon For without a doubt in my mind the windiest round of golf probably ever recorded in the history of man It was it was You know you you just can't really cough like I feel like when it gets to a certain level of wind like

It just they all blend together, but, but I've never played anything worse. I mean, if you're playing anything worse, you're boredin' up your windows. I mean, that's, I mean, it was blowing so hard. Like, you just couldn't, you couldn't get comfortable, but I mean, you could barely stay balanced, though, I mean, over golf balls. We had this argument, I think, was that the round

and we had the argument if your club gets out of plane when the wind's blowing? And we were like, I think that's what it does. Legitimately think the wind was affecting the routing of our club, like it was hard. If the wind was blowing, I left the right, it was hard to get it as far back as you needed to. And like, I mean, there was, I was hitting, like legitimately hitting four iron from 100 yards

just to like try to punch you under the wind. I remember watching you hit a shot, there was like a punch six iron from 100 yards just to like try to punch you under the wind. I remember watching you hit a shot. There was like a punch six iron from maybe like one 10. I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like,

I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like,

I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, there was a par four that we both hit five irons over the green off the tee, go on back the other way. One of only like two downwind holes on the entire day. Oh, I lost so many golf balls. I've never, I think that one, there was the par three, 11th or something like that.

The wind was so hard down by the water that the waves, we were getting wet from the waves, that the wind was blowing the water by the water that the waves, we were getting wet from the waves, that the wind was blowing the water into us as we were hitting. But we made a bet. The question into it. I mean, yeah. I was gonna say our tradition.

Yeah, yeah. It was literally crashing into it when you were in. Oh, this was great. Yeah, traditional, we do a bet every major. We pick teams to do different criteria every time, but this is the first one I've ever actually been able to settle Because we usually do a food bet that they don't make in Europe, and I'm never able to eat it

The bet was I forget the name of the Twitter follower who gave us this idea That I would have to tee up your ball every for 18 holes and it actually ended up being kind of a perfect bet Because it was the just the right amount of shame and like cringe-worthy video of you directing me where I had to tee the ball up. And it wasn't like too disrespectful to the course. Some of the ideas we got were like, and actually the next one is actually pretty disrespectful.

We're gonna have to find kind of a trashy course first. For being aware of. We'll go to a muni or something for sure. Yeah, because the next bet, I think you was too, I like to assume it's you. I always like to, you always assume it's you. Like here's what I'll have to a muni or something for sure. Yeah, because the next bet I I like to assume it's you. I always like to you always assume it's you like Here's what I'll have to do. I'm a bit of a good guy.

This was the one you could have won. I mean our teams were awful for the US open. So bad. I mean, do you want to tell people, do you want to tell people why you lost that? The reason you lost it, because you could win. Yeah, because you set like some shady rules up and then I complained about it. Sadie!

You had the pick and then you complained so we changed the rule and you would end up whinning. Yeah, I would have won if I didn't complain about it. So I deserve it. It's right. I deserve to lose twice as bad as usual. But the next one is going to be that I will have to wear a romp him on the golf course. Which is a great bet,

because I'm gonna like do research, actually, to make sure that I don't have to buy a romp him. But yeah, it was a really fun day. I like to see that golf course and not in the most ridiculous conditions ever recorded, because I don't think we got the full appreciation for it, just because it was so good. Yeah, like an old school,

I mean, just old school links. Like we talked about, I mean, it was really beautiful when you got to, you know, five, six and kind of that stretch around the water. But those are the golf courses to me, Ealy, and places like that, like London links I've talked about. I mean, those are the golf courses to me that, you know, when you do a golf trip,

especially one to Scotland, throwing those in kind of in the middle of championships to our golf courses, I think a lot of the time, those are the ones you really remember, because the expectations are zero. You have no idea what to expect. I mean, you're going to play a place you maybe never even seen a photo about. So, I love adding those in. I mean, I would always say, throw a couple of those in on your trip and just try to find, I mean,

Crayles one as well. I mean, just try to find a place that, you know, it's gonna be relatively cheap. I mean, what was either like 50 pounds, 40 pounds? And, you know, you get to go out there and you're kind of by yourself. It's not a big, or a straight-ed deal.

I mean, the first he was kind of ours whenever we wanted it. And you get to kind of go play golf. And I mean, you know, if it blows 15, you don't have a great day, it's okay. And if it was calm, and we had a great round, we would have loved it as well. So I'm with you. It's a place I would have loved to see. I was actually kind of surprised.

Houston, over a top 100 list of Ireland and the UK. And I mean, he was on there. I mean, that's just kind of credit to it. I mean, it's a good, good little golf course. Yeah, and it's fun. Some of the, there's so many, like, greatest hits courses in the Inge Scotland and Ireland and all these places. And it's great to get to play the top courses,

but that's not necessarily like how golf is normally played every day in Scotland and Ireland. So I do love mixing in a golf course that, like, just, I don't want to say normal Scottish people or Irish people play, but that's kind of the deal. Like not everybody lines up and gets to play Kings Barnes every day or the old course every day. Exactly.

They have their local clubs that they play golf at and it's great to get to experience some of those. I mean, they're just so ancient and so much history to them. And it's fun to see what courses hold up up to modern technology what what works what doesn't then we had a great course that we finished on that that holds up great to it we'll get to that but next up was Kings Barnes also not our first time playing that course what is your what how would you describe Kings Barnes to somebody that's never played it I mean I think Kings Barnes is probably the most beautiful course you'll play in

Scotland. I mean, it's got great views. It's unbelievable. I mean, I love playing there. It was interesting. I thought as a group, the takeaway wasn't that it wasn't necessarily. And again, I think we were with very golf obsessed people that love love, that kind of the history behind golf courses. But I mean, I think Kingsborne's, you know,

one through 18, there's not really a throwaway golf hole. And so I mean, I think that's one of the reasons I've always loved it. I mean, you know, once you get through one, I mean, it really is, you know, you kind of see the ocean from every hole. And I know it's new, but to me, it's a must play. I mean, if you go to Scotland,

especially to St. Andrews, you don't play Kings Barons. I think you're doing yourself a serious disservice. I mean, when you get to 12 on, you know, 12 basically to finish up, it is so good. I mean, 12 is such a good par-five. Oh, it's a bet. It's like one of the most aesthetically pleasing par-fives

like to the eye that I've ever played, I think. It is kind of like, you know, you typically go to Scotland to kind of play the historic courses or go to San Andreas' San Andreas' Kingsborne couldn't be bigger contrasting courses. You know, one of the Kingsborne's 15 years old and it's just a truly modern golf course.

