The Prestwick Experience

Wednesday, Jul 23^rd – The “Prestwick Experience”

 

We were excited to play Prestwick since it is the birthplace of The Open Championship in 1860, which was 12 holes then and played in 3 consecutive rounds starting at Noon on a Saturday (see you can always learn something new).

  

We arrived at Prestwick early in the morning for our 8:15 tee time. The place opens at 7:30 and we were given a friendly greeting by Bobby in his green jacket with the Prestwick emblem on the breast (the jacket figures in later in the story – hence the detail given here) and his crisp white shirt and green striped Prestwick tie. When we went in the door there was a man named Jerry seated at a desk – almost like you find in an office building – also in his green Prestwick jacket and pressed white shirt and Prestwick tie. He was a bit more stodgy than Bobby. Each time we were charmed with “Welcome to the Prestwick Experience!” Very nice indeed.

There is no practice area (or what we call a driving range) so we were practicing on the putting green which is right outside the door and next to the first tee. On the far edge of the putting green away from the entrance, Steve was putting a few balls from the fringe to get a sense of putting from off the green as is common on such links courses. Good old Jerry made a bee line for Steve with a stern chastisement, “There is no practicing in this area. You must practice your putting ON the putting green.” Yes, he did emphasize “ON.” Really. I am not making this up. I have witnesses. Hmmm. A little damper on the Prestwick Experience.

 

The Prestwick course is very tough, lots of deep, thick rough.

 

 

We always had one of our caddies up ahead because tracking your ball with many blind shots and deep rough made it necessary to keep play moving. How bad was the rough? On one hole, Paul hit a ball off the fairway and we thought it was lost, but the fore-caddie found it and put his hat on it. When Paul and Steve approached the area (note the caddie was off on the other side of the fairway trying to find another one of our ever-so-slightly errant tee shots), we couldn’t find the caddies’ hat (!!) and the caddie had to return to help us find both the hat and the ball !!

The course also has a bit of an odd lay-out … some wild doglegs, a par 3 called Himalaya (remember all the holes and traps have names), which has a 100 foot high grass covered sand dune directly in front of the tee box and you have to hit a 200 yards shot over the dune to the green on the other side.

 

 

There is a sand trap on the 17^th hole called (appropriately) “The Sahara” and it is the single largest collection of sand I have ever seen on a golf course (ask Chan … it took him 3 shots to get out).

 

 

 

Steve parred a 457 yard uphill par 4 with a driver/5-wood to the back of the green and two putt.

 

At this point I need to mention that we were playing our own Open Championship – the total score on the four Open courses [Carnoustie, St. Andrews, Royal Troon (don’t forget the Royal) and Prestwick]. On the 18^th hole, as it turns out, Chan and Paul and Steve are all in the running for the best score with Chan and Paul tied and Steve one stroke behind. Steve needs to chip in from pin-high just off the green (he hasn’t done it all day J), Chan needs to get up-and-down for par from just of the front edge of the green (50 feet away) and Paul is laying 1 having driven through the green and needs to get down in 2 from the very back of the green which is about 40 feet away for a birdie to win. Steve lips out the chip-in, Chan lags to 7 feet from where he ultimately makes a clutch par putt. [Did I mention Jack was out of it at this point??] Paul has lagged his long putt to within 5 feet. Now, the tee box for the 14^th hole is right next to the 18^th green and in fact the pin placement on the 18^th is on the far side and closest to the tee box. Paul looks at the group on the tee box and asks if they want to hit their drives or whether he should putt. The group on the tee politely defers to Paul’s putt which if he makes it wins our Open Championship. So, Paul lines up the putt, one that he has been making all day and the whole trip as the steadiest putter in the group. Just as he takes his putter back, there is the whoosh and click of a guy hitting his drive on the adjacent tee box. Paul yips the putt and does the ‘angry dance’ while we are all looking over our shoulder at the oblivious group on the 14^th tee. Paul taps in for par leaving he and Chan tied and Steve one stroke behind. In a 4-hole playoff (that’s what they do at the Open) using the 4 highest handicap holes on the scorecard, Paul wins by 2 strokes !!! So, maybe justice was served.

