Zee Michaelson Travel

Celtic Tours Golf

• Belinda Zimmerman

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Speaker 1:

Hi and welcome to the new and improved the Michelson Travel Podcast. I will be speaking with more guests and more travelers and will bring you great insights and, I hope, to inspire your sense of curiosity. As you may or may not know, my concierge of podcast travel has retired, or so he thinks. Jay Lawrence has decided to actively travel more, so he will be one of my many guests as we explore this great world we live in, along with rediscovering America.

Speaker 2:

Hey, this is E Michelson, and I am here again with Diana from Celtic Tours. Hi, diana, happy New Year. We're in a new year, Time to get traveling again. I know we've talked quite a bit about Ireland, but there's something that Ireland and Scotland has that we have not really chatted about. Yeah, and that's Golf Golf. A lot of people here in Florida love golf.

Speaker 3:

Oh, absolutely so tell me more about Ireland and golf, so Kelta Tours is an expert when it comes to golfing in Ireland. We have so many courses that we put together for our clients, choosing different itineraries, tailoring their experiences, going to all different forces, so they can experience everything, and not just in Ireland, also in Scotland.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so I have clients that want to go to Ireland and they want to golf, true, true. Do they need to bring their clubs? Are clubs supplied?

Speaker 3:

for them. I would recommend always bringing your clubs, because clubs are very personal. You know, it's very personal and they're used to them, and if they want to golf their best rounds, I would definitely recommend bringing their own golf clubs.

Speaker 2:

So now does Celtic Tour set up the tee times for them?

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, basically what we'll do is we'll put a whole itinerary together for them, so we can split this out in many different ways For Ireland. We can do the southern links, we can do the northern links or the north-southeast links, so there are all different kinds of courses. We have probably about 25 courses in Ireland that we book for, 25 courses that you book for yeah, that we actually book for including one of the most popular, which is the Trump International in Doonbeg.

Speaker 2:

That's one of the most popular courses.

Speaker 1:

It is absolutely yeah.

Speaker 3:

And that's actually on the west side. Most of the courses are on the west side of the island. So you'll see, if you go to our website, celtictourscom, you'll see, under Ireland involves all of the courses that actually.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so CelticTourscom and you can go right there, there's a golf link that you can see.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you can go to Ireland. You's a golf link that you can see. Yeah, you can go to Ireland. You'll go to destinations, go to Ireland and you'll go to golfing, which is towards the bottom of the page, and you'll be able to actually see all of the courses that we have to offer there.

Speaker 2:

Now is it year-round, Because Ireland does have some nasty weather.

Speaker 3:

It does have nasty weather. Well, it's an island, you never know Ireland North.

Speaker 1:

Well, it's an island.

Speaker 2:

You never know, so you might.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, so you never know what the weather's going to be, but they do golf mostly year-round.

Speaker 2:

They do year-round.

Speaker 3:

Well, the typical temperature in Ireland is anywhere between 40 to about 65, 70 degrees. Oh that's not bad. So no, it's not bad at all. They very, very rarely get snow, except in more up north, so you can actually have some great golf in the southern links all year long. Now are you a golfer? I am not a golfer. My husband's a great golfer.

Speaker 2:

Oh, there you go.

Speaker 3:

But I am not a golfer.

Speaker 2:

So now you have all these beautiful golf courses on Ireland. And how long in advance should someone say make these reservations and do they pick and choose which courses they want to go to?

Speaker 3:

Sure, we can put an itinerary together for them if they'd like. So let's say, for example, they come into Dublin and they want to go ahead and do a course in Kildare, which is close to Dublin, and then they can kind of move and go anywhere they want. So we can go ahead and put a complete itinerary together for them. Or if they have courses that they want to experience, that they're familiar with, we can put those together for them as well.

Speaker 2:

So they can either listen to your advice, force it If they want to do their own. They would just say these are the courses I want to go to and you can put those together Tea times, everything.

Speaker 3:

Tea times, hotels, transportation, we can do it all for them If they want to stay in just one location and just do back-to-back in that one area. For example, if they want to stay in the southern part in Killarney, we have like four different golf courses in that area that they can do Four in Killarney only.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, just in that area.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, in that southern part or in Pularny, only Now. I do recommend that everybody contacts their travel advisors because they can kind of handhold them and help them get to what they want to do, which is fabulous, right, and I'm going to say they should do this in advance, like they don't want to call tomorrow and then be there the next day, correct?

