Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

PGA Guided Golf Tours to New Zealand, Tasmania and Scotland and The UK

Frequently asked questions about PGA Guided Golf Tours

Questions – PGA Guided Golf Tours

After your best chance of playing the Old Course in St Andrews? Lets take a look at how you can go about it.

The Old Course is fully booked for advance reservations from April to October inclusive, however booking a game on the Old Course in January, February, March, November and December bookings gives you a goof chance.

Old Course Ballot provides golfers with a chance at securing one of the nearly half of Old Course tee times that are available for Ballot each year. It is drawn 48 hours in advance of play and golfers should provide their names, home club and handicaps either online, by phone or at one of the clubhouses before 2pm, two days before the day they wish to play. To enter there must be a minimum of two and a maximum of four players.

Single Golfers are also in with a shot! Single golfers with suitable handicaps who wish to play the Old Course without an existing tee time should check in at the Old Pavilion on the day of play and the staff will do their best to join them with a two or three-ball group. There is no obligation on the existing golfers to make up a four-ball but common practice is that single golfers are warmly welcomed. With patience, this can be successful but there are no guarantees. Please check Busy Dates before travel.

There are also a number of Authorised Providers (Golf Tour Operators and Local Accommodation Providers) offering packages, including guaranteed Old Course tee times, throughout high season (15 April – 14 October, 2018). Contact us for more information this.

Don’t forget, you can also book to play any of the other amazing six St Andrews golf courses in the St Andrews Links Trust for 2018 – The New, The Castle, The Jubilee, Kingsbarns, Eden, Srathtyrum, and Balgrove.

Content researched at the St Andrews Links Trust – find out more here.

Is St Andrews on your golf bucket-list? Play it with us!

Come with us as we journey back too St Andrews, Scotland – where our director and tour leader (and PGA professional golfer) Kieran Moran is from! We’ll take you to play the best courses and to the best local ‘haunts’ that only a local knows!

There are seven golf courses St Andrews Links Trust – The Old, The New, The Castle, The Jubilee, Kingsbarns, Eden, Srathtyrum, and Balgrove golf courses. Our St Andrews and Scotland golf tours will play a handful of these courses when we are in St Andrews, depending on availability. The world-famous Old Courses is always a favourite with tour guests, and this is available via a ballot. We enter the  ballot on our guests behalf when in St Andrews, and have had good success in the past with securing games.  The other six courses also provide guests with an incredible golfing experience at ‘The  Home of Golf” and we can typically guarantee games on these courses. Depending on how many of the seven courses we play on our golf tour, we can also offer guests the option to play any of the additional courses on their rest day (at an extra cost).

Yes, while we focus on playing Britain’s championship courses and best wee hidden gems, we also provide guests with rest days where you can take the opportunity to visit any cultural landmarks or experiences. We always try to be as flexible as possible and to assist guest where we can with transport to attractions, or at lease to local transport links.

Yes, slacks or shorts (no more than four inches above the knee), collared shirts or turtlenecks and golf shoes are required on the Course. Shirts must be tucked in at all times. If in doubt and in general, anyone paying on the St Andrews courses is expected to dress in a neat and appropriate manner.

The St Andrews Links Clubhouse is the clubhouse for the Old, New and Jubilee Courses. You can use parking and locker facilities here. A buggy can then take you to the Old Pavilion for check-in. It is located adjacent to the first tee and offers golfers somewhere to wait in comfort with access to toilets and refreshments. You’ll need to be at the tee at least twenty minutes before your tee-time. If you’ve entered via the ballot, payment of your green fee will be made to the Starter on the day.

Yes, breakfast is always included unless you are on a self-catering basis where breakfast can sometimes be arranged.

As all our tour guides are PGA Professionals, all our guests benefit from scheduled PGA clinics that cover a range areas to work on from driving, to irons and chipping, to putting. Our tour guides also do their best to play as much as they can with each guest, and will provide in-game coaching throughout the tour.

We think it provides a bit of fun to hold a ‘friendly competition’ on our tours. That includes a round winner for each day we play, as well as an overall tour champion, which is awarded at the end of the tour. The winners receive prizes for their achievements.

We have been running golf tours for nearly ten years and our experience is that tours run smoothly when everything is organised and taken care of before departing. We like to ensure all accommodation, dining (breakfasts daily and lunches and dinners on golf days), golf, and transport are all arranged and paid for prior to leaving, so that all you have to do is focus on your golf when you land in your destination country.

We want you to squeeze as much enjoyment as possible out of each of our tours. That means, if you need some flexibility one morning in meeting a schedule or if you;d like help arranging sight seeing on a rest day, we will do out best to help. Please note, we have the ultimate enjoyment of the entire tour group to maintain, so individual requests aren’t always possible, but we ensure you, we will do our best to help.

We assist a lot of guests with hiring golf clubs, usually on our golf tours to The Open in Britain, St Andrews, and the USA, where the benefit of not travelling with clubs through airports combine with a relatively low cost to hire clubs, to sometimes outweighs the benefit of taking clubs. Having said that, many tour guests enjoy playing with their own clubs and so taking them along isn’t a problem for them.

For our golf tours to New Zealand and Tasmania, the costs of hiring clubs can be expensive and often it is more beneficial for guests to travel with their clubs.

Yes, on most courses the option to hire carts is available. However, please note that many championship-level golf courses can require medical certificates to hire carts. Other courses that hold environmental significance, like Barnbougle in Tasmania, don’t allow electric carts to help protect the local ecosystems.

Yes, in many instances, caddies are available to assist you with your round. We will advise the availability of caddies when you sign up to a golf tour.

The length of our golf tours usually depends on our destination location. When travelling on a golf tour to New Zealand or Tasmania, the tours are often around six nights. Our golf ours to The Open Championships in 2020 and 2021 are around 12 nights. This gives our guests enough time to attend The Open, to play the British championship courses, and to have a number of PGA clinics.

We like small-group golf tours as we want each of our guests to have the best possible experience, including the opportunity to play one or more rounds with their PGA tour guide/s.

Sure is; we can either create a golf tour that suits your group’s needs, or you can all join an existing tour, subject to availability.

Simply email Kristy Moran on kristy@morangolftours.com.au to enquire about availability. Then, we’ll email you through the booking form and your voice for deposit. Once we’ve received your deposit, we’ll send you a confirmation or welcome email, along with your receipt.

Yes, some courses have handicap limits and a number of golf clubs will require an index card or handicap certificate to be shown on the day. However, please do not let this deter you from enquiring; our tour guests have a range of handicaps and play a range of courses with different handicap requirements.

Sure, this is possible at many courses and we can assist with hiring caddies, we just ask that you advise us in advance and we will confirm this arrangement with you. Please note, caddies will only carry golf bags that have appropriate carrying strap, and only one bag at a time.

Scottish weather is well known to be unpredictable, but it’s likely to be a mix of conditions. Please pack clothing that you can wear should there be a little rain or wind.

Many courses do require golfers to wear either tailored shorts or long plants and a collared shirt, and to be generally neat and tidy. Denim Jeans are not permitted.

The majority of bedrooms have en-suite facilities. We will advise if your accommodation has shared facilities.

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