About Hidden Links
OUR COMPANY
At Hidden Links ®, we are “all about” two things, “first” and “FOREMOST”. First, our destinations! We truly love the golf courses and golf packages that we promote and never tire of finding new discoveries to share with our clients! We hesitate to make this too much “About Us” though because there is so much to talk about with these amazing golf courses around the world. FOREMOST—we are all about you—our clients! Because in the end it’s not really “About Us”, it’s “About YOUR Experience!” Making sure that your arrangements are in perfect order, making sure that the logistics and travel times click just right, making sure that you are on the most memorable courses, making sure that you are staying in the right places, making sure that your time “off” of the course is as memorable as the golf (i.e. pubs, restaurants, sightseeing, activities!), making sure that your transportation arrangements are just what you need. Making sure that your entire experience is easy, enjoyable and most importantly exceptional from submitting your initial enquiry to hearing your rave reviews afterwards. These reviews are what in the end makes this truly worthwhile—we have received hundreds and hundreds of such notes over the years, nearly all of them unsolicited, representing thousands and thousands of Hidden Links travelers. It would be our privilege to receive one from your group as well!
CLICK HERE TO READ SOME HIDDEN LINKS REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS
We have shared some photos above and below so that you can learn a little bit about us and what inspired us to get into this business back in 2001 (including our very first website page!). From our Founder & CEO’s first visit to St. Andrews at the tender age of 14 (many photos of that trip included!), to our President’s family lineage rich with Scottish golf heritage including his grandfather’s appearances for Great Britain in the very first Walker Cup match and the 1936 US Amateur final, to our Managing Director who once shot 66 in competition on the Old Course at St. Andrews and represented Ireland on the international amateur golf stage, to those who have helped and inspired us along the way including “Dad and Ed” who helped us get started way back when, and our “Caddiemaster Emeritus”, the late B.B. Dillon from Lahinch in Ireland who was one of so many that made sure our clients were looked after on the ground right from the start.
Hidden Links ® is a member if the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO), the gold standard for our industry, and we are also members of the North American Golf Tour Alliance (NAGTOA).
We are also very privileged to have been honored with the prestigious “Member Favorite” award by American Express, representative of the amount of times that American Express card members choose Hidden Links for REPEAT golf vacation purchases.
We do appreciate that there are many ways to plan your golfing vacation and we very much want to earn your business as well! We have put together a detailed 18-hole “course” that we think sums up what we are about and what we offer!
VIEW 18 REASONS TO CHOOSE HIDDEN LINKS® FOR YOUR NEXT GOLF VACATION PACKAGE!”
OUR STAFF (click name to read bio)
Lauri Carr—Vice President and General Manager
Michelle McGreevy—Managing Director
Debbie Gorgen—Vice President of Operations
Kristen Stecik—Client Services Manager
Scott Hannah—Director of Canada Sales and Operations
Andy Davison—Golf Tour Architect (TM)
Carissa Donges and Meredith Emerson—Operations and Special Projects
MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER & CEO
Dear Hidden Links Enthusiasts,
Thank you very much for visiting our website! If you are interested in traveling to one of our amazing golf destinations, we believe you have come to the right place. Why? You want to play incredible golf in the most beautiful settings imaginable. You want to experience new places and new people and make new friends along the way. You want value for your money, whether you are spending a lot or a little. Most importantly, you want someone who can make it easy for you, someone who can take care of all of the details, someone you can trust for the little extras such as what special pub not to miss and where to get a meal to remember. Hidden Links ® provides all of this and more!
The information you see on our website is the culmination of over three decades of study regarding the greatest and most unique golf courses in the world, and thousands of successfully planned golf vacation packages. How fortunate we are to be able to share our love for these world-class golfing venues and we would be absolutely delighted to assist you in putting together your perfect golf tour. We know that for many of you, this vacation is a “once in a lifetime” experience” and everything we do is geared towards one goal—to provide the most outstanding golf vacation, at the most competitive price, with the finest customer service in the industry (TM).
I want to thank our many clients over the years, especially our “first batches” in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, for trusting us with the opportunity to handle their tours! Thank you also to our incredible staff for their sensational, consistently above-and-beyond efforts that make sure these trips go smoothly, led by Iain, Lauri, and Debbie who are the longest-tenured of our team. It is not as easy as they make it look! And thank you “Dad and Ed” for helping to get us started in the first place! Actually, what really got us started was a junior golf trip to England and Scotland back in 1982 so I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank Gary Ellis, Dave Martin, and Steve Cooper, the pros who put that program together!
A big thank you also goes out to the many people that we have worked with “on the ground” over the years, who made sure from the beginning that we had that “right” caddie, that “perfect” driver, that we were squeezed onto the starting sheet when it otherwise did not seem possible. Finally, thank you Renton Laidlaw for your incredible work on our various videos and Golf Channel commercials, what a privilege it is for us to be associated with you. There is no finer gentleman!
We hope you enjoy perusing our many photos and videos presented on our website! Once you are ready, we hope you will submit our exclusive “Tour Fitting (TM)” form and from there we will get back to you almost immediately with a customized tour proposal that will meet and exceed your every expectation. We know how important your vacation is to you and we do ask that you trust us with the responsibility! Whether you birdie the first hole on the Old Course like I did at the ripe old age of 14, or hit your first tee shot in Ireland into the cemetery to the right of Ballybunion’s first hole like I did ten years later (that hole gives new meaning to “do or die!”), you won’t be disappointed and we hope to be sending you on a trip you will remember forever very soon!
Thank you again for your consideration! All the best!
Sincerely yours,
Jeff Flynn
Founder & CEO
Hidden Links, Inc.
P.S. Please let me finish with a quick story about someone who was particularly helpful when we were first starting—B.B. Dillon, the late, great caddymaster at Lahinch Golf Club in County Clare Ireland. B.B. was so well known on the Emerald Isle that it is said you could address a letter to “B.B., County Clare, Ireland” and it would be sure to reach him. B.B. didn’t travel far in his long life (when asked if he had spent his entire life in Lahinch, he said “no, I was born in Ennistymon”. Ennistymon is about a 10 minute WALK from Lahinch.) but to the many thousands of golfers he met during his tenure, B.B. was Ireland’s greatest golf ambassador. He is also Hidden Links’ “Caddymaster Emeritus.” Here’s a classic B.B.’ ism—“this one’s not as long” (after our pal MDK remarked that his popped-up drive was traveling on the exact same line as his pop-up on the same hole the previous day). B.B. made every shot feel like the Open was on the line. “What do you think B.B.?” “WELL…you’ve got about…one sixty. A bit down the hill. But the WIND…is just coming in off of the Ocean. DEAD into your face. And the DEW, is just now settling into the grass. I would play about…one EIGHT-y.” “So, about a 6-iron B.B.?” “(breathes in deeply) I don’t know…six irrrrrronnnn…” “How about a 5-iron?” “THAT’S THE ONE! THAT’S ALL YOU NEED! THAT WON’T PUT YOU ANYWHERE BUT RIGHT NEXT TO THE STICK.” Oh the pain when you hit the American balloon ball out to the right, and have to see B.B.’s slumped shoulders and hear his deep sigh. “Oh that’s a bad shot.”
B.B. makes an appearance on our Lahinch Golf Club video and to our knowledge this is the only video of the great man in existence. Thank you B.B. for looking after our groups in Lahinch, rest in peace!
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