St Andrews, the Toon.

The Old Grey Toon is a truly spectacular place. Yes, there is a lot of mystique to it. Yes, there is a lot of stone around. Yes, the golf course is right there. Yes, the birth place and clandestine R&A is sitting rather auspiciously at the edge, taunting you with it's closed doors. But it is full of hustle and bustle despite being over 600 years old. The University is celebrating its 600th year this year. 600! The had 3 generations graduate before ol Chris found 'Merica. The ruins of the Castle and the Cathedral stand tall on the shores at the edge of town, right next to where Mary Queen of Scots resided while attending the University.

The people in St Andrews are extremely nice. Everywhere you go, they are pleasant. Head nod, good morning, afternoon, hello, the whole gamut. And, the village is extremely colorful. Hard to imagine with all of that stone everywhere, but the grass in the town is just as nice as the golf courses, and there are flowers galore at every corner. Doors are painted vibrant colors. Window boxes are fully of reds, yellows, blues, purples, whites. Small patches that aren't road, sidewalk, or building have color. Even the fence along Golf Street is brilliant green. Overall, it's a very welcoming place, and very peaceful to the soul.

The Jube!

The first thing you notice about the driving range at St Andrews is the fact that there are many different areas. But all of them have to pass the R&A equipment testing facility. A little block building at the edge of the range, unassuming, but you know that every piece of approved (and many non-conforming) equipment has ventured through those doors and hit ball onto the very same range as you are hitting to. There is a teaching area. A video room. Another room with gadgets. A room where an older gentleman is teaching a 20-something the proper positioning during the swing. Two Callaway equipment rooms, with a larger than life Phil plastered on the wall and more Cally clubs than you can imagine. All the range balls are Cally. And the covered hitting bays are just immaculate.

After hitting a few to get loose, we head over to the Clubhouse. As part of the trip, they covered lunch overlooking the first tee of the New Course. When in Rome....so Fish and Chips it is! Yes, it was swimming the day before and fresh as it can get. A perfect lunch before the round.

Time to putt a few before teeing off. If you look at the greens, you might think them to be a little slow because of the length of the blades. Wrong. they were rolling a good 11+, and hard as a rock. Time to spend a few minutes here figuring this out...

I skipped getting a Caddie for the Jubilee course because I figured at worst, I would be paired with a few locals that would help me find my way around. I'll just get a trolley and stroll along. I gave the wife an option to come along, especially after being up for 24+hours and the very large soaking tub in the suite. She wanted to walk along, so off we go. I was paired with 2 cousins from Northwest Canada. Like north of Alaska. Like 14 hour drive to a decent airport to get to another airport Northwest Canada. Owen and Greg. They were touring Scotland, and had already hit Turnberry, Prestwick, Gleneagles on their way to the east coast. They both had caddies, and one even had a trolley for his caddie. Jamie was looping for Owen, and Greg for Greg. Cool, I might get a little advice from a few seasoned Scottish Caddies after all.

First hole, push it a little right, but nothing to bring any trouble. Just a wedge from here....to here:

First hole in Scotland, and a Birdie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's go!!!!!!

When we teed off at 2:48, the wind was probably steady at 25mph. Ok, no biggie. I AM in Scotland, this is to be expected. The Jubilee runs out to the northwest, and back in to the southeast for the most part. The wind was out of the west-south-west. Across on nearly every hole. The thing that makes the Jube different is that nearly every hole is its own stand alone hole. There is no cross-pollination between the holes. No bail out areas. No playing to that fairway for a better angle. Just bang it down the alley you have, and chase it. Sounds easy, right? I managed to chase and find every one, except one which just wasn't worth looking for. It was the 4th hole, and only 5 yards off the fairway, but in a gorse bush. Owen and Greg were on the opposite side of the fairway, so I took the cursory look and dropped. That was my only casualty of the day. Not too bad. 

The other two guys struggled in the wind and tight fairways, and by the end, I was completely drained. The wind typically dies a little around 6ish, but on this day it decided to find another notch. By the end of the round, it was blowing 40. I did manage to get a few reads from the caddies, and even hit a few good tee shots that brought "great golf shot" from them. Nice little pat on the back! (They did wave a club AND the flag on the 10th hole to another group of caddies, so that wasn't so great...) I was extremely proud that I had worked my way around the course and not found a single bunker....until the tee shot on 18. I hit a decent ball up the right side, that took a wicked left turn and found the sand. Chunk it out, play it up the fairway, find the green, two put....take my bogey, post my 83 after being up for nearly 30 hours and head for the beer!

I am extremely proud of my wife. This was the first round she had ventured out on the course with me, and she was a perfect on-looker. No talking, no "in-front" of the other golfers. She even had a little banter with the caddies, especially after 16 and 17 when the caddies were finishing the holes for their golfers (with a pint on the line, of course.) Greg missed a 12 footer for a pint, but made up for it on 17!

