Golf trippers: a Wilmington company offers well-heeled golfers a whack at the world's most famous links.

• Author: Hensley, Bill

For more than three decades, a travel business run by brothers Gordon and Colin Dalgleish has fulfilled the bucket-list desires of golfers to play some of the world's most famous courses. Starting in 1984 with trips to their native Scotland, Wilmington-based PerryGolf now arranges excursions to more than a dozen destinations including Australia, Italy, South Africa and Spain.

In 2016, more than 2,500 golfers went on PerryGolf trips, and billings at the 20-employee company were about $20 million. Tours have ranged from a single person to hundreds of guests who play at renowned courses and stay overnight in elegant hotels and lodges.

When Charlotte municipal-bond trader Phil Gilboy and seven buddies decided to take a golf vacation, friends at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte urged them to hire PerryGolf. "It was the trip of a lifetime," says Gilboy of his 2015 visit that included rounds at famed Scottish and Irish courses such as Old Course at St. Andrews, Royal Troon Golf Club and the Trump Turnberry (yes, owned by a certain president). "We all joked that we spent more than we wanted to, but everyone had a great time. It is something that I'll always remember."

The Dalgleish brothers took up golf early in life and both received college scholarships tied to the sport. Colin had a notable athletic career, playing on the British-Irish Walker Cup team in 1981, the same year he was Scotland's amateur champion. While Colin lives overseas, Gordon is a longtime U.S. resident who moved to Wilmington in 2005. A graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., he has been named among the top U.S. travel specialists by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

Many PerryGolf clients are corporate executives seeking relief from daily pressures, Gordon says. "We have a client list, but we usually...