Return to Scotland, A Trip of
a Lifetime, September 1-21, 2017, Part I
In the past two years, Pat
has gone to Great Britain…in 2015 to the Cotswolds and 2016 to go to the
Chelsea Flower Show in London. I was not
invited on either trip and was forced to do my best to find something to do. In 2015 that meant playing 27.5 different courses
(half course being a nine holer) over a period of 24 days (Pat joined me for
the last 7 days of the trip and we were rained out at Royal Porthcawl…it was
pouring and I had played it decades ago, otherwise I for sure would have been
out there). In 2016, I had to play 16.5
courses in 11 days, and then flew back home with Pat.
This year, Pat decided to go
on a tour of castles and gardens near Edinburgh for 6 days…so I of course
scheduled a 21-day trip (18.5 courses), leaving 8 days before Pat and then
having Pat join me for the 5-6 days of golf after her tour. She subsequently decided to head across the
pond with me and join me for the first 8 days of golf. And, our good friends from Toronto (whom we
know from Pinehurst) John H. and his wife Cathy C. decided to join us (and at
times just me) for the last 2 weeks of the trip.
Prior to this trip, I had
visited GB&I for golf on some 17 trips totaling about 130-140 days and
played 97 different golf courses. Being almost 73 years old, one does not know
how long before the legs give out…so I decided to treat this trip as if it was
my final trip to Scotland. I listed four
courses I had not played, five that I had only played once, and eight old great
ones that I certainly wanted to play for potentially the last time. Before I knew it, I had an itinerary with 19
courses on it, including 5 of the 14 that have hosted an Open
Championship.
We flew to Glasgow with a
change in planes in Dublin and arrived the morning of Saturday, September
2. After a short drive south to our
hotel in Troon (it was way too early for our room to be ready), we headed
further south to Trump Turnberry for our first round of golf of the trip
(interestingly, Pat and I were at Turnberry in July 2008; it was our last stop
on our honeymoon).
Trump Turnberry Resort and
Golf Club-Ailsa, September 2, 2017: Originally opened
in 1906 and designed by Willie Fernie, Turnberry and its luxury hotel served as
an airbase and military hospital during both World Wars. The Ailsa course was restored by Mackensie
Ross and reopening in 1951 and has hosted the Walker Cup in 1963, the Amateur
Championship 4 times, the Senior Open Championship 7 times, the Woman’s Open
Championship in 2002, and The Open Championship four times:
o in 1977 (the Open which made
Turnberry famous) which became known as “The Dual in the Sun” between Tom
Watson and Jack Nicklaus and they went head to head for the last 36 holes
playing brilliant golf (and leaving the rest of the field in their wake) with
Watson victorious by a single stroke;
o in 1986, won by Greg Norman
for his first of two Open wins;
o in 1994, won by Nick Price;
and
o in 2009, won by Stewart Cink
in a playoff against 59 year old Tom Watson…in what was almost one of the greatest
moments in sports history.
Donald Trump purchased the
resort in 2014. He immediately put architect
Martin Ebert to work on a renovation of the Ailsa. Put simply, the results are brilliant. I probably had played Ailsa at least 5 times
previously, and while it was always a superb course, its conditioning was
always “not quite right” and it had several awkward holes…in particular #9 and
#18. Ebert shortened the par 3 6th hole,
which allowed the 18th be become a straight away 485 yard par 4
headed straight inland towards the iconic hotel (previously, the 18th
used a tee from Turnberry’s second course which resulted in an awkward hole
with too sharp of a dogleg left). He
also converted the par 4 9th into a 248 yard par 3 over a deep gorge
to a green set slightly above tee height and over a long gorge. This eliminated a questionable 9th…even with
its spectacular drive...and made it possible to change the 10th into
a 565 downhill par 5 with a superb green setting. Other holes with major improvements are 8,
11, 14, and 17. The Ailsa now plays to a
hefty 7489 yards from the tips (par 71…and most likely as a par 70 for an Open). It is both a very tough course and a very fair
course. IMO it will make a superb Open
venue.