Checking In, Old Course Hotel Style

We arrive at the Old Course a little before 10am on Tuesday. My tee time is 2:48 on the Jubilee. We go to the front desk to take care of the little details, then Stan from the Old Course Experience grabs us for a little review of the itinerary. We walk a little ways down this corridor, then out a door to a grassed area next to a stone wall. We are between the hotel and the Jigger Inn. Really there! It hits me all at once. I see Hamilton Hall. The R&A. The Old Course Clubhouse. The Road Hole. The Jigger Inn. Golfers. Many many golfers. I'm standing in St Andrews!!! I make a little funny so he will give me a few seconds to soak it all in before he starts with formal talk. I look at my wife, and it finally has sunk in with her too. I've shown her pics, talked about it, watch the final round of the Women's British to show here where we would be. The reality is starting to set in after being up for 24 hours on 4 hours of sleep where we are at this point in time. Stan is saying something, but I can honestly barely hear him. We agree to a time to meet at the Bag Room so he can take me to the driving range and then the clubhouse for lunch before the round. Time to hit the room. Time to try to catch a few winks.

Yeah, with this view, that isn't happening. Time to hop in the shower, unpack a few things, make sure the clubs are still in one piece. Time to watch golfers. Time to be in St Andrews!!!!

The Trip Across the Pond

The ride to BWI was extremely simple. One of the easiest trips to the Baltimore I've had. Found a parking space right next to the shuttle stop in the long term lot. Made it to the check-in desk without a line. Both bags were under the weight allowed. Breezed through security in 15 minutes. Sat down and read for a bit. Had a pretzel. Browsed a few shops. We board the plane, drop the bags on the tarmac-pick up the bags on the tarmac, start to taxi out, and stop. The captain says there's some weather in NYC, so all flights are on hold. What? They switched our flights, so we only had 2 hours between, and now he's talking about a 50 minute delay?! 15 minutes go by and he says he trying to take a different route, which will be longer, but get us into the airport ahead of the adjusted time. Better, but not good. Then he comes over the intercom and says we're a go. Back on schedule. He dropped the hammer, and made it into JFK within 10 minutes of the original time! Nice and easy. Ah, breathe.

Getting from Terminal 2 to Terminal 4 at JFK, not so easy. "Just go up there and stay left." I'm in the middle of a square building...how left is left? "International terminals, out the door." Ok, I'm outside, looking at a 2 lane road with construction going on. Where to now? "Just go down the sidewalk...and keep going." Yeah, even in New York, the sidewalks have potholes. And they are 2 feet wide. Not conducive to dragging a carry-on behind you. Especially with buses hugging the curb. We make it inside the International terminal and it's a completely different world. The US Open for tennis was being held during this time, so there were a lot of fans (and I'm assuming a few players too) headed home. Of course, the door we entered was on the opposite end from the check-in counter for Air France.

All checked-in, now it's time to go through security, again. Imagine a crew of New Yorkers, dealing with thousands of people daily, many of which have no idea what is being said to them. Yeah, good times. Talk about being cow herded. Moo. I was amazed that they didn't require us to take our watches and jewelry off there, but every place was a little different as I found. After 45 minutes of moo, we emerge into the terminal and are bombarded with Duty Free shops. I'm not shocked, really, but it's like 5th Avenue in there. We actually walked to the terminal and right onto the plane. The shorter layover period is starting to pay off, but made the cattle walk a little anxious.

The very last row of an AirBus is an interesting place. Thankfully there aren't any bathrooms at the rear, but it's where the plane goes from 2-4-2 seats in a row to 2-3-2. And there is a decent amount of room behind you for gathering and hanging out. Despite the 5 hours of popcorn in the cabin, there was always a crowd behind me the entire trip. Odd, given we took off at 4pm and landed at 5:30am. That was a quick sunset. It being an AirFrance flight, English was sometimes the third set of instructions...which often sounded like the first two. This was one of the first times in my life that I truly felt out of place. Just a weird vibe on the flight. But hey, it was a means to get to St Andrews!!!!

Here's the mushy part. We got a sunrise in Paris for our honeymoon! The flight to Edinburgh was uneventful, and things were going well. Until we go to pick up our luggage from the carousel and the big suitcase was beaten to crap. The handle was broken. There's a rip in the back. One of the spine was snapped. There were skidmarks on the side. On wheel was stuck. We go to the baggage help window, the girl takes one look at it, and says "Yeah, we know. That's the one that got stuck on the ramp and was about to get crushed." Ok....what are you going to do about it? "When you get home, file this claim on-line, and we'll most likely send you money for it." I guess I can limp this thing through.....

We find Neil our driver in the lobby, hop in the Mercedes Van!!! And we're off to the Old Course Hotel. He gives us the little history lessons along the way. It's odd riding on the wrong side. Look out dude, he's coming right for!!! Oh, never mind, that was close. He shows us where Mary Queen of Scots used to stop for tea in the middle of the River. He points out the little towns here and there. He tells us we're about 25 mintues to the hotel....

The neat thing about entering St Andrews is that it doesn't do it gently. It's like ripping a bandaid off. All of a sudden, you are there. The first thing you see is the Strathtyrum Course. Then the practice area. Then the rugby fields for the University. Then the Hotel. Blam. It's right there. There's no distance viewing, trying to guess how much longer. It's upon you all at once, within 30 seconds.

