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.