It's essentially built for the American tourists that comes over and is going to pay, you know, pretty large sum to play an amazing golf course and it's's people line up to play it because it is awesome. It is, it is incredible, but it's not traditional Scottish links. So if you go in with that understanding, then I think there's absolutely nothing to dislike about that course. But if you go in, thinking you're getting this, you know, historic place and, and that you're got, you know, steeped in history and is going to be traditional Scottish things. You could end up with that reaction kind of like you know I mean it's not what I was expecting

but I mean it's just a big boy track it's grand it's got you know big fairways and really pure turf and you don't have to have to like play in front of the green you can land it on the green it's a totally different style but I don't know it's awesome I think it's so much fun to play there's so many great golf holes, like you said, out there. 15 is an incredible hole. So scenic. And yeah, like I said, the first hole is kind of,

you know, okay, 18th hole is not like the best hole, but it is such like an incredible golf course. And it absolutely must play if you're in the area. Yeah, for sure. I mean, if you skip out on Kingsport, I mean, like I said, you're skipping, I mean, they call it you're going to have to be a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a

little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a

little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a

little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a little bit more of a into there is extremely important. And then like, it's just, I mean, godly, like you said, I mean, 12, 15, 17, 17, I think it's one of the best par fours that we play. 17 at, sorry, you said that again, I had Kingsborne 17, one of the best par fours. Yeah, I mean, I just think 17 is a par four, it's just such a good hole. I mean, I just think it's, it's a lovely little one up the hill. and you know, it takes two really, really good golf shots for the ball close. Yeah. Yeah. The whole finishing stretch is so solid. And then we wrapped up there and we had about two hour drive down to the last round on the trip north bear. I could place neither of us had seen before heard a lot about. And I didn't really fully know what to expect

other than seeing a couple pictures of the wall going through the golf course. I think we've got another super windy day. I think we both left that place kind of I think I liked it a little bit more than you did. But what was your immediate reactions in North Barrack? Well I think you and I both left one in to play it again. I mean I think that was kind of our initial reaction. Like it was it was a bummer that we got in such brutal conditions, because I think it's a place that once once you and I, you know, stay in 10 years from now, and we go once we go over Scotland a couple more times, I think it's going to be in our top two or three favor links golf courses maybe in the world. And I just feel like, you know, when it's windy,

that's fine. When it's 40 and 50, it's just tough to play golf. It's tough to keep your composure. It's tough to, you know, continue to hit good golf shots. But I think you and I think, you know, that, you start on nine, nine's a par five. And it goes par five, it goes par five, par five, par three, par five,

and you turn back in towards the city. And it's as good as it gets really from that point forward. Every single hole in that stretch has something that's significant that I remember about it. And it's exactly what I was thinking too. And you start, I mean, you start out those first few holes that are along the sea, they're incredibly scenic. And for us, it was just a brutal into the wind.

And like, there's three, like legitimately, our caddy was like, said something like it, there's a 400-yard part four, he's like, this is a three-shot or today. And he was not exactly, he was very, very real. Like it was absolutely unreachable. And we just like are slugging our trolleys up, eight holes into the wind and just getting beat down.

And then you get, you get the relief coming back. But just the city that, the course that sits right in the city along the sea, and then those holes on the back nine, the design elements to it that are just so incredibly fun. The original redan hole, there's the hole that, and I know I talked about some of this with Rue on part one of this podcast,

but a hole where you hit a little iron down the fairway, then you got a pitch like a lob wedge over a frickin' wall to this green that's just on its own on the other side of a wall. It's so cool. And the next hole is like, it's called perfection and it's a true like risk reward. Do you try to drive it over these two bunkers in the fairway that you might get on the green or if you're in those bunkers You're making five no matter what it it was just and then the original verdant is the 15 16 Was another like risk reward drop potentially drivable hole 17 a great par four down the wind that the second shot is

Just a crazy trying to figure out where to land that shot and then like a drivable 18 It's one of the most fun and best stretches I think we played on the trip. For sure. Yeah, the back nine area is, I mean, since I've got back, I've talked to people about it. And I mean, they've all said, I mean, it's one of their favorites. It is, I mean, it's up there with me. And like I said, I would like to play it again. I mean, I hit a lot of, I would say, I made a lot of bad decisions off the tee on the back-knife. Like I hit a couple shots that just got me in trouble or could get me in trouble.

And it was a bummer because I would like to play it again and play back on some of those or maybe take a couple on because again, I mean, you can go low on that back-knife. You know, I mean, you've got a chance to really score if you put it in the right position. And then, you know, consequently, I mean, you can make some big numbers if you do the wrong thing. So I liked it. It was fun to see, you know, kind of the host of the trip make eagle on the last as we were wrapping up the trip was pretty fun too. That was cool to see. It was a great little moment there on 18, I thought. Yeah, it was. And just kind of everyone gathered around there and to end the trip and again again you're set right in the city there the clubhouse right behind the green much like you are at St Andrews and Mano's perfect it was great I mean we had

overall good weather the wind was you know and I know people who listen to this might roll their eyes like that's gone and like that's what you get the wind like this we I've played in like a I think the wind we had at St Andrews was like a great challenging really strong solid wind I thought win we had at St Andrews was a great challenging, really strong, solid win. I thought what we had at Ely and North Baruch was borderline not wanna play golf in that kind of win. If it was a normal win. Right, right.

It was unbearable. I think at Ely to one point, you hit a three iron, you hit it in a bunker that was like three 40 away, if I remember right. And I like towed a driver that went 400 yards up a hill because it was that windy. And then I had a driver that went 180

going the other way. So it was, it was, part of it was fun, but part of it was like, all right, this is a bit too much. Yeah, and you know what, like looking back on it, like something that, all right, this is a bit too much. Yeah, and you know what, looking back on it, like something that, you know, you have to almost, almost like plan in advance is like, you can't, you almost can't let it get to you, you know what I mean, I know it's hard, but like, like, it's one of those things

that when you go on any golf trip really, like, it's the weather sucks, like it's just gotta be part of it. And I mean, it was brutally windy, really like, if the weather sucks, it's just got to be part of it. And I mean, it was brutally windy, but I almost wished I'd had a better attitude about it, because I feel like there were times where it was beating me up to the point where I was like, man, this kind of sucks, and you don't want to be like that

because you're playing golf in Scotland for God's sakes. And I kind of almost feel like next time I go over there, before I gotta go, you know, in my blows blows 50 every round and that's how you have to almost approach it. Yeah and it was fun. It went by really fast it was great having Colin our driver was awesome just kind of added to the experience we stayed in great places got to sample some some night life and kind of I don't know it was like a golf's greatest hits trip and it was it was a great way to spend a few days so anything we missed. I don't know, it was like a golf's greatest hits trip and it was a great way to spend a few days.

