1o Tips for a Stress-Free Golf Trip Across the Pond
How to Keep Your Golf Trip in the Fairway
After weeks, months, or even years of stressing over the details and reading countless tips for planning your overseas golf trip, the time has finally come to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
But your average Scotland, Ireland, or England golf trip requires the planning and execution of 40-50 individual reservations, tee times, and other arrangements. With that comes plenty of opportunities for stress to creep in and attempt to take hold of your trip.
Juggling all of those moving parts and delivering an experience that exceeds expectations is what we've spent over 30 years doing each and every day for our Members.
With that expertise comes a few best practices to ensure a smooth, memorable, and stress-free golf trip across the pond. We also covered these tips in a recent episode of our Golf and the Good Life podcast.
At a Glance
-
1. Choose Your Group Wisely
The decision most likely to make or break your trip. Build a group with similar goals, budgets, and expectations.
-
2. Hire a Driver-Host
The single most effective way to eliminate stress. Think of it like a caddie for the entire trip.
-
3. Limit Windshield Time
One or two regions max in a standard week. Keep the drive times between stops as short as possible.
-
4. Get Your Flights Right
Coordinate as a group. Same airport, narrow arrival window. The outlier flight may cost you more in the end.
-
5. Plan a Day Off of Golf
Rest the body, recharge the mind, and explore the famous sights of your destination.
-
6. Plan a Day Off of Golf
Rest the body, recharge the mind, and explore the famous sights of your destination.
-
7. Don't Forget the Good Life
The experiences between the rounds are often what Members talk about most when they return home.
-
8. Prepare Your Game
Links golf is a different game. The bump-and-run, not the high spinner, wins the day over here.
-
9. Ship the Clubs
Ship early, follow the rules to the letter, and enjoy the peace of mind at the airport.
-
10. Take a Caddie
An essential part of your experience. Local knowledge, course strategy, and the best stories of your trip.
Choose Your Group Wisely
Nothing will add stress to your golf trip across the pond more efficiently than friction within your group.
Although it might seem like a straightforward decision, sometimes invitations find their way to someone capable of draining the life out of your trip.
For everyone's sake, be selective with your invites.
It goes beyond personality, too. Make sure the group is aligned on budget, pace, and priorities. If half the group wants to play 36 holes every day while the other half wants to explore castles and distilleries, that disconnect will surface quickly. The Captain should have these conversations early, before the deposit goes down.
As one H&B Member put it: "Don't take more than 8 people - and the 'right' 8 are the key to making it awesome."
This decision is so important, we put together this guide covering who to invite on your golf trip across the pond. And for Captains looking for more on leading the group dynamic, our tips for Golf Trip Captains covers this and other dynamics in even greater detail.
The Members of Ridglea Country Club enjoy a glorious day at Carnoustie
Hire a Driver-Host
Without a doubt, the most effective way to avoid stress on a golf trip is to hire a Driver-Host.
Why do we call them "Driver-Hosts," you might ask?
Because their impact on your experience goes far beyond getting you from Point A to Point B during the trip.
You can expect your Driver-Host to offer a wealth of local knowledge and insight. They truly are your "host" while across the pond, serving as concierge, wise-crack supplier, tour guide, and shoulder to cry on after a hard day on the course.
It's also worth noting their role as designated driver. In Scotland, the drink-driving limit is strict enough that an average-sized man would be over the legal threshold after a single pint. In Ireland and England, the limits are slightly higher but still well below what most American travelers expect. Having a Driver-Host means nobody has to do the math.
Roughly 90% of H&B Expeditions include a private Driver-Host, and there's a good reason for that. They play such an integral role in the experience that by the end of your trip, you're likely to see them as an extra member of the group.
The stories shared with us each year of above-and-beyond service are simply too many to count. From late-night journeys to the airport for lost luggage, to little things like favorite beverages waiting on the coach at the end of the day, our Driver-Hosts are immensely passionate about ensuring their guests enjoy the trip to its fullest.
