Scotland 2017 - Day 4

Day Four

Today I am playing St. Andrews Old Course – which is the main purpose of the trip.

After breakfast, Shellie and I walked to the British Golf Museum.  Even though it’s pretty small, we liked it – it was very comprehensive, showing everything from the origins of the game and early equipment to modern memorabilia.  It took about 30 minutes to navigate, and I could see some people spending a lot more time than that. 

Then we went to the St. Andrews Aquarium.  It was also fairly small, but had a neat layout that kept the traffic moving in a specific direction through the various exhibits.  We saw penguins AND meerkats (my two favorite animals because they stand up like little people).  They also had piranhas, seals, a large python, and many other fish.  They have a little coffee shop at the end.  It’s right on a bay, so you can see out to the ocean.  We stopped by the Seafood Restaurant (that’s the name, although it’s Seafood Ristorante in Italian) and made reservations for the evening.

After going back to the room, I headed out to the Old Course for my 1:40 tee time.  All the staff at St. Andrews are so nice from the clubhouse to the restaurant and gift shops- they really cater to visitors.  The starter took my picture in front of the clubhouse and I ended up playing with the two guys from the day before, which was great.   We had a fourth guy join us, also from the US (Georgia).  On the first hole I drove very close to the water (burn) in front of the green and had a small pitch.  Then I proceeded to three putt and make bogey – ugh.  A few more bad holes, including one where I went in two bunkers and one where I almost drove the green then bladed a wedge way over it.  Some of the fairways were not flat at all – just moguls and your ball could be on the side of a hill or roll into a hidden bunker even if you drove it in the fairway.  The wind was not too bad until about 11 (more on that), and the greens were pretty good – nothing like the greens on the Jubilee course.

On 14, I was going with the wind and I was about 180 yards out and I hit 7 iron thinking it would get there.  Well, it went over the double green it shares with 4 and past that (like 300 yards).  I had to hit 8 iron into the wind just to get it back to the hole.  I hit great approach shots on 16, 17, and 18 with makeable birdie putts on all three and missed them all by inches…I loved hitting over the hotel on 17 and down the road on 18 (over parked cars until the last second when it drew in and went across the road that cuts across the fairway.  I putted my second shot to pin high and missed the birdie, but getting a par was a thrill.  I thoroughly enjoyed that round and the course – it was even better than I had hoped.

I shot 44 on the front and 43 on the back – very respectable for my first try.  I posted on the “Write Your Own History” site.

For dinner we went to the Seafood Restaurant where we had the largest mussel appetizer ever (like 30 or more).  We had some good drinks and fish and called it a night – we have to get up early for our trip to Inverness tomorrow.