So anything we missed. I don't think so. I'm trying to think, I mean, we were the hominos that the jig are in. Oh, that was something. Oh, we did miss something. We after the ealy round. So we did go over and played some few holes at the Jubilee in the new course, until sunset

basically. Just couldn't get enough of it. And then we took our clubs and just walked over to Jiggarin and walked across the old course and ordered some scotch, some oats and cigars and ordered dominoes to the Jiggarin and into the night there. That was ideal. Yeah, I was thinking after that, that Ealy elite round you and I were talking about playing more golf I didn't think anybody was gonna join us like I find everybody was gonna say no

We know that five I mean five of eight go over there and I think the only reason we have eight eight is because the other guys They've been up since three. Yeah, right and I was I was I was shocked I mean like that that it encapsulates what a what a trip is all about is you get down with the day and everybody looks at each other and goes, do you want to play a couple more? And we went up there and did it and it was awesome. And Patrick Caining was the one that played 36 that day and had been up at 3am and had been, like in Ireland for like 10 more rounds before the trip even started. They all look at what?

Couldn't get enough. So that was awesome. Another thing I meant to mention, Tom Murray, the guy on the trip has a tradition on golf trips that at the end of it, you give out awards. I thought this is a great touch. Like he gave everyone an idea. And a great way to cap it off is like most, I don't I forget what yours was most likely. Was it something about you missing your flight or like scheduling your flight? I think it was like the the Expedia award for like booking booking something of the year. It was it was really good. It was that was a great idea. And again, if you're in Scotland,

you're driving a lot in a bus. And that is a really good way to, you know, to have fun for an hour. I mean, like you're getting down with the trip. Everybody's in there having a beer and he was y'all got it up. I mean, he he greats since the humor. And it humor and it was a brilliant, brilliant little addition to the trip was doing that at the end. Yeah, and I'm a big proponent now, especially in a group of eight of taking a luxury van like that and, you know, enjoying your time commuting from one place to another, not stressing about logistics because everything's taken care of for you. It may be a slightly bigger premium, but for, you know, people that don't want to come over and drive on the left side of the road and whatnot, I thought that was a great touch and a great way to get around. And, yeah, like, the Lys leather seats and beer

on the bus and it's just a total addition. And Wi-Fi, I mean, it is, yeah, I mean, it is really funny though, because for the first 30 minutes after a round, and everybody gets on the bus, it's literally no talking. They're like, oh, gets on the bus, it's literally no talking. You remember this on their phone? Like, they're like, I'll just, like, nose deep in their phone, like catching up on what they missed or, you know, checking in at home

and stuff like that and stuff. And that's kind of what happens when you go across the pond. Damn, millennials. Yeah, so. All right, Shane, thank you, man, for helping me debrief anything. You have a new podcast out this,

well, I don't know, this probably won't come out until next week, but you just had bones on haven't listened to it Yeah, but how was bones? Bones was great I tried I tried to jump on that whenever whenever the news came out You and I you know, I talked a little bit about about him joining the TV ranks when we were in Scotland and we were both pretty fired up about it So I think I think it's it's gonna mean, it's a great addition for that team too. I mean, he'll be instantaneously amazing, I think, a TV.

So it was fun and they told some fill stuff on the back end. I asked him which event kind of stood out that it still won. And it's not the 04 Masters, which I thought was a little surprising. I figured that would be the one. And I also asked him why Cadi player celebrations for the most part are awful. And he actually had a pretty insightful answer. Is it a good enough teaser? People are going to go down. Oh, okay. And also you and I had you and I had the end of the trip. I got to experience what you have done for like three years of your life, is watch a golf tournament in the States

at like midnight on your iPad that is sling boxed in on crappy Wi-Fi. And we ended up getting to see this beef chip in. It was awesome. That was like the only shot we got to see. The Wi-Fi was cutting it out so bad. It was the only thing we saw. Do you, can you please share with the people

what my struggle has been like? Can you do now have an appreciation for it? Oh, my. I mean, it was, it was so frustrating that if it had been me, I would have given up. Like I would not, I would have stopped doing it like two years ago. You, um, you just kept, I mean, you were just cool about it. You kept refreshing. It was freeze. You'd restart it.

It was freeze. You'd restart it. It was freeze. Now we're using, you know, hotel Wi-Fi or whatever, which I'm assuming your Wi-Fi back at Amstain was a little bit better, but it was an easy. As much as you travel, you're having to do this. Let me tell you, all of the things you like from Chris and from No Laying Up over the years, you should give him a double appreciation for having to do all that the way he's done

it, because it is, you're talking about, literally watching almost every golf tournament for the last three years on an iPad hoping that the Wi-Fi is good enough to where it doesn't skip. Am I a hero? It's, you know, it's hard to say. But... Strugglers real man. I mean, it's tough being you. It is tough, so. All right, man, this is gonna be like three hours worth of Scotland podcast. So I don't want to hear anything from anyone about me not posting any podcast recently after this.

So, but thank you for the time man for now. We're going to get back to part two with Rue and enjoy that and shame will catch up soon. For sure. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, we said goodbye to everyone got on their flights and from from myself, I just had, I'm going to the Irish hope I leave tomorrow. I'll probably already be there, but I will already be there by the time it's posted. But I had time to kill, I had like nine days before that started and I'm in the process

of moving back to the States, but I haven't really fully moved back yet. So I just said, I'm running a car, and I'm gonna go drive Scotland and go get to do some stuff that A, I didn't get to do on the first couple of legs, and B, that I may not ever have the chance to do. I don't know when I'll have time. Just open calendar, open schedule and time to drive through Scotland. So I'm feeling pretty good about what I was able to do the last eight days.

First step was to rent a car and get from Edinburgh and go back to Aberdeen because we really only got to play Crude and Bay in Aberdeen. So I wanted to play Trump International and I want to play Royal Aberdeen and I wanted to get to Fraser Bro and I was able to do that in that order. First up, Trump International. Now I know it is a bit of a touchy subject and I got some expected blowback when I tweeted some pictures

from being out there. Just A, Trump is a very polarizing figure to say the least as well as there was a lot of controversy that went into the building of that golf course. I did a lot of crowd sourcing the area just to see what local thought of it, but I'm curious to get your thoughts on how the building of that golf course went down or overall how that was perceived by people in that area. Yeah, I want to keep away from the political side of things.

