Almost completely irrelevant, but the weather comments reminded me of my only golf trip to Scotland. I’m wondering if this is some sort of record. I played 13 rounds in 16 days and estimated that it amounted to about 45 hours on the turf. A squall blew in while playing Brora and the wind and rain drove everyone else off the course. I spent about an hour in my rain gear and had a glorious time playing back in all by myself (with the frisky spring lambs) in the sunshine. For the other 44 hours of golf, it rained for 10 minutes and I never donned the rain gear again. It rained plenty, just not while I was playing. The breeze was a given.
I didn’t make many advanced, guaranteed bookings except for St. Andrews and, I think, Gullane, because I didn’t want to lose deposits if the weather was foul. Traveling on my own for most of the trip, it was easy for me just to wing it. I couldn’t have been treated better everywhere I wandered (1,600 miles on the rented car), even at short notice. It was simply the best golf experience of my life. The only possible exception was at Gullane, where we did get charged for a MIA golfer, which was fair enough. The problem there was the rather curt, unfriendly reception we received, only significant because of the glaring contrast with everywhere else. It was late May or early June with the abundant daylight. I remember fantasizing “to hell with those guys. Next time I’ll just wait until the starter goes home at 5 o’clock and sneak out with the locals.” I wouldn’t, of course, but the whole experience wasn’t worth the visitor rates we paid, IMO. Other than this minute blip during this extraordinary tour of the Scottish links, I had a wonderful and truly blessed time. What an amazing country!