Think of it the same way you'd think about a caddie. Technically optional. But the experience is meaningfully better with one.
Limit the Windshield Time
The great golf courses of the U.K. and Ireland are spread across every corner of the map. Unless you have a month or better at your disposal for each country, checking all of them off your list in a single trip is basically impossible.
But that doesn't stop a lot of golfers from trying.
In the process, their trip is turned into a time-crunched slog from one golf course to the next, seeing nothing but the inside of a windshield in between.
The easiest way to avoid this stress is to divide and conquer. Base yourself in a single region for a few days and play the marquee courses in that area. A good rule of thumb: plan for no more than one or two regions in a standard week-long Expedition, and limit your drive times whenever possible.
The courses of Scotland, Ireland, and England are found in natural clusters. In many cases, you can spend three or four nights in one location, play a different world-class course every day, and never change hotels. St. Andrews, the Ayrshire coast, and England's Golf Coast near Liverpool are all prime examples.
And if you're unsure what regions to choose, we've covered the pros and cons of each in these guides:
For groups considering both Scotland and Ireland in the same golf trip, our guide on the topic covers the logistics and tradeoffs.
Get Your Flights Right
This one catches more groups off guard than you might expect.
On most domestic golf trips, everyone books their own flights and it works out fine. Across the pond, it can quietly become one of the biggest sources of stress for the group and the Captain.
The key is coordination. Aim to have everyone arrive at the same airport within a narrow window of time. When one traveler lands at 7 a.m. and another at 3 p.m., somebody is waiting. And if the group is scattered across Edinburgh and Glasgow or Dublin and Shannon the logistics of getting everyone together on day one become an Expedition of their own.
If a member of the group simply can't make the same arrival window, the best advice is to come a day early and enjoy a night on your own before the group convenes. It beats sitting in an airport lounge for six hours, and it gives you a chance to shake off the jet lag before the trip begins. Our arrival day tips cover exactly how to make the most of that first day.
The same principle applies to departure. Consider where your last hotel is relative to the airport. If you're finishing your Expedition two hours from the airport, a 7 a.m. departure isn't ideal. And just like arrival, aim for a narrow departure window. The group members who don't coordinate their flights risk needing a separate transfer at their own expense, and nobody wants to be the outlier.
For more on airport routing, overnight flight strategies, and which airports serve which regions best, our flight tips for golf trips to Scotland, Ireland, and England has the full breakdown.
Play 36 Holes Sparingly
With so much great golf and so little time available, the urge to play as many rounds as possible is an understandable one.
The long hours of daylight and the pleasant temperatures during the summer make 36-hole days rather easy across the pond.
It's also easy to overdo it.
Here's what most first-timers don't fully appreciate until they're living it: a round of links golf is quite a walk. Most courses don't allow carts. A typical 18-hole links round covers five to six miles of undulating terrain, often in wind and other elements. Double that in a single day and you're looking at 10-plus miles on your feet.
Even if you're just playing 18-holes a day, by day four, the legs know it.
To cut down on some stress to both the mind and body, we suggest limiting the number of 36-hole days in your itinerary. Some H&B Expeditions include one well-placed 36-hole day, not three.
That doesn't mean, however, that we are opposed to them entirely. In fact, here are the best places to enjoy a 36-hole day in Scotland, Ireland, and England.
As one Member recently advised: "Don't need to play 36 everyday - it's exhausting especially in bad weather."
But when that day is done, you may want to take our next piece of advice...
The Members of Dubuque Golf & Country Club enjoying a 36-hole day at Muirfield
Take a Day Off of Golf
One of the best ways to reduce stress during your golf trip is to put the clubs away for a day.
Most people will play more rounds during a typical week-long golf vacation than they might in two months back home.
Our suggestion is to plan a day off the golf course in the middle of your trip. Your body and mind will both appreciate the chance to rest and recharge.
