Seaside Golf, a celebration from Betjamin.


I regularly return to this life affirming poem from the great English poet John Betjamin, it's simplicity and joy show the beauty of playing golf on the links (seaside) golf courses of Britain.


Seaside Golf

How straight it flew, how long it flew

It cleared

the rutty track

And soaring disappeared from view

Beyond the bunker's back -

A glorious, sailing, bounding drive

That made me glad I was alive.


And down the fairway, far along

It glowed a lonely white;

I played an iron sure and strong

And clipped it out of sight,

And spite of grassy banks between

I knew I'd find it on the green.


And so I did, it lay content

Two paces from the pin;

A steady putt and then it went

Oh, most securely in.

The very turf rejoiced to see

That quite unprecedented three.


Ah! Seaweed smells from sandy caves

And thyme and mist in whiffs,

In-coming tide, Atlantic waves

Slapping sunny cliffs,

Lark song and sea sounds in the air

And splendour, splendour everywhere.

John Betjamin

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cruden Bay Golf Club

Image
To help entice you avid golfers out there to come over to Scotland for a golf tour this summer I will be posting some pictures of my favourite Scottish golf courses over the next few weeks.  It is going to be a super golf season here in Scotland with the Open Championship returning to Turnberry in July and the majority of our major golf courses having retained last years prices. Added to this the strength of the Dollar against the British Pound, it really has never been a better time for visiting golfers to tour in Scotland. Golf tours are approximately 20% cheaper than last year!  This is the unique Cruden Bay located just north of Aberdeen on the east coast of Scotland. An astonishing links golf course that one will find hard to prepare for in a golfing sense...in fact nothing can prepare you for Cruden Bay! A one off. The view from the clubhouse over the Starters Hut to the magnificent links. It is a truly splendid links golf course with a tremendous location 20 or so miles north of
Read more

Identifying My Golf Ball

Image
I have over the years seen, in competition golf and fun bounce games, that it is really important to have a clear unique identification on your golf ball. I played in a wee competition a few weeks ago and all three golfers had one red dot marked next to the Titliest brand name! What are the chances? Boyne's identifying mark. After a wee think that evening I decided to go for a four dot two colour combination. The reasoning was that no other golfer is going to be this anal to sit for an hour and put a mark like it on his golf balls. I may need to get a life?!?
Read more

The St. Andrews Town Match 2013

Image
St. Andrews held the 100th playing of the Town Match on Saturday 14th September. This historic event is played between the local & international members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club against the two main local golf clubs in the town: St. Andrews Golf Club and the New Club. 1st tee Old Course at St. Andrews Scotland There were 171 foursomes matches played over the Old Course, New Course, Jubilee Course and 1/2 dozen or so were even were golfed on the Strathtyrum Course. This amounts to 684 golfers in what must rank as one of the largest one day golf competitions in the world. The R&A Team view the 8th Jubilee Course Our match was played on the Jubilee Course at 3.20pm in great conditions as can be seen by the few photographs taken while we waited to tee off on the Par 4 8th. My playing partner Mr. Thomson The Par 4 8th fairway, Jubilee Course Putting out on the Par 4 8th green, Jubilee Course The game was played in good spirits, as it should be,
Read more