Walking the Old Course

Heading out to investigate.

The golf courses at St Andrews Scotland are owned by the town and managed by the St Andrews Links Trust. Golf is played seven days a week on all of the courses except the Old Course. This tradition is supposedly linked to Old Tom Morris, Keeper of the Greens, who declared that the Old Course needs a day of rest. With the exception of professional tournaments there is no play on Sundays. It is public ground and you are welcome to walk the course.

Documenting the troubles.

As we were scheduled to play the Old Course on Tuesday we thought it wise to go out and walk the course to see what was in store for us. We headed down North Street, turned on to Murray Park and down The Scores to the first tee. I surveyed the fairway shared by the first and eighteenth holes and immediately experienced disappointment. Numerous signs were posted around the first tee and eighteenth green indicating that people should KEEP OFF. I was hoping to walk on green and tees and explore bunker up close and personal. Dang! We headed down the first checking out our supposed landing areas and the best angles to the green.

Hit it over the C in Course.

As we approached the first green and second tee we were struck by the lack of KEEP OFF signs. It then hit us that we could in fact walk on greens, tees, and in bunkers if we liked. The keep off signs were limited to the high traffic areas.
The day was overcast with light wind, much like what we would face on Tuesday. The number of bunkers and there positioning is overwhelming. This could be trouble. We got in green side bunkers from which you couldn't see the green. We studied the slopes on the greens and marveled at the size of the famous double greens. There are seven double greens, shared greens for the outward and inward nines. The sum of the holes numbers always add to eighteen. 2+16, 3+15, etcetera and so forth. I think we made it out to the sixth or perhaps it was only the fifth, when  we realized that we needed to head back if we were to make our tee time a the Golf House Club at Elie. We didn't rush but move towards the final hole, Tom Morris. We posed for pictures on the Swilkin Burn Bridge, somebody took pictures and I hope they will add them here. We got our first view of the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse form the course, a harbinger of what was to come later in the week.

R & A Clubhouse

The Dunvegan Hotel

On the corner of Golf Place and North Street in St Andrews Scotland you'll find the Dunvegan Hotel. That's about a good 6 iron from the first tee on the Old Course. It's a curious place owned by a couple, one from Texas the other Scottish. I don't know anything about the hotel, but I'd characterized the bar area as part Scottish pub, part American sports bar.
The place was packed when we went there on our first evening in Scotland. The cliental was a weird combinations of American and Swedish golfers. I'd bet a few of the participants were caddies. It was loud and crowed, but it had numerous big screen, high definition televisions. The third round of the Player's Championship was live from Florida, with a five hour time difference. How strange, it was dark (past 11 o'clock), we were having dinner and drinking Scottish ale, on a chilly night in May watching Tiger on his way to a win.
I don't remember what we ate or drank, just that I was really tired and hoping to get over the jet lag on our first day.

Scotscraig

The Scotscraig Golf Club was founded in 1817, making it the thirteenth oldest golf club on the planet. The clubhouse, a white building with a red tile roof, dates to 1903. Trophy cases in the mixed grill room were loaded with hardware. We showed up about an hour before our tee time. We would have been there earlier but we took the "scenic" route.
The folks in the pro shop were very accommodating. They accepted payment for a 2:30 tee time. They are currently running a special, £120 for a foursome after 1:30 pm on the weekends. What a deal!! They directed us to the mixed grill room where we could pick up lunch before we headed out for our first round in Scotland. The barmaid was outgoing and friendly and saw to it that all of our culinary needs were satisfied.
We then headed to the first tee, which was pretty quiet at that time of day. Only a few groups went out after we did. The first hole, The Admiral,  is a parr 4 that doglegs ever so slightly to the left. It has a generous landing area. The hole has no bunkers and most of is protection comes from mounds and humps in the fairway. Though not a true links course as it is about a quarter mile from the sea, Scotscraig has many features that play like that way. As we had all arrived from the States that morning with little sleep, The Admiral didn't need much to protect itself from our attack. The breeze was strong, the gorse thick and the rough deep; it was going to be a long day of golf. We didn't care, we were paying our first round of golf in Scotland!
As the day proceeded, our golf didn't improve. We hit the ball hither and yon, into the gorse, trees, out of bounds, and into deep bunkers. For a short time, during the playing of the ninth and tenth holes, is rained; more than a shower, less than a downpour. It didn't dampen our spirits though because we were playing golf in Scotland!
The first nine holes play much like a links course, the second nine more like a parkland course. The latter even has a pond! We never hit the wall, that point on your first day of golf in Scotland after the overnight plane flight, where you just want to sit down and give up. Was it the excitement, the cool breeze? We were tired, but not hit-the-wall tired. Looking back to the score card I can document that I was tired. I never put down scores for the ninth and eighteenth holes. Yikes, the scores were bad enough already! Driving the 11 miles back to our flat is where I hit the wall. Damn did I want out of that car.
I have no pictures of the course. Perhaps DLux of WA or DLux of OH will add a few to this post.

