Day 51 - [E]dinburgh (St Andrews)

A round of golf, on the Old Course at St Andrews – the home of golf – for my birthday!

Me in my new merch, ready to play the old course

This post will be a bit different to the norm. I’ll report the day as a whole, then after that, document my golf game in detail below that, for my own records and to spare those not interested in golf the need to read the whole saga.

The day dawned bleak, cold, and raining (as predicted). I had slept very poorly, tossing and turning all night with stupid ‘dreams’ playing out my organisational anxieties about my birthday arrangements. The anxious traveller really had no sleep. However, the day played out pretty much exactly as planned, so that was a wasted night of worrying. I got the bus into Edinburgh city and walked to the train station in good time. I was so early that I had time to buy a coffee and cinnamon scroll as breakfast. I got on the train, found a seat, and settled in for the trip out to Leuchars. One benefit of having gone through this process the day before was that I was relaxed about the whole process and knew what to expect as I went along. One thing I did learn was that ScotRail accepts the Eurail pass as a ticket, but their automated systems don’t recognise it, requiring manual intervention to get through ticket turnstiles and the ticket collectors to do a manual inspection.

I got off the bus into St Andrews at Grannie Clark’s Wynd (another benefit of having done this once already) and walked briskly over to the pavillion near the first tee to check in. That went fine, however, when I asked about changing the style of clubs I was renting from regular shafts to stiff shafts, the guy helping me said, “you can do that, but you’ll have to go to the clubhouse, we don’t hold stiff shafts here.” No problem, I was there very early for exactly that sort of reason. I walked down to the clubhouse in the miserable weather. It was heavily overcast, light rain, and a light breeze – classic Scottish late-Autumn weather, I’m thinking.

The Clubhouse was warm and welcoming. The guys manning the Locker Room provided me with the stiff-shafted clubs I asked for without hesitation. The rental set included 14 clubs, a carry-bag with shoulder harness, and essentially unlimited tees. I had to provide my own golf balls and hire a buggy from the starter (for £40, I think he said), if I wanted one. As I picked up the bag to head upstairs to the Pro Shop, I decided I would carry my bag for this round. It wasn’t heavy and the shoulder harness was very comfortable.

Next stop was the Pro Shop where I had long-planned to buy up some merch as souvenirs of the occasion. As you may know, I’m very much a fair-weather golfer. Normally, if it’s raining, or even just cold, I’ll stay off the course. However, on this day, that was not going to be the option. So, my merch plans involved a rain-suit (pants and jacket/top), a beanie, and rain gloves. I also needed to buy balls, of course, and I bought a copy of the yardage book for the Old Course (that I stupidly left in the locker room when I went out to play!). Having acquired my showbag full of goodies (at eye-watering, but irrelevant, cost), I headed back down to the locker room to get into my new wet weather gear (it was still raining outside), leave my stuff in the locker there, and head up to the first tee for my tee time.

When I got there, I was met by the starter (Don) and introduced to the three other guys I was playing with this day: Zach, from Perth, Western Australia; James, from Seattle, Washington; and Neimar, from Southern California. All three were probably in their mid-to-late thirties (Niemar might have been a bit older, his Phillipino heritage kept him looking young but he revealed greying hair when taking off his hat at the end of the round). Later in the round, Niemar discovered that I was turning 63 today. He fist-bumped for being 63 and hitting 280 yard drives (I’d out-driven him a few times during the round). I found out, after hitting off, that Zach played off a 1 handicap (had previously been on +3), and James and Neimar were on handicaps about 11 to 14. So, we were all well-matched for this round. None of them had played the Old Course before, though James and Niemar had met the day before, playing the New Course.

Overall, the round was great. The weather improved quite soon after we teed off to just be heavily overcast. At one stage, I actually removed my rain-proof top because I was getting quite hot inside it. That only lasted about a hole as the weather turned again, and we played through another period of light rain and wind. I had a cup of hot chocolate at the turn in an attempt to reheat myself. And by the time we were walking past the 16th hole (which was closed), it was pretty miserable again. However, it cleared up again as we went down the 17^th (the famous ‘Road’ hole) and was pretty good for our finish on 18 (the ‘Home’ hole).

Zach had a good round, finishing 2-over and having carded at least one birdie. James, Niemar, and I all played fairly well, but each had at least one complete ‘blow out’ hole that meant that our score was not especially good. However, scoring aside, it was a pretty great experience. Not a Championship-standard, perfect weather, round on the Old Course, but certainly impressive and evocative enough for me. I am now anxious to watch the professionals play on the course again as I have first-hand knowledge of what they are experiencing.

We were not the quickest group around the course that day. I estimate that our round was about four hours and fifteen minutes, maybe 4:25. However, we were the last group out (it turns out) so we weren’t holding anyone up. And by the time we rounded the turn, we were practically the only people on the course (there was a group in front of us that I saw a couple of times on the home stretch, but they were well-ahead). That actually added to the experience for me. It’s a rare privilege to play on a course where you’re under no pressure and can enjoy the whole experience without interfering with other players’ game experience.

