There was an interesting article about Scotland in the Travel and Leisure section of the New York Times yesterday. To see the article click here.

D.Lux of Washington

St Andrews Day

Euan MacHaggis wishes you all a Happy St Andrews day. Consume something scottish tonight.

Reckless Abandon

I read an article in Golf Digest a few years ago concerning gold trips to Scotland. The author had experienced many trips to the the land of haggis and heather. He told the story of his favorite trip.

He went without a plan. Well actually he had a plan, not an itinerary. He remembered seeing a course on his way to the Highlands along the A9 highway. His plan was to go and play that course and talk to the members afterwards in the grill room. There he explained what direction he was headed the next day and ask them if there was a course they would recommend. This he did this day after day and played only those country courses recommended by the locals. He didn't play a single course that anyone in the US had ever heard of, yet he claimed it was the best trip to Scotland he ever had.

I believe him.

DLux of Maine

Heavy hearts, and a promise all around

We started this site ten months ago with the dual purpose of keeping ourselves motivated (i.e. keeping our budgets on track) and continuing to build excitement for the eventual trip. 

For months things progressed as planned but as we went from 70-weeks-out time frame (where everything was hypothetical) to crossing the one-year barrier, to the point at which booking reservations and flights came on to the immediate timeframe, it became apparent that with an honest look at where we all stood, 2012 wouldn't be as practical as hoped.

In the end, it was with heavy hearts, and a promise all around that we would not er again, that we decided collectively that the pilgrimage would have to wait one more year.

I feel disproportionately responsible. Making the decision to take a job transfer to Seattle put me in a particularly poor position to take an expensive international trip, but I am confident that we will make this trip happen in the spring of 2013.

-DLux of Washington
formerly DLux of Arizona

Picking a date

Fellow pilgrims,

The St Andrews Links Trust has published the Busy Dates for 2012. We can now set about planning our journey.

The follow days in May should be avoided 7,8,9,10,12, 20, 24 (and of course Sundays).

I propose we request a tee time between the 14 and 31 of May and see what we get. We only have a month to get our application together which means I need handicaps.

Now it's getting very real!!!!

DLux of Maine

The Heat is ON

Although a scattering of storms has the temperatures below 110 (for the most part) the weather here has hardly been conducive to golfing...

I don't really have a good excuse for my lack of activity on this site, just the general tasks of life I suppose. Looking forward to seeing you guys, and God willing, playing a round or two of golf at the end of this month!

-DLux of AZ

Count Down Counter

I received an email from DLux of AZ. He noted that the count down counter is below 300. That is a significant milestone.

Summer has brought my posts to a virtual halt. I apologize for that. Check out the European Tour Golf at the Scottish Open played a Castle Stuart new Inverness. You can catch in on the Golf Channel on Saturday and Sunday morning. It is a pretty new course, built within the last five years if I'm not mistaken. It is in the north, near Inverness, one of my favorite Scottish cities. "Capital of the Highland"