There and back again, twice!, thanks to Old Tom Morris and James Braid!
This was the finest natural Linksland golf I played in either the Lothians or Fife or Northunbria this trip. I will go out on a limb and say that the original InterLeven 18 holes by Old Tom Morris may have been the finest 18 holes in and around the Forth River in it's day!
For those not in the know, Old Tom Morris created an 18 hole course between the two towns of Lundin and Leven with 9 holes out and nine holes back for each town. It was referred to as the Interleven and each town had their own clubhouse on each end.
As play on the courses got busier they decided to split the one course into two separate eighteens and James Braid built another nine holes on each. From what I have been told the Lundin course has the finer of the Old Tom Morris Original Holes while Leven's new holes by Braid are far superior to the the new Braid holes on Lundin. I have not played both sides so I can't comment. However, if the original Leven Holes are inferior the Lundin original Morris holes must be truly phenomenal. Leven is terrific!
But I did, however end up playing Leven twice!
So let's go!.....
And I have to give a shout out to my friend from GCA , Martin Bonnar who was kind enough to host me here at Leven, Martin has a degree in Golf Architecture and is even tolerable around the golf course! I hope that I was tolerable myself?!
So let's go....
Here we have the Leven Golfing Society. 11th Oldest Golfing Society in the World!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
1st tee/ Table/ par 4/ 426 yds
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macmalc21, on Flickr
Bill Gayne from GCA teeing off! Largo Law in the distance!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
1st Fairway with NYU law librarian and GCA contributor Andy Stamm wandering around looking for his ball.
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macmalc21, on Flickr
1st green
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macmalc21, on Flickr
2nd Fairway/ Knowle/ Par 4/ 379 yards
Andy hit straight out where the tee pointed him. Now he is pissed that he has a blind second shot leftward. I pulled my tee shot and found the left fairway which goes straight in.
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macmalc21, on Flickr
My pulled shot approach view of green.
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macmalc21, on Flickr
2nd green incoming.
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macmalc21, on Flickr
2nd green from behind.
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macmalc21, on Flickr
3rd tee/ Bents/ Par 4/ 352 yds
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macmalc21, on Flickr
3rd fairway/ Flag is there if you look hard! Largo law is in the background. Once you get a handle on these certain backgrounds it is east to pick things out even from across the fourth river in east Lothian! Here if Fife we can look across to Gullane Hill, the North Berwick Law and Bass rock!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
OK, I get it!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
From Behind...
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macmalc21, on Flickr
Andy is a long way from The Law Library at NYU in New York City and his homeland in Indiana.
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macmalc21, on Flickr
4th Hole/ Sea/ par 4/ 450 yards
Approach Shot!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
Bill Gayne contemplates a long chip or put back on the 4th green.
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macmalc21, on Flickr
5th tee/ Valley/ 163 yds/ Par 3
Blind and short par 3
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macmalc21, on Flickr
5th peeking over the hill
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macmalc21, on Flickr
5th green
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macmalc21, on Flickr
6th tee/ Silverburn N/ Par 5/ 569 yds
Right side is all out of bounds..
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macmalc21, on Flickr
Down the fairway!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
Is this one better?. Down the fairway!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
The 6th Green!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
7th tee/ Corriemar/ 182 yds/ par 3
Another blind par 3!
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macmalc21, on Flickr
Another tee view
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macmalc21, on Flickr
Walking over to 7th tee to green...
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macmalc21, on Flickr
8th tee/ Bing/ Par 4/ 350 yds
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macmalc21, on Flickr
8th Green
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macmalc21, on Flickr
8th from behind and above
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macmalc21, on Flickr
9th tee/ Pavillion/ par 3/ 171 yds
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macmalc21, on Flickr
9th from behind
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macmalc21, on Flickr
More to follow later! Stay tuned!!