138 North Street

We headed to St Andrews with the hopes of an early check-in to our accommodations at 138 North Street where we would spend our first four nights. Hazel and Laurie Crane own this two-bedroom flat in the middle of St Andrews that is no more than a five minute walk from the first tee on the Old Course. It's a very well-appointed flat with two small bedrooms, a generous living room and a spacious kitchen. The amenities are all very modern and it includes anything you might need. Hazel sees to it that the flat is stocked with some basic provisions to get your stay started off right. Had we been in the mood to cook we could have saved a lot of money that we spent in restaurants, but all we really ate in the flat was breakfast.
As we had hoped we checked in early and dropped off most of our luggage prior to heading out for our first round at Scotscraig. The only negative comment I could make was that the WiFi was on-the-fritz. Laurie tried valiantly to get it up and going before he and Hazel set out to Spain for their holiday, but he was unsuccessful.
We grabbed a quick bit to eat and headed out for our first round of golf.

The Departure

On Friday, May 10, Suzie and I picked up Greg and headed to the Concord Coach Lines terminal in Bangor. The day was sunny and bright.

There was one issue, the cat had eaten Greg's breakfast, at least some of it rendering the rest unpalatable. This would turn out to be the only issue with our departure. After Suzie left us off and we said our goodbyes, Greg headed to Dunkin Donuts for sustenance. We were a bit worried about seats as it was Friday of exam week at UMaine and we figured that there would be many students getting "out of Dodge". That assumption was correct but the influx of passengers wasn't so large as to hinder our departure. The ride to Boston was uneventful leaving me time to take a self portrait on the bus.

Everything went like clockwork. There was little traffic and our arrival at BOS (Logan) was on time. We approached the counter at Aer Lingus with some trepidation as you are always concerned about the weight of you checked luggage, even when you know you're well under the weight limit. The clerk was professional and efficient and our concerns were unfounded as she never weighed our golf bags. After our bags were checked we headed to security.

At the beginning of the security lines we encounter a strange avatar woman who kindly gave us instructions as to how to proceed. I'm glad we didn't have any questions because she couldn't have answered them. As per everything else so far, security was a breeze, no issues, leaving us time for sustenance and refreshments prior to departure.
Boarding went smoothly. Aer Lingus treats it's passengers well. We took off and there was an opportunity to purchase a beverage, we were then served a light dinner that was tasty, and later a small snack. Small LED screens were inset in the back of the seat in front of you and there was a wide selection of music and movies. I chose to try and get some sleep and for the most part I ignored the entertainment. My only complaint was that the cabin lights were not dimmed during the flight like that have been on all the previous trans-Atlantic flights I've ever taken. This made sleeping more difficult.
We landed at Dublin in a pea soup fog, with cold rain and mist. The Dublin airport is a curious place. Getting from one flight to another requires that you clear security again and pass through a maze of corridors and hallways that would baffle a rat. Eventually we found our gate and were soon escorted out into the rain to queue for admission onto the plane. Our puddle jumper was dirty, dingy and noisy. The flight attendant looked like she was totally unhappy and miserable. This last leg of the flight was the only part of the journey that was unpleasant and it really wasn't all that bad.
Our arrival in Edinburgh was early and into a the same weather we had in Dublin. We deplaned and headed to baggage claim where I am pleased to report that our baggage arrived at the same time we did. This is good when you are headed to Scotland to golf. Knowing that our plane was due to arrive at about the same time as Dylan's, I kept and eye out for him and sure enough I spotted him soon after we arrived. I watched him as he walked the length of the baggage claim area and he only spotted me when he was within range of a makable putt, and for me that's not very long. Now we were three.
We emerged into the main area of the Edinburgh airport. No Dan. Dang. We set up shop at the COSTA adjacent to international arrivals. We needed energy for the upcoming day so coffee and breakfast rolls were ordered as soon as we used our debit cards at the cash point to obtain some currency. No sooner than we had our breakfast, Dan arrived. And then we were four.
Dan ordered as well and was promptly served. Introductions were made as Dan and Dylan had not met Greg before. It was then time to go. We called Arnold Clark, our car hire (rental) company and proceeded to spot 12 in the queue for busses, taxis and such. In no time at all a driver showed up and whisked us away to the off site car hire location. It took a few moments to fill in the paper work but went well overall. It was then time to load the van and head for the Home of Golf, St Andrews!

Now What?

The last post was from Dan, more than two weeks ago at the beginning of the pilgrimage. I guess we were a bit too busy to update this blog while the trip was in progress. Too much going on and typing any significant amount of information on an iPhone is an impossibility, at least for me.

So here's the plan. Based on our memories and any cryptic notes we took while on the trip we'll attempt to document our activities, well at least the ones that are suitable for mixed audiences. I don't know who, if anyone, is following this blog, so it may just be for us, but that's fine.

My plan is to make additions in approximately the chronological order in which they happened. Dan or Dylan can do what they like. I hope they will correct any mistakes in my recollections, grammar, spelling or any other error I commit!

I've seen the promised land and it is good!

I arrived in Edinburgh on schedule at half past 10am this morning. Exhausted from the travel I had a light lunch at at airport Cafe Nero before tackling the last few miles of my journey from Washington DC to old town Edinburgh. 

Revitalized after some much needed grub I hopped on a comfortable Airlink express shuttle downtown. 

For 3 pounds 50 pence I got more than my money's worth!

I arrived at my home for the night (a DLUX of ME recommendation) and was pleased to find a stunning view of Castle Rock from the hostel entrance. 

Wasting no time I joined a three hour city tour and took in many of the cities main attractions (along with a healthy heaping of history) on foot. 

After the tour there was just enough time for a quick happy hour pint before heading back to the hostel to clean up before dinner. 

So far this trip is batting 1000. Can't wait for the rest of the crew to arrive in the morning!

-Dlux of DC