golfrewind.com

Muirfield is very difficult to get on to, a members invite or perhaps some of the very expensive golf tours arranged on your side of the pond may be available but I,m not too sure about that!
I played Carnoustie (N0 1) last year in April for 40 English Pounds (about $75 at the time) and I can truely say it was not busy, what a test of golf "Car-nastie" is but fantastic in every sense.
I have played Royal lytham and you can get on there quite easily and Royal Dornach, Nairn, All the courses at Gullane (No1 can be booked up) are fairly accessible.
The Old Course still runs a "Ballot Box" where you phone in say a day before and your name goes into a box, you can wait the next day for a long time around the starter and of course you will probably be drawn out with names you,ve never met before but so what!

Anthony, I enjoy playing with people I've never met. It's actually almost as fun as playing with my dad (nothing beats playing with your father though, ya know?). So, if you are in the Ballot Box does it mean that you're guaranteed to play the course at some point in the next day or two after calling them to enter your name or is it like a lottery?

I will get in touch with the starter this week and find out all the details then post them here, not tomorrow though as it is a national holiday (May Day)

Cool with me man. Any info you provide is great because as far as all this is concerned I am completely clueless. LOL. Thanks a lot for going out of your way to ask the starter about it --- very cool thing in my book. :nodsmiley

What difference does Par make? They still determine a winner by identifying the player that plays four rounds in the least number of strokes. League Golf
.................................................. .................................................. .........
There you have it!! They all play the same course easy or hard. Low score wins.

"Right then Laddie" you can call the booking office/starter direct on 01334 466666(remember to add country code from USA and then drop the 0 of 01334) before 2pm on the day before!!!! you want to play (they will explain the system to you and how the Ballot works) or go online to ;
www.standrews.org.uk
Cost on the Old Course during High season is ; 115 GBP ( about $220 ) and about $150 during the Shoulder season and about $110 during the winter months but they make you play off mats so it may not suit you at that time.
The weather can be very bad on the east coast during the winter as well and the "Old Lady" does get closed.
Good Luck in getting there and if I can be of more help from this distance then please feel free to contact me.
Yours Aye
ANTHONY792

Our whole trip was made around a Thursday of playing at Muirfield. Guests
are only allowed to play on Thursday and only 8 can play on that day.
There was 8 of us and we had all of the geust tee times. Played 18 in the a.m. and 18 more in the p.m. We booked our tee times for guest 2 years
in advance. We also booked our tee time at the Old Course 1 year in
advance. We actually had tee times for all the courses we played but they
were not made that far in advance. This was my 2nd trip and we got to play
The Devlin Course (ST Andrews Bay), Kingsbarn, Royal Dornoch, Nairn,
The Old Course, The New Course, Troon, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Turnberry,
Gullane,Preswick. Of all of these, The Old Course was the easiest and
Carnoustie & Muirfield by far the hardest. GREAAT TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you get there to play the Old Course, try and stay at the Rusacks
Hotel, it over-looks the 18th fairway of the Old Course. It is not the
best hotel that we stayed at but by far had the best view! Even the
restaurant and bar overlooks the 18th and 1st hole. You get to eat
a great meal and watch them start and finish at the Old Course.
Also try and play the New Course & Jubilee Course. You don't have to be
on the ballot and I think that the are as good if not better than the Old
Course. The Jubilee is much harder. You can drive just a few miles and
play the 2 courses at St Andrews Bay (I only played the Devlin course, it was ok) and just up the road from it is Kingsbarn, played it 4 times and just love
it. It is a new links course that looks and plays like and old one. You will just
love the trip. I have been there 2 times and can answer any questions about the courses and places to stay.

Anthony
I got to play Muirfield by booking our trip to a golf travel company. They got our tee time 2 years in advance. At Muirfield, they only allow 8 guests to play without a member only on Thursdays and for only 8 people. There was 8 of us and we had all 8 slots. We planed our whoLe trip around the Thursday at Muirfield and the Tuesday at the Old Course. At Murfield, you play match play golf in the a.m. and in the p.m. you HAVE to play alternate shot. This is their rules and that is what we did. We got to play 36 holes at one of the greatest courses in the world. WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!

Hey TTUfirebird2008, go to the gallery and look for bcoons52 pictures
and you can see some of the sights of the Old Course. Check out me in some of the traps of The Old Course and at Carnoustie, if was fun anyway.
I hop you get an opportunity to play there, been there 2 times, played
all over Scotland, great courses, great hotels and the people there
are absolutely wonderful. We are now in the planning stage for trip # 3 and
I just get excited thinking about it.

Thanks a lot for the info Anthony and bcoons. I had no idea that normal people could play all those great golf courses. Definitely a much better set up than over here in the States. It really isn't too cool that you have to be a member to play such courses as Augusta, Shinnecock, etc. I'll definitely try to go to the British Isles sometime in my life so I can check out all those great golf courses. Thanks again guys.

Edit: bcoons, I just looked at your pics in the gallery. Great stuff my friend! Thanks a lot for sharing with everyone. I can't wait till I go over there and get my first taste of a true pot bunker.

Many thanks for the info, I,m afraid Muirfield will have to wait for at least 3 years as we are across at the west coast this year, Spain or Portugal next year and then my daughter has approx 9 months in Edinburgh Hospital (on and off) to reconstruct her right ear (microtia) and obviously she will be our main priority during 2007.