Ideas wanted for a trip to Scotland

First topic message reminder :

I have a significant birthday coming up in July and will be making a trip back to Blighty for it. Usually it's a 10-14 day trip spent with family and friends in the Southeast but I will be tacking on a few extra days this time to head up to Scotland and play some golf there.

I'm looking for some ideas and recommendations of areas to stay and play. With the long daylight hours I think should be able to play a shed load of golf. I will be on a budget of sorts so would like to play one or two bucket list type courses and probably hidden gems or good value for money places, thinking day tickets etc.

If any 606ers would like to meet for a game I'd be open to that too. Thanks for your help, Grumps

super_realist wrote:South Fife Dave, opposite Edinburgh

OK thanks - I only asked as I have a golfing mate who is originally from the Vale of Leven near Dumbarton and even he hates going back there now!

Yeah, Dumbarton is an armpit.

Aberdour is a nice wee place with a quirky and very gentle golf course. Pleasant walks, beach, village and on the train line a much shorter 20min ride into Edinburgh. Much closer to knockhill I'd imagine too being closer to the M90 than Leven.

Actually, where I'd really like to retire would be somewhere in Northumberland, near enough to Alnwick, but on the coast- Embleton or Alnmouth would fit the bill.

McLaren wrote:Ladyputt

I think the purpose of Rays comment was to convey to the rest of us how well off he is.  It is clearly an expensive house for most people.

No mac, it's an expensive house for you.

How much would a house like that cost in Edinburgh? The average house price in London is now almost £550k. I know people who live in council flats worth that much. To put it into context that house would be £3m where I live and that's not even a mega expensive area. Somewhere like Kensington it would be double that I'm sure.

But it's ok mac, you can continue to project your inadequacies on to me. I don't mind, I'll just smile to myself at your insecurity.

raycastleunited wrote:

McLaren wrote:Ladyputt

I think the purpose of Rays comment was to convey to the rest of us how well off he is.  It is clearly an expensive house for most people.

No mac, it's an expensive house for you.

How much would a house like that cost in Edinburgh? The average house price in London is now almost £550k. I know people who live in council flats worth that much. To put it into context that house would be £3m where I live and that's not even a mega expensive area. Somewhere like Kensington it would be double that I'm sure.

But it's ok mac, you can continue to project your inadequacies on to me. I don't mind, I'll just smile to myself at your insecurity.

For Elie, that's not even that expensive, especially given the size of the house. I had a relative who used to live on that street a few door down about 10 years ago (bought well before prices inflated), before downsizing, and they sold for a comparative price. You're spot on Ray, that house would be millions in another location, only problem with it is the front aspect is on the main road and the rear aspect looks over the rubbish 9 holer, rather than 18 hole course.

Elie, along with the rest of the East Neuk has become a popular place for second homes for those wealthy people from Glasgow  (yes there are some) and Edinburgh. It's dead in winter, but a bustling place in summer.
Excellent golf course, though no par 5's on it.

Ray

Depends where in Edinburgh, but I imagine a detached 6 bedroom house in a nice area would be at least £1.5m.

I would argue that £675k is an expensive house for the majority of people in the UK.


Super

The last time I was in Elie it was surprising how many weegies there were. The pub was crawling with them.


Barra

Good shout on Aberdour, it is just along the road from leven, and ladyputt, if you don't find what you are looking for in leven worth a look.

Mac, would you not concede that £675k for a 6 bedroom detached Georgian house with beach views and overlooking a golf course is a cheap price?

Might be cheap compared to other properties of that type around the country, but all properties of that type are expensive and out of reach for the vast majority of the population.

What's that got to do with my point? We're not discussing bedsits and council flats, we're debating potential retirement homes with nearby golf in an affluent area recommended by super_realist.

As usual you look to corrupt the conversation. Anyway, it's irrelevent to you comrade mac unless you're looking to move commune.

I think we need to stop the one-upmanship on property prices. Thanks to Barra for the tip - we'll look at Aberdour. We had looked at Burntisland golf course but it seemed a bit hilly for us old folk (especially me with my dodgy hips) but we'll look again.