After we finished the round, Niemar had to head off directly, but James and Zach agreed to meet me in the clubhouse for an after-round beer. By the time I had handed back my clubs, got out of my rain gear, and got sorted out, they were already started on their beers! We chatted for about an hour (mostly them talking US sports) and it was a pleasant wind down after the signature round. Eventually, the anxious traveller had me saying my farewells and heading for the bus to get to the train station in time for my train. Notwithstanding that the weather was miserable again and my paper carrier bag full of merch was getting wet, the trip to the train was smooth. The train was actually delayed by about 10 minutes, but that didn’t trouble me. In Edinburgh, I went down to the bus stop that I knew I could get a bus home from and waited in the sleeting cold rain with dozens of other Edinburgh travellers for the right bus to show up. (I had arrived at the stop just as the route that I wanted left, so I had to wait 15 minutes for the next bus on that route.)

Back home, I hung up all my stuff to dry out and then headed down to the Herringbone for a light meal. With all that achieved, I read for a while and then had an early night. I was pretty tired after a longish day operating mostly on adrenaline (I think, on reflection). However, I was certainly satisfied that I’d had the birthday day that I’d long planned to have.

Daily facts: Location: [E]dinburgh (St Andrews) Temp: 3 Weather: Heavy overcast; patches of light rain

My Birthday Round on the Old Course

Game-play influences

It was 3C, heavy overcast, regular light winds, and occasional light rain. I was using rented Callaway Clubs (Elite woods) (in excellent condition) and Callaway golf balls. The Old Course was set in its off-season mode: Holes 3 (‘Cartgate (Out)’) and 16 (‘Corner of the Dyke’) were out-of-play; Forward/winter tees were in operation, and temporary tees appeared on 6 (‘Heathery (Out)’), 12 (‘Heathery (In)’), and 14 (‘Long’); temporary greens were operating on 6 (‘Heathery (Out)’), 7 (‘High (Out)’), 12 (‘Heathery (In)’), and 15 (‘Cartgate’); preferred lies were operating, and the club gave out little mats to use for shots from the fairway to preserve the grass.

I hadn’t swung a golf club in four months! I was wearing walking shoes (which I’ve fallen in love with this trip), which are waterproof and have grippy soles, but are not strictly golf shoes. I didn’t track my score as it happened and record it here now from (vivid) memory. Yardages were from my Arcoss app, until it got confused and I closed it (about hole 12, I think). Then I used the yardages shown on sprinkler heads through the course.