Speaker 3:

No, yeah, and your question. Back to your question how long and how far should they do it ahead of time? It's pretty much anywhere between six months to a year, you know, because the tea times tend to book up, right? So what we're going to do is we're going to go out and find the tea times first for them, to make sure that we get the tea times for the courses that they want, and then we'll build the package around that, right?

Speaker 2:

So yeah, and then I'm going to assume the summertime is a little bit more crowded, oh of course, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

And let's say, the missus wants to go as well.

Speaker 3:

Of course, who doesn't want to go to Ireland, right? So the guys don't get to have all the fun. If the missus doesn't golf, then we can go ahead and actually do tours for her as well. Oh, so we could get a chauffeur for her and take her. So let's say they're in Dublin, like her husband's going to go golf. We can actually do hop-on, hop-offs in Dublin for her. We can do some of our tours like the Guinness Storehouse, the brewery, we can do the Epic Museum for her. We can put all of these tours together for her and then she doesn't have to worry about anything, we've got a pampering day.

Speaker 3:

We could do that as well, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Some of the resorts. Actually the International and Doombag is a resort where they have a spa. So some of these places are actually have their own spas. So while the hubby's out doing around the gulf.

Speaker 1:

The wife can be inside getting a nice massage and facial and just relaxing and enjoying the day. I like that I like that a lot.

Speaker 2:

Now, you know, because Celtic Tours goes more than just to Ireland. You also have Scotland on the itineraries. Now Scotland, of course, is very famous for St Andrews Yep, Now how would we do that?

Speaker 3:

Can we do both? Yeah, of course. Yeah, you can definitely incorporate Ireland and Scotland. We actually have tours that we do for Ireland and Scotland as well. But if they wanted to do let's say they wanted to do five days in Ireland and turn around and do five days in Scotland, we can do that for them.

Speaker 2:

So if you do back-to-back, yeah sure.

Speaker 3:

Now St Andrews. They have a total of 10 different golf courses. Seven of them are in the St Andrews Links, which is the old area. The old courses, and so they have seven different links there, and then they have three newer links. So for those who don't know a lot about St Andrews, it is actually the oldest golf course on the planet.

Speaker 2:

On the planet, on the planet.

Speaker 3:

I knew it was an old one. It was actually established. The old course was actually established in 1400. Well, wasn't golf established by the Scots? Yep, it was.

Speaker 1:

So there you go.

Speaker 3:

So the old course is obviously the oldest course on the planet. And then, of course, they have several different courses. They have the new course that was actually established in 1895.

Speaker 2:

That's a new one. That's a new one, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And then they have the Jubilee course, which was 1897. And then they have some newer courses the Castle course, which was in 2008. So, yeah, they have quite a few courses. These are all 18-hole golf courses, 18-hole golf courses in St Andrews and then right outside of St Andrews itself in the town, in Fairmont, they have two courses and then they have another course called the Duke's course, also in that area.

Speaker 2:

Now I've been told that getting into St Andrews is pretty tough, and so we would have to leave it to Celtic tourists to make sure we get those tea times Correct Now most of the courses on St Andrews we can go ahead and take care of for you the only course that is very difficult to get onto is the old course, the oldest one.

Speaker 3:

It is considered a lottery system and you typically have to do it ahead of time. Right, there are a couple other ways to get in. If you happen to be there, you know you can just show up and hope somebody doesn't show up for their tea time and maybe you'll just slide right in. But it is a lottery system and the lottery system.

Speaker 2:

Now, does Kilt of Tours work with that lottery system? We would not.

Speaker 3:

Unfortunately, we do not. This is something that has to be done. Personally, the old course is the only course that actually has it requires a handicap.

Speaker 2:

So they have to be good at what they do Exactly, and the handicap for men is 24.

Speaker 3:

The handicap for women is 36. So they definitely have to be good at what they do.

Speaker 2:

They have to be able to do it, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Now you can go and visit the old course and just walk the old course.

Speaker 2:

So if you wanted to see it, you can go and you know, do they have a clubhouse there that they can have a pint?

Speaker 3:

or something, exactly, exactly. But to actually play it, it is done by a lottery system and I believe the lottery system starts in the summertime.