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| View down Turnberry's #18 toward hotel...see wind whipping Scottish flag! |
Ailsa has appeared on every
World Top 50 and 100 list I have found (43 to date in total), and had been as
high as #3 on UK’s Golf World in 2010 and #5 on Top100golfcourses.com in 2011. Golf Magazine’s 2017 list (release in early
September) placed it at #16 worldwide, well up from its #23 in 2015. My own personal opinion would place it around
#12 worldwide. And for those of you who
claim I only rate highly the courses on which I play well, please note that I
had a smooth 45-47 = 92…which may have been influenced by some jet lag, and
strong southerly wings (20-25mph).
We did not stay in the hotel
but heard it is now quite the place…and the lighthouse is now converted into a
luxurious room and half-way house for the course (the latter is considerably
cheaper than the former which is rumored to go for about $5,000/night).
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| Pat and moi on 9th tee with lighthouse and 9th green (far right of pic) |
After the round we had a
quick dinner at Turnberry and drove back to Troon…it was great to get to bed!! Note the pic below…our room at The Troon
Marine Hotel was the same room occupied by Arnold and Winnie Palmer when he won
The Open at Troon in 1962.
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| Outside our room at Troon Marine Hotel...where the King stayed in 1962 |
Western Gailes Golf Club,
September 3, 2017: Western Gailes is about 7 miles north of
Troon along Scotland’s west coast and lies right next to the same commuter
train line that runs alongside Troon’s 11th hole and Prestwick’s 1st. It was founded in 1897 and has a long
history as a qualifying site for The Open Championship and hosted a Curtis Cup
Match in 1972.
I had played Western Gailes
once before in 1981. A few years prior,
the club had rebuilt holes 3-5 having lost the land that housed the original
holes 3-5 to make way for a new road at the north end of the club. At the time there was almost no vegetation
alongside these new holes and they looked completely out of place. Somehow, 36 years can make quite a
difference. Today, these holes look they
have been there since 1897.
The layout of WGGC is very
simple…the property is a long thin sliver of land between the Irish Sea to the
west and the commuter railway line to the east.
The clubhouse lies on the eastern edge and holes 1-4 head north (to the
right as you exit the rear of the clubhouse), then holes 5-13 head south, and
14-18 back north. The prevailing wind is
out of the south (as it was this day), the stretch from 5-13 seems to never end
and tests the golfer’s stick-to-itiveness.
WGGC plays to 7014 yards from the back (par 71).
The weather this day was
awful. The weather all trip was not
great and this day was the worst. It
rained for about 13-14 of the 18 holes and the wind blew at about 15mph in
mid-50’s temps. Pat had the brains to
stay back at the hotel…but as most of you know, good judgment is a rare
commodity in my brain. After a solid par
on #1 it was downhill from there and I finished the day with an 89. These were very tough conditions and this is
a very tough course. Additionally, true
links golf is tough to get used to….and while I have played a fair amount in my
lifetime, playing it only occasionally is not the same as living here. The lies are very very tight, and you need to
know how the land moves in detail because the game here is played mostly on the
ground (as opposed to in the air in the USA).
The greens and fairways are very firm and the ball can run and run and
run (especially with the wind)…so when hitting to the green, you need to
understand the shape of the ground from 10-20 yards short of the green all the
way to the cup…does, it move up or down, left or right? It takes a bunch of rounds to gain and retain
that knowledge.
Best holes are probably:
#6--a short par 5 of 498 yards, turning right
off the tee to create a fabulous Cape driving holes to a tight fairway (much
less room right than it seems on the tee) and a tough approach to a deep (38
yards) narrow green (at one point 7 yards wide);
#7—198
yard par 3 alongside the Irish Sea; another deep (31 yards) green that is very
narrow up front (9 yards wide) and guarded by 6 bunkers;
#17—470
yard par 4 turning left; tee shot must thread fairway bunker left and railway
line right…then approach is blind over a long dune cutting diagonally across
fairway.
