I'm going to Scotland next week for a long-planned and highly anticipated golf trip. We have six tee times at the following courses: Turnberry (Ailsa and Kintyre), Carnoustie Championship, St. Andrews Castle, Kingsbarns, and Gleneagles Centenary. We are all set in terms of hotel, driver, etc. We have printed out our handicap indexes and believe will have caddies lined up for every round. I played (horribly) Gleneagles once before on a business trip 3 years ago but otherwise have no experience on these coures. My questions are as follows:

1. What to bring generally. Besides my passport, credit cards, and enough casual clothing, I plan to bring my clubs. I have an excellent golf club travel bag. I plan to bring two pair of waterproof shoes, lots of good socks, a Sun Mountain Rainflex suit, raingloves, a waterproof bucket hat, and plenty of balls. Being from cold and unpredictable New England, I am prepared for the worst regarding weather and should have plenty of layers. Anything I'm overlooking?

2. Formal/Semi-formal attire. We are staying at the Westin Turnberry, St. Andrews Fairmont, and Gleneagles Resort. Do these places require dinner jackets, sport coats, etc.? Is there a problem with jeans or the typical post-round golf shirt and khakis attire? Any advice in this regard would be appreciated. I don't want to be stuck wishing I brought a blazer or semi-formal outfit. Yes...I know we need to take our hats off while indoors.

3. Weather. I realize the weather may turn on us and any forecast is probably not going to make things more predictable. However, does anyone have a sense of what the weather is "supposed" to be like? Weather.com says high temps will range from between 14-18 celsius (55-65 farenheit) with chance of showers almost every day. BBC weather only goes out 5 days. Any websites or links I should be checking out? Thanks.

4. Cell Phones/electronics. I have an AT&T Blackberry with GSM. Does anyone know if I need to do anything in advance to register the phone or otherwise make it compatible with European cell service? Also, I forget how the electronics conversion thing goes...will I be able to charge my iPod and camera at the hotels? I don't plan on checking email or working but would like to know my wife or business associates can reach me if they need to.

5. GOLF!!! Finally, the important stuff. I'm a 12 handicap, meaning of course I can go out there and shoot 80 one day and 95 the next. Are the courses mentioned above going to hammer me? I play on a tough course (Rating 72/Slope 144) which requires accuracy and creativity as well as challenging greens. Should I check my ego at the airport or can I hold some hope for a few decent rounds? Any thoughts on strategies generally? I realize that I will need to put the ball back in my stance to bring trajectory down on many shots - i.e., I won't be bombing it on every shot and will of course need to pay attention to wind/foul weather, fairway and green conditions, the caddie's advice, etc. Any other advice in this regard?

Thanks for any advice.

Good for this time of year. But seriously you are going to have one fastic time playing those courses

Sounds like your pretty much ready to go. The weather is a crap shoot. We went in May of 06 for 7 days, and it rained twice at night. We never felt one rain drop in 10 rounds. We stayed at Rusacks on the Old course 18th fairway, and we all wore jackets for dinner. I never heard if they were required, we just wore them anyway. We played 2 rounds at Muirfield, so you had to have a coat & tie on for the between round lunch with the members. There's Interac cash machines everywhere, so getting money is never a problem. As far as the courses go, we only played Carnasty & Kingsbarns on your list. Kingsbarn's is a great track, with some really interesting holes. You have a view if the water on every fairway. Carnasty is just plain tough. If the wind is up, you can forget about playing to your cap. I had my 2nd best ball striking round there, and shot 85. I'm an 8. If you do shoot your cap, they give you a medal for your golf bag. The main thing is to go and have fun, it was the best golf trip of my life, and just walking up 18 at the Old course is burnt into my memory forever. Have a great time!

It would be a good idea to bring a sport coat for dinner if you can fit it into your bag. Turnberry has a very nice dining room, but you are not required to eat there. Not sure if a jacket is mandatory there or not. My group went to Scotland back in May and a jacket was required for dining at both Muirfield and at the R&A, so everyone in my group brought one. As a side note, we attempted to save a few $ and ate dinner at a restaurant called Wildings which is probably about 1 mile from the Turnberry resort. One of the best meals of the trip and quite a bit cheaper than eating at Turnberry. I'd definitely recommend it.

I don't think you will find the courses playing that difficult. They don't want everyone playing 5+ hour rounds of golf, so the rough is cut back to a reasonable level. Everyone in my group shot about the same as back here in the States.

You should call your cell phone provider and confirm your phone is set up for international travel. Some guys in my group had phones that worked, others didn't. I'm not enough of a tech expert to be able to tell you. Your charger won't work in the hotel. You need a converter to plug any device into a wall socket. However, if you have a car charger, that will work fine.

Just to be safe, if I were you I would call this week to re-confirm all your reservations. Can't hurt. For example, my group of 8 had reserved two minivans at the airport. But they only held one of them and there was not another full size minivan available in the entire airport and we were forced to rent two additional vehicles.

Otherwise, sounds to me like you're all set. Have a great trip. Expect everything to be VERY expensive, given the current exchange rate.

Thanks to all who replied. I am very much looking forward to the trip.

Bring your brolly!!

And make sure it is windproof!!