Speaker 2:

I'm not going to give you an exact date. So they would have to go on the St Andrews website to get involved in the lottery if they wanted to.

Speaker 3:

Correct, but all the other courses in St Andrews, we can look for them, all the other ones.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know I don't play golf. So I played golf one whole time in my entire life and my whole excitement was I was able to hit the ball.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that was it.

Speaker 2:

So I don't think I'd be qualified to be on St Andrews. I'm definitely not qualified.

Speaker 3:

I tried taking lessons from my husband, but that just didn't go very well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's fun. I mean it's a great sport. People have to realize that a lot of people out there want to play these courses. You know because they're so used to playing ones in the United States and some of them are very tough. How tough are some of these courses overseas?

Speaker 3:

You know again, st Andrews is probably going to be the toughest. You know the old course is probably going to be the toughest. But I think all of the courses they have different pars and different you know Right. So I think if you're looking for a novice, we can definitely help you with that. Just let us know. Say, I'm a great golfer but I want to go out there and do some golfing. We'll make sure to get you on the correct course.

Speaker 2:

Right, because you know if you go to Ireland you're on St Andrews, one of their courses. You can always say I played St Andrews.

Speaker 2:

You know, it took me five hours you know, 27 minutes just to do one whole right. Exactly. You can actually say I played the course. Yeah, exactly exactly. The celtic tours would incorporate all of this into a package deal for people that want to go. Now, is this a group? Only that they would have to do well, to me, no, this is individual so all of these, yeah, and the reason why they're individuals?

Speaker 3:

because the tea times obviously the tea times are are booked, you know, for each person. So this is actually an individual. Now, if they'd like to go with a group of friends, definitely.

Speaker 1:

you know, highly recommend it, Like if they want a foursome or something.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, four we can do, four, six, eight we can do probably up to about 10 to 12 people and it's not actually considered group. The most difficult thing about that is just getting the tea times, because you know, if you have that many people, then obviously you're not going to all be playing together, right? But yeah, we can put as many people as you'd like to take with you and put it all together for you and make it a fun time, fun golfing tour.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and now when it comes to traveling, because I know Celtic Tourists can do handle the airfare they handle the hotels, they handle the transportation to and from. You can incorporate all of this into the package that you're supplying for the clients. Correct, Correct?

Speaker 3:

Yep, yep, we do it all. We want to make it as easy as possible on your clients so we can put everything together for them, so we don't have to do anything.

Speaker 2:

Now here in the United States I know we have golf tournaments and things like that. They must have these types of tournaments overseas. Is there any time that you should not be looking or going before some of these tournaments?

Speaker 3:

Well, obviously, the tournament at St Andrews would not be the prime time to go. I'm assuming that's in the summer.

Speaker 1:

It is Correct.

Speaker 3:

And I don't know the dates exactly because they tend to fluctuate a little bit and then they also have in Ireland. They have the Open this coming year, or actually this year. It's already this year, right? They have the Open. That's going to be there this year, so that's going to be a prime time as well year, so that's going to be a prime time as well.

Speaker 2:

You get in the summer, correct, correct, and you say that golf courses are open year-round.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, pretty much yeah.

Speaker 2:

So that's a good thing because you know some people, like my husband's, from South Dakota. Golf courses really aren't open in South Dakota in the winter, and I was from upstate New York and the golf courses were not really open in the winter yeah. So it's kind of a good thing, you know, and it might be better for travel, because it won't be so crowded, to take on maybe a later winter time frame.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I would highly recommend. If you're going to travel to Ireland, Scotland, any place like that, you know, I would highly recommend traveling anytime between September and November December time period. It's Christmas, Things tend to close down. A lot of people take off the month of December in.

Speaker 3:

Europe. You know it's very especially the last two weeks of December into the new year. Usually things are shut down so I don't highly recommend doing December, but definitely any time between September and November is a perfect time to go as well. As I would probably say February to you know, february March, february March yeah, with the exception of St Patrick's Day week Right.

Speaker 2:

Well, you can go for St. Patty's Day, you know and then maybe, you know, have a little of both.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, if you're just looking to avoid the crowds, then go during St Patrick's Day week.

