Then we headed off to St. Andrews...
paid respect...
Tried out the new Doak green...oops...I mean the Himalaya Course. Now I know where Tom got half the ideas for his greens.
I day tripped it out to Crail Balcomie. My round with Marty and Mark fell apart, but Colin and I played together. The round started off with a down pour of rain and wind every bit of 35 MPH (probably more like 40), it was freakin' HOWLING. But by hole 6 the wind and rain had stopped and the sun came out. It turns out to be a beautiful day. Balcomie turned out to be on the most fun rounds of golf I've ever had and the course is my #1 hidden gem.
The course is under 6,000 yards and is a par 69. Totally fun and interesting. Great place!
Hit the Jubilee...
Under-rated golf course. The Old Course gets all the hype and it deserves it, but Jubilee was really good and I had a great time.
Played The Old Course...
Hands down my favorite golf course. I absolutely loved it. When I try to communicate what about it I loved, I use this example. On one of the first few holes, maybe the 3rd, my caddy was giving me instructions on how to play the hole and where to place my tee shot. He said, "See the pin?". To which I said, "Yes. Go right at it?" He responded with, "Hell no. Aim 40 yards left of it." To me that is it. Nothing is what it seems. Plain vanilla strategies and ideas are generally not the right ones. It was really an awesome experience. I hope to have it many more times.
Then it was off to Askernish. What a trip. Puddle jumper from Glasgow to South Uist. One lane road from the airport to the course. No big fancy pro shop, no signing in, just show up and play.
The routing is great...more like pacing. Eases you into the round off the farm land into the dunes. While in the dunes, you've got a handful of some of the very best golf holes I've played and some stunningly good approach shots. Then it eases you out of the dunes, back to the farm land, and you are done. Really cool!
7 is an all world par 4...probably one of the most photographed holes on the course.
9 has a tremendous approach shot. Kind of like and island green, but the island is surrounded by steep dunes wall not water. So recovery is an option, but difficult.
11 is one of the very best par 3's in the world. 214 yards right at the Atlantic Ocean. Infinity style green...50 foot deep (maybe more) dune valley seperating the tee box from the green.
12 is an all world par 5. Dual fairways both with different quirks. One is blind off the tee, the other has a blind approach. Green slants away from the approach. Really neat!
16 is my favorite hole. Par 4 that plays down into a dune valley. Fairway is rumpled, approach goes up and over a mound that completely blocks off the green. They call this Old Tom's Pulpit. Really fun and cool.
Then I flew back to Glasgow and came home.
Amazing time!!
I'm actually working on another "In My Opinion" piece. I think I'll call it "Are we all a bunch of Idiots?" The gist of it will be how fun golf in Scotland, the Home of Golf, is and how different and changed golf has become. I think these changes and differences have changed the game for the worse and lost some key, critical, elements. And my question is, why would we do this? Perhaps we did it because we are all idiots who lost touch with what made golf great to begin with.