As part of our Prestwick Experience that we paid for, we were to have a complementary lunch in the dining room. After our round, we found out that we needed to wear a jacket, white shirt and Prestwick tie [which was on sale in the Pro Shop for €25 ($32 US)] to enter the dining room. Good old Jerry was standing guard and we could not even look inside the inner sanctum. So much for the Prestwick Experience.

We went upstairs for lunch in the casual dining room instead to cash in our free lunch, only to find at the end of our lunch that the lunch in the commoners room WASN’T allowed to be substituted for the dining room lunch – even though we ordered fish-and-chips, burgers and a few drinks! The waitress fetched the Secretary of the Club who acknowledged that the lunch in the dining room was much more elegant (i.e. expensive), but that we bought the Prestwick Experience and there was no substitute for that. After some wrangling, we got off with paying for our drinks. And that ladies and gentlemen is the Prestwick experience L.

We left Prestwick to take the ferry to Ireland, and we sat in the Club Room (Chan and Steve had to vouch for the commoners to be allowed in the Club Room). We arrived at Larne where Marty met us and drove us to the Bushmills Inn (yes, Bushmills has an ‘s’ on the end of it and not an apostrophe). It is the home of the world’s oldest whiskey – Bushmills.

 

 

Shortly after arrival and check-in, Paul successfully tested the fire alarm system at the hotel by going out the wrong door. It turned out to be not a big deal since most of the guests were allowed to return to their rooms in about an hour.

I should note that the 90 minute drive from Larne to Bushmills was our first experience with Irish highways and byways – mostly byways. To call them country roads is an exaggeration as they are very narrow, bumpy and uneven and would not classify as roads in any first world country.

The Postage Stamp

Tuesday, Jul 22^nd – The Postage Stamp

The following is based on a true story.

Cliff Notes

One of our lads couldn’t hold his beer.

Jack’s driver was found sitting outside his cottage door in the morning with a sign that said “Free to a good golfer.”

Troon was magnificent (some beautiful views) and difficult (many deep bunkers and incredibly dense rough.

Our caddies were fabulous and gave us a whole lot of new golf humor – see below.

Chan birdied the 1^st  hole, again !! He seems to do this every round.

Jack birdied the 3^rd hole with a putt from 35-40 yards out in the fairway (i.e. about a 150 foot putt)!!

Paul continues to master putting from off the green (and I mean long putts or putts over serious mounds) to get up-and-down.

Steve just missed a birdie on 18 and ended as medalist with an 80.

Final scores – Championship Course: Steve 80; Paul 83; Chan 84; Jack 86. Trust me – these are really good scores as everyone played a tough course very well.

From the tee on number 7. Where is that fairway anyway?

Final scores in the afternoon – Portland Course: Steve 80; Paul 81; Chan 83; Jack ‘other’.

At dinner, Paul was identified as the obvious bachelor in the group and received a note (carried by our waiter) from Beatrice (who apparently was eating somewhere else in the restaurant). She suggested that Paul contact her that evening.

The Rest of the Story

Actually, on Monday night while driving to Troon from St. Andrews, some of the lads had a few drinks in the back of our Mercedes van. One of the lads (who will go unnamed to protect the innocent) seemed to have a bladder that was unsuited for that much drinking or that much driving. He pleaded with Hilda (our driver) to get to an exit quickly, but there were no exits that appeared to have a restroom, so on Hilda travelled. The lamenting got so loud that Steve offered Chan a rubber band, at which point Hilda pulled over to the side of the road, and the unnamed lad went deep into the bush for relief. When Chan got back in the car, we were on our away again, but Jack refused to give him any more beer.

We awoke to another spectacular sunny, warm day at Troon. Records were being set across the country as temperatures were getting into the upper 80’s, or about 20 degrees above normal. Once again it was shorts, sun screen and sun glasses. Thank goodness there was a slight zephyr to keep us cool (but not the strong winds that can disrupt a golf game).

