Prestwick

Last stop on the golf tour was Prestwick today. What a great course. My playing partner, a biochemistry professor from Illinois, hired a caddie, which was a good thing for me...as a lot of the tee shots are pretty tricky for the first timer. After a horrible start (with a 9 on the 3rd), I finished the last 14 holes 2 over par, including a birdie on 18...which was a perfect way to end the trip. So much history at this place - it was the host of the first ever Open Championship and has hosted 24 Opens overall. Old Tom Morris was the greenskeeper and pro for quite a bit before returning to St. Andrews. While it doesn't host opens anymore, it does host amateurs, and is still quite a test. All in all, I put it in my top 6 favorites...along with the Old Course, North Berwick, Crail, Cruden Bay, and Royal Dornoch. All in all, played 24 rounds in the 4 months I had here...18 of them in April.



First fairway from second tee. The railroad is on the other side of that fence and it is DEFINITELY in play.



First green. No room for error right.



Somebody got lost.




The sun came out for a minute to light up Turnberry down the coast a few miles.

Machrihanish

I made the trek down to the end of the Kintyre Peninsula to play Machrihanish, which I'd heard great things about. To be honest, I was a little disappointed...it's a great course no doubt, but it wasn't in great shape, and I didn't think it was ALL that amazing...I prefered North Berwick or Cruden Bay or Royal Dornoch. I'm probably getting spoiled on too many stunning seaside links courses though. Nonetheless, the journey down here was beautiful.




One of the best first tee shots in golf. Atlantic Ocean as a lateral hazard. As much carry as you dare. I hit a nice one...though I wasn't all that daring.



Nice to see some Vestas towers ready to go up near the course.



The southern tip of the Kintyre Peninsula...Ireland's just a few miles southwest of here.

Skye

I've been very derelict in postings here...it's been a month. I'll try to catch up a few of the things I've been up too. I'm home in less than a week! Today, I'm on the Isle of Skye in Northwest Scotland...which I initially thought meant Big Sky - a la the American West, but which I've come to learn actually is a Norse word for somethings very different...cloudy or misty island. The term's fitting...today's a misty, rainy day, and I've cosied up in a little bar/cafe called the Well Plaid that is one of the few wifi hotspots out here (it's really amazing how interconnected the world is becoming, when I can be in as remote a place as this and still get my email and Michigan news clips from Phil Revard.)

I'm giving my back a break for a few days after playing 36 holes a day (54 one day!) most of the week. My next movetomorrow is down to a remote peninsula about 5 hours south of here...to play a course called Machrihanish on Sunday. Then it's back to civilization to the west coast near Glasgow on Monday and Tuesday, and back to Edinburgh on Tuesday night.

Skye is peaceful and rustic - lots of one-track roads and sheep - though not quite as untouched as the Isle of Mull, which I visited with my mom a few weeks back. I'll try to post as much as I can tonight...probably starting with the present and moving back...and maybe backdating some of the blog posts to keep them in chronological order. I took a lot of pictures on Skye...so I'll start with some of them.



The drive over to Skye from Dornoch, where I played golf in the morning, was filled with rustic highland beauty.



A loch (or lake) on the drive over to Skye.



The bridge to Skye was highly controversial when it was built. Many locals now say Skye is no longer an island.



The view from my hostel...an old Norse castle ruin from about 1000 years ago and some fishing boats.



Typical roadside hazards on Skye. Also gives you some perspective of the width of the one-track roads. You'll notice the little guy - it's lambing season so there are little ones everywhere out here.



Another little guy staring me down.



Not bad scenery for grass eating.



My ad for Ford...now that they announced a good quarter.



This is overlooking a little fishing village called Elgol on the western edge of Skye.



Elgol - overlooking the Black Cullins (a series of "hills" that make for good climbing.



Sun beginning to set over Elgol and the Atlantic...outer Hebrides Islands in the distance.



A sea loch (or fjord) on the way back from Elgol.





Sun setting over Cullin hills.



Roadside cemetary in the middle of nowhere...what must have been an old abbey ruins.



Closeup of a particularly striking headstone.



More sunset near Bradford.



Sunset reflection on my windshield...you can see my trusty road atlas and my baguette I've been munching on with Camembert cheese from France.




An old house on the coast.



Road leading to the coast.



Today - mist and waterfalls on the mystic isle.



The formation on the right is called the Old Man of Storr.



The Kilt Rock - a pretty impressive cliff face.



Some interesting rock formations.



Eileen Donan Castle. Couldn't go in because the MacRae Clan was having an event. Maybe Hal was in town.