And then, you know, for the purposes of this, we are going to talk about the golf course, right? And it regardless of whose name is attached to it, evaluate whether or not we think it's a worthwhile place to play, which I definitely thought so after playing it. But it's already interrupt and continue. Yeah, no, absolutely. And the golf course from a positive standpoint has increased

the amount of traffic going to Crouden Bay and La Barine, which I think I'd phrase about it and the other courses in the region. So that's a positive. It's brought more notoriety to the area of Aberdeen, which was often overlooked. And from a course construction standpoint, I think you commented about the size of the dunes and they are. I think the one thing that Mr. Trump's actually said that's correct. And, you know, he likes to lie, but the dunes are the biggest junes in the world. He's built a golf course through, you know, ridiculously high sand dunes. And the reason he could do that was because it was a protected area. The dunes were naturally moving.

I'm not going to bore people. But and so the course is spectacular. It's like a stadium course. It feels very, you know, big when you're playing it. I think it could be a potential, a great potential venue for, you know, again, a world match play or, you know, any other, you know, a Ryder Cup. It has that big kind of element to it. But for me, it's not a course that I, so the fairway and her still trying to mature and get a little bit firm. Even stuff aesthetically it looks great, but the bleached fairways and the bleached paths, not for me. Golf courses are a little bit like women, it's subjective, you might

like a golf course, for me, Trump doesn't do it for me. It's one that I recommend to people because it's a well-designed golf course and it's got the fame and it's got the owner attached to it. But for me, it's not my cup of tea, but you get a sense of maybe when you play it, you kind of think, oh my God, look how natural this is, but I mean, stand back and you think, well, the tunes are this big, how can they possibly be this big? you know the fairways basically are just carved through these huge

sand tunes. As I said, it's brought notoriety and it's brought you know economic benefit to the area, to some degree, but probably not to the degree, it was it was pitched too, or off or too initially, but. And yeah, it does find the kind to hear your thoughts away from the political side and the owner. So I think, I mean, I obviously heard about the controversy when I'm building it, but I don't think I had full appreciation for it because it was kind of an afterthought for me, but I know that the people in the area,

it's not necessarily the case, but I was expecting it to be super difficult because of the dunes are, it's like you hit it to it, your ball's pretty much gone. But the fairways are actually very wide. They're wide and like it's kind of like the way Rory was describing Aaron Hills. If you hit it in there, you should be packing your bags and going home. I thought it was just amazing how they carved, how they did it. That's what I was mostly amazed of,

is how they built a golf course through this, and how they used this land, and how it came together. And I thought it was in really good condition. I know they would mention that the grass had germinated pretty well in this season. They thought it was the most mature that it's been, etc. I got to play with one of their, I joined them in the works there, the works in membership sales, it seems Joel. We had a great time.

It rained a little bit on us. We didn't have the picture-esque sun hitting the dunes and making the shadows across it that you see on the website. And that's kind of how that, that course is, of course, like that is designed to be played. But yeah, it's, you're totally right. And that's not a typical Scottish golf course, but I think it's a fascinating achievement

and fascinating use of the land. And really fun, like some really fun holes out there. The greens were, were very non-traditional. And they kind of, you know, had some really fun holes out there. The greens were very non-traditional and they kind of had some humps and bumps to them and not like a traditional links layout or links type green that you would see. But it felt like a kind of an American version of a Scottish course that you would play in the States. I mean it didn't feel like Kings Barnes to me or anything like that, but it just kind of felt like a golf course that you could plop in the U. I mean, it didn't feel like Kings Barnes to me or anything like that, but just kind of felt like a golf course

that you could plop in the US and it would feel like in the, you, you know, it didn't necessarily feel like you're playing in Scotland while you were there. But some of those, like that T-Box on that, like the 13th or 14th, whatever the big par 4 is, that was one of the most remarkable whole T-Shots I've ever hit with a C

and you're hitting way downhill off this massive dune. So I mean, there was, I walked away, being kind of blown away by it and amazed by it, again, not in a traditional sense by any means, but I thought it was just a fascinating, fascinating place. Yeah, it's certainly a place that when you're going up to Aberdeen, you've got the three big courses up there, Crude of Bay, Royal Aberdeen, and Trump, and there are three top 100 golf courses all within 18 miles of like, gold and coastline, like almost California-esque coastline up there. So, yeah, a pretty

special part of the world for any golfer to visit and given the kind of concentration of world class golf courses and links golf courses on offer there there. And Robertine was the other one that you played I believe the following day. Yep. Well, I think I just want to touch on just how, you know, Aberdeen's not far. Like you are not going that far from where you are in St. Andrews and how, you know, if you're designing a golf trip and maybe you

spend four days in playing the St. Andrews area, go up to Aberdeen and play two, three days there. Like shoot out if you're making a seven day trip, it's super easy. It's totally worthwhile. You just mentioned those three courses all within earshot of each other. I went and I went and Richie Ramsey set me up actually with a couple of his buddies and we Sean and Matt and then I also play with a guy that his name is Padre Gufala's or listens to the podcast and invited me out. We are able to get out, have awesome four balls, so much fun. And, kinda, I didn't focus much on the course just because we had just a fun, really fun

four ball and just kind of, you know, shooting the shit and had a great time. Aberdeen itself was tough to me. It was narrow. I lost a lot of balls and I didn't, I just didn't feel like I played the course well, the way it was designed. And it made me walk away from it, not loving it, which isn't fair, it's not even like a real critique of it being too tough,

or just too hard for me, it was too hard. Yeah. And then, but after that, I had time too, and I went back up to Crude and Bay and played, I think I only made it through 15 holes because I got so tired by the end of it in the wind. But yeah, those three courses in that area, it's fascinating. Aberdeen was so cool to get that experience to play with some members and, you know,

have a coffee in the clubhouse, look at pictures, and then we out went out for beers and dinner after the day was overall. It also was great. So, you can stay right there in Aberdeen. Aberdeen's a bump in the city. I think there's 250,000 people there. It lived there, something like that. And now everything is just also darn close.