We had an early morning tee time at Royal Troon Golf Club (note that it is the last course to be given the Royal designation, and according to the Royal Family, it will be the last). It deserves its Royal appellation – home of numerous Open Championships with winners like Palmer, Weiskopf, Calcavecchi and Watson. It has a very large and nice clubhouse with lots of historical pictures, trophies and paraphernalia.

 

At the tee on #1 at Troon.

 

The course is more beautiful, with seaside vistas and more character to it. It was hard and fast, so good drives really roll out, while bad drives (and sometimes good ones) get into the pot bunkers or rough. When I say rough, I mean the toughest rough we have ever seen – even on this trip. My caddie said that they cut the fairways about once a week (grass grows slowly in this climate), the first cut of rough about once a month, and the real rough hasn’t been cut for about 100 years. It’s true !! That means the real rough (we say gorse, or heather or as David Faherty would say “the spinach”) is so thick that walking on it feels like you are walking on a mattress. It is excessively deep and spongey and if your ball goes into it – it is either resting on the thicket and not buried too badly or it is completely lost and won’t be found until they cut the grass in another 100 years.

 

We have a very good group of caddies – knowledgeable, humorous  - that helped us score well and enjoy the perfect day (great course, fabulous weather).  We learned some new golfing terms from our caddies about putting – like the Joe Pesci (a nasty five footer) and the Lance Armstrong (one ball left) – as well as some stories about Tiger Woods that will not make the blog but will be discussed thoroughly at Old Oakland some Wednesday night or Saturday afternoon.

Steve’s caddie used to caddy for Colin Montgomery and was on his bag one year when Monty won the European Tour Championship as well as the European tour money title. He travelled with Monty to the US for one of the Tour Championships that was held in Atlanta. Ultimately, Colin (the caddie) said the money was great, but the travel, stress and demands of managing someone else pretty much 24x7 wasn’t worth it, so he returned to Troon and caddies there for hackers like me. He taught me (and all of us) how to hit shots out of ultra-deep rough (like you can’t even imagine in the US how thick this rough is) as well as deep pot bunkers (he taught me how to hit a ball out of a four foot deep bunker with my ball no more than 6 inches from the wall of the bunker – I actually did it!!!!).

An interesting thing about all the courses is that the holes all have names and many of the features of the course have names as well:

There’s Hogan’s alley on Carnoustie (as seen in previous blog posts) – a very narrow strip of fairway made famous by Ben Hogan. By the way, Jack nailed a drive 282 yards down Hogan’s alley while Steve hit a 282½ yard down the same alley. Paul and Chan found the bunkers.

There’s the Bobby Jones bunker and the Hell bunker at St. Andrews (already mentioned in previous posts).

At Troon, there are many names, but the third most famous hole in all of golf is The Postage Stamp – a 110 yard, downhill, par 3 with a tiny green surrounded by deep sand-traps, rough and steep hillsides covered with rough. There you will find the Coffin bunker (if you’re in it you’re dead) and the Whorehouse bunker (if you’re in it you’re screwed). Really, I cannot make this stuff up. Jack parred from the Coffin and Steve hit a wedge that spun backwards 20 feet off the green into the Whorehouse, but he still parred the hole. Paul had a ho-hum par by two putting the hole. It seems like a very easy hole, but Tiger Woods went 6, 5, 4, 4 on four days of the Open Championship there one year.

   The postage stamp. It is hard to appreciate the amount of 'down-hillness from this photo and how severely the back edge of the green drops off (almost 50 feet).

 

 The foursome at the Postage Stamp.

After our first round we had lunch in the dining room at Troon (no hats please), and enjoyed looking over the 18^th green. In the afternoon, we played the Portland Course at Troon – another very nice links course – with the same hysterical caddies. It was very hot and dry and some of our drives were over 300 yards with Jack outdriving us on one hole by 60 yards (yes, he got his driver out one more time and hit that big high draw with the wind). Again most of us played quite well and we had a very enjoyable afternoon.

