The rest of my Scotland trip (not that anyone really cares...) We stayed at the Old Course hotel in St. Andrews. We got to do some walking around the village and it is pretty much perfect. Lots of pubs, restaurants, etc. - some old ruins, lots of old buildings, etc. Everything just feels as you would expect it to feel - old, with a focus on golf.
We went down and played the Balcomie links at Crail. I believe the Crail Golfing Society is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. Great location right on the water with some spectacular views. The course is short, with 6 par 3s and a par of 69. It is old and quirky and a lot of fun. Three of the par 3s are no joke - well over 200yds, uphill, etc. And there are a couple of long par 4s, with some short ones thrown in as well. I didn't play well as I was still coming down off my high from the Old course. But we had a lot of fun there.
The next day we went over to Kingsbarns. Kingsbarns is awesome and has a more modern, American feel to it. The greens are faster, etc. The course is dramatic and beautiful. There is one par 5 that is modeled after 18 at Pebble and curls around the rocky coast in a beautiful arc. I was even par after 8 and then all hell broke loose with the weather. The temperature dropped, the wind picked up and the rain came in.... The back 9 was pretty miserable. I had a bad caddie that day as well. All in all I didn't leave there with a great feeling. But the course is no doubt one of the best - I would like to go back in good weather. The clubhouse had a drying room - a room where you can put your shoes, rain gear, etc. to dry off - it is warm with air blowing, etc... very cool concept in that kind of weather.
Our final day was at Carnoustie. Carnoustie has a reputation as one of the hardest Open venues. Two of us played it back one set of tees from the rest of the group - so we played it at about 6900 yards, instead of 6500. (We played short tees all week because of (i) the wind and weather and (ii) our group includes some pretty poor golfers. We had good weather this day - still quite windy and challenging but no rain and actually a little sun. The greens at Carnoustie are a touch faster than most of the others, they are a bit more receptive, and they are generally pretty flat. I didn't have a caddy this day but one of the other caddies told me on the first hole - "don't over-read the greens, there are a lot of straight putts". Even with this advice I went on to miss at least 3 12-15 footers with lip-outs due to reading more break than there was...
I hit the ball really well this last day and managed my way around the course pretty well - I got sucked into a couple of the famous Carnoustie bunkers, including a fairway bunker or two - which are pretty much automatic one-stroke penalties - and made a few bogies. Then, 14 plays as a par 5 from the back tees and, as it was downwind, I got on in two and made about a 12 footer (got a caddy to read it for me - straight in!) for eagle. I was then only 1 over. Then I bogeyed 15, a really long par 4, bogeyed 16 (hardest par 3 in the world?), and came to 17 3 over. 17 was playing straight into the wind - I laid up too far back from the burn and had 240 in - I promptly hit that into a bunker near the green - where I had to hit out sideways. I hit a good long chip to a back pin but lipped out the bogey putt for double - ugh!
18 was downwind and a hit a pretty good drive down the left side but got an unlucky bounce dead left into the back side of a big hump in deep rough. I chopped it out to lay up short of the burn near the green but the darn thing rolled 30 yards into the burn. From there I dropped and made a another double. Double ugh!
I was disappointed in the finish but came away from Carnoustie loving the course. It is really hard but largely only punishes bad shots. There is a fine line between a good shot and a bad shot, but as long as you are on the right side of the line you will be rewarded. They have a beautiful, modern clubhouse where you can use high-end golf simulators to warm up.
We went down and played the Balcomie links at Crail. I believe the Crail Golfing Society is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. Great location right on the water with some spectacular views. The course is short, with 6 par 3s and a par of 69. It is old and quirky and a lot of fun. Three of the par 3s are no joke - well over 200yds, uphill, etc. And there are a couple of long par 4s, with some short ones thrown in as well. I didn't play well as I was still coming down off my high from the Old course. But we had a lot of fun there.
The next day we went over to Kingsbarns. Kingsbarns is awesome and has a more modern, American feel to it. The greens are faster, etc. The course is dramatic and beautiful. There is one par 5 that is modeled after 18 at Pebble and curls around the rocky coast in a beautiful arc. I was even par after 8 and then all hell broke loose with the weather. The temperature dropped, the wind picked up and the rain came in.... The back 9 was pretty miserable. I had a bad caddie that day as well. All in all I didn't leave there with a great feeling. But the course is no doubt one of the best - I would like to go back in good weather. The clubhouse had a drying room - a room where you can put your shoes, rain gear, etc. to dry off - it is warm with air blowing, etc... very cool concept in that kind of weather.
Our final day was at Carnoustie. Carnoustie has a reputation as one of the hardest Open venues. Two of us played it back one set of tees from the rest of the group - so we played it at about 6900 yards, instead of 6500. (We played short tees all week because of (i) the wind and weather and (ii) our group includes some pretty poor golfers. We had good weather this day - still quite windy and challenging but no rain and actually a little sun. The greens at Carnoustie are a touch faster than most of the others, they are a bit more receptive, and they are generally pretty flat. I didn't have a caddy this day but one of the other caddies told me on the first hole - "don't over-read the greens, there are a lot of straight putts". Even with this advice I went on to miss at least 3 12-15 footers with lip-outs due to reading more break than there was...
I hit the ball really well this last day and managed my way around the course pretty well - I got sucked into a couple of the famous Carnoustie bunkers, including a fairway bunker or two - which are pretty much automatic one-stroke penalties - and made a few bogies. Then, 14 plays as a par 5 from the back tees and, as it was downwind, I got on in two and made about a 12 footer (got a caddy to read it for me - straight in!) for eagle. I was then only 1 over. Then I bogeyed 15, a really long par 4, bogeyed 16 (hardest par 3 in the world?), and came to 17 3 over. 17 was playing straight into the wind - I laid up too far back from the burn and had 240 in - I promptly hit that into a bunker near the green - where I had to hit out sideways. I hit a good long chip to a back pin but lipped out the bogey putt for double - ugh!
18 was downwind and a hit a pretty good drive down the left side but got an unlucky bounce dead left into the back side of a big hump in deep rough. I chopped it out to lay up short of the burn near the green but the darn thing rolled 30 yards into the burn. From there I dropped and made a another double. Double ugh!
I was disappointed in the finish but came away from Carnoustie loving the course. It is really hard but largely only punishes bad shots. There is a fine line between a good shot and a bad shot, but as long as you are on the right side of the line you will be rewarded. They have a beautiful, modern clubhouse where you can use high-end golf simulators to warm up.