Perhaps most importantly, it will give you some free time to explore the famous sights of your destination. Depending on where you are, that might mean a distillery visit, a castle tour, a coastal drive, or simply a long afternoon wandering through a town with centuries of history tucked into its side streets.
As one H&B Member put it: "Give yourself a day to sightsee and relax. Maybe two days depending on your length of time. Take it all in. Slow down."
For a deeper look at why you should plan a day off of golf: Permission to Pause.
Don't Forget the Good Life
A common mistake many travelers make in planning their golf trip is putting nearly 100% of their efforts into golf, but not much else.
The Good Life, as we call it, is an equally important part of any overseas Expedition and oftentimes delivers some of its most lasting memories.
From dinner reservations and spa appointments to guided sightseeing and distillery tours, our Concierge team is here to ensure that no stone of the Good Life is left unturned. Because it's our belief that your time off the course is just as valuable to your experience as your time on it.
Many of our Expeditions also include Tourists who aren't bringing the clubs. Rest easy on that front. There's no shortage of culture, history, and sightseeing across the pond to keep the tourists in your group more than occupied. In fact, as we noted at the tip above, it's a great idea to join them for a day.
The Members of Dubuque Golf & Country Club on their Expedition to England's Golf Coast
Prepare Your Game
Golf trips are supposed to be relaxing. But when your game seems to have been left behind, they can be quite the opposite.
Even if you're in good form, links golf is a very different type of game. The shot that wins the day over here is the low-running bump-and-run, not the high-spinning wedge most American golfers grew up playing. Wind, not course length, is the primary challenge. And the courses are firm, fast, and full of subtle contour that rewards the ground game.
Unless you have the uncanny ability to not let poor play put a damper on your day, we suggest practicing how to play links golf before your trip. A few sessions working on punch shots, knockdowns, and putting from well off the green will pay dividends.
It also helps to recalibrate expectations.
Your scorecards and your stress level will both appreciate it. And if all else fails, take note of the advice shared by one recent H&B Member:
"Don't worry too much about the quality of the golf! Enjoy the courses, the cities and the people. You will have a good score or two during a trip and a few bad ones as well. In the rear view mirror you won't remember."
For more on how overseas golf travel really differs from the U.S., that guide covers the cultural and practical differences you'll want to be ready for.
Ship the Clubs
One of the most stressful parts of any trip is the dreaded airport arrival. The luggage, the crowds, the TSA, all combine for an experience that's anything but pleasurable. Never mind the fact that on a golf trip, the nerves may be a bit rattled because our most prized possession is typically in tow: the golf clubs.
To alleviate this stress, some H&B Members opt to ship their clubs ahead.
Services like Luggage Forward have been a trusted option among our Members and team for years. Whoever you choose, ship early and follow the packing rules to the letter. Most services recommend shipping 7-10 business days before departure to ensure your clubs arrive with time to spare. Late shipments and customs delays are the two most common headaches, and both are mostly avoidable if you follow those key suggestions.
The downside to shipping is you're without your clubs for roughly a week leading up to the trip. But the benefits, as explained in our guide to shipping golf clubs for travel, far outweigh the extra practice time at home.
Plus there's the additional peace of mind in knowing you won't experience something like this...
Bonus: Call the Batphone
Over the years, we've observed one rule of travel that's always remained constant: Stuff Happens.
Flight cancellations. Lost luggage. A course closure due to weather. A medical issue that requires a quick change of plans. These things don't happen often, but they do happen. And when they do, having someone on call who knows the territory, knows your itinerary, and knows the right people to reach makes all the difference.
Our Batphone is on call 24/7 for those stressful moments, big or small, that may pop up along the way.
As one Member put it: "100% confidence that everything had been considered and that if anything unexpected arises they will be there to trouble shoot."
A good way to avoid stress during your trip... Don't leave home without it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Additional Reading
Visit the Yardage Book for More Golf Travel Resources
Ready to Experience Golf and the Good Life with H&B?
Discover More of Golf at its Finest with H&B