Royal Dornoch

Royal Dornoch wins the award so far for most friendly golf club. Everyone - from the starter to the members to the random English tourist who wanted to play with me were terrificly friendly, and a bit quirky. It's the kind of place I wouldn't mind spending a summer some day. Absolutely terrific golf course, neat little town, friendly people, good food in the clubhouse. What more can you ask for. After waking up and realizing I left my clubs standing outside the pro shop in Aberdeen (a 3 and a half hour drive away), I'm glad I decided to rent a set and play anyway. (I'm having my clubs shipped down to my next course, in case you were wondering - the Royal Aberdeen pro shop guy was very helpful in setting this up for me). I played decent golf on one of the tougher tracks in Scotland - carded an 85...maybe I should invest in a new set of irons...my old Tommy Armours are getting a little out of date.




With the starter - great guy from Crail who wears his kilt with absolutely no irony.

Royal Aberdeen

Royal Aberdeen was the most immaculately maintained golf course I've played so far, and one of the toughest as well. It's another ancient club - the 5th or 6th oldest in the world, dating back to the 1700s. Another picture perfect seaside links - coastal views, lots of heather and gorse, bumpy fairways - I'm getting spoiled. The greens were very fast for this time of year, and the fairways were incredibly narrow. In all, I thought it was one of the more difficult tracks I've played...the wind was blowing quite hard, and there was just so little room for error. I was actually swinging the club as well as I have the entire trip, but it wasn't reflected in my score of 94. I had 9 double bogies...a lot of them on reasonably good shots that ended up bouncing into penalty bunkers or through hard greens into thick heather. I enjoyed myself, and would like to test it again sometime. The club was also the fanciest I've been to yet...Aberdeen is the UK's oil capital, and the money of the place is evident in the clubhouse. I wonder what's going to happen to this city in 20 years when the North Sea oil fields start to rapidly deplete.



When I finished my round there was a guy scrubbing this granite seal on the way to the clubhouse.



2 green - very narrow par 5.



3 tee - oil ships in the North Sea.



Coming home on the back 9 - into the North Sea wind.



Gorse-lined fairways - need to be straight off the tee or the wind really magnifies your errors.



17th - The 18 handicap hole was 180 par 3 surrounded by bunkers, into a 3 club wind.

Cruden Bay

Cruden Bay is an absolutely terrific golf course tucked far up in the Northeast corner of Scotland. I really loved the golf course at Cruden Bay - the unique holes were a little reminiscent of North Berwick, though not as quirky and a bit more playable. But lots of blind shots, elevated tees with breathtaking views, mix of drivable par 4s and beastly long par 4s into the wind. Every hole was just such fun tro play - lots of choices about whether to play long or lay up, or bump and run or fly it to the hole. The kind of course I'd love to play every day - one of my favorites thus far, and one I definitely would love to bring a group of guys back to someday to just play and eat and drink for a few days. I had the course mostly to myself on a Tuesday in late April. I got a "day ticket" - which most Scottish golf courses have - it means you can play all day. I showed up at 7:30, thinking I'd get out early. Since the sun rises before 6, I assumed there'd be someone working in the pro shop. I was wrong - I had to wait until 8 or so, but it was fine. I played 54 holes that day...going off at 8, stopping for lunch and going again at 12:30 (the second round was pretty rainy and windy). Then I took a shower in the clubhouse, had another meal, and when the sun came out at 5, I decided to give it one more go round in the twilight. It was a great day of golf, but I was tired and sore by the end of it.



My first drive on 13. Both of the par 5's on the course are long and difficult. I had the wind with me on the first round, and bombed a drive that almost ended up in a little burn here.



Coastal links. Lots of bells for the blind shots.



15 - Blind par 3- over a hill.



14 - Blind approach to a little green tucked in an inlet.



9 tee. The castle in the distance allegedly was the inspirated Bram Stoker while writing Dracula.



9 tee - looking back over the front 9. What a great piece of land.



10 tee - looking out over the back 9...perhaps even better strip of links land.

Montrose and Stonehaven

On the drive up to Cruden Bay from Carnousite, I played Montrose Links, an ancient, classic, and now mostly forgotten links tack that was once one of Scotland's most famous. In the afternoon I teed it up at Stonehaven, a par 66 course on a cliffside that has some of the most striking scenery I've played yet (and that's saying something!). Good day of golf. Windy but sunny. Played farily well - knocking in 3 birdies on the back 9 at Stonehaven to card a 77.



Montrose Links - classic, old and fairly reasonably priced.



Stonehaven - quite an experience on a clear day. Good value for 25 pounds. An old abbey ruins is right next to the 18th green.



Looking down on the first hole from the clubhouse.



2 tee. Looking out to the North Sea.



A tough par 3 up a hill into the wind. Maybe 150 yards, but plays much longer. I knocked my first one (a 6 iron) just over the cliff but OB. Second shot with a 5 iron cosied up next to the flagstick, but missed the putt and doubled.



Bell for clearing a blind green...old clubhouse cornerstone in background.



Finishing up on 18.