St. Andrew's

Securing a golf time on this renowned and prestigious golf course is not easy. Some book a year or more in advance. We did not have that luxury so RP opted for the wait list. No luck yesterday, today the course was not open for play as it becomes a park on Sundays and there are tournaments booked from tomorrow until nearly the end of September. There are 6 other courses within the St. Andrew's trust but only the Old
Course is on the bucket list.

After a full Scottish breakfast (yikes the waistline is expanding) we set off to explore the Old Course. We joined other tourists, joggers, dog walkers and an assortment of locals. I am so impressed that a course of this magnitude and fame is not set above the common man. Although the other courses were playing we were free to wander as far and as long as we wished. Of course, the first stop was the famous Swilcan Bridge which is located on the approach to the 18th green. Many a famous golfer and countless not so famous have been photographed on this bridge. One does not visit St. Andrew's and miss this photo op.

I then trudged along dutifully beside hubby to visit the other renowned spots he has viewed countless times on the Golf Channel - the Road Hole bunker, #11 par 3, which, according to the great Jack N. was the shortest par 5 he ever played, the countless pot bunkers, the swales in front of the greens, the unforgiving gorse, the narrow fairways and tight landing spots, the double greens and the 18th fairway of fame or heartbreak. OMG - some of the hills and dales nearly killed me. If I golfed this course I would hit every one of those pot bunkers, loose 2 dozen golf balls in the gorse and die of exhaustion before I reached the 18th fairway, maybe even before #9. Can you believe that there are even pot bunkers in the gorse? Now tell me, if you land in one of those do you really think if you could get through the gorse to reach the ball sunken in the bunker? What an experience - RP has crossed one off the bucket list and CP enjoyed the ride.


Then I dragged him around to the even more ancient. Golf has been played here for about 600 years and the university has been around since 1412 as well. Hmmm - I wonder , did the students or the teachers play golf? This weekend was Orientation for brilliant students from all over the world. Many proud parents were here to see their offspring settle onto the life of academia. What we noticed most were line-ups at the phone/computer stores, the book stores, the take-out restaurants and the pubs. To be a student in this city would be an honour.

But this city goes back even further. We saw monuments to heretics and reformists burned at the stake in the 1500s, a castle in ruins built in 1189 and the magnificent remains of the cathedral built in 1158, which was instrumental in the Reformation we all studied in high school.


Sometime during our 6 hour walk we took a break from antiquity and searched out a barista. Starbucks take notice, Costa Coffee does it better.

Now , I am not a wife to deny husband golf opportunities. Sadly, playing the Old Course did not happen, but when I discovered one could play the putting green I urged the man to grab his putter and give it a go. We thought it was free so onto the green we went. We were admonished soundly by the sweet greenskeeper who said, "Laddie, you cannae just do that for free. It'll be 50 pence and I'll give yee an extra ball." We paid a pound instead just for the chuckle. As RP tested his skills I watched the greens keeper run around trying to make the Japanese tourists understand that golf etiquette even applies for a 50 pence putting round at St. Andrew's.

Tomorrow we are off to Aberdeen, the city of granite. I have heard it looks somewhat drab in the rain and rain is in the forecast. I cannot imagine any city in Scotland looking drab. A new adventure awaits once we get through the roundabouts. Nightmare is a better descriptor for those dreaded things.
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Location:The Royal and Ancient