St. Andrews/The Old Course

I got a little discouraged when I visited the web site to see if I could get on at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Playing this course has to be on the bucket list of everyone who really loves the game of golf. First off, they start taking tee times for next year in August, so most of the tee times are booked. They do keep a certain number of slots open for their members each day, and they also reserve some for the local hotels to combine with their room rentals. Some of those go unused, so every morning there is a line of people waiting to see if they can get on. One of their rules is that you have to have an established handicap and show proof to the starter before you are allowed on. This, I am told, is to keep the "non-golfers" off the course so that golfers can enjoy a brisk round, and not be slowed down by people who don't understand the rules or who would perhaps not even survive this course.

I visited the course the day before I hoped to play, and got the lowdown from the starter that the queue for tee times usually begins about 01:00. The way they work it is that the first person in line gets to choose which tee time, of those available, he would like, and so on, until they are all taken. Then the remainder of the people get to stand around the rest of the day hoping someone will not show up so they can be slotted in. So I got up after a couple of hours of "sleep" (couldn't really sleep, as I was too excited) and left the B&B we were staying in at a little after midnight. I arrived at 00:50, and was the first person in line!

The dawn breaks at about 03:00

I got my choice, and decided to take the 12:40 tee time so I could go back and try to get a little sleep before my round. I wasn't able to sleep much, so had breakfast at our B&B which was called Kirkton Barns. This was a wonderful experience all by itself. The house is an old (at least 200 years old) farm house, constructed of the local stone, with a black slate roof and a lovely formal garden. The furniture is what we would call "antique," with brocade and red velvet curtains. The breakfast was beautifully prepared and served by James, our host, and his father Rory who is a widower and retired teacher who inherited the house through four generations. We felt a little like the Lords and Ladies of Downton Abbey..although James and Rory weren't in livery, they were very cordial. We were able to coax them into a conversation and they sat at the table with us for about an hour the final day of our stay and we had a lovely chat about all sorts of things.

After breakfast, I departed for the driving range to hit some practice balls, and they also had a very nice short game practice area, so I was able to hit some balls out of bunkers and practice my chip shots. Then I headed to the practice green to see if I could get a feel for the speed of the greens. The putts were fast and true as you would expect on a championship course.

So I arrived on the first tee and met my playing partners, all from the same family from Virginia in the USA! The young man on the far right was about to get married and his brother, on my right, was to be his best man. The father thought that since he didn't have to pay for the wedding, he would splurge and take his sons on a golf outing. They are all good golfers, and I was not at my best..still feeling a little weak from my treatments, and not quite on my game yet. They were very generous and kind.

Teeing off on #1. Huge wide open fairway, with out of bounds on the right, but plenty of room on the left. You can see we had a stiff breeze that was blowing our hair and clothes. The caddies said..ah, this is nothing!

Some of the greens are huge double greens, serving play in both directions, so some putts and be quite long.

Greens are well guarded with bunkers, and have undulating slopes that require an accurate read.

Teeing off on the "road hole"

Fairways have lots of undulations, so it is not unusual to find your ball in the fairway but with an uphill or sidehill or downhill lie, all requiring some skill to navigate.

I made this putt! The greens were rolling pretty true, and my caddie, Nick was a great help in reading the putts.

This is the famous "hell bunker". You can't see it from the tee, and you don't want to get in there.

Nice approach on 17. I made a four!

We had a beautiful day..even so, it was pretty breezy and we had one episode of "Scottish sunshine," when the breeze blew some rain that was falling from a couple of miles away into us.

This was an oops, shot, but I thought it was an interesting image, so I kept it.

These pot bunkers are all over the place, and often can't be seen from where you are playing. This is the only time in my life I have had a caddie, and boy was I glad for it. It made the experience so much more enjoyable. Nick was prone to say.."Nice shot, John...sorry if the surprise in my voice was evident!"

Found the fairway on the famous 17th hole where the tee shot goes over an out-of-bounds building. I got up and down in three from here!

Another huge, difficult green. In many places it is hard to tell the difference between the fairways and the greens.

Avoided the coffin bunker!

Safely in between the hazards!

This par three was called the "shortest par 5" by my caddie. Very difficult hole.

The caddie points out the line.

Teeing off on #18

Standing on the Swilken Burn bridge in the fairway on #18

The 18th green. I made my par! The crowd went wild!

This is an experience that I will never forget. Thanks to Keith Smith for encouraging me to push through the road blocks and do this, and thanks to John Pearson for helping me with the "handicap problem," and thanks to my playing partners who were so kind and encouraging even when I made some pretty awful swings, and thanks to my caddie Nick for being funny and encouraging and very helpful with the lines and advice.