Never sold a golf vacation before? No problem, says Sean Winton, the founder of Golf Inspired — a tour operator based in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“What I’ve tried to do is instill confidence in travel advisors, telling them ‘You don't need to know a lot about golf,’” said Winton, who’s been selling golf vacations for more than 30 years. “We try to empower them and give them the confidence to be able to make them feel like they can do it."
Born and raised in Scotland, Winton launched Golf Inspired in the first quarter of last year. He said it’s a “one-stop-shop platform” he’s been working on for the better part of three decades.
Although Golf Inspired sells products directly to consumers, Winton said about 65% of the tour operator’s business comes from travel advisors, who receive a 10-12% commission on the total cost of any booking they help generate.
“We plan your hotel; we book your green fees,” Winton said. “We book your transportation. It's a soup to nuts full experience, and we really get to know the client and who's traveling — everybody in the group that's traveling — so we can personalize it.”
Lucrative “Golf-Plus” Bookings
John Murray — a longtime golf specialist based in Westport, Connecticut — works for North & West Coast Links Golf Ireland, a tour operator specializing in golf vacations across the island that also pays commission to travel advisors.
“If we put a trip together, and it includes golf, hotel, car rental or a coach, maybe some fishing, maybe a cooking school or anything like that, the commission to the agent is based on the entire package,” Murray said.
According to Murray, it’s typical for an Ireland golf vacation these days to run around $5,000 a week. That figure doesn’t feature the cost of air tickets but does include course fees, which commonly average around $500 a day.
“More and more these days, it's not just golf — it's ‘golf-plus,’” he said. “People playing down in the southwest of Ireland are saying, ‘Well, I'm not coming all the way here and not going to see the Cliffs of Moher or the Ring of Kerry.’ So, it's becoming a more complete vacation than it used to be.”
Alison Metcalfe, executive vice president and the head of North America for Tourism Ireland, described golf travelers as a growth market for the destination.
Golf travelers are high-spending visitors, and they typically do spend more than the average leisure tourist.
“Golf travelers are high-spending visitors, and they typically do spend more than the average leisure tourist,” Metcalfe said. “We're very keen to target this segment of the market. It's a niche for us, and it's a very popular one. It's also a very valuable one.”
Tracey Beveridge, VisitScotland’s senior market development manager for North America, says U.S. travelers are particularly interested in golf-plus options across Scotland and routinely book five- to 10-day golf vacations.
“It’s very important to us to spread the benefits of golf tourism to every region of the country throughout the year, and for our visitors to experience a much deeper connection with Scotland,” Beveridge said. “The world-renowned welcome and amazing scenery and wildlife on the courses and our luxurious lodgings, amazing natural larder and cuisine — there’s a wide variety of attractions to see and do off the fairways and greens."
Where Do Golfers Vacation?
Widely considered the birthplace of golf, Scotland is commonly at the top of most golfers’ international bucket lists, due in no small part to the iconic Old Course at St. Andrews, where golf has been played since at least 1552.
“The Highlands of Scotland have amazing courses — Dornoch and Castle Stuart — and then the southwest has Troon, Turnberry and loads of others,” said North & West Coast Links’ Murray. “Then there's Ireland, there's England, there's Wales to a lesser extent, too. And there’s Spain, there's Portugal — all of these are fantastic golf destinations."
Ireland is home to a diverse collection stunning links golf courses.
Credit: 2025 Tourism IrelandGolf Inspired’s Winton also mentioned South Africa, New Zealand and Australia as other favorites, but he pointed to off-the-beaten-path golf experiences his company offers in Lofoten, Norway, and the Costa Navarino in Greece, as well.
“It's about three and a half hours south of Athens,” Winton said of Costa Navarino. “They built four golf courses right there, and the golf and the accommodations are phenomenal.”
Longtime golfer Jason England, the owner of Discover Luxury Travel in Bedford, Indiana, focuses his golf vacation bookings on either Scotland or Ireland. Still, he encourages his clients to try new courses there every day.
“There's enough golf between Scotland and Ireland that you’d have to go over several trips to hit them all,” he said. “Even the courses that aren’t maybe the best known are often hidden gems."
Murray noted that securing tee times at some of the two countries’ most popular courses during the high season — between late May and September — can be difficult.
“Right now, there are no tee times at the [St. Andrews] Old Course available for high season 2025,” he said.
Expert Assistance
Both VisitScotland’s Beveridge and Tourism Ireland’s Metcalfe encourage travel advisors to visit their respective online agent training programs to learn more about each destination’s diverse collection of golf courses and the lesser-known standouts.
Golf Inspired’s Winton also suggests that travel advisors register through his company’s website, so they can take advantage of the operator’s expertise in a range of international golf destinations, as well as customizable sales and marketing tools, including collateral for newsletters and blogs.
“It’s collateral we create and personalize for them,” Winton explained. “And they can send it out to their audience and their clients, saying, ‘I'm just letting you know that we now have a golf travel specialty all over the world with Golf Inspired.’"
Winton said a member of the team will also work with the advisor to schedule calls with clients to discuss destination options, golf course details and even activity possibilities, as well as accommodations and restaurant choices.
“That way, I can ask your client directly what they're looking for, set expectations on getting guaranteed tee times at St. Andrews and all the stuff they usually ask for,” Winton said. “I can take the intimidation out of the conversation, where you might not know all the information. … My goal is to make you look good.”
Meanwhile, North & West Coast Links’ Murray acknowledged that relationships between advisors and golf tour operators can be tenuous.
“You've got to build trust, and trust doesn't happen because I say it happens — trust happens over time,” he said. “I'm a big fan of working with agents. I've always done it, but the agent has got to trust that I'm not going to steal their client.”
Murray clarified that his company’s policy is that if clients ever book other vacations again in the future, the advisor gets their commission — whether the client goes through the advisor or not.
“It can really be a very, very lucrative booking,” Murray said. “And it's often not just golf. It's golfers who want to go play golf, but they want good food, they want sightseeing. … They might want to do other activities — fishing, horse riding, falconry. All of that can be arranged, but it's a team effort between the agent and the operator.”
