Ginger Beer Golf Travel Blog
St Andrews Old Course ballot success rates 2024
St Andrews Old Course ballot success rates for 2024 The results are in! First published: September 1st, 2025 My analysis of daily St Andrews Old Course ballot results from April to october 2024, and my prediction for THE 2025 SEASON. By Chris Toll, Ginger Beer Golf Travel As golfers continue…
St Andrews Scotland – caddies, buggies and hire items
Caddies, buggies and equipment hire information for St Andrews and other golf courses
St Andrews Old Course singles queue changes
For years, single golfers looking to play the famous Old Course at St Andrews had to join the infamous ‘singles queue’, camping out overnight for the chance to get a tee time the next day. Not any more …
St Andrews Old Course ballot success rates 2023
My analysis of daily St Andrews Old Course ballot results from April to October 2023, and my prediction for the 2024 season.
St Andrews Old Course ballot success rates 2022
My analysis of post-Covid daily St Andrews Old Course ballot success rates for 2022, with a comparison to 2019 and a prediction for the 2023 season.
St Andrews Links Courses
When you visit St Andrews you are surrounded by the finest collection of courses available for public play. St Andrews Links Trust, manager and custodian of 7 courses and 117 holes of golf, can boast of overseeing the largest public golf complex in Europe with its jewel in the crown,…
Last Minute Tee Times St Andrews
Your one-stop-shop of the best Old Course alternatives in and around St Andrews. With last minute tee time availability and click-through booking
St Andrews Old Course COVID-19 update
What is the effect of the past few months on St Andrews Old Course tee times in 2020/21? Updated: Aug 2020
St Andrews golf trip: How to plan to get an Old Course ballot tee time
Plan your St Andrews golf trip: 100% geared to ballot success. Find the best months, weeks & days to ballot. Based on 2019 & 2018 results.
St Andrews Old Course as a Single Golfer: how to boost your chances of play
Playing the Old Course as a Single Golfer & how to optimise your chances of a tee time. In an in depth analysis of 18,500 tee times I reveal the best months and days of week to try your luck as a in the Daily Singles Draw.
St Andrews Old Course Ballot : how to boost your chances of success
St Andrews Old Course Ballot – how to boost your chances of success. A unique in depth analysis of demand, supply & success data. I reveal the best month, day of week & group size based on 4000+ ‘open ballot’ tee times.
How tough is St Andrews Old Course?
I compare 30 of the best courses in the St Andrews area, including St Andrews Old Course, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns. With tables and charts to show how tough they are to play and what a good (scratch) and average (bogey) golfer might expect to score on each course.
St Andrews golf courses for beginners, high handicaps & juniors
Don’t let the mighty “Big Boy” golf courses intimidate you into staying home or not enjoying some memorable Scottish links courses. A rewarding golfing experience awaits you, no matter what your handicap.In a series of 4 blogs, we focus on some of the major championship courses – the Big…
St Andrews Old Course single golfer ballot
Are you a single golfer and want to play St Andrews Old Course? Register on our free BallotBuddy service and enter the dates you are coming to St Andrews. If there is a date match with another single player we will hook you up. As a 2 ball you can…
Can I use a golf buggy (cart) at St Andrews?
The subject of golf buggies (or golf carts) comes up regularly in my discussions with clients when organising their golf trips to Scotland, in particular the use of a golf buggy at St Andrews, and of course, how to reserve a buggy on the Old Course, the hottest topic of…
Sotogrande Golf Courses – 6 of the best reviewed
Sotogrande was the blueprint for the explosion of golf courses along Spain’s Mediterranean Coast and to this day retains its identity among so many imitations.
It was this feeling of Sotogrande as pathfinder for all that followed that lead Trevor Ledger to head south from his Scottish St Andrews base…
Real Club Sotogrande – a review
The trick of Sotogrande lies in the narrow entrances to greens and the very subtle contours once you are on ‘the dance floor’.
When Robert Trent Jones Senior touched down in Spain with a couple of sacks of Bermuda Grass sprigs in the early 1960s, a golfing revolution was started.
Real Club Valderrama – a review
Valderrama takes the best of Finca Cortesin, La Reserva and Sotogrande, shapes it beautifully and adds even greater use of the Alcornoques trees to complete the near perfect test of golf.
With Ryder Cup pedigree and many PGA Tour events, the fame of Valderrama precedes it everywhere. The actual playing of…
2018 Old Course tee time allocations – changes afoot at St Andrews
At the end of 2016 St Andrews Links Trust announced that the agreement with its commercial tee time partner Old Course Experience will cease at the end of 2017. It will assume responsibility for the distribution of all commercial Old Course tee times for the season commencing April 2018.
Time will…
Finca Cortesin Golf Club – a review
This golf course genuinely fulfils the oft cited (mostly disingenuously) ‘challenge from every tee’.
In terms of quiet opulence and attention to detail, the golfing experience at Cabell Robinson’s Finca Cortesin cannot be bettered.
La Reserva Golf Club Sotogrande – a review
All of the courses we played in the Western Costa del Sol had fantastic greens but La Reserva probably shades it for difficulty.A part of the Sotogrande club, La Reserva is another Cabell Robinson design – this time from 2003. Comparisons to Finca Cortesin finish there though, this is a…
San Roque Old Course – a review
There is very much to like about the Old Course at San Roque – the wonderfully named (and bitchingly penal) Alcornoques (cork oaks) abound throughout the property.Despite being a few decades younger that Sotogrande and Valderrama, it was part of the original ‘Golden Triangle’ of golf resorts in the Sotogrande…
San Roque New Course – a review
The smaller greens and the reward offered for well struck pitch and run shots give San Roque New a variety that perhaps the other courses in the area do not.
In terms of infrastructure and positioning in the market, the San Roque New Course sits alongside the Old in terms of…
Kingsbarns Golf Links – Success Story
Kingsbarns is now firmly ensconced as a ‘must play’ on any visit to Scotland – right up there with The Old Course, Carnoustie and Turnberry; in fact it is hard to imagine any other golf course being mentioned as much in the same sentence as ‘The Old Course’. Kingsbarns is…
The best St Andrews golfing weekend ever
Never before have I played so badly yet enjoyed myself so much. The quality of our golf over the three days was patchy at times but the enjoyment was of the highest possible calibre.4 good friends take a trip north and enjoy the best St Andrews golfing weekend…
Insights into playing Scottish links golf – a different game
It took me a number of years and visits to Scotland before I caught on that links golf was the traditional way to play the game and above all, that it was fun! Insights into playing Scottish links golf courses, including speed of play, on-course protocol, gorse, bunkers, dogs(!), putting, wind…
Scottish links golf courses for beginners, kids and high handicaps – Crail and Carnoustie
Don’t let the mighty “Big Boy” golf courses intimidate you into staying home or not enjoying some memorable Scottish links courses. A rewarding golfing experience awaits you, no matter what your handicap.In a series of 4 blogs, we focus on some of the major championship courses – the Big…
Scottish links golf courses for beginners, kids and high handicaps – Gullane and North Berwick
Don’t let the mighty “Big Boy” golf courses intimidate you into staying home or not enjoying some memorable Scottish links courses. A rewarding golfing experience awaits you, no matter what your handicap.In a series of 4 blogs, we focus on some of the major championship courses – the Big…
Scottish links golf courses for beginners, kids and high handicaps – Aberdeen, North Highlands and South West Coast
Don’t let the mighty “Big Boy” golf courses intimidate you into staying home or not enjoying some memorable Scottish links courses. A rewarding golfing experience awaits you, no matter what your handicap.In a series of 4 blogs, we focus on some of the major championship courses – the Big…