Dispatches from Old Dan Lux - 70 Weeks Until the Pilgrimage

D&D,

This is the first of many updates I will send you as a prelude to our pilgrimage to bonnie auld (beautiful old) Scotland, home of the best golf in the world. It marks the end of the first week in our 70 week run up to the journey, so by now you should have saved $20-25. If you save $25/week you will have almost all the money you need for the trip. If the sum is $20/week, you probably will be a little short, but close to what you need. Of course the actual cost of the trip depends on the exchange rate, but I digress.

Photo courtesy of Elie Golf Course

The subject of this correspondence is the Golf House Club at Elie or simply Elie. Allen Ferguson, in his book Golf in Scotland, refers to Elie as a links-heathland hybrid. I saw little heath (heather) at Elie. Perhaps that’s just because I successfully avoided the rough all the way around. We know better than that! Whether it’s a true links course or a heathland layout is somewhat irrelevant, but I can say for sure, there are no trees on the course, zero! 


Heather, also called heath, is a ground hugging bush that is green in the summer and comes into bloom with beautiful small lavender flowers. It grows wild on the mountains in the Highlands and turns the hillsides pale purple during the late summer and early fall. In winter it turns brown and remains so throughout the spring. It makes up a significant part of the rough on heathland courses and is very difficult from which to hit. Like I said, I don’t remember much heather at Elie. 

The Periscope: Photo Courtesy of Elie G.C.

Elie is a tiny villlage on the north side of the Firth of Forth. People once depended on fishing for their livelihood. Now it is a tourist destination with many summer home, B&B’s and rental apartments.  The clubhouse is just off the main road through Elie, and the first hole plays away from town. The course developed naturally but benefited from the helping hand of Old Tom Morris who polished off the design in the late 1800’s. The first hole plays up and over a giant grass-covered sand dune. It’s easy to drive your ball up and over the dune, but you can’t see if other golfers have cleared the landing zone. The members solved this problem by acquiring a periscope from an WWII submarine, the base of which is housed in the starter house. He can look over the hill and determine when to play away. The large dune dominates the first three holes and then it’s down and to the South, towards the Firth of Forth. A firth is an estuary, or bay, at the mouth of a river where it feeds into the ocean. 

Courtesy of Elie G.C.

The first ten holes plays out to the ocean, where there is a stretch of three fantastic holes (11, 12 &13) that play along a beach. These holes curve right to left and favor a slight draw. From this part of the course you can look across the firth to North Berwick or down the firth to the west to see Edinburgh. The subsequent holes lead back to town and the clubhouse. Elie is a bit peculiar in that it has no par fives and two par threes. Fairways are generous and are separated by areas of rough. I played there in May 2010 and remember it as grassy but I suppose there could be some heather amongst it, but don’t remember it as punishing unless you draw an unlucky lie. There are numerous bunkers but it don’t remember much about them. I suppose that means I wasn’t in many. On the way out and home, a hook can take you off the course and into serious trouble. 


Dave McMahon and I played on a Sunday afternoon in May. I remember several significant aspects of the round. First, we played late in the afternoon but not late enough to get a significant discount on the greens fees. The starter was a friendly old geezer and told Dave and I that it looked like a senior and junior player (yeah right!),and he charged us accordingly. He saved us quite a few quid (as they would say in the UK). Very nice old guy. Second, we experienced a sever thunderstorm, a very rare occurrence in Scotland. Thankfully they have restroom facilities out on the course where we could take cover. There we met four young guys who also took shelter in the lieu. The good news is that they had beer. These guys were about to graduate from St Andrews University and were having a celebratory round. They were true gentlemen as their mothers had taught had taught them to respect and share with their elders. 


The last bit of information I will share with you is that Elie is the course on which James Braid played as he grew up. Braid is not a particularly significant figure in American golf, but he was part of the great triumvirate along with Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in the pre-Bobby Jones era. The three won many championships and at the time were almost considered unbeatable, sort of an earlier version of Palmer, Nicklaus and Player. Braid went on to design many courses around Scotland.


On previous trips to Scotland I had overlooked Elie. It is now on my must play list. The course is probably less than 15 miles from the first tee on the Old Course and should be high on our list of choices for the trip. 


-Old Dan Lux



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