18 holes at the Birthplace of Golf

For our last full weekend in Ireland, our professors decided we needed another long vacation. Early on in the program, they decided to cancel class on Friday and give us another what amounted to a four-day weekend. Boom. Six of us decided Scotland would be a great place for example. The other half traveled to Brussels and two others went to Amsterdam. Scotland was clearly the best option.

After getting out of class at noon on Thursday, the six of us went out to Shannon Airport and flew to Glasgow, Scotland. And when I say Glasgow, I mean some other airport in the general area of the city because it was about an hour into the city. We flew with RyanAir, which has a lot of super-cheap deals. One of the guys in our group, Wes, purchased his tickets more than two weeks in advance and his ticket only cost 15 Euros (Roughly $21). The rest of us waited too long and paid about 70 Euros. Still a good deal.

We then took a train to Edinburgh where we located our hotel for the stay — The Holiday Inn at the Zoo. Unfortunately, the only time we were at/near the zoo, it was closed. But I hear the koala wore kilts and the monkeys played the bagpipes. Good times.

One of the reasons I wanted to journey to Scotland was to play some golf. Originally, I was going to settle for a round at a links course in Limerick, but then in talking to Wes, we decided why to set our sights low: we should play a course in Scotland. Oh, but why settle for a round of golf a just another course in Scotland when we could go to St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf. St. Andrews is only a couple hours north of Edinburgh and I figured I wouldn’t be this close in a long time. This trip needed to happen. After doing some research, we discovered that playing the fabled Old Course wasn’t going to happen — you have to apply for a tee time a month in advance and have a verified handicap of at least 26. The New Course, the Jubilee Course and the new Castle Course were out by price (They all cost more than $150 per round and the Castle was $260). That left us with three choices to play. Of those, Eden Course seemed to have the most history and legacy. It still cost £40 ($80) but what the heck. Let’s roll. In addition to Wes, who golfed in high school and goes to the Masters each year, Jillian — who had never golfed 18 holes at once — also joined us in our adventure and our threesome was set.

On Friday morning, we got up a little after 6 a.m. and caught the 7:30 bus to St. Andrews. If I could sleep on the bus, this would not have been a problem. Alas, the bumpy ride and the wonderful scenery prevented any napping. We arrived in St. Andrews and began walking around. Within five minutes we discovered the house of Old Tom Morris. A quick turn and before we knew it we were walking along the 18th hole of the Old Course.

This is the birthplace of golf.


We took in the sights of the Swilken Bridge and the view of the old clubhouse. I recognized the 17th green from TV and from the Tiger Woods PGA Golf for Playstation. From the surroundings, it is hard to think that this course is the home to a major given the intimate surroundings. The road on the side of the 18th fairway jut right next up to the course. We continued walking up the Old Course along 17 and past the Old Course Hotel before splitting off on a trail that took us past a practice center and on to the Eden Course. We checked in and got our equipment — shoes and clubs. Along with our shoes, we got a pair of complementary socks (Retail value £8). The clubs they gave us were probably the best I’ve ever used. The bag included FT5 driver and Big Bertha 3 wood, X Hybrid No4, X20 Tour irons, and an XG 2-ball putter. My only complaint was the putter, which was a nice Odyssey but had a weird head that was a double-wide. I’m used to a nice flat stick. So at least I have an excuse for my shoddy putting. The one thing they didn't provide you with was balls and they only sold nice Callaway balls with St. Andrews stamps. I got six hoping the rough would be kind to me. After a quick breakfast in the clubhouse and a few putts on the course, we were off.

Most of the time when I step onto the first tee box, I'm not that nervous. But when I stood over the ball on the first tee, my stomach was in knots. I don't know if it was being at St. Andrews, playing with new people that expected me to be decent or general excitement. All that worrying was for naught as a drove the ball straight down the fairway 250 yards or so. We were off. After choking on a medium putt, I settled for a bogey. Not a bad start. The goal was to break 100.

One of the things I was worried about heading into the trip was the weather. As I learned in Ireland, the weather is a fickle thing. Usually, it rains once if not several times a day. With a tee time set for 11:04 on Friday, all we could do was hope for good weather. Thursday was scary as we watched the Open Championship turn into a hack fest with the high winds and poor conditions. However, thy sky was overcast and rained on us while we were on the second hole, but for the most part, it was good weather. It tried sprinkling on us several times, and the wind picked up at times, but polo and khakis were comfortable.

(Wes on the left, Jillian on the right)
After a few holes, it became clear that the hardest thing about the course was putting. The greens were incredibly fast and hardly held any pitch shots. Most of the time if you landed a pitch on the front edge of the green it would roll all the way through and back off the edge.

After a disastrous No. 2, the rest of the front nine was a mixture of bogeys, doubles and one par. Usually, when I play 18, I am ready to get done by the end of the round, but here it seemed as a went on, the better I felt. Also, for almost the first time I didn't get frustrated after an awry shot.

The highlight of my round came on No. 13. The hole is a 404-yard par 4 straight hole without much elevation change. I hit driver off the tee and even though it sliced at the end the ball stayed in the fairway. With about 160 left to the center of the green, I pulled a six iron out of the bag and hit a laser. The shot landed on the front edge of the green and somehow stayed on and rolled to within three feet. After waiting for Wes and Jillian to clean up, I calmly sank the putt for a birdie 3. Boom. We commemorated the moment with the photo at right. Being aware of golfing etiquette, I also bought drinks later.

I followed up the birdie with two more pars down the stretch with a 5 at the 523-yard 16th and a 4 at the 334-yard 18th. After going out right on pace with a 50, I picked it up on the way in for a final round of 96. Wes finished with a 109 and Jillian carded her first 18-hole round with a respectable 126. We celebrated by having a Scotsman take our photo on the 18th green.

After resting a bit in the clubhouse, we headed back up to the Old Course hoping to go on a walking tour. However, when we arrived the lady at the pro shop said the tours were done for the day -- this despite it being 3:45 and the pamphlet said tours went to 4 p.m. Whatever. We walked around the course a bit and went to the clubhouse where once again I spent way too much money. But it could have been worse. They had an amazing sweater vests and jackets that cost £90. Despite the temptation, I could not justify spending $180 on a sweater vest, no matter how sweet. Instead, I opted for a £20 hat and a various assortment of goodies.

It was a great day. The weather cooperated, I didn't embarrass myself and played a respectable, but not a great round. I'm glad we opted for St. Andrews and splurged.

Coming tomorrow: The rest of the Scotland Trip, including a trip up to Loch Ness. Stay tuned.

Cheers, 

LJLA