 

A couple of other side notes:

It is time to mention that no place has air conditioning since they never see 80 degree weather (and we were hitting 87-89 degrees). So almost everything indoors was stuffy.

We couldn’t find Paul’s golf glove after we unloaded our clubs and shoes from the van, but eventually it came to light were it was.

 

The Royal and the Ancient

Monday, Jul 21^st – “The Royal (Chan and Paul) and the Ancient (Steve and Jack)”

Cliff Notes

Jack fails to pay the ₤20,000 initiation fee for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, thus eliminating our chance of eating lunch in the ‘clubhouse.’

Despite paying $400 in greens fees, we still had to buy a bucket of balls AND pay to hit off grass instead of ‘astroturf’ mats.

Paul continued his incredible up-and-down maneuvers throughout the round to save pars and bogeys.

Jack went to the 3-hybrid after two grossly failed attempts to hit his driver on #1 and #2. He was quite successful for the rest of the day off the tee.

Chan was steadily mediocre, but did get down with a two-putt from 200 feet on #6 (yes, he was on the green!)

Steve parred 10 out of 18 holes, but still managed 6 double bogeys – although he did get out of the famous Bobby Jones bunker (8 feet deep) on the par 3 11^th, something Bobby Jones never did in 10 attempts before walking off the course and tearing up his scorecard. See bunker left of the green - don't ask how Steve got there in the first place !!

We all avoided Hell bunker on #14 where Jack Nicklaus on two consecutive days took 5 and 4 to get out at one Open Championship. Despite a 10 and a 9 on the hole, he still won that year!!

 

Final scores: Paul 83; Jack 83; Steve 87; Chan .

We then travelled to Troon (West Coast of Scotland), where we stayed at Piersland – the home of Johnny Walker’s grandson. The bartender/IT guy volunteered to tell us the history of this very cool place, but was unable to answer even one question that we asked – but he apologized noting that he had only worked there for 2½ years!! Obviously a quick study J.

 

The Rest of the Story

Our plan was to have lunch at the clubhouse at St. Andrews and relax before our 1:40 tee time. Interestingly, there is no clubhouse for St. Andrews. The large structure you see on TV when they have The Open there is the Royal & Ancient Golf Association and admittance is for members only. Steve made an 8AM appointment for Jack to meet with the Secretary of the R&A so that Jack could join and we could have lunch there. As you can imagine that plan failed for several reasons: (1) Jack didn’t get out of bed in time to make the 8AM appointment; (2) when he did arrive, the application process took too much time for Jack to complete it and still have time for lunch; (3) Jack didn’t have enough favorable references (i.e. Chan, Paul and Steve); and lastly (the least of our worries) was the ₤20,000 initiation fee. The three of us told Jack we would buy his lunch if he put up the initiation fee, but alas, we ran out of time to complete the whole process.

 

So, after a casual breakfast and some excessive souvenir shopping (mostly by Jack for every person on the planet that he knows), we went to the St. Andrews driving range, which interestingly, is down the road from the course. It requires a shuttle bus. When we got there we found that we actually had to pay for a bucket of balls (!!); imagine that – we just paid $400 green fee, and they stiff us for range balls. When we realized that we were to hit off mats (is this country stingy with grass or what?), we asked if we could hit off grass … and (you guessed it), we had to pay extra for that!! But in a magnanimous gesture of Scottish hospitality, the attendant only made one of us pay for hitting off the grass.

 

When we got to the grass hitting area, one of the keepers set up ropes that we were to use as our hitting area and asked us to hit from between the ropes (as is customary as all you golfers know). Is it a surprise to anyone that Paul failed that simple request and started hitting from behind the ropes. After a slight correction and explanation from the three of us, Paul finally understood the concept of ‘between,’ which also explains why he hits into so many traps instead of between them as instructed by his caddie.

