From the title I first thought of TOC with the history and all the gawkers. Then I thought of Aberdeen for personal reasons. I got there early to look at the clubhouse memorabilia and have a bit of lunch. Just as I was finishing lunch the men’s grill room was filling up. For those who haven’t played there, the first tee sits directly outside the big floor the ceiling windows of the grill room, so it’s more like a stage for the amusement of the diners. The only thing missing is the footlights. When I checked in, about a half hour before my scheduled tee time, the starter asked if I was ready to go then and get out ahead of lunch crowd. Sure, I’m ready. My first tee shot in Scotland, no warm up or stretching, my first experience of an old links, playing alone just to see the course. That day the clubhouse protected the elevated tee from the 35 mph helping breeze. I guess the adrenalin and the excitement, combined with the knowledge I had a full lunch crowd watching, stimulated my fear-of-failure instincts and I hit one the longest and best drives ever clearing the fairway bunkers and leaving only a lob wedge to the green which, of course, I dumped in a greenside bunker. Very memorable.