Overall this is a great,
tough, fair golf course, which unfortunately is overshadowed by its more famous
neighbors along the west coast (Prestwick, Troon, and Turnberry). Well worth a visit if you are on the west
coast.
St. Andrews, The Old Course,
September 4, 2017: When I first started planning this trip,
September seemed to be the ideal time. I
later learned (too late to make a change), that September is the worst time if
you want to play The Old Course and/or Muirfield. The R&A holds their Fall Meeting in
September and other important golf organizations hold major events in Scotland
in September as many of their members/participants are planning to go to the
Fall Meeting. As a result, available
“slots” at The Old Course and Muirfield are much more limited. While I was able to schedule times at both, I
was very fortunate to be able to do so, and the dates meant that Pat could not
join me and/or required long drives to get there and back. The Old Course looked truly impossible until
I was introduced to Simon Holt from Connoisseur Golf, an agency that packages
high end trips to Scotland. Simon is
trying to finish a World 100 list and we had talked a couple of times about his
remaining courses, etc. He lives in
North Berwick and belongs to North Berwick GC, but his official office is in
St. Andrews. When I asked him about the
possibility of playing The Old Course, he was not encouraging but later contacted
me to advise that Connoisseur had a threesome scheduled to play it 9/4 at
1pm…with room for as 4th. That was before Pat decided to leave on 9/1
instead of 9/9. So when she decided to
go over with me, we knew she could not play TOC that day.
We left Troon around 8:30am
and arrived about 11:15 for lunch with Simon.
I had hosted him back in June at Brookline and he is just a great
guy. Loves the silly game of golf and
makes a living at it while arranging fabulous trips for other golfers…what
could be better? We arrived at the first
tee around 12:30 and hung out in anticipation of our start. There I met my three playing partners, two
from Calgary and one from Vancouver…all good guys. I have been fortunate enough to play TOC
about 10 times (first time in 1970), and trust me…it never never gets old. There is no feeling in the game like teeing
off in front of the R&A on the #1 tee…except the feeling one gets putting
out on #18!!
After a good drive on #1, I
dumped 6-iron into the Swilken Burn for a double, then settled down and played
well on the rest of the front nine, until fading on the back to a 41-44 =
85. There were three pieces of good
news. First, I started making crisp
contact with most of my long shots, and started putting well…and I parred both
17 and 18 which made me feel great. Pat
walked the town and later caught us as we were playing 17. The round was interrupted about 3 times by
rain squalls but the weather was much improved from Sunday.
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| On the Swilken Bridge off 18th tee with me bride...last time here July 4, 2008. Smiling because am with her (and my par on 17). |
I presume I don’t have to
list TOC’s championships or World 100 rankings.
But to put it simply, it has hosted:
29 Open Championships
16 Amateur Championships
8 Walker Cup Matches
1 Curtis Cup Match
1 Senior Open Championship (2018)
World Top 100’s:
All 43 lists…two placed it #1, 18 (of 41) placed it in
top 5, 35 (of 41) placed it in top 10, and 42 placed it in top 15…never lower
than #20.
This course had no original
architect, is (IMHO) the most important course in history in terms of
architecture (it represents the definition of strategic architecture), is
almost as flat as a pancake but the land is wonderfully rumpled, been played by
every great professional and amateur player in the history of the same except
Ben Hogan, has hosted more men’s majors than any other course save Augusta
National, is simply fun and a joy to play, takes dozens of round to start to
understand, continues to confound some of the best players in the world without
being tricked up...and does all of the above after several centuries of
play!! Simply amazing and truly
unbelievable!!
Others have described
individual holes better than I ever could…and this information is readily
available on the web…so go research it, or better yet, make the trek and play
it. You will most likely hate it at
first, but it is an amazing experience.