 

When we got to the first tee, the weather was spectacular. It was very sunny and in the low 80’s. Who would have thunk that we would be worried about wearing shorts, sun glasses and sun screen in Scotland! The starter could not have been more friendly. He took pictures of us and kindly explained why we would not have caddies to start the round (something about a bunch of Japanese golfers who held up the whole course and held up all the caddies for the afternoon rounds). Jack and Chan nervously pulled drives left over into he 18^th fairway while Steve and Paul nailed long drives (Steve dead straight and Paul with his usual wicked fade) down the middle. It is a little nerve-wracking hitting off the first tee of the most famous golf course in the world with people from all over the world as well as other golfers watching from all around the tee box.

 

Caddies joined us on #2 and #3 and they finished their morning rounds. The course was really cool and surprisingly less difficult than we expected. For sure, there are pot bunkers in many places and undulating fairways and greens, but the rough was not as thick as other places we played. You can see how the course could be very difficult with additional wind and pin placements in certain areas of the undulating greens.

 

The one green at St. Andrews (it is actually the green for both #6 and #13 is the largest in the world and is 100 yards wide and 80 yards deep where Chan managed to two putt from about 200 feet!

Steve parred the 9 of the first 13 holes until the wheels fell off for 4 holes (one disaster hole came when Steve’s caddie was waving his arms in Steve’s backswing with the caddie’s shadow falling across the ball as Steve was hitting – at least that is the excuse Steve is using for hitting his drive out of bounds).

Paul parred the famous Road Hole (#17) with two great shots to get on the green and then lagging a 70 foot putt to within a foot. Jack parred the Road Hole with an incredible up-and-down, the up part being a 100 yard shot out of the rough and the down part being a 20 foot putt that was dead-center.

 

We all got to the 18^th green in two. Once again there is an international gallery watching around the green. While Jack and Chan failed to consummate their two-putt pars, Paul sank a tenuous 6-footer for par and Steve (with the last putt of the round) made a 5-footer for par. Thus ended our round a St. Andrews.

 

Some other interesting side note about St. Andrews:

Tee boxes for the next hole are usually only 10-15 yards off the green of the previous hole.

The #2 tee box is right next to a public putting green that serves as an 18 hole putt-putt mostly for kids. So, as we were teeing off on #2, there were kids playing putt-putt on that putting green who were no more than10-15 feet away from us.

There are some holes that have crossing fairways, so you have watch what you are doing (with the caddies helping).

Most holes share green – that is, there are double greens with white flogs designating the holes for going out and red flags designating the holes when playing back in.

Paul’s caddie (Graeme Stuart) plays at +4 and caddying is a job that he does to help finance his travel on the Asian Tour. He had just finished 8^th in a tournament in Thailand.

 

We packed up from St. Andrews and made the 2 hour trek across the country to the West Coast to Troon where we stayed at Piersland. After checking into our cottages, Jack and Paul (as usual) went to the bar for a drink. Steve wandered in looking for a WiFi connection. The bartender opened the bar specially for Jack and Paul. The bartender asked us if we wanted to know about the history of this place. We were all ears, so he told us it was the home of Johnny Walker’s grandson, which explained all the Johnny Walker memorabilia in the lobby and the bar. We then asked several simple questions like “When did he live?” and “When was it built?” and “When was it converted to a hotel?” to which the bartender did not know any answers … and he volunteered to give us the history of the place! He did note that he had only worked there for 2½ years so he wasn’t up on all that stuff. I guess he has had a really busy 2½ years and those answers are hard to come by. Of course, if Steve could have got a WiFi connection (which was also out at the hotel) we could have Googled the answers in about 3 minutes. Which reminds me … the bartender is also the IT guy for the hotel. He couldn’t fix the WiFi and said he was off the next day, but he would get to it when he came in at noon the following day. Now that’s one ambitious lad!!!

Provisional

Sunday, Jul 20th

Cliff Notes

We played at another Open Championship course, Carnoustie, which is a bout a 45 minute drive from St. Andrews. Surprisingly, it has a very small clubhouse with no dining room and no practice area, except for a putting green.