As for property prices, it is all relevant. We may live in London but we don't all live in mega-bucks mansions. We only have a small terraced ex-council house (sorry folks, I'm not minted - remember I am married to an ex-greenkeeper and you know how little they are paid!) even though it is nice inside and out, and while we got what we think is a good and fair price for it, somewhere around £250k is our limit for our retirement pad, sadly.

Can't comment on Burntisland GC, but Aberdour is not bad at all. From memory it peters out a little toward the end with some gentle flat back and forth holes, but the opening holes are quite memorable. Views from the clubhouse are pretty pleasant too. http://www.aberdourgolfclub.co.uk/

Ignore the quips about Scootland and "in the sun" but get yourself on "A place in the sun" LP - let the telly do the legwork.

I seem to be getting more and more into it and the property finders do seem to find pretty good stuff.

And you'll be on telly (that's not too bourgeois is it Mac? ).

LadyPutt wrote:I think we need to stop the one-upmanship on property prices. Thanks to Barra for the tip - we'll look at Aberdour. We had looked at Burntisland golf course but it seemed a bit hilly for us old folk (especially me with my dodgy hips) but we'll look again.

As for property prices, it is all relevant. We may live in London but we don't all live in mega-bucks mansions. We only have a small terraced ex-council house (sorry folks, I'm not minted - remember I am married to an ex-greenkeeper and you know how little they are paid!) even though it is nice inside and out, and while we got what we think is a good and fair price for it, somewhere around £250k is our limit for our retirement pad, sadly.

250k will get somewhere really very nice LP.
Have you looked at Ladybank Golf Course?

I like Roller's idea.

When I was golfing in Spain in November (there I go again boasting about my extravagant lifestyle and vast wealth) we saw a lot of properties with "for sale" signs along the fairways.

You can pick up a 2 bed apartment for EUR60k on one of the Jack Nicklaus golf resorts in Murcia. They are mainly bank repo's, the banks are generally offering 90-100% mortgages with as little as €3,000 deposits. With euro interest rates at all time lows - even lower than the UK - you would probably only need to rent it out for a few months in the summer at peak rates to cover the mortgage for the entire year. And if it doesn't work out you default your mortgage and lose €3,000. But of course mac will tell me that owning property is theft.

Roller

I often find myself watching property programs if I am too lazy to think about what to watch.


Ray

As ladyPutt points out a £675k house is not relevant to most peoples search for a retirement home.  But with £250k I am sure a very nice house can be found in that part of fife.


Barra

I have yet to play Aberdour, would you recommend making the trip from Edinburgh to play it?



Super

I had to change Trains in ladybank once and was expecting a nice little village. It was a bit of a dump in reality, did I missed something?

Yeah, it's a bit grimy Mac, the course though is a stunning bit of heathland.

Property in Southern Spain is cheap right now due to their economic situation. But I think prices will increase over time as a) it will remain a popiular destination also in the future, b)the climate is perfect, and will remain so, c) it is easily reachable from all over Europe (Malaga), d) compared to other year-round destinations (Egypt, Turkey etc) it's civilised with a minimum of hustlers and lunatics, e) you have beaches, mountains, skiing, culture - all in a relatively small area.

Yes agree fully Pedro

McLaren wrote:Roller
Ray

As ladyPutt points out a £675k house is not relevant to most peoples search for a retirement home.  But with £250k I am sure a very nice house can be found in that part of fife.

Yeah whatever, I think the conversation's moved on now. You're like a dog with a bone, you constantly get accused of trolling / winding people up. However, I think it's your insecurity and lack of status in the real world that leads to this behaviour. You always have to have the last word to justify to yourself the value of your contributions.

raycastleunited wrote:I like Roller's idea.

When I was golfing in Spain in November (there I go again boasting about my extravagant lifestyle and vast wealth) we saw a lot of properties with "for sale" signs along the fairways.