After the round, Pat and I
had dinner at a wonderfully simple Italian restaurant in town…Little Italy…well
worth a visit.
And then we had a 2:20 drive
back to Troon…not fun but worth every second!
Prestwick Golf Club,
September 5, 2017: Unfortunately after a long day on Monday, we
had a tee time at 8:30 at Prestwick Tuesday morning (as we had a flight out of
Glasgow airport at 5:10pm that evening).
Prestwick GC was founded in
1851. For those of you who are not
aware, Prestwick hosted the first 12 Open Championships from 1860-72 (was not
played in 1871…more later) and then an additional 12 times (24 in total) with
the last time being 1925. Prestwick’s
original course contained 12 holes, and was expanded to 18 holes in 1883. The
Open, crowds, and all the logistics involved (even then) had outgrown
Prestwick’s limited space.
After our round, the Club’s
Secretary, Ken Goodwin was kind enough to show Pat and me around the clubhouse
and afford us the opportunity to view some of the original scorecards and other
artifacts from early Opens. When the
Open was first played in 1860, the winner was awarded possession of the
Championship belt for one year…with the belt being permanently awarded to any
person winning the Open three consecutive years. After Young Tom Morris did just that in 1868,
’69, and ’70, the Open was cancelled for 1872 until another award could be
developed. As an aside, in 1870 (still
using the 12 hole course), Young Tom Morris played the first hole…578 yards in
length…in three strokes using hickory shafts and gutta-percha balls. Think about that for a minute or two.
The Gold Medal first was
awarded to Young Tom Morris when he won again in 1872 (and has been awarded to
the winner every year since). In 1873
the “Claret Jug” (officially known as the Golf Champion Trophy) was first
awarded to the winner (although Young Tom Morris’ name is also engraved on it
for his 1872 victory).
Prestwick organized the Open
until 1871. The funds for the Claret Jug
were paid jointly by Prestwick Golf Club, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St
Andrews, and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (Secretary Goodwin
showed us the actual invoices between these clubs), and these three clubs
administered The Open from 1871 through 1920, when the R&A took over total
responsibility for the event. From
1872-93 The Open rotated between the home courses of these three clubs (The Old
Course, Prestwick, and Musselburgh…until The HCEG moved to Muirfield in 1892). In 1894 the Open was held in England for the
first time at St. George’s GC (today’s Royal St. George’s GC).
Those of you who wish to know
more of the history of golf in Scotland between 1850 and 1880 or so should read
Tommy’s Honour, or see the movie of
the same name released earlier this year, or better yet, do both.
Today’s Prestwick plays to
6908 yards from the tips, and is simply a delightful course to play. I was most pleased to see Prestwick included
in Golf Magazine’s World Top 100 this year (at #100) for the first time. It has been on 13 of the 43 World Top 100
listings I have found, and has consistently been in the 30-35 range on Darius
Oliver’s Planet Golf and was #59 on The
Golf Architects survey. It demands clear
thinking, knowledge of the layout (given the 5 or so blind shots), at times
precise accuracy, and patience. For
those of you who have been to our home in Pinehurst, the 12th tee at
Prestick is the stage for that photo of me at the top of my backswing, in
semi-perfect position with Ben Crenshaw looking on. That photo (which I had blown up as large as
it could) might well be included in the world’s largest bonfire Pat is planning
should she outlast me…with all my old scorecards and yardage books making up
the bulk of the fire. Brian Morgan…thank
you again for that photo!
Our play was interrupted by
rain squalls several times again, but we were getting quite good at quickly
donning and removing rain jackets! My
start of double bogey/birdie was typical of the round and I ended with a 43-43
= 86.
After the round was the fascinating
tour conducted by Ken Goodwin, then off to Glasgow airport for a flight to
Islay (one of the islands off Scotland’s west coast) and then drive/ferry
ride/drive to the adjoining island of Jura.
More in next post.