Speaker 2:

Now, I know last time we spoke we were talking about you did have St Paddy's Day packages and things like that and I know that's probably already probably sold out for this year, but people to plan for next year.

Speaker 3:

Yes, which is?

Speaker 2:

great.

Speaker 3:

Yes, actually, we've already started putting our 2026 group together for St Patrick's.

Speaker 2:

Day last year.

Speaker 3:

So we're already in the works of Because you only do one group, we do, we only do one group. That's not a very large group, it isn't? We usually stop at about 28 people. We might go to 32 max a month. Right, we don't like to do two larger groups. So, yeah, but we're already starting to put that together and that'll be on our website sooner than much later.

Speaker 2:

Now, when people are coming to the golf courses and they're loaded down with their golf clubs and everything you have transportation for them, knowing that they have these heavy sets of clubs and things like that.

Speaker 3:

Yes, of course. Now again, we can do this many, many different ways. If they'd like to go ahead and rent a car and drive, if they want to be brave and drive over in Ireland or Scotland, they're welcome to go ahead and do that, which makes it a lot easier. But we also have, you know, transportation. We can do a chauffeur for them. You know transfers. We can do all of that and take care of that for them.

Speaker 2:

Now, how close are the hotel accommodations to the golf courses?

Speaker 3:

Very close. We make sure to keep, especially, I mean, some of them are resorts, so some of the golf courses themselves. They've actually stayed there at the golf course. Oh, that makes it easier. Yeah, so that makes it very nice.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that would be my personal favorite to stay right there on the course in the resort, you know if everything is handy to you Now. Is there anything else included in that type?

Speaker 3:

of package. We could include other things. Typically we don't, because after golf they kind of like their free time. They're either tired or from playing golf, so they want their free time. But we can definitely incorporate dinners if they'd like to do dinners and give them recommendations for dinners, and we can do all of that for them. Our specialists know the product inside and out and they've also experienced our scotting, so if you were going to go ahead and book the tea times or golf for those particular areas, they know exactly what they're talking about.

Speaker 2:

Right, so they know if you have such and such tea time and you're coming back at such and such a time. If you want to do a dinner reservation, they know where you can make your reservations or they can do it for you. Correct, and Celtic Cruise works closely with travel advisors, so the travel advisor can say help, I need this and we can work with them as well.

Speaker 3:

Yes, we love our travel advisors.

Speaker 1:

That's good to hear.

Speaker 2:

That's really good to hear.

Speaker 3:

We love our travel advisors. Yes and again, you know if you don't know, if you don't know, you don't know. So please feel free to give us a call and let us help you through the process, because that's what we're here for. We're here to make things easy for you.

Speaker 2:

I like that, I like that a lot. Yeah, now, in closing, is there anything else that you need to tell me about the golfing opportunities over in Ireland and Scotland? I think, don't you Quite a bit? Yeah, quite a bit. And you say most of it is you know how many? You said 25 courses.

Speaker 3:

Did I hear that right? Yeah, there's like 20, 25 different courses in Ireland alone that they can actually check out and go to.

Speaker 2:

And, of course, the infamous St Andrews.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and then yeah. So then you've got your Scotland, and St Andrews is obviously the most popular, but we have several other courses all over.

Speaker 2:

And a lot of people that aren't so much into golf don't realize that St Andrews is a series of golf courses. Correct, that's correct.

Speaker 3:

So they have to realize that it's not one course. Yeah, they just see the tournament on TV and think it's just the one course. Right that you know Tiger Woods was on it. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Well thank you very much for talking to me today. And again it's CelticTourscom. Call your travel advisor and say you want to get on here and go golfing in Ireland or in Scotland. And say go to CelticTourscom and they'd be more than happy to help you.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, diana for coming and talking to me today. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

I would like to thank my guests today for sharing their travel experiences. If any of these adventures excite you, feel free to contact me. Z at zmichelson travel dot com. You can check out my website zmichelson travel dot com, or you can call your local travel advisor and just say you heard it on Z Michelson Travels podcast. Remember, travel really opens up the world to you with food, culture, exploration and excitement, and we find out we truly are all the same. Travel safe and shoot for the stars, and if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. This is Zee Michelson. Remember. All my podcasts can be heard on any of your preferred podcast providers. And don't forget Z is spelt Z-E-E. Thanks for tuning in and have a great day.