There are four main ways to do so if you have a suitable handicap (24 for men and 36 for women) and this post explains each of them in detail. The first way is to apply through the Advanced Reservations process at the start of September for play the following year. The second, and most common way, is to enter the Daily Ballot which is drawn each day for play the following day. Thirdly, Single Golfers can approach the Starter on the day they wish to play and he will try to slot them in with groups going out that day. Finally, guaranteed premium tee times can be purchased from the Old Course Experience.

More about the Daily Ballot. Nearly half of the total number of tee times on the Old Course each year are allocated to the Daily Ballot to give people who have been unable to book in advance a chance of playing. It is drawn each day for the next day’s play and on Saturday for Monday play although from January 7th 2012 this will be changing to a 48 hour ballot. Golfers should provide their names, home club and handicap details (24 for men and 36 for women) either by phone on +44 (0)1334 466666 or at one of the clubhouses before 2pm on the day before they wish to play or on Saturday for Monday. The draw will be made shortly after that and the results posted by 4pm each day. There must be at least two golfers in the group. Click here for the latest ballot results.

For many years golfers have entered the ballot one day ahead of when they wish to play the famous Links but from Saturday, January 7, 2012 golfers will enter two days before.

The change is being made by St Andrews Links Trust, which manages the seven public courses at the Home of Golf, following an extensive consultation exercise with local golfers, local golf clubs, businesses, golf organisations, hoteliers, travel operators and tourism bodies.

It is hoped the change to 48 hours ahead will benefit both local and visiting golfers by enabling them to plan their golf more effectively if they know further in advance when they will be playing the Old Course. It will dovetail with the one-day ahead booking system on the Jubilee, Eden and Strathtyrum courses and will enable golfers who have been unsuccessful in the ballot to book an alternative course for the day they want to play. The earlier draw will make it easier for visiting golfers to plan accommodation and travel arrangements and will encourage them to stay longer in St Andrews and play more golf in and around the town.

Euan Loudon, chief executive of St Andrews Links Trust, said, “This is an historic moment of change and one which has been carefully considered by Trustees and the Links Management Committee. The one-day ahead ballot has been in place for a long time but we believe it is now time to change.

“We hope the 48 hour ahead system will help local golfers plan their golf and will encourage visiting golfers to stay longer in St Andrews and play more golf while they are here. The feedback we have received from many travel operators and hotel and guest house owners suggests it will make it easier for them to plan their clients’ golf itineraries.”

The 48 hour ahead ballot will be drawn for the first time on Saturday, January, 7, 2012 for play on Monday, January 9, 2012. To enter the ballot requires at least two golfers and they will have to enter their names, home clubs and handicaps by 2pm. The ballot will take place every day of the week with the exception of Friday as there is no play on the Old Course on Sundays. The entries can be made by phone on 01334 466666 or in person at any of the three clubhouses at the Links. The Trust will continue to communicate the change to golfers throughout the rest of this year, ahead of the changeover in January 2012.

Kintyre Express has been making speedy runs between Troon and Campbeltown for several years, connecting Machrihanish to Ayrshire and its celebrated courses at Troon, Turnberry and Prestwick. It will continue to provide service on that route.  And now, with this new schedule of service to Ballycastle, golfers will be able to access even more of the U.K.’s top-ranked courses quickly, easily and enjoyably.

It’s a links golf lover’s dream come true.  In one easily arranged golf holiday, golfers can now play in Ayrshire, travel across to tackle Machrihanish Dunes and Machrihanish Golf Club, and then continue on to play the legendary courses of Northern Ireland.

The commercial service will run four days a week from May 27th through September 26th, incorporating two return journeys each day on the 90-minute crossing. Additional journeys will be scheduled on demand. The service will utilize a custom-built Redbay Stormforce 36-foot RIB, an all-weather, fully cabined craft with a capacity of 12 passengers and a top speed of 37 knots.

Campbeltown – Ballycastle passenger ferry service operates as follows:

• Friday 27th May – Monday 26th Sept 2011
• Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
• Fares – single (one-way) £30 • return (round-trip) £55

Fares & Booking Info

• Phone: +44 1586 555 895
• Email: info@kintryreexpress.com
• Web: http://www.kintyreexpress.com/

Golf course photographs by Aidan Bradley and music by Scott Johnson. Thanks guys!