And it was great. And everyone that I talked to there kind of said similar things to you said about the Trump, but like people at Aberdeen are thrilled about it because they get way more visitors now, Crude and Bay same way, and even up at Frisaburl. Just how many more people are coming to the area now, whichuden Bay, same way, and even up at Fizzaburl. Just how many more people are coming to the area now, which is great for everyone there. And they, you know, there has a dent to say anything about Trump, but they're really excited at that course that

they're now. Yeah, and, yeah, as you say, you've got Fizzaburra as well there, which is a little bit further north, probably four minutes dry from Aberdeen and to give people context. Aberdeen is two hours from St Andrews on a very straight part of Road. I used to commute that a lot and it's the most bolded drive of the experience. But only two hours away and then Frisibara is this old school course, very much like Eileen kind of built in the same time, like kind of beautiful Link's land and super underrated. And then I was so pumped to see you made it out there and experienced some some good Scottish summertime. So I got to say, yeah, I went up there, again, you see the seventh oldest

course in the world, they were thrilled that I was coming up and I showed up and Jerry Chalmers is the secretary there. I just said, I could only come on this one day because I was playing Nairn the next day and it was like, all right, I'm gonna go at least see the course. And it was raining sideways. It never stopped raining the entire day.

The wind was whipping. It was the worst weather I've seen. I've probably spent close to a month total of my life in Scotland, the worst I've ever seen in Scotland. And when I said to it, here he was like, I think I am going to go play. He's like, what? He was shot. No locals were out playing anywhere in the area that day. That's how bad you knew the weather was. And I felt so I tried to talk him out of it. I'm like, you don't have to do this, man. He was putting on rain gear. He's like, no, I want to show you a few holes.

And he came out and played three holes with me and just got absolutely drenched. Like, we had no business playing out there that day. So I definitely didn't get the full Fraserboro experience. Like, it's hard to like, I didn't take any, I could barely take any pictures because my phone was just getting soaked and My whole bag is still a little bit wet like four days later and it's starting to leak a little bit

So I got that just a crazy experience, but I again, I was expecting super quirky Didn't really feel like it was super quirky that there was some really fun fun holes out there I love the 13th hole the great awesome like backsloping green holes out there. Love the 13th hole. The great awesome backsloping green, which I think was used as a gillhance used that hole is for part of its design and re-out if I remember that right? Yeah, so little phrase, which is like a little village, fishing village, just north of Cruden Bay, that 13th hole. I think it was Gillhance. One of G are the hands of shapers used it as inspiration for I think it was a 9th green on the real Olympic course, which is kind of cool to think. Yeah. Yeah, so I mean I thought it was in a, you know, people were giving me, given me crap when I called it and I said I was off the beaten track to go up there,

but like not a ton of Americans, it's included on your itinerary up there. So mixing in kind of you know super super old golf club They had minutes in there from like 19 or sorry 1777 like the initial founders meeting or something like that and Just like having that kind of memorabilia on hand and seeing a place that's just so incredibly old school It was just a super cool part of the experience. I mean it there was no one else on the course that entire day until I was on 18 and one other group was coming up number one. And of course, the guy was a no-ling up follower. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. He came right up and I was like, hey, of course we're the only ones out here right now.

He played some really off the beat. As he was Percy, he played some really off the beaten track courses in that area. So I was kind of jealous of some of the courses he was playing to even though I had an incredible itinerary. But one thing about Fraser Buddha, I think, is just totally disregard the first and 18th whole. You know, almost drive there and you'll think, God, what have I done? But like the back nine there again, like you mentioned 13, like 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, some of the best holes, I think, some really cool par threes in like old school golf.

Similar to Rada Brin's front nine, which is regarded by many as the best kind of lengthened-night holes in golf. So, you know, I love Fraser Barra. It's like 45 pounds around. It's old school. It's like so uncommercial. It's unbelievable. Yeah. And they get like, if you could put it to context,

I think Crudin Bay might get like 8,000 visitors around. I think a place like Fraser Barra gets like 800, 900 visit around a year. Yeah, I believe it. It's not, it's super close. Again, I'm looking and I think you've even have specifically recommended it as a good stopover between Aberdeen and if you're playing Aberdeen in Inverness area, like it's not far out of your way to go up to Fraserberg, and it's totally worth breaking up your drive. And that's exactly how I did it. I just drove up one morning and then played and then ended the day in Inverness.

So I think that's kind of the perfect way to do it. Yeah. And how are you finding the drive in this point in the rental vehicle? Easy. Easy. Not a problem at all. I mean, I may have in my first rental hit a curb

on my way into parking it, like literally returning the car to the rental car place and I chipped the rim on it and they're going to no doubt ding me for that. But I just, I find it easy, put podcasts on and so now I kind of see why people are getting all over me for not posting podcasts recently is after like driving for like eight hours I was like come on man where's the next podcast I need I need to kill some time here so we're making up for it this we're gonna go this will be a two-parter and we're gonna get a couple hours of just talking Scotland golf so I'm making up to for my lack of podcasts in June but enjoyed Fraser Bro then it went up to Nairn and we already talked about Nairn. And then from there, I made the not convenient trip, but again, it was a, it was Friday and I was leaving town on Tuesday, so I had time.

And I said, I'm going to hate myself if I don't do it. I've heard you talk about this place. I've heard a lot of people talk about Michael Bamberger said, if I could play one round of golf anywhere in the world, it would be at MacriHannish. So I made the, broke it up into two days. I drove three hours after the round at Nairn and then two hours the next morning out to this peninsula in Southwest Scotland out in the boonies in the middle of nowhere, made the trip out and played at Macra Hannish at your recommendation,

but you said I should have flown out there. So, I don't know what you were doing to me. I'm out in Paris at the H&A Open De François in Tommy Sleepwood flush show here, just like absolute striped show and your text, what am I saying? I think I'm going to drive from Nair to MacroHoney. Basically, I went looking on map and thought, what's the longest drive possible in Scotland and I'll maybe do it. To give people context, Scotland is half the size of the state of Florida.

So while on a map, it might not look a lot, it'll come at inch on a map. Given the road infrastructure, you'll know you drove the eight-nine you know, while on a map, it might not look a lot. It can't be not inch on a map. Given the road infrastructure, you'll know you drove the A9 through the middle of Scotland. We don't have the most efficient roads, should we say. Certainly no highways between Nairn and Macrihanish. So I don't know how long that drive took you,

but I'm really pumped that you go out to Nakahanish, but it wouldn't be a starting, Nairn certainly wouldn't be a starting point for that trend. No. So the Nakahanish, the knock against it overall, I guess, is that, so we've talked about the Highlands, we've talked about Aberdeen, we've talked about St. Andrews area and Edinburgh area, etc. with North Barric, about how much golf there is, just overall, in that area, and other courses and whatnot, and macro-handish is just so far out there,

and not like a golf region. Now there are two golf, there's the Macri-Haners Golf Club, and Macri-Haners Dunes there, that make it worthwhile to just kind of stay there and go, but it's not like the most convenient place to go, and you're just not going there on your first trip. But again, I'd heard so much about it from you guys.

