4 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
The 'wealth' of Scottish links courses overlooked by golfers
Where do your customers come from?
While we get business from all over the world, predominantly our clients are travelling from North America which makes up more than 80% of our groups.
This year we also have guests joining us from other markets such as South Africa, Australia, Norway and Malaysia. We also have a high volume of repeat clients that come back every couple of years to experience other parts of Scotland, England or Ireland that they haven't managed to explore yet.
Most people assume that every overseas golf tourist is coming to Scotland to hit up the 'bucket list' destinations – in your experience, is this true?
I think initially there is definitely an element of this and first-time or one-time visitors to Scotland will always want to play the bucket list courses. Our courses are world-renowned, and for good reason. There are now multiple websites and publications that rank the best courses and it's never been easier for our clients to research where they "should" play.
However, it's our job to educate them and gain their trust so that we can curate the best itineraries that offer great value for money and incredible experiences. Yes, we create trips that play all of the Open venues and the most expensive courses, but we also push clients to include other lesser-known venues where we know they will have a unique and memorable experience.
The Surber group teeing off at the Old Course in May of this year (Image: Scotland Golf Tours) Can you give us an example?
All of our trips are completely bespoke and are perfectly tailored to what our clients are looking for.
There was one in late 2024 which wanted to mix whisky and golf. It made perfect sense for them to start in Ayrshire and head over to Campbeltown and Islay, but the reduced CalMac service to Campbeltown made it near impossible to get there without wasting a full day travelling. So we chartered the Kintyre Express fast rib from Turnberry to Campbeltown and they spent the afternoon whisky tasting in the Springbank Distillery before spending the rest of the week playing golf at Machrihanish, Mach Dunes and The Machrie on Islay.
It was a great trip and something that the group will remember for a long time, and thankfully the weather was kind to them for the crossing!
What other golfing destinations in Scotland are generally being overlooked by visitors from abroad?
I grew up in the northeast of Scotland and for me the Moray Firth Coastline is probably the most under-utilised bank of courses in the country. From Fraserburgh in the east to Fortrose & Rosemarkie north of Inverness, there is a wealth of great links courses that don't get as much visitor play as they deserve.
The challenge is always that guests want to play Royal Dornoch, Cabot Highlands and Nairn before maybe shooting off to play Cruden Bay and Royal Aberdeen. In doing so they miss the opportunity to play historic links like Moray Old, Nairn Dunbar and the quirky Covesea Links and Cullen, all relatively cheap in comparison to their illustrious neighbours, but just as much fun in my book.
Ronnie Pook (left) and Angus Watson (Image: Scotland Golf Tours) With the amount of coverage online and on social media nowadays, I think it makes it easier to convince our clients to try something that they maybe wouldn't have considered in the past. Influencers and golf journalists have started to cover some of these amazing courses and hopefully that helps drive traffic and enquiries.
It's our job to convince these visitors that it's OK to play The Old Course one day and then head off to play nine holes at Anstruther the next.
How is demand holding up in the current season?
2025 has started strongly for us and we have certainly found getting availability at the top venues to be very challenging.
2026 is also setting up to be another good year and we are already getting enquiries for 2027, so the demand is definitely there. We will have The Open returning to St Andrews in 2027 so that will give us another opportunity to showcase our product to the world.
The 12th at Machrihanish Dunes (Image: Contributed)
The overall golf travel industry in Scotland is in a fantastic place. All of our partners from golf courses, accommodation providers, transport providers, bars and restaurants and caddies understand the level of service we must provide in order to continue to be taken seriously as the best golf destination in the world.
I would just warn against everyone becoming complacent and to hold back on the fairly ludicrous price rises we have witnessed over the last couple of years. We don't need to gouge these visitors, because they will definitely come back and explore more of Scotland than just the top courses if we get the pricing and the experience right.
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