Non-Golfer Travel
Golf for the Visiting Companion: When Your Partner Doesn't Play
A letter to the half of the partnership who came to Scotland because the other half wanted to play golf for a week. What to do, where to go, and how to make the trip yours as well as theirs.
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Dear non-golfing reader,
You have been asked, or you have agreed, or you have somehow ended up in Scotland for a week because the other half of the partnership wanted to play golf and the only practical way to spend a week with them was to come too. This is a letter to you specifically. Most of the writing about Scottish golf trips is for the golfer. Almost none of it is for you.
The golfer, in your case, is going to leave at 7am, return at 2pm, eat lunch, possibly sleep, possibly want to talk about a putt that didn't drop on the 14th. They will be tired and content and slightly sunburned. You will have had four-to-six hours to do something with the morning. The trip works if you also do something you wanted to do.
Below is what we'd suggest to a friend in your position, by region.
If they are playing in Fife
You are within an hour of one of the great small medieval towns. St Andrews itself has a cathedral ruin, a castle, the British Golf Museum (which is more interesting than the name suggests, even for non-golfers), three good independent bookshops, and a coastal walk that goes for miles in either direction. The university buildings are walkable; sit in St Salvator's quad for an hour and pretend you're in a Donna Tartt novel.
Twenty minutes east, the East Neuk fishing villages — Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Elie — are stitched together by a coastal path that you can do in chunks. Anstruther has a fish-and-chip shop that has been the best in Scotland for years and is, incredibly, both worth the queue and worth the drive. Pittenweem has potters and a small art trail. Elie has a stretch of beach you can walk barefoot if it isn't raining.
A morning by car: Falkland Palace, twenty-five minutes inland. Mary Queen of Scots stayed there. Tudor real-tennis court. A garden you can sit in.
A morning without a car: walk the West Sands. Walk the East Sands. Coffee at one of the cafés on Market Street. Read.
If they are playing in East Lothian
Edinburgh is half an hour by train. You can do the museum (the National Museum of Scotland is genuinely excellent), the castle, the Royal Mile, the New Town, the Botanic Gardens, the Portrait Gallery, Calton Hill at sunrise. Most of those are full days; pick two.
If you'd rather stay in East Lothian, North Berwick has the Scottish Seabird Centre, the long beaches at Yellowcraig, the walk up North Berwick Law (an hour up, half an hour down, the best view of the Firth from anywhere), and a town centre that is a single street of shops worth spending a morning in.
Tantallon Castle, twenty minutes east of North Berwick, sits on the cliffs facing Bass Rock. The drive there is worth doing for the cliffs alone.
If they are playing in the Highlands
You are in the part of Scotland that other countries have started copying. Inverness is small but worth a half-day. Fort George (artillery fort) and Cawdor Castle are both within an hour. The Black Isle — across the bridge from Inverness — has dolphins at Chanonry Point, art galleries in Cromarty, and small distilleries you can tour without having to do a coach.
Further north, around Brora and Dornoch, the coastal walks are quiet in a way that feels prescription-medicine restorative. Dornoch itself is a small cathedral town with a beach and three good cafés. Sutherland gives you the highest density of empty road per square mile in western Europe; if you drive, you will see things.
If you are willing to do a long day, the drive west to Ullapool and then a Stornoway ferry takes you to the Outer Hebrides, which is beyond the scope of "what do I do while my partner is playing golf" but worth flagging in case you have a free day.
If they are playing in Ayrshire
The Burns Country. Robert Burns's birthplace at Alloway is a half-day, including the museum, the cottage, and the walk along the Doon. Culzean Castle and its country park is the best castle-with-grounds visit south of Edinburgh — half a day there easily, plus tea in the kitchen.
Ayr itself is a Victorian seaside town doing reasonable trade. Troon's high street is small but pleasant. The most interesting thing you might not have thought of: the Isle of Arran, ferry from Ardrossan, an hour, and back the same day. Brodick and the western coast are remarkable.
What you should not do
A few things people unfamiliar with Scotland sometimes try and regret:
Drive across the country to a "highlights" tour and back in a day. It is further than it looks on the map. Edinburgh to Skye and back in one day is technically possible and ruinous to the spirit.
Book yourself into a "non-golfer" package at a golf resort. Most of these are spa-and-shopping packages at golf hotels, which is fine, but the local market is usually better and cheaper. Use the hotel for sleeping; spend the day in the town.
Try to share the day with the golfer. A morning round and a planned activity together at lunch sounds romantic. In practice the golfer comes back later than expected, hungrier than expected, and less talkative than they were when they left. Plan the day independently, meet for dinner.
On joint policies and joint cover
A practical note. If you are travelling on a joint travel insurance policy with your partner, the cover usually applies to both of you for medical, baggage, and general trip cover — but the golf-specific add-on (equipment cover, lost green fees, public liability for shots) usually only applies to the named golfer. This is not usually a problem, but do check that:
- Your medical cover applies even when you and the golfer are doing different things on different sides of the country.
- Your trip cancellation cover applies if you (the non-golfer) need to cancel — some policies tie cancellation to the named lead traveller only.
- Your luggage cover applies to your bag specifically, not just theirs.
The insurance roundup piece and the holiday cancellation cover article cover this in detail.
A small case for going
You are going to be in Scotland for between five and ten days. The country, if you give it a chance independently of golf, is one of the more rewarding places to spend that kind of time in Europe. The light in October. The space. The food, which has improved enormously in twenty years. The fact that nobody will hurry you anywhere.
Treat the trip as your own as much as theirs. Read what you've been meaning to read. Walk somewhere quiet. Eat a long lunch on a bench somewhere. Come back to the hotel before the golfer does and have a bath in peace.
The golf will end. The week is yours too.
Yours warmly,
Birdie Brae