I was like, I've got the time. Like, what's the big deal? So I'll drive five hours. Like, I might as well do this now. When am I ever going to design another trip that's going to come back here? Well, now that I've done it, I'd like to. But you know, in my head, I'm thinking this is probably the best opportunity. I'll have to go make sure I go play it.

And I made the drive down. It's a beautiful drive. You drive right through lock loa- or not lock loam. What is- there's like signs for lock nests everywhere. What do you call it area? No, yeah, a lock nests initially. But then you do drive very close to lock loam, which is in the southwest, south of Glasgow. So yeah, it's a beautiful drive. It's like, it's sort of a beautiful drive, but you need to give yourself time. You don't

want to be like driving quickly down those roads because it's just crazy. And when you're not the tip of the peninsula there at Macrohish, you could literally swim to the Irish open and post-sure. I think you're closer to Ireland, Northern Ireland than you are actually to like central Scotland at that point. So you can see, you can, on a nice day, you can see Northern Ireland. So you know, it's a really cool spot, it's quite isolated, it gives you a sense of, you know, starting to be now in the middle of nowhere when you're out in the golf course. But I think I mentioned North Carolina, it'd be my favorite. I think MacroHanage, Golf Club, the one that Tom Morris designed. And we're talking about travel in here in 2017.

Could you imagine how Tom Morris traveled out there in 1888 or something stupid like that and how he got there. So what did you make of the course? The two courses there again, like Trump International have done to Valdabrini and Krunbe, the MacRannisJunes course, which is David McLeod kid designed course similar to Trump and in the fact that it was ring-fenced with green tape on an environmental site. That new course, LynxCourse, has brought more interest and more visitor traffic to Macrahanish old course, which I think is a great thing. It's worth the drive down there. You drove, but you can get a 30-minute flight from Glasgow airport daily that gets you into Macrohannish

like 930 you can play two rounds of golf and get a flight back at five o'clock back to to mainland civilization there so yeah what was your thoughts on that on that place? I really really enjoyed it I thought it was such a cool vibe. So it's known for having the best opening hole in the world. So they claim. Oh, that was a bit of a bold claim. I mean, it is a special hole. And you tee off across the Macriannish Bay. It's like a pretty wide fairway that kind of is angled up. Like you basically, the hole goes left. I don't know a dog like you just kind of added on angle. It is a super cool hole. Again, I was expecting small, old quirky

course, not at all the case. It's a big boy golf course. I mean, it's not like a Kings Barnes, but I mean, there's just plenty of space to hit the ball out there. Some crazy elevation changes and through the dunes and whatnot. Again, but again, this was, so this was a stretch that I had that I think I even texted you at one point. I was like, I think I'm broken. Like it broke me because there was 0% chance of rain in the forecast. And by the fifth hole, the rain came and did not stop until the end of the round. And I didn't have an umbrella, which is my own fault.

Even if it says 0% chance of rain, you carry your umbrella, but we just got soaked through that round. Yeah, the push car. And the push car saved you there, right? Yeah, it did. So, I mean, I did love it, but again, I thought, by the end of the round, we were all miserable and cold because of how bad the weather was. And we had a blast. I'm meeting up with an American guy

who's a member there actually. And then another couple that was from, one guy was from Wales, one guy, lady was from England, they were members there too. So they like fall in love with the place at different times of their lives and join. And one guy, as a member from the States, he comes over, he's played it,

you know, he comes over, plays it four or five times a year, maybe or something like that, but just fell in love with it and just kept playing it. So it is, it's some super fun holes, super fun shots. Big greens with crazy elevation changes in the greens and the fairways are just wild and super wide. I couldn't believe how wide some of the fairways were. Didn't quite have many views of the sea, which I mean it's not a knock of it, but there's

not a ton of sea views out there. But man, it's such a cool place, such a cool vibe in that whole area. I mean there's some one lane roads getting back there for like 40 miles for a while. And then, so yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was great. I'd love to see it with some sun and not, you know, just, just getting absolutely drenched, coming in and whipping wind and hitting three irons from 140 yards and stuff, just trying to get it out of the air.

But, man, it was a cool experience. Yeah, and, you know, you mentioned it's not really, there's not much going on there. There's little nine hole course, which I've yet to get to but everyone talks about the novelty, I know you were bombarded by suggestions from folks going there but you know it was that you're really scratching there and having to like what you can actually play, there's not a lot going on so out there on a limb by itself but certainly worth getting to if you're in hunting for some of the lesser known courses and you've got the time to get out there. But you've basically covered all of Scotland there in your two weeks so congratulations hopefully the experience will live

along with you absolutely back back sooner or later. But you've, of course, got a couple of days in a week's time where I will meet up and go to the Scottish Open. It's done done all the new place, some of the coaches in that region and the Southwest. Yeah, I mean, it was, I think, 19 rounds over the course of 13 days I played. Just one hole in one. that's it, unfortunately.

But it was kind of the trip of a lifetime, I mean just kind of, and obviously there's a purpose behind all this. It is incredible experience for me personally, but there's work that goes into it as well and documenting all this on the website and kind of part of our future plans for the website include a lot of travel related stuff. So getting to know these places, it's hard for me to get, give travel advice or any kind without having to do done some of this stuff for an extended period of time and getting to see some of the things that,

you know, you've been telling me about and whatnot. So I think this does give me a bit of way better platform and base to be able to speak on Scollongol because now I feel like I really know it. I mean I played four days two years ago here and that was the extent of my knowledge of Scollongol playing it before this two-week stretch. So and I'm not done. I'm going back to play damn it. I'm going to mess it up again. Err, err, Shire. Yeah, it could be that. It could be that. Yeah, it was close enough. So yeah, it was a trip of a lifetime. And I owe a lot of thanks to you for helping.

Well, first of all, for reaching out two years ago when I came here, and then for helping put this trip together, and then just being my constant bouncing board for any and all questions I had. So I think I did you proud. I think overall, you would say I did a pretty good job. No, you did a really good job. And then, yeah, I enjoyed following along.