It is famous for having the 5 toughest finishing holes in golf, and the course where Jean van de Velde had his infamous meltdown on 18 to lose The Open.

Jack sprayed many drives; in fact, when he hit one that only went 3 yards into the rough his caddie said, “That’s a good shot … for you.”

Chan was steady all the way and shot 83.

Paul officially became “Mr. Up-and-Down” as he continued to get a lot of great up-and-downs, especially those long 100+ putts from out in the fairway.

Steve missed every 5 foot putt and made every 20+ foot putt (seriously). He parred the 5 closing holes … except for his own 18^th hole meltdown.

Scores: Chan 83; Steve and Paul 87; Jack 89.

Dinner at the hotel was one of the most spectacular any of us have ever had … view, service, setting, food. It was only marred by Jack being an ugly American (read below for details). We overlooked the 18^th fairway and green at St. Andrews. The completely unpretentious nature of the course and the whole surroundings was quite surprising to all of us given the prestige and recognition that the course maintains (see comments below).

 

The Rest of the Story

The day started with us giving up a free breakfast at the Russack’s Hotel to go to Carnoustie at 9AM for breakfast in the clubhouse there. We arrived at Carnoustie only to find that the clubhouse there is quite minimalist – smaller than Old Oakland … and no restaurant for breakfast! It is amazing that such a prestigious course has a clubhouse that is nothing more than what you might find at a run-of-the-mill public course in the US … or maybe even less (for those in Indianapolis, think Ironwood; for those in Cincinnati, think Miami Whitewater).

 

We went across the street to the Calderon Golf Club for breakfast, and as we approached the clubhouse, some local golfers were sitting on the front patio (I say patio but that is very generous … it was more like a sidewalk).  It was barely 10AM on Sunday morning, and the locals were already drinking a pale ale, to which Jack said, “That’s even a little early for me!” We went into a very spartan clubhouse for a full Scottish breakfast (egg, sausage, bacon, hash brown, black pudding, haggis and beans with a roasted tomato). As I looked out the window, I saw something I am quite certain I have never seen before … there on the “patio” was a local member drinking his beer AND a cup of coffee while smoking a cigarette, which he put down to pick up a cigar!! How many vices can you have in one sitting?!?! Really!!

After breakfast we went back across the street for to warm up before our round of golf … AT THE HITTING NETS!!!  Yes, Carnoustie does NOT have a practice range! You have to hit your own balls off a two-bit artificial turf mat into a net. Nonetheless, Paul did manage to lose one of his balls warming up at the nets – imagine that.

 The course is a traditional links course and surprisingly there are no views of the ocean. The day started beautifully, warm and sunny. By the 6^th hole (Hogan’s alley) the fog was rolling in heavy, but by the 8^th hole the fog was totally gone and the day was unusually warm (upper 70’s) with a slight breeze. On the 7^th hole, Jack had to hit out of the very thick rough, and he actually hit a mediocre shot, getting the ball down the fairway. At this point, Jack’s caddie said, “That’s a good shot … for you.”

The last 5 finishing holes at Carnoustie are said to be the toughest finishing holes in all of golf. There are four long par 4’s (the shortest being 421 yards into a prevailing breeze and the longest being 460 yards also into the wind). There is also a 250 yard par 3 where we had to hit driver. The 18^th hole is the famous closing hole where Jean van de Velde had a 3 stroke lead in The Open Championship and created the greatest debacle in golf history with a triple bogey. Along the final five holes, Jack and Steve hit the green on the 250 yard par 3 with Steve hitting it to nine feet!! (but missed the birdie by creasing the edge). See the flag way the heck down there?

