Launched at the 1997 Open, "A Round in Scotland" is a comprehensive guide to golf in Scotland. It includes a hole-by-hole tour of 11 of Scotland's finest clubs as well as local hotels, restaurants and places to visit in Scotland.

The Clubs section includes an audio/visual hole-by-hole guide along with the history of the course, clubhouse information, and special tidbits. The Scottish audio narration is a nice feature. Two courses, St. Andrews and Skibo Castle, include a video tour of the course and town, with the latter narrated by ABC's Jack Whitaker. It is too bad the others did not have video clips. Unfortunately the pictures of the holes are somewhat disappointing, often too dark.

The Pro Shop is basically just advertisements. Two video commercials are included. One features Seve Ballesteros for Weather Beater while Jack Nicklaus promotes his Air Nicklaus driver.

The 19th Hole highlights dining, theater, shopping and nightlife in Scotland using full-screen clickable advertisements.

The Getting There travel section provides comprehensive information including printable road maps, and details on traveling by air, auto, and rail.

The History area includes several interesting sections. Players of the past are highlighted with their scores and records in the major championships. The Rules of the Royal and Ancient are there along with results from the British Open championships.

The interactive golf quiz will test your trivia knowledge. This is a challenging contest and wrong answers are greeted by the sounds of drives shattering glass.

A searchable reference guide to all courses in Scotland is included.

"A Round in Scotland" is a nice reference for those who are planning to make the trek overseas. Overall the CD provides fresh information but with the exception of the St. Andrews and Skibo Castle videos, lacks pizazz. Buy the CD if you are interested in the information, not to be entertained.

Don Dowell is the Editor/Publisher of Golf in the SouthWest

(October 26, 1998)©