And then I only hope that your experience can help others come over here and experience. That's the goal. And not trying to rub it in people's face. That's what people think. But I really do think I rely on seeing, like you said earlier, seeing pictures and social media is how I get inspired to do a lot of these things. So I try to try to document the experience and I want, I want people to experience it and

feel the same kind of golf, I don't know what the word is, I don't know, I don't want to say golf orgasm, but golf kind of like you just hit it. I mean, like kind of hit the, hit the feels with golf the way so many special places have done for me. And it's not always the cheap thing, you know, it's not cheap, it's not, and that's usually the thing that prevents people from doing it. I mean, even for myself, even if I'm, if he times

they're arranged for me, the rest of this stuff is not necessarily cheap, but it's super fun. And it's just like what you live for when it comes to golf. So even if you're not, if you're a younger person, listen to this and not in the best financial situation to make this happen, this is something like I would dream about as a kid and plan in my head as a kid and just fantasize about actually getting

to do these things. And now like it's become, it's become a reality. And you get to go actually go experience it. And once you get into your 30s and whatnot, you'll probably have the financial abilities to do that. So keep dream and keep, keep, keep researching and keep finding the inspiration and do these kind of things.

And like I said, reach out to me or Rue, where can people find you on social media you're all over the place? Yep, so Rue McDonald, you find me on Twitter, and then the Scottish Golf Podcast is, Scottish Golf Podcast on iTunes. Instagram is probably where most of my content comes from. It's kind of curated content from people's trips.

So I share the best pictures from the golf courses and people's thoughts at Scottish Golf Podcast on Instagram and Facebook and then YouTube I've just slowly got into creating more video content there so and but you know aside from the day job when I've got time off I do go and play these courses and try to document my time there and when I've got time off, I do go and play these courses and try and document my time there. And showcase some of the last or no golf courses in the process. So hopefully this has been helpful. Yeah, please do reach out to me on there and we'll be able to keep you right.

Well, two hours, man. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for everything you've done for helping my travel and helping people in the future. So I do encourage people to check out Roo's content when it comes to Scotland. Actually, you know what? I can't let you go just yet because we got to get through a couple questions because people did send a couple questions. Yeah. And while you look at the questions again, I'm ready. It's worth pointing out that you have been here for two weeks and you were there a week prior or two years ago. And people always ask me whether the weather, that's like the first question people ask about.

And then I always say that you get one bad day in every four. And I don't know what experience you've had. It became to see if that ratio worked out for you. I know you had a tough stretch there. You had a bit of a purple patch. Yeah. A ring. But I think, you know, that's certainly a misconception that we have like horrible ring all the time. It's more than when that's constant, rather than any kind of serious ring that we have. Totally agree. I think Scotland gets an overly bad rep for weather. And yeah, we did have a bad stretch, but I've had, I mean, yeah, it's nowhere different

than most places I've lived in my life and visited and whatnot. Like you have bad days of weather. It's not, it's usually not super warm here and it's almost always pants and long sleeves, but the weather is not, I mean, it's definitely not inhibitive of your ability to enjoy the trip. And you shouldn't, it's not like, I don't want to go play golf in Scotland. It always rains there. That's not the case. So I do think it's overly bad rep and usually an afterthought for the most part.

But you get a couple of those days that just, it just doesn't stop on you. And it can just kind of wears you down a little bit. I'll save this question. I'm going to do a little bit of solo stuff on top of this too. But the question of if you could do Ireland or Scotland, I'm not gonna ask that question with you on here because I don't think we're gonna get the most unbiased answer.

Well, I'm half-hired, there's my mother some Dublin. So I have some love for Ireland, but yeah, I think Scotland would certainly be my role, but I think the concentration of golf and how easy it is to get from place to place here is probably the tipping fact there if you were to put them up against each other. But that's not for me, that's for somebody else.

Will Bardwell asked, Highlands vs. St. Andrews contrast. He said, not looking for witches better. Thank you Will, because that's super hard to write. Wondering about the vibes and the locales and the golf clubs. So, how would you describe? For me, I didn't, I don't think I have enough experience with it, just kind of popping into these places to know what the full contrast is,

but how would you describe the contrast between Highlands versus St. Andrews? Yeah, before we talk about it, and you've got a sense of it, I think, when you go up to Brutal, it's just less commercial up in the Highlands. It's a little bit more relaxed, it's a little bit more authentic. You've got more Scottish voices in bars. You can go into places in St Andrews and as great as St Andrews is. You can walk into a bar and not hear a Scottish voice. It's just Americans.

So they're very different golf trips. If you're to go away with non-goffpers, then the Highlands is probably a great option. If you're there for pure golf, and you're wanting to get a full treatment, then Andres is like the place that everyone gravitates to. The Highlands is a great default. If you've got guys balls you enough to avoid synandrus, which is tough, I know. And go up to the highlands and play like Dorodock through to Aberdeen and you can have some trip there. Totally. I think the rest of the questions actually have here mostly stuff

that are asking for my opinion on taking stuff back to the States and whatnot. So I think we've covered a lot of them even within this two hours anyways. I think we've covered almost everything that related to Scotland golf in this time. So super excited to meet up in here, Dun Dunne old here in a couple of weeks and check out that part of the country as well.

I'm off to Ireland tomorrow, Northern Ireland, excuse me, and off to the Irish open. Probably won't get as close to around Wednesday anyways. But Rue, thank you for two hours, for two parts of a podcast. Hopefully this helps people with their trips and best of luck to you buddy and I'll see you soon. Cheers, Sully. Talk soon.

All right, thanks, everyone, for tuning in, making it this far. Hopefully you found this helpful if you're planning a Scotland trip or if you just need to convince some buddies that you need to do a Scotland trip or any logistical question. Some courses hopefully that are now on your radar that may not have been or hopefully this helped you plan your itinerary. Again, feel free to reach out with any questions you have to myself or to Rue with both could be very helpful, helpful resources in planning it. But again, just let me emphasize just how incredible the experience is and there's a reason why I raved about pretty much every golf course we played because the experience really is

that fantastic. If you enjoyed this or if you have or doing a buddy's trip, send us links, you links over these podcasts to your buddies to listen to to, excited about it to help plan it. It helps us out, helps spread the word and is deeply appreciated. But I'm going to get to a few Twitter questions if you've made it this far three hours. Then I'm guessing you're going to last for a few more minutes. But I did ask for some Twitter questions on Scotland. Didn't want to bore Roo with a lot of them after talking to him for two hours. But the one I get the most, uh, Timbo, Gipett, he asked if I was to do Ireland or Scotland for a golf trip, which would you choose? Really impossible question to answer

because both, both countries just are the best golf experiences I've ever had, aside from potentially band and dunes, best golf experiences I've ever had aside from potentially band and dunes, best golf experiences I've had anywhere. I will say there's positives and negatives to both. Ireland's probably a bit more affordable. It's on the euro. It's not quite as pricey as the pound is against the US dollar. But the negatives are, it doesn't quite have

the infrastructure setup that Scotland does. If you want to play the greatest hits of Ireland, you're going to do a bit more driving as things just aren't necessarily that close to airports, especially on the West Coast. It's not highways, but running between these courses. On a map, it may look like you're going 10 minutes, but it might be an hour, just because of the road you have to take. So that's a drawback of Ireland, but again, some of those golf courses and playing those with my dad was probably some of the best golf memories I'll ever have. Scotland, just as we talked about, has so many great regions where the logistics are maybe a bit easier. Again, the British pound is a bit more expensive, but you also just

have these incredible history of the open championship, Broda, and all those courses that make the Scott just get that historical value kind of adds a bit, especially if you're doing the old course and stuff. It adds a bit to the nostalgia of the trip. So those are the positive and negatives. Again, there's a reason I don't rate courses because I think it's more about kind of soaking up the experience.