 

Steve played the first 4 holes of the 5 closing holes in even par (wow!) and came to the par 4 18^th needing to play the gauntlet in even par. He was the last to tee off. Just as he was in his backswing, the universe tilted and he hit a hard draw that went on to the green and rolled up to 10 feet of the flag. The problem was that was not only the wrong green but the wrong golf course!!! He hit his drive over a fence and on to the adjacent Calderon Golf Club 18^th hole. There was an awkward silence on the tee as there can sometimes be with such a bad shot, until Steve calmly bent over, re-teed and said “Provisional.”  The caddies, in particular, laughed as hard as we heard them laugh all day. Steve hit his second drive into the burn (also known as the creek to us Americans) and had to take a drop. After hitting yet another 20 putt, Steve had his own van de Velde moment and took a another par + 3 penalty strokes = 7.

  Where Jean van de Velde and Steve Ruberg went into the burn (i.e. creek).
 

Jack sprayed many drives; Chan was cheatin’ all the way, and Paul continued to get a lot of great up-and-downs. Steve missed every 5 foot putt and made every 20+ foot putt (seriously). Scores: Chan 83; Steve and Paul 87; Jack 89.

  Walking off the 18th green.

We came back to the Dunvegan to watch the end of The Open and Rory McIlroy’s two shot victory (ahead of Fowler and Garcia). We sat in The Open Room at Dunvegan which has the image of EVERY Open Champion back to 1860, including Old Tom Morris and his son Young Tom Morris who together won 8 of the first 12 Opens (though Willie Park won the very first Open Championship).

That evening we ate at the hotel restaurant, The Rocca, and got the premium table by the window overlooking the 18^th fairway and green at St. Andrews Old Course. When the waiter offered that he had an extra-large chateaubriand for two, Steve jumped on it right away and had no trouble convincing the ‘the carnivore’ Chan to share it. Jack then turned into the ugly American and said, “Whatever they are going to pay, I’ll give you $20 more!” The waiter quickly agreed noting that he actually had two chateaubriand left. So, Jack and Paul had to pay an extra $20 for their double-size chateaubriand. Dinner was superlative … soup and scallops (compliments of the chef) as we watched the sun set behind the Road Hole (i.e. the 17^th at St. Andrews for the less informed).

 

 

 

Side notes (for those who care): Amazingly, since 1552 and the initial decree creating St. Andrews as a public space for citizens (i.e. free of Royal control) by the local bishop, there is no golf on Sundays (except for The Open Championship). What is equally amazing is that it becomes like a local park … people are walking all over the grounds with kids or dogs, throwing Frisbee or just taking a stroll. Many people representing many nationalities were walking around, even in and around the greens, taking pictures or merely standing around having a drink. The same is true during the evening as many people stroll the course. There is even a small road that crosses straight through the 1^st and 18^th fairway that remains open during play. So there are times after a group hits their tee shots, they let the cars drive across the course!!  The completely unpretentious nature of the course and the whole surroundings was quite surprising to all of us given the prestige and recognition that the course maintains.

The Haar

PRELUDE: Note that this document serves several purposes:

1)      To document for those of us on the trip, what we did and how we did it so that we remember all the fun things that happened;

2)      To communicate through a blog with friends and family how we are doing while on the trip;

3)      For our friends in Indianapolis at Old Oakland Golf Club who (on their best day) have the attention span of a gnat and the reading level of a 4^th grader, there are Cliff Notes (which is how they all got through school anyway) to describe the best events of the day.

 Friday, Jul 18^th

 Cliff Notes

Travel was uneventful with the upper class riding in business class and the commoners sitting in the back (row 57 to be precise). Those who know the travelers know who the upper class and the commoners are, and even if you don’t know you can figure it out with about 3 seconds. If you still can’t figure it out in 10 seconds, read on and it will come to you quite easily. Marty Lynch (our tour organizer) was with us on the whole trip.