Which Underwear to Buy. To pull this off you need to get two pair of washable, quick-drying travel underwear. I like the Give-N-Go® boxer briefs from Ex Officio but they also have boxers and traditional brief styles in the same material. The fabric is lightweight and extremely quick-drying (it’s 94% nylon and 6% lycra) so you can wash it on the go and pack fewer pairs. To control odor-causing bacteria, the fabric is also treated with some fancy stuff they call Aegis Microbe Shield™. Sounds good to me.

If you have trouble locating these bad boys at a local travel store, you can get them online at REI.com and Amazon.com. They are more expensive than your typical pair of cotton underwear, but well worth it.

The Plan. You’ve got your two pair of underwear now. How does this two-pair system actually work? Basically, during the day you’re wearing one pair and you’ve always got a clean, dry pair on deck. The only time it might be wet is during the evening after you’ve washed it and here’s how that works.

1. When you get to your hotel/B&B room after golf, hit the shower.
2. Keep your dirty pair of underwear on when you get into the shower.
3. Wash yourself.
4. Wash your underwear using soap on the outside and on the inside (this can be part of the “washing yourself” process, too.).
5. Remove underwear.
6. Rinse yourself and your underwear thoroughly.
7. Dry yourself with a bath towel.
8. Dry your underwear by rolling it up in a hand towel and stepping on it (see video below).
9. Place your underwear somewhere where it can dry (this will happen quite quickly if you’ve done the towel-rolling).

Time-shift Your Underwear. When you get dressed for the evening, put on the clean pair of underwear you washed the day before. Wear this pair for the rest of the evening and then the first part of the next day. You are, in effect, time-shifting your underwear! Repeat this process every day and you will always have a clean pair at the ready and never have a dirty pair in your luggage.

How to Quick-Dry Your Travel Underwear. Here’s a brief video demonstrating how to quick dry your travel underwear:

Related article: How to Pack for Your Next Golf Trip

PS/Caveat — I will often bring a good old-fashioned pair of cotton underwear for a long plane ride as they are just a tad more comfortable and breathable than the washable travel underwear. Just wanted to mention that in the spirit of full disclosure.

If your group wants to play the Old Course at St Andrews, now is the time to start planning your trip. Why so early? The St Andrews Links Trust announced yesterday that the advance reservation application forms for tee times on all courses in 2011 are now online and that applications for tee times for all courses in 2011 will be accepted from 10:00 BST on Wednesday, 1 September 2010 (What time is this in my time zone?).

Before considering dates you hope to play on St Andrews Links in 2011, please note the Old Course will be closed on the following dates:

• R & A Spring Meeting from 2 to 5 May inclusive
• R & A Autumn Meeting from 12 to 23 September inclusive
• Alfred Dunhill Links Championship from 26 September to 3 October inclusive

There’s a full list of busy dates for 2011 on their website. Also, be sure to read through the relevant guidelines before completing an application form for tee times in 2011. There are lots of booking process rules and regulations you need to be aware of — mess up and they will reject your application!

Applications may be submitted by e-mail from 10:00 BST on Wednesday 1 September 2010 to the Reservations Department email address which is reservations@standrews.org.uk The application will be invalid if it is sent to any alternative email address or if the application is duplicated. Any applications received before this date/time will not be accepted or considered.

For applications during the high season on the Old Course, tee times will only be accepted from individual golfers and not from any commercial concern.  St Andrews Links Trust reserves the right to refuse any application where it detects the involvement of a commercial concern.

Amazon.com link: The Greatest Game: The Ancyent and Healthfulle Exercyse of the Golf

The Greatest Game is available from quality booksellers in two editions: The hardback popular edition ( ISBN 9780951447079) for approximately $30 and an edition limited to 150 copies (UK only: ISBN 9780951447086) which has a higher quality paper and casing, a loose-leaf limited edition print of the cover image, and is signed by both authors and Colin Montgomerie at £150.