My Round

Hole	Name	Par	My score	Description	Images
1	Burn	4	5	A pretty good drive (good contact) with a 3-wood off a mat for my first shot in four months. Cut to the right-side of the fairway. Second shot was 7-iron from 137m, which also cut and flew through the green. Three putts from over 30m using a putter I’d never held before.	The First green, my ball off the green to the right The Second green View from the beginning of the Fourth fairway My ball in the bunker; no view of the pin Fourth green, from my first putt position. Can you see the ridge before the flag? Fourth green, showing the double green complex with 14 (flagstick with red flag) The Fifth fairway, from behind the ‘Seven Sisters’ Looking back down the Fifth, over the 100-yard deep Fifth green The Fifth green The Seventh green (with James walking to his ball) The Eighth green, my ball was further left beyond the back of the green Notice how the weather has changed in three holes Another photo of the Eighth green, trying to capture the size of this double green (with the tenth) From the Eighth green, looking out over the River Eden estuary
2	Dyke	4	7	A big drive with huge cut, lost in the gorse. I hit a provisional drive just as big that was straight left. The fourth shot was 7-iron from 134m, which ended up flag high and right of the green. Three putts up a big rise that then sloped steeply to the flag.
3	Cartgate (Out)	4	n/p	This hole was not in play. We walked along the edge of the fairway to the fourth.
4	Ginger Beer	4	5	Another big drive, straight left. (I’m liking this driver by now, but not my swing so much.) The drive ended up in a big pot bunker (‘Cottage’). I couldn’t see the flag so took my medicine and blasted out to the edge of the fairway 68m from the hole. I pitched the ball about 75m (overestimated my swing) and the ball ran to the back of the green, ~30m from the pin. My first putt stopped just shy of the crest of the ridge I had to cross; I’d been scared of it running way past the flag off the back side of the ridge. I then sank a 10m putt down the sloping ridge side.
5	Hole O’Cross (Out)	5	6	Big drive off the forward/winter tee. Excellent 3-wood off the preferred lie mat about 10m short of the green. Duffed the first chip about 4m. Hit the next chip about 4m past the flag. Two putts. The first display of my woeful short game, the correction of which is my highest priority when I return to regular play.
6	Heathery (Out)	4	4	Good drive into the left fairway. Eight iron from about 128m, flag high but right edge of the temporary green. Two putts.
7	High (Out)	4	4	Another big drive straight left, into the gorse. I hit a provisional drive, too, that was also straight left and looked like it was going to have the same fate. I decided I’d drop another ball up there if I coudn’t find either of them. I found the first one on the edge of the gorse (on the far side from the fairway) against the edge of some freshly-laid turf strips. I called it unplayable on the spot because any attempt to play it would damage the new turf strips (which were not marked as GUR), and dropped it at nearest point of relief in the rough on the fairway side. A 70m pitch left me with a short two-putt bogey. (The provisional ball was found pin high and well right in a large section of bare dirt GUR, clearly after getting a cart path bounce beyond the gorse bushes.)
8	Short	3	3	I hit a 7-iron just through the green. Two putts down a tricky slope sealed my par. Everyone got a par on this short hole.
9	End	4	5	Drove it straight left into a bunker (‘Mrs Kruger’). I thought I had enough space to the lip to get the 9-iron I needed for the green out, but I didn’t. The second bunker shot was a straightforward splash out onto the fairway. (I took too much sand so it didn’t go as far as I had hoped). I then pitched to about 1.5m and rolled in the putt.
Around the turn I was distracted from photography by the poor weather and a nature break throwing me out of my rythym.
10	Bobby Jones	4	4	A good drive here that left short pitch in. The pitch was too far right. Two putts from about 3m.	A poor picture of the Thirteenth green from the location of my third shot The Thirteenth green The Fourteenth green The works going on along the Sixteenth They are remaking ‘Deacon Sime’ The Championship Tee on Seventeen James (L), Niemar (C, rear), Zach (R) The tee shot on Seventeen from the Championship Tee The tee shot on Seventeen that we played (from the forward/winter tee) The view down Seventeen showing the Old Course Hotel Sprinkler head on Seventeen My second shot view on the Road Hole Where my second shot ended Video of the disgraceful bunker shot on the Road Hole The view from the tee on Eighteen
11	High (In)	3	3	My 7-iron from the forward tees ran through the green on the left. An excellent lag put from off the green down a slope to the right left me with a 1m putt for par.
12	Heathery (In)	4	4	I hit a great drive on this ‘driveable’ Par 4 that cleared all the trouble and left me with a straightforward pitch into the green. It goes without saying that I pitched poorly but I managed to make my par with two putts.
13	Hole O’Cross (In)	4	5	Another good drive that tended left. I was on a steep grassy bank in the rough. I tried to hit a 4-iron off that poor lie to blast it down the fairway. All I managed to do was chunk it about 10m forward, but onto the fairway. My next shot (9-iron, I think) found the green and I managed to make the two putt bogey.
14	Long	5	5	Another good drive that tended left (very much the story of my driving day). Hit a good 3-wood off the preferred lie mat. Pitched it onto the green from about 110m. Two putts and I was done. Looking at the yardage book while remembering this, I was unaware of all the danger that lurked down this hole. Partly because I was lucky enough to stay on the fairway, and partly because the weather was so miserable at the time that I wasn’t really doing anything other than playing the golf I saw right in front of me.
15	Cartgate (In)	4	5	I hit a great drive down here left of ‘Miss Grainger’s Bosoms’. With the forward tee and temporary green, my second shot was no more than 40m, so, of course, I thinned it 20m passed the green. I chipped back (poorly) to about halfway, then gave up on the wedges and putted from there. A great lag putt gave me an acceptable bogey after the short game collapse.
16	Corner of the Dyke	4	n/p	This hole was not in play. We walked along the cart path boundary to the seventeenth tee. In the cold rain.
17	Road	4	7	One of the most famous holes in golf. We played from the winter/forward tee. I hit my best drive of the day here, long and straight down the fairway. According to the sprinkler head near my ball, I had 67m to the front edge. I aimed at the right front of the green as you are supposed to do to avoid the pot bunker, and then hit my 52 straight into the pot bunker. I didn’t feel so bad when I discovered that Zach had done exactly the same thing. He blasted out first and made it look easy. I thinned my bunker shot (see the video) 30m over the green up near the stone wall. I then proceeded to duff two chips back to the green and got lucky and made a two-putt from off the edge of the green to rescue a triple-bogey.
18	Tom Morris	4	4	Another great drive to finish the day. I was left with about 75m to the front edge and managed to hit it to exactly the front edge of the green. This dip in front of the green is called ‘Valley of Sin’. Common wisdom says, “never leave yourself in the Valley of Sin.” The good news is that I managed to hit a lag putt for the ages, which hit the pin and came to rest about 2 feet from the hole. A simple tap in and I had my par. An excellent way to end my birthday round.

By my count, that’s 71 shots (including 3 penalties – lost ball and unplayable lie). Add 9 to account for the two holes not played, and I’ve shot ~80 around the Old Course. Over my handicap but not a disgrace by any means. Especially with someone else’s clubs, in inclement weather, and after four months lay-off.