 

Saturday, Jul 19^th

Cliff Notes

• We stayed at a hotel overlooking St. Andrews. We play golf at Kingsbarn (#55 in world ranking).
• Jack drives a par 4 (280 yards of roll) and makes the 10 foot eagle putt.
• Paul gets up and down out of a green-side bunker deeper than he is tall.
• Jack’s caddie at Kingsbarn knows a good friend of Cathy Lavalley – Carrie Skinel.
• At dinner, Chan and Steve talk to our highly educated waitress (PhD in Old English Literature) about Chaucer. Later in the meal, Jack and Paul ask, “Didn’t you guys order some salsa with this?” (Have you figured out the commoners yet?)
• Chan ans Steve go to bed early (11PM) while Jack and Chan frequent at least three more bars late into the night (they told us they lost count).

The Rest of the Story

There were no problems with travel. We met Hilda, our driver for the week in Scotland at the airport, and she took us to the historic Russack’s Hotel which borders the 18^th fairway for The Old Course at St. Andrews. See the view from Steve and Chan’s room below.

After a quick check-in, we made our way 10 miles south to Kingsbarn Golf Club, which is the best golf course you never heard of.  It is ranked as the 55^th best golf course in the world! They are known for having the friendliest greeting in all of golf, and sure enough we were greeted warmly as soon as we pulled up. After a great lunch (the seafood chowder was excellent) and a little warm-up under overcast skies, we made it to the first tee. We played a Scotch match (rotated partners every 6 holes) and we all striped srives down the middle of the fairway. The amount of roll that one gets on these exceptionally tight, firm fairways is astonishing.

 

Notable occurences at Kingsbarn:

·         Steve birdies the second hole (195 par three) by making a 20 foot putt and remains 1 under par through 4 holes.

·         Steve birdies #6 (301 par 4), but … Jack drives #6 by threading the needle between two pot bunkers  and sinks the 10-foot putt for an eagle (!!) to win the first 6-hole match.

·         Paul has the up-and-down of day – After being tight up against the wall of a deep, greenside pot bunker, (with caddying advice from Steve), he blasts out sideways and then sinks a 50 foot putt for par!!

·         For the day, Steve has 3 birdies and shot an 83 (medalist) while Paul shot 84. There were two other strangers/golfers who played with us, and Steve and Paul were not sure where our friends Chan and Jack went.

·         Paul wins all three 6-hole matches.

 

We ate dinner at Dunvegan’s – ironically a steakhouse owned by a Texan – and our waitress was Linda (from Pittsburgh; a got a PhD in Old English Literature from St. Andrews University.) I asked her if she studies Chaucer and the yahoos I travel with waited for her to answer about chips and salsa … you can’t take these half-wits anywhere.

Jack tells us at dinner that he was born on 25 Jan 1954 (exactly 402 years after the founding of St. Andrews golf course), which made me look incredulously at him. He fired back at me, “I am a lot younger than I look” to which I replied, “No, I was thinking you’re a lot older than you look!”

From “The World is Shrinking Department”

Carrie Skinell, who is personal friends with Cathy Lavalley for over 25 years, mentioned to Jack before the trip that she knew some caddies in Scotland, but she didn’t know where they caddied or remember their names. She knew them from caddying in the winter at Old Collier (where she belongs) in North Naples, Florida. When we were walking down the first fairway, Jack’s caddie (Willie) mentions that he caddies in Florida over the winter, and 10 yards later they establish the connection that Willie indeed knows Carrie Skinell !! Paul’s caddie (David) also works at Old Collier and knows Carrie as well, which is very close to where Paul’s place is in Florida.

After dinner, the married guys went to bed at 11PM while the single gents spent the night out hitting various bars around St Andrews.

 Side notes for those who care:

The round started overcast (6 holes), then a very heavy fog rolling in for the next six holes with 100 yard visibility; then a steady drizzle for the last six holes. Interestingly, starting on the back nine the grounds crew placed red flashing lights in the middle of the fairway 100-150 yards out from the tee box and then again at the front center of each green so even the caddies knew where they had to aim us. Kingsbarn is supposed to be a beautiful landscape with breath-taking views of the seaside. Unfortunately, the extremely heavy fog (also known by the locals as ‘the Haar’) prevented us from taking in the magnificent scenery.