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
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