Scotland’s sunrise round may be history at the more well-known links, but there is a fairly satisfying alternative for you golf crazies. My experience is dated—perhaps seven years old—yet, I imagine still possible and worthy of inclusion on this bucket-list thread: If the weather is favorable, leave your sticks at home and take a camera. As with most landscapes, there is really nothing quite like strolling around a golf course at “magic hour.” Loosely defined as the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset, but for practical photographic results, it’s really at least a half hour before and after sunrise and sunset added onto the journey. Being there, after all, is the critical ingredient.
If you happen to be in Scotland, as I was, in late May and early June, this presents some challenges to your scheduling and is not recommended as a social activity. Sunrise and sunset are not separated by many comfortable hours in the sack—figure on about four or four and a half hours, at best, between magic hours, something like between 11 PM and 3:30 AM local time. Your sack time is enhanced by staying as close as possible to your destination. Also, some planning is involved if you are after a particular image. Again, being at the right place at the right time and catching a bit of luck.
Some of my best memories of golf in Scotland come from my solitary tramps around the links at sunrise and sunset. My first was memorable enough. Aided by a poor adjustment to local time, I woke up at 3 AM after my first night in Scotland. I grabbed my camera and headed across the road to Cruden Bay Golf Club. I got in about an hour of picture taking as the golf course came to life in the warm glow of a brilliant sunrise, the low raking light creating a tumbling landscape of dewy dunes and contrasting shadows. Eventually, I spotted a woman off in the distance walking her attack dog. The dog spotted me and charged, barking ferociously, until it was leaping and barking all around me. Thus my introduction to the indomitable Rosemary Pittendrigh, Club Secretary and benevolent despot of CBGC, who demanded to know what exactly I was doing strolling around her golf course. Three days later, I was convinced that not much went on around Cruden Bay that escaped Rosemary’s attention.
I was traveling alone so stayed on this odd schedule for a little more than a week. Getting up and walking the courses at sunrise, playing golf during the day, grabbing a nap if needed, eating dinner, walking and photographing the courses at sunset, a quick sleep, and going again. I was lucky with the weather and got some great pictures. I also chatted with the grounds crews and watched the early birds heading out for their rounds with their golf dogs before heading off to work. In the evenings I shared the course with a few golfers playing until dark. It was a lovely, soulful introduction to links golf that made me a true believer. Everyone couldn’t have been nicer or more welcoming as we were all lucky to be soaking in the beauty at this magical time of day. Eventually, the schedule took its toll and I snuck in my camera strolls when I could.
My first and most lasting memories of places like Cruden Bay, Dornoch, Brora, Machrihanish, TOC, and North Berwick are from these solitary strolls in the dunes. The golf was great, of course, but this total immersion into the landscape of golf from dawn to dusk haunts me still as something I’ll never do again in quite the same way. That’s OK; I’m grateful I did it once.