Your First Hole of Links Golf

[Mike Hendren]

3:00 p.m.
October 19, 2003
The Eden

Arrived in Edinburgh from Nashville early Sunday morning.  Drove to St. Andrews and walked The Old Course.  Inspired, I had to stick a tee in the ground somewhere as soon as possible.  

God sent a rainbow over the Auld Grey Toon to commemorate the event.

Mike

[John Pflum]

I don't have the exact date and time but I suspect it was on the first tee at Crystal Downs (if it qualifies strictly as links) or on the first tee at Arcadia Bluffs.  

I don't remember the specific shot at either course but I do remember that the fog at Arcadia Bluffs was brutal that day.  

I enjoy links golf a lot but I don't know that I love it.  I like the open feeling of the land and the exposure to the wind.  That being said, I also love moutain courses that turn in and around river valleys and the elevation changes.  

[Jason Shanks]

4:37 p.m., Saturday, May 20, 2006.
Lundin Golf Club, Lundin Links, Fife, Scotland.

Arrived Glasgow at about 11:00 a.m. earlier that day (flight from Newark was delayed).  Drove to St. Andrews to check-in our house we rented for the week.  Then made our way south to Lundin Links.  

The sea (or firth) to the left of the tee box, Leven Golf Club in the distance, and the windows of the clubhouse looming behind.  I knew then I would like links golf.  

A decent drive, substandard 2nd shot, nice bump-n-run, and one putt later, I knew I would love links golf.

The first pint of Belhaven in the clubhouse after the round was my favorite of the trip.

That was about a month and a half ago, and I am already trying to find a way to get back.

You GCA'ers in Scotland are truly a fortunate lot.

[Steve Wilson]

July 9, 1979  on the New Course at St. Andrews.  


I had been away from the game for three years, but in the midst of a nine week backpacking and British Rail Pass tour of the British Isles, I made my way to St.  Andrews to break that long hiatus.  

Even though I had done some strenuous ball beating at a driving range in the week before departure, I lacked confidence in the remedial effect of that frantic practice as it had taken place more than a month earlier.  Accordingly I was relieved to find myself alone on the first tee of a course so brown and firm certain denizens of this site would have been watering it with drool.  

My rental clubs were a full set and so I selected the 2 iron as I had for some time favored long irons over woods.  After a few lusty warm up swings I stood up to the ball and made a reasonably good pass but I didn't quite get down to it.  Not quite a skull, but close.  I was relieved to see it bounding straight down the fairway.  

Without even holstering the 2 iron I stalked down the fairway and repeated the process with similar results.  Only this time I was rewarded by seeing the ball trickle onto the green and stop about twenty feet from the hole.   I didn't get the birdie but I did manage to get my four.  Then I stood there laughing about parring my first hole of Scottish golf without ever having the ball more than six feet off the ground.  

After blowing short par putts on the next two holes I deteriorated rapidly including at least one lengthy encounter with a pot bunker.  

Two days later I played with two older (probably my current age) Scots, who derived great amusement from seeing some of my overcooked irons land in the center of greens and gambol into the gorse beyond.  After a few such results I learned to underclub and let the ball run much to my satisfaction and to theirs.  "Now there's a real golf shot," one of them said.

And just for the record the green fee at the Old Course at that time was 6.50 GBP.  

[Michael Robin]

March of 1978. I was skipping school as a 15 year old on a business trip with my Dad in Glasgow. He suggested that I try and play someplace, so the next day he hired a car for me and off I went heading west. First stop
was the Wilson factory in Irvine to pick up some 8802 and 8813 putters(The classic club thing was in full swing), and then on to Turnberry.

It was a bitterly cold, blustery day. I rented clubs, bought 1 sleeve of Wilson Pro-Staffs, turned down the offer of a caddie and set sail onto the Ailsa.

I was playing quite well given that I was wearing 2 sweaters and a big jacket, 1 over thru 7. I then lost a ball on 8, another on 9 and then hit it right on the 10th into a stand of long grass. I saw exactly the spot that my last ball had entered the tall stuff, but after 20 minutes of looking I gave up.

I was now standing at about the furthest point from the pro-shop, so no chance to restock, and I'm the only person foolish enough to be out there on this day, so no one else to bum a ball off of.
So, I decided to just walk the rest of the course and had the greatest time admiring all of the wonderful links driven detail and re-living the
Duel in the Sun from the year before. A truly eye-opening experience for a teenager who cared really only about score and not architecture before that day.

[JAHogan]

First hole of links golf:  Summer of 2004 at Hoylake.  Snap-hooked a 2-iron that went bounding through the practice putting green, scattering the members!  Rest of the hole is a blur.  Tough course when you are hitting it crooked.

Most memorable hole of links golf:  Summer 2005 at The Old Course early in the morning on the last day of public play ahead of the Open Championship (scoreboards, grandstands and TV towers already erected).  Most nervous I have ever been on a golf course.  Ripped a 4-wood down the middle of #1, wedge to 20 feet, made the putt!

[Tyler Kearns]

March 1, 2006

I hit a low, straight three-wood off the tenth tee at Barnbougle Dunes, followed by a 5-iron (no yardage markers - surely making it a links course) that came up a touch short of the fierce green. Three-putts later, bogey.  

TK

[Paul Jones]

1st Hole - St Andrews Old Course

I was very nervous, but did manage to hit a great drive and lipout for birdie.

One of the Happiest Days of my Life...

[Jim Nugent]

Portmarnock.  Played with a business associate, in 1997.  My first round in over 2 years -- hit a smother hook off the tee.  Ended up greatly enjoying the round.  Good thing my playing partner got a caddie.  We would not have found the 2nd tee, and once there would have had no idea where to aim our tee shots.  

[Andy Doyle]

First hole of links golf seen:

Connemara, June of 1999.  Family vacation, no clubs, managed to include a stop at Connemara Golf Links since I was planning the day's site-seeing route ("Look, honey - there's a beautiful beach.  Why don't we stop?  We can park at that golf course").  No chance to play, but bought a par-saver and talked with a couple of groups on the first tee.  I was fascinated by the looks of the course (as I was by most of the Irish countryside) - it was so different from the manicured parkland courses I was used to back home.  I was also amazed that the greens fee was only about 30 pounds.  This brief encounter created an intense desire to return to Ireland to play.

First hole of links golf played:

Lahinch, November 2004.  It took me five years, but I finally made it to Ireland with my clubs.  I was paired with a member and his two guests - the member was very helpful with advice about the course.  Your first tee shot at Lahinch can be a little disconcerning, as the tee is only steps from the clubhouse and is directly between the pro shop and the clubhouse.  A big, block push to the right and I was off.  It must have taken me a while to come to my senses, because other than the drive, I remember almost nothing about the first hole.  By the time I played the second hole, which tumbles down the hill back past the clubhouse, I was hooked.  After hitting a blind drive up into the dunes on #3 I was beyond addicted.

I've been planning a golf-only return trip ever since.

Andy