The Day Before Takeoff

We took the day before we left to finish up a few errands in town, drop off itineraries to the parents, and slow down for a few minutes before the big trip. Plus, it was in the 90's that day, and our AC had decided to quit pumping out cold air, so we were sort of avoiding the hotbox in the house. Sitting at lunch in the afternoon, I noticed a new voice mail on my phone even though the phone didn't ring. Turns out, it was a customer representative from Delta calling. We're in the middle of Applebee's for lunch on Labor Day weekend, so yeah, it was a little noisy in there. I'm trying to listen, while my wife is asking who is it? What do they want? What's wrong? I guess my facial expressions were a little odd because the conversation starts with "mechanical issue" and "canceled flight." Oh crap! We're leaving to go to the airport in 18 hours and I hear canceled flight!

Turns out they rerouted us through Paris instead of going through Amsterdam. Which actually would put us in Edinburgh 3 hours earlier. In addition, we received a credit for future flights. I scrambled quickly to email my contact who arranged the trip to see if our driver would be available sooner, and if we would be able to get into our room earlier than normal. Check and check. Ok, mini crisis avoided.

We get home, get 90% of the packing completed, and sit down for a minute. Then we discover that our water was not working. The pressure gauge had died. At 5:00 on a Sunday. The day before our vacation. It was bad enough without AC, but without water!!! Hurry to Home Depot, grab a new pressure gauge, get it installed just in time to take a shower and try to relax. Another crisis avoided.

As you can imagine, neither of us slept a bit Sunday night. Between the no-AC, excitement of the trip, worry about missing the alarm and not getting up for the 2 hour drive to the airport...on a good day, yet alone Labor Day Monday with traffic heading home from the beach back to DC/Baltimore/Pennsylvania. And worry about how the clubs were packed. And worry about the layovers and security check-in times. And worry about an 8 hour flight. And excitement that we would be in St Andrews in less than 30 hours!

Then the big day was upon us!!!!

The prep work

Scotland and Ireland. As they say over there, there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. Ask the US Ryder Cup team! I have bad clothing. Something needs to be done about this. Found an inexpensive rain set, both the jacket and pants for $40. Done. That covers the wife in case she is walking with me and it starts. (If the weather is that bad from the get go, I wouldn't expect her to come with us on the course!) I already have a decent pair of rain pants that have been used once. Now, just need to replace my 6 year old Sun Mountain jacket. Enter the Adidas Storm Soft Shell. Lightweight AND super waterproof. Perfect for the trip.

Lining up Caddies. I have requested a Caddie at Kingsbarns, the Old Course, and Ballybunion. Figure I will use a push cart on the Jubilee just to get into links mode. And by the time we get to Adare, might as well ride since it will be the 5th round in 6 days and my wife can ride with me. It's the only course that openly has carts of the courses I'm playing. Having never played with a caddie before, this should be an interesting experience. I've been playing for over 30 years, and played in some competitive tournaments, but just never had a caddie. I'm interested to hear some of the stories and see how much they help me in my game. I'm hoping it leads me to a 75 or better on the Old Course! (Disclosure: I'm a 5.8 handicap.)

I found a brand new travel bag on clearance. Should fit the bill...a one time use time thing. And a stiff arm on close-out clearance at Dicks. Of course the clubs are set, and have two dozen brand new balls to take. Picked up some gloves including a pair of rain gloves at the member-guest this year. Only have worn my Adidas shoes a few times, so they are still "new" and waterproof. I think I might be ready for this trip!

The plan

The initial prize consisted of 3 rounds in St Andrews; Kingsbarns, the Castle and Old Course. In Ireland it would be 2 rounds; the Old and Cashen at Ballybunion. We were supposed to stay at the guest house in Ballybunion, which is out of town and off the course. No biggie, just something different. Hey, it's the prize, it will be nice.

We had to book the trip by the end of May, and had to take the trip by the end of the year. Thinking of dates, I didn't want to go when it's too cold to enjoy a vacation, nor during rainy season (I know. I know.) nor during when it's just way too crowded. Plus, with my wife's schedule, September seemed to be the ideal time. Just had to work around the Dunhill Links which they moved up 2 weeks to the end of September this year. And other R&A club events at the Old. Plus pre-booked times. So we went back and forth and settled on leaving Labor Day. Cool.

Shortly after settling on the date, I checked the itinerary. It was updated showing the Jubilee course. Ok, no preference between the Castle or Jubilee. Going to play whatever the book. I also noticed that they changed the Cashen course at Ballybunion for Adare. Adare? A quick google search turns up that it's about 1.5 hours away. Will I have to rent a car for this? I don't want to drive over there if I don't have to, especially in Ireland with the tight roadways. Then I see that they have us staying in Adare. In an old stone hotel that's a few hundred years old. Kind of cool. Then I googled the golf course. It hosted back to back Irish Opens! Nice...but it also has the highest winning score since 1986.

So it is set. Leave Monday. Land Tuesday. Play Jubilee, Kingsbarns, the Old Course. Travel on Friday from Scotland to Ireland. Play Ballybunion and Adare. Come back home the following Monday. All set!