Foreward from The Greatest Game:

There are many books on the subject of golf, but I suspect there have been none quite like this one. The game is governed by strict Rules and also by Laws inexplicable to science, Books, however need no such regulation and it is refreshing to find the authors prepared to base historical statements on firm facts where available, and on equally firm powers of inventions when not. They have attempted nothing less than to fill the many gaps in our knowledge of the game, and they have done so with scholarship, much humour and glorious illustration.

Playing golf can be a serious business, as I know, but the game has a healthy habit of standing back from time to time and taking a wry, sideways look at itself, at the incongruities of its institutions and eccentricities of its devotees. This book does just that. No area of golf escapes the surgical probing of David Purdie’s pen, or the equally deft touch of Hugh Dodd’s paintbrush. The book takes us from the invention of the warning Fore!, apparently by the army of Imperial Rome, to the European Union’s help with the banana slice, GPS-linked tagging of club members to combat slow play, and finally to the extraordinary assertion that Wm. Shakespeare Esq. was probably a strolling player in more senses than one…

But overall, what emerges is the authors’ love of the game. It is a game which they both play and whose traditions we all cherish as the bedrock of one of the finest outdoor pursuits to have been conceived by the mind of Man; the indeed ancient and healthful exercise of the golf.

However, to describe it any further here would be, to misquote Mark Twain, a good read spoiled. Enjoy.
—Colin Montgomerie

Links Courses

1. Portmarnock
2. Royal County Down
3. Royal Portrush
4. The European Club
5. County Louth (Baltray)
6. Waterville
7. Ballybunion (Old)
8. Lahinch (Old)
9. County Sligo (Rosses Point)
10. The Island
11. The Royal Dublin
12. Doonbeg
13. Tralee
14. Ballyliffin (Glashedy)
15. Enniscrone
16. Ballyliffin (Old)
17. Old Head Kinsale
18. Portstewart (Strand)
19. Connemara
20. Donegal (Murvagh)
21. Belmullet (Carne)
22. Portmarnock Hotel & Links
23. Rosapenna (Sandy Hills)
24. Dooks
25. Rosslare

Parkland Courses

1. Mount Juliet
2. K Club (Palmer)
3. Adare
4. Druids Glen
5. Killarney (Killeen)
6. The Heritage
7. Palmerstown Stud
8. Headfort (New)
9. Carton (Montgomerie)
10. Carlow
11. Killeen Castle
12. Fota Island
13. Lough Erne
14. Cork (Little Island)
15. Malone
16. Slieve Russell
17. K Club (Smurfit)
18. Carton (O’Meara)
19. Hermitage
20. Westport
21. Belvoir Park
22. Killarney (Mahony’s Point)
23. Concra Wood
24. Mullingar
25. Luttrellstown Castle
26. Tullamore
27. Bunclody
28. Mount Wolseley
29. Rathsallagh
30. Grange
31. Tramore
32. Glasson
33. Knightsbrook
34. Shannon
35. Powerscourt (West)

The details for every golf course and accommodation — and everything else in the guides! — are carefully scrutinized and updated for each edition. Here’s an example from the Scotland Golf Adventure Guide.

All new purchases (immediate download and printed) will receive the updated versions effective immediately. Customers who have purchased a previous PDF version of the guide can download a free update to this latest version. This is just one of the many advantages of purchasing one of my guides.

Updated information includes, but is not limited to:

• New accommodations and courses
• Green fees and accommodation rates/tariffs for 2010
• Golf course contact info (email, web sites, etc.)
• Accommodation contact info (email, web sites, etc.)
• Flight schedules and airlines

Reduced rates for 2010. You’ll be happy to know that many golf courses — especially those in Ireland — have reduced their green fees for 2010. This is the first time I’ve seen this in many, many years. Same with hotel rates. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case in Scotland where most courses continue their 5-10% year green fees increase despite the gloomy economic environment.

If you buy a travel guide book that was printed sometime last year, or you already own one, I can guarantee that a good portion of the information in it is out of date and/or incorrect. By publishing my guides electronically, I can easily deliver you the latest — and most correct — information. And, even after you’ve made a purchase, because you get free updates you’ll always have access to accurate information when you plan your next trip.