You can pick up a 2 bed apartment for EUR60k on one of the Jack Nicklaus golf resorts in Murcia. They are mainly bank repo's, the banks are generally offering 90-100% mortgages with as little as €3,000 deposits. With euro interest rates at all time lows - even lower than the UK - you would probably only need to rent it out for a few months in the summer at peak rates to cover the mortgage for the entire year. And if it doesn't work out you default your mortgage and lose €3,000. But of course mac will tell me that owning property is theft.

I own one of these, and very nice too.

Grumps,

You should try and play Longniddry...a hidden gem..

Longniddry is good but I wouldn't recommend someone went out of their way to play it. As part of an east lothian tour it makes perfect sense.

Thanks Setup, just had a quick look on its website and they have sink holes affecting holes 7-10!

Slight change of plans to the timing of my trip. Will probably be over the last three weeks of July now and look to go North for that last week which hopefully means Open tourists will have been and gone by then.

Setup
Which course in Murcia is your property? Do you go there very often? Did you buy before the market crashed?

We've been there a number of times now, it's great value I think.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Slight change of plans to the timing of my trip. Will probably be over the last three weeks of July now and look to go North for that last week which hopefully means Open tourists will have been and gone by then.

Err - no. You can safely assume Ayrshire will be the 51st state from July 4th until August 4th. The green fee at Prestwick is between £165 and £190 this summer. It might be the home of the Open but that's just an insane amount of money to play on a course that Old Tom Morris didn't play on.

I'd just give the whole SW of Scotland a miss and try East Lothian or Fife instead.

I'm not going to go that side of the country at all George, most likely heading east to one of the areas you suggest

Gerorge

Old Tom was the greenkeeper/pr (whatever they called it back in the day) at Prestwick and laid out many of the holes.

He also played the open their.

Or do you meant that the course has changed so much that you can't claim it as the same course Old Tom teed up on?


We are into the old theseus's ship and golf courses debate here I fear.

Old Tom designed the course that we play now, but he won the Open four times playing a 12 hole course which was largely changed in the 1880s. I think there are few holes still the same, but most were changed.

By the time he redesigned Prestwick, he was back at St Andrews, and helped to break Prestwick's exclusive Open venue status.

American tourists usually think they are walking the same course as Old Tom winning his Opens - but not really.

It's an excellent course though, well worth playing (if you don't have to part wit the thick end of £200).

raycastleunited wrote:Setup
Which course in Murcia is your property? Do you go there very often? Did you buy before the market crashed?

We've been there a number of times now, it's great value I think.

I bought in Saurines, about 8 years ago.
You are right, very cheap at the moment to buy.

In fact, I'm off there on Friday .

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Thanks Setup, just had a quick look on its website and they have sink holes affecting holes 7-10!

Yes, just saw that.

Played Scotscraig today, that's a nice course. A qualifier course for the Open.

Great value today, £20 for the round.

SetupDeterminesTheMotion wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:Setup
Which course in Murcia is your property? Do you go there very often? Did you buy before the market crashed?

We've been there a number of times now, it's great value I think.

I bought in Saurines, about 8 years ago.
You are right, very cheap at the moment to buy.

In fact, I'm off there on Friday .

Lucky you! Bet it's starting to warm up there nicely.

Saurines is the desert course without a clubhouse isn't it? We've not played there. What do you think of the courses there? I love El Valle and I think Hacienda Riquelme is a decent course too.

I remember the day before my wedding, in June 2012, I was relaxing in the sauna with my mates after a round of golf, and we were chatting about property in Spain and how cheap that area was, and this bloke sitting on his own in the corner piped up that we were making him cry because he had bought a villa in Mar Menor in 2007 at the peak and it was currently worth 25% of what he had paid. I hope that wasn't you setup!

Long term I think Spain is always a good investment. As someone else said, it has the climate, the culture, the food which mean it will always be an attractive holiday or retirement destination.

Long term I think Spain is always a good investment. As someone else said, it has the climate, the culture, the food which mean it will always be an attractive holiday or retirement destination..

