Simon on the Old Course.



A close friend of my wife and I had asked if I would be able to get her Step Father, Simon, onto the Old Course for a round of golf. An ambition that had been long held. Always one for a challenge I confidently said that I could and we set about organising a date for the game, a hotel and booking a local restaurant for our evening meal.


I entered our names into the 'Ballot' for a tee time on Friday 9th October...we failed to secure one! I subsequently found out that the Ballot had been over subscribed by 59 other groups trying for a tee time. This meant that with Simon arriving on Thursday evening I would have to queue at the Starter's Hut first thing on Friday morning and hope that the Starter could join us up with a two ball.

When I arrived, at 6.05am, there were 11 golfers already in a queue! Good grief some had been at the hut since 3.45am...that is dedication for you.


The Old Course Starter did get us both out and onto the famous links at 10.20am whereupon we had a great round of golf, though my drive on the 1st could have been better...OB on the road to the left, just missing a car! A few friends saw it and I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot more about it. They are not going to miss this opportunity.


Simon had a whale of a time and played the ball sensibly down the middle of the fairways and onto the greens, mostly. A few of the notorious bunkers did manage to catch the occasional wayward shot and for the most part he extricated the golf ball pretty well!


As we played the 12th on the Old Course my caddy buddy from Augusta, Matt, turned up. I knew he was in St. Andrews for a couple of days before going back to the USA, but it was a delightful surprise to meet him out on the course. Simon was in heaven to have an Augusta caddy as well as an Old Course caddy with him for his round and believes he will be able "to dine out on this great day for a long time".


After the final ball was putted we retired to the Dunvegan Bar for a couple of well deserved pints of Guiness and swapped a few post round tales with our new found friends. A super day that started out tricky but finished up wonderfully.


Comments

Joe Welsh said…
OB left off #1? I thought I had a nasty hook! :)
2 December 2009 at 13:24
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