My best mate Craig and I had decided to treat ourselves to the
golfing trip of a lifetime for our last milestone birthday… 40 you say…sure,
sounds good! In fact we had been
talking about going to Scotland for a couple of years off and on, but when he
got serious and started emailing golf companies in Scotland I knew it was a
fait-au-complet. He did an amazing job
of tracking down a number of reputable companies and lining up some of the best
and most difficult (we were yet to realize how hard) courses to play.
We had decided to meet at Heathrow airport in London before
connecting and heading up to Edinburgh, Craig flying in from Australia which
was the best part of 24 hours away by plane, while I took the decidedly
sedentary jaunt from Canada, a mere 7 hours flying time.
In typical TW fashion I had not given myself enough time to
travel between terminals, I figured that as an experienced traveler I’d somehow
work it out and make it no worries…
That over confidence was my first mistake! The plane landed just 30 minutes late, but
that was enough to have the airline people meet me. Yes, one of the distinct advantages of being
a top tier airline traveler was this little perk! They had a car waiting and privately chauffeuring
me across the airport and through security to avoid the line-ups and long-winded
intra-terminal bus transfer. Even with
this I was still sprinting down the domestic terminal toward my gate and flight
bound for Edinburgh. I was in such a
frenzy that I charged by Craig who was sitting and lazily sipping his latte while
waiting for our plane to begin boarding close to the gate. Of course this flight was also delayed –
thank goodness! As I sped past I heard
a familiar voice call out – “Oi where are you off to then?” I smiled and slowed to a walk, by now
breathing hard and with droplets of sweat forming on my brow we shook hands –
god it was good to see him.
So after all these years we were finally on our adventure
and as we boarded the plane bound for Scotland little did I know that my bags, golf
bag included was to miss the flight?
You see it hadn’t been as fortunate as me to have personal
transportation.
After my night flight across the Atlantic and the urgent
race against time at Heathrow I was exhausted and so slept for the short hop
(1:15 min) flight to Edinburgh. As I
waited rather impatiently for my bags, a sinking feeling settled over me –
realizing that if I only just made it there was no possible way my bags made it. Finding the decidedly apologetic British
Airways agent he assured me he would locate my bags and have them sent on the
next flight and transported to the hotel at St Andrews. I almost felt bad knowing that it was entirely
my fault that they’d missed the connection, but I was going to still pay the
price. All well and good except that we
had decided to play golf that very afternoon, but me with no golf clubs or
appropriate attire was going to be somewhat problematic and costly!
Our driver was brilliant as he said he knew of a ‘wee
course’ that he could get us on even though we hadn’t booked this as part of
our tour figuring that we’d be tired after our trip and likely not play the
first day, but given the circumstances we both felt great and ready to take on
the best that Scotland could dish out to us in terms of golf.
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| The grand entrance to the Rusacks Hotel St Andrews - Scotland |
First stop however was our hotel in St Andrews; we were
staying at the Rusacks Hotel overlooking the 18th fairway of
the Old Course and had an old world charm that harkened back to the 19th
century with its sweeping parlors and broad corridors. This is the Mecca of golf and we were on its
doorstep, a mere 200 meters from the starters hut at the Old Course.
The first afternoon we played a great local course called
the “Dukes” which was absolutely fabulous, after me shelling out an inordinate
sum to rent clubs and buy pants, golf shirt and shoes…. What can I say the price paid for not
allowing myself enough time, now you’d think I’d learn (seems to be a constant
issue…. hhhmmm). Fortunately for me my clubs and bag arrived
late that first evening just in time for our game on the Old Course scheduled
for the next morning at 6:30 am.
Almost too nervous to eat before we headed out the next
morning (I can hear you asking why after all its just a golf course?) Yes and no, true it’s just a golf course,
but its “the” course where almost every golfer in the world aspires to play at
least once in their life – the history and atmosphere are completely
overwhelming, but the most innocuous were the to play a bigger factor – the caddies,
crowds and expectations.
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| St Andrews Old Course (Scotland) Note: starters hut left, Royal & Ancient Golf Museum and view of the 18th green - front right. |
You see it’s mandatory to take a local caddie when you play the
Old Course – no exceptions and so each person in the foursome have their own
caddie. They have unbelievable knowledge
of the course and know ever nook, cranny, bump and swale on the course
regularly saving the amateur golfer (that’s me!) anywhere between 5 – 8
strokes. This in itself is a little
scary as these guys have been caddies on this course for most of their adult
lives and have seen every level of skill and caddied for everyone from
Professionals to the truly terrible amateurs over the years… To say they were a little judgmental and
short of patience was an understatement of enormous proportions. I completely lucked out as my caddie was a
young 30 something guy who had taken law at the University of Edinburgh, passed
the bar, moved to London to take up his legal career and then decided that his
passion was golf and so he tossed it all in to return to St Andrews and be a
full time caddie. It was refreshing to
chat to this highly intelligent guy who had forsaken everything to follow his
first love. He was smart, funny, very
relaxed and truly made the experience a memorable one for me…my score you
ask? I very respectable 91 on the Old
Course thank you very much!
The other intimidating factor were the crowds that milled about
the starters box (yes, even at 6:30 am in the morning), and as your name,
country and club are announced there is often a polite applause from those 20 –
40 people standing about. The crowds
actually grow larger as the day goes by often with tour buses depositing their
cargo steps from the 18th green and first tee. It was very nice to have people around and
provide some encouragement, but then the moment of truth comes as you step up to
your ball and endeavour to make some form of contact – truly terrifying. So many irrational thoughts run through your
mind as you step up to drive off the first tee… I kept on saying to myself – “please just
make contact and get it in the air…please god just this once - I’ll be good, I
promise!” And this from a non-believer…
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| TW and Craig standing on the famous Swilcan Bridge - 18th fairway St Andrews (Old Course) |
All in all Craig and I spent seven fabulous days in Scotland
playing golf at some of the worlds best courses – Carnoustie, Kings Barns(twice – so good the first time we had to play again), St Andrews New course
and the ‘piece de resistance’ – Scotscraig (founded in 1817 and the 13th oldest course in the world!). This last course was an unexpected gift from
a couple that we played with one afternoon at Kings Barns – but that’s a story
for another time :)
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| Iconic photo of TW in London - 2009 |
Where to next mate?
The planning has begun that’s all I’m saying…
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