Shipping golf clubs to Scotland: fly with them or send them ahead?
Getting golf clubs to Scotland: Delta and easyJet bag rules, Luggage Forward from US$129, customs, trains to Leuchars and shipping home from your hotel.
The short answer: fly with them, unless you keep moving.
For most golfers landing in Edinburgh or Glasgow, the clubs can travel with you. Delta, for example, lets each passenger check one golf bag as a standard item of checked baggage, so on a fare that already includes a bag it costs nothing extra up to 50 lb (23 kg). Shipping starts to pay when the bag becomes the hard part of the trip: a week that runs St Andrews, then East Lothian, then Ayrshire; a train from Edinburgh to Leuchars; or a two-flight itinerary with a tight connection. Luggage Forward prices a golf bag to Scotland from US$129, collects it from your home and can deliver it to the pro shop or bag room. The company says it shipped its first golf bag to Scotland in 2004. Compare its quote with your airline’s bag and overweight fees in both directions, then weigh up how many stations, hire cars and hotel lobbies the travel case would otherwise pass through.
What the airlines allow for a golf bag.
On Delta the golf bag counts as one standard checked bag, and weight is the trap. Delta accepts one golf bag per passenger packed with a single set of clubs, plus balls, tees and one pair of shoes, in a hard case or in a soft travel bag if you sign a limited release. Its Main, Comfort and Premium Select cabins allow 50 lb per piece; Delta One allows 70 lb. Between the US and Europe a bag of 51 to 70 lb costs US$100 each way, anything over 70 lb is refused on those routes, and a golf bag over 115 linear inches (292 cm) is not accepted at all. Golfers flying up from elsewhere in the UK on easyJet buy sports equipment as a separate item on top of hold luggage. easyJet sells small (20 kg maximum) and large (32 kg maximum) allowances, will not pool their weight with your suitcase, and charges more if you add the item at the airport instead of online.
Luggage Forward to Scotland: prices, sizes and timing.
Luggage Forward’s Scotland page lists two golf categories. A small bag, up to 45 lb (18 kg) and 50 × 12 × 10 in (127 × 30 × 25 cm), starts at US$129. A large bag, up to 55 lb (22 kg) and 52 × 15 × 12 in (132 × 38 × 30 cm), starts at US$149. Treat both as floors: the page says rates rise for quicker delivery and for international routes, and a bag heavier than its booked category is re-rated at the next one. The company asks you to time the pickup so the clubs arrive a day or two before your first tee time. A trip inside the US can take just two business days; a crossing to Scotland needs more lead time, and Luggage Forward’s specialists set the ship date for your route. Bookings open up to 180 days before pickup, and a forwarding packet with luggage tags arrives up to a week before collection. If a bag is late, the on-time guarantee refunds double the shipping cost.
Customs, and what you cannot pack.
From the US, the clubs enter the UK as an international shipment, so they need customs paperwork. Luggage Forward prepares and submits the UK customs forms and oversees clearance, but its UK page lists customs duties and taxes on international shipments among the charges that can be added to the price. Leave the travel case unlocked: bags may be opened during customs or security screening, and a locked one can be delayed and lose the on-time guarantee. For cross-border trips the restricted list is long. No lithium batteries, which rules out rangefinders and the tracking tags many golfers slip into a side pocket. Most electronics are restricted too, though cables and converters are allowed. Leave out pressurised cans including sunscreen, as well as medication, food, alcohol, tobacco, valuables and cash, and carry what you need in your hand luggage. Free value protection covers each bag to US$500, or the bag’s actual value if that is less, and you can buy more cover any time before pickup. Golfers sending clubs from England or Wales stay inside the UK and skip customs entirely.
Moving clubs around St Andrews, East Lothian, Ayrshire and the Highlands.
Scotland’s golf coasts sit on railway lines, which helps until you are lifting a travel case on and off. St Andrews has no station of its own. Leuchars, on the Edinburgh to Dundee line, is the stop for the town, with two ScotRail trains an hour to Edinburgh Waverley on weekdays, three LNER trains a day to London King’s Cross and the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston. Buses and taxis cover the last stretch into St Andrews. In East Lothian, North Berwick is the end of its own branch line, 22 miles east of Waverley, with an hourly ScotRail service. Each change of train, taxi or hire car is another lift of a bag that can weigh 50 lb, so a week that runs St Andrews, East Lothian and Ayrshire means four moves: in, two changes of base, and out. A single base with day trips needs only two. If the plan includes a small plane to an island course, check that airline’s sports-equipment rules before you assume the clubs can come.
Ballot days at the Old Course, and shipping home.
The Old Course ballot decides where the clubs should be. Entries close at 2pm two days before play, results usually appear around 4.30pm, each entry needs two to four players, and the handicap limit is 36 for men and women. The course is closed on Sundays, so there is no Friday draw. Solo golfers enter the Singles Daily Draw in person between 9am and 5pm the day before. You may not know your Old Course day until you are already in town, so keep the clubs in St Andrews for the whole ballot window rather than routing them on to the next base. At the end of the trip, Luggage Forward can collect the bag from your Scottish hotel or the course and ship it home. That leaves you free to take the train back to Edinburgh or fly out of Glasgow with only a suitcase. Because bookings open 180 days ahead, you can arrange the return leg at the same time as the outbound one.
Renting clubs instead.
For two or three rounds, hiring can beat both flying and shipping. In the north-east, Moray Golf Club at Lossiemouth hires TaylorMade clubs from its pro shop for £50 a round, golf balls and tees included, which suits a Highland side trip on a carry-on-only ticket. Ask the pro shop at each course you have booked whether it hires sets, and reserve them with your tee time. The sums change over a full week. Five rounds of hire at that price come to £250. Two legs with Luggage Forward start at US$258 for a small golf bag, before any surcharge for speed or route, so over a week the costs sit close together once you convert the currency. The difference is that with hire you would be playing Kingsbarns or Carnoustie with clubs you have never hit. Hire suits the partner who decides to join for one round, or a final day after your own clubs have already been collected for home.
A checklist before you book.
Weigh the bag in its travel case at home: 50 lb (23 kg) is the line on Delta’s standard cabins, and 45 lb (18 kg) or 55 lb (22 kg) sets the Luggage Forward category. Check that every leg covers the clubs: a checked bag on Delta, and a separate sports-equipment item on any easyJet flight within the UK. Count the moves. One base near St Andrews favours flying with the clubs; St Andrews, then North Berwick, then Troon favours shipping. If you ship, book soon after your flights, aim for delivery a day or two before the first round, and tell the hotel or pro shop when you arrive. Take rangefinders, GPS tags, sunscreen and medication out of the bag, and leave the case unlocked. Enter the ballot for every eligible day you are in St Andrews and keep the clubs there until the draws are done. Then arrange collection from your last hotel for the journey home.
Get a quote for your route.
Send your clubs to your St Andrews hotel or a Scottish pro shop, and have them collected from your last stop for the trip home.
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