Theoretically that's true, and I agree that Spain ticks lots of boxes. But I read some climatologist who reckoned that if global warming doesn't slow down significantly or stop, there will be a sign at Malaga Airport saying "Welcome to the Sahara". I think he was suggesting by 2050 or earlier.

My pal has a beautiful 3 bed town house on the La Cala estate, with golf club membership facilities, which he paid around £550,000 for. You can get a very similar one right now for 370,000 euros.

raycastleunited wrote:

SetupDeterminesTheMotion wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:Setup
Which course in Murcia is your property? Do you go there very often? Did you buy before the market crashed?

We've been there a number of times now, it's great value I think.

I bought in Saurines, about 8 years ago.
You are right, very cheap at the moment to buy.

In fact, I'm off there on Friday .

Lucky you! Bet it's starting to warm up there nicely.

Saurines is the desert course without a clubhouse isn't it? We've not played there. What do you think of the courses there? I love El Valle and I think Hacienda Riquelme is a decent course too.

I remember the day before my wedding, in June 2012, I was relaxing in the sauna with my mates after a round of golf, and we were chatting about property in Spain and how cheap that area was, and this bloke sitting on his own in the corner piped up that we were making him cry because he had bought a villa in Mar Menor in 2007 at the peak and it was currently worth 25% of what he had paid. I hope that wasn't you setup!

Long term I think Spain is always a good investment. As someone else said, it has the climate, the culture, the food which mean it will always be an attractive holiday or retirement destination.

Having played all 6 Nicklaus courses, in my opinion El Valle is the best one.

Suarines is the desert course, a desert course with very little bunkering. There are less bunkers on Saurines than any of the rest.

Condado has more bunkers on one hole, than Saurines has in all 18.

I love El Valle, some terrific risk/reward holes, especially the short par 4 from the elevated tee (11th?). Housing isn't too intrusive either.

Is that Condado de Alhama - We found that course to be really boring and manufactured but for some reason it is ranked 20th in Spain on top100golfcourses while El Valle doesn't even feature.

I played this course in Florida yesterday and there were a number of homes surrounding it. I found where I want to retire to, but I will have to rethink my budget ...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3108618/The-listers-mega-rich-America-s-expensive-street-Miami-island-s-86-residents-include-four-America-s-500-richest-people-model-Adriana-Lima-Elle-MacPherson.html

Shotrock, you have to be careful. Mac will accuse you of showing off or flaunting your wealth.

Seriously, how do you live in a 30,000 square foot house? You could probably wander around for days without seeing your family.

Some folks might see that as a positive Ray....

I am not a member there ... but somehow I feel I belong.

I think I could afford about 50% of a parking space at the moment!

Is it on a bus route?

Is the course any good?

If not there is no way I would be handing over any cash.

If I am a billionaire I can afford to take the chopper to almost any course in the country.

The course is REALLY good ... I know you know a bit about GCA ... William Flynn design (if that name is familiar).

I see, I assumed it was something new like a Dye or Fazio.

I can see the appeal.

raycastleunited wrote:I love El Valle, some terrific risk/reward holes, especially the short par 4 from the elevated tee (11th?). Housing isn't too intrusive either.

Is that Condado de Alhama - We found that course to be really boring and manufactured but for some reason it is ranked 20th in Spain on top100golfcourses while El Valle doesn't even feature.

Yes I noticed it was highly rated.
I think this is because this is the only one Jack built.

I still prefer El Valle.

raycastleunited wrote:Seriously, how do you live in a 30,000 square foot house?

I know what you mean, there's no f**king way I'm cutting my lifestyle and sharing a course with 85 other households!

I love the way that this thread about a trip to Scotland has evolved into a discussion on houses on golf courses for billionaires in florida

The way some threads evolve is one of the bright spots of forum discussion.

Occasionally...

That is spotist. How dare you sir.

I do apologise. It is clearly spotist. Even if "bright" implies a positivity, there is clearly no place for positivity discrimination of any kind on here.