And so it's really hard to rank Scotland one and two, but those are the kind of considerations I'd put into the two. What's the one thing or multiple things about Scottish golf you wish could bring back to the States that's from car for the course. It's a really great question. There's so much I would bring back a the walking culture. riding in golf carts, it feels just archaic to me. I don't want to do it. I know a lot of our courses in the States are set up for that more. There's a lot more distances between holes.

I love taking a trolley, being a part of the push cart mafia and walking these courses. It gives you just more time to socialize with your four ball if you're with a group of four people and really soak it up more than just kind of zooming to your ball on a card and sitting and waiting. I love the open nature of some of the best courses in the world being available to call up for a T-time.

Like, I can't call up Shinaka Kills and get a T-time. It just doesn't work like that. It's some of the best courses in the U.S. They're nature of, you know, it's amazing again how affordable their guests, their member rates are. And yeah, the visitors come over, pay a decent premium to play these courses, but it's totally worth it. And it's worth it from the members' perspective, because their dues are low and they still

get to play world-class golf course for what we pay and monthly dues on our courses back in the States, which it just seems criminal now after having seen their model. So I love how their courses too are so much about the golf course and not about big fancy club houses, swimming pools, tennis courts, all that stuff. And they're golf clubs. They're not country clubs. They're golf clubs. And you're there as obviously a golf nut. That's that's kind of the part I our group lined up around 3am. We did 4, 15am a few years ago. We were all able to get on. It's some people lined up at midnight,

and it depends on the day. It might be 10 people. One of the days we did it, 10 people were lined up to camp out overnight. And we showed up at 4, 15. We were 11th in line. So really totally depends. But again, my philosophy there is you got to get up early

anyway, what's an extra hour. So I wouldn't cut it close and show up at five, because you're going to be exhausted anyways and you are going to be pretty far back in line. So I'd say playing on 3am, 3.30, again, part of the experience, go soak it up, do it. You might get a tea time in the afternoon. You can run home and grab a nap, grab a cup of coffee, and then you go ahead out for your

tea time in the afternoon. So, leave some time to get a chance to do it. To give yourself the chance to do it, leave some time in the schedule, and it'll be worth it. West Quattro Bomb, ideal club combo modifications from US golf. For example, drop a wedge, pick up a two iron, shots to practice in preparation for the conditions. Good question here. I wouldn't make any club changes out of my bag, although the 60 degree gets a lot less use over here,

because you're just willing to reach for the putter from way off the green. I just give it a whack from 40 yards if you have to, but it's not like you still will need to hit a few flop shots and a few aerial shots. So I wouldn't take anything necessarily out of the bag. I would try to make sure you have an iron that you can trust off the tee to kind of hit under the wind and to get running on the ground.

And any, I actually lofted my driver down for this trip to kind of hit more low bullets off the tee to get through the wind and to kind of get out across winds and to get out of into the wind holes and to get running on these fairways. So shots to practice as well as I would just kind of like, I wouldn't say like a punch six iron or five iron, but just kind of a version that you know

that you can flight into the wind. It might be 150 yards and you need to hit a five iron, but if you balloon it, it still might go 120 yards. So kind of finding that shot, it's gonna be able to pierce through the wind and get under the wind that you can rely on, because that's when you're gonna need over and over again. Apart from North Barrack,

the best courses in Edinburgh, East Lothian area. That's from Joshua Poison. I'm not positive here because I didn't get out to Gullin. I know that's a great one. I know your field is kind of Edinburgh, Edinburgh area. I didn't get out to that one. Um, my only thing is St Andrews is an hour and 10 minutes from Edinburgh. It's super, it's an easy drive.

It's a beautiful drive. And there's so many good courses to play there, even if you're not playing the old course. I think we talked about how I love the new course. And it's definitely worth 75 pounds. You can show up and they'll get you out. So, and at worst come to worst you're hanging around, hanging around St Andrews for a day. So Shane Mason, how do you compare Scottish versus Irish links? Not better or worse, but just any differences. You know, I didn't notice that much of a difference in necessarily country by country,

just because even within the individual countries, the courses are different. I think, again, I think we talked about that on there. So it's not, again, one of the differences just being kind of the historical value that come with a lot of the courses in Scotland. We've got to Will Bardwell's question. It's single putt Owl wants to know he recommended the best time to go.

He recommends August and September. I agree with that. I think a bit later in the year than we were here. Going in June, fantastic for sunlight. You get super long days and you can play till 10, 15 in a lot of places. I think August is around when the courses are in the best condition in September might be a little bit more out of tourist season and might be able to bit more availability in some places, more affordable rooms, et cetera. I can't fully confirm that,

but I get that vibe. October is a bit more of a struggle just because that's when the clock's changed and you just don't have quite as much daylight as you do even in September. So I kind of agree with the assessment that August, September are probably the best times to go. Head to Scotland next summer from Mark Hanson, only playing courses in St. Andrews area. Can you give me a top five? I'll just run off the top five in my head being the old course, Karnuasty, Kings Barnes,

St. Andrews area. I wouldn't say North Barricaz in St. Andrews area. So I won't throw that one in there. I would say play the new course as well. I'm not sure that's in my top five, but you're gonna be right there in that area. And I think it's totally worth playing there. And then fifth on that list,

and depends on what you call St. Andrews area. I'll probably say Crail, because you're gonna wanna mix in a different kind of experience than that golf course. It's going to give you a way different experience than anything else on that list. I think that's about it. Again, thanks for tuning in.

This is three hours worth of crap on Scotland Golf. I think we have it all covered. Hope this was enjoyable. But send over your questions if you got them. Otherwise, check back soon. Should be some very good podcast coming in the next couple weeks. Don't want to spoil anything, but thanks. Give it to him. Cheers.

Give it a nice club. Be the right club today. Yes! That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. I'm not in. That is better than most. Better than most.