Today started warm and sunny. Well, 63 degrees and bright. The sun rose sometime in the middle of the night, at 4:13 am. We know this because our room faces north-west— with a terrific view of both the golf course and the ocean, ahhh.  And the birds, bird, birds… are everywhere. We have a roof outside our window and lots of perching places. Even though our rooms has blackout curtain, but useless against a determined sun. Reminds me of when Miss Hanigan in “Annie” hears the girls singing in the middle of the night and stumbles in angrily, “Do I hear happiness?”

Hours later, at 6:30, I woke up, allowing John and his cold to rest a little longer. After some stretches and a watercolor of the view out the window, John was up and feeling much better! Our tee time was at 9:40 and so we were off to breakfast. Something I have managed to do over the years is taste haggis in all parts of the country, thinking that like German sausage, the flavors would change from region to region. Last year on the east coast, the haggis was so bad that I only took one bite—as John took a picture. Meh. This year, no time for a photo. One bite and yum yum yum, it was gone! The difference is definitely the spices. This one is peppery with a hint of hot spice. So I had to ask. “It’s from a butcher in Cockburn.” I relayed a message. “Tell him, he makes the best haggis in all of Scotland!”

Old Moray is a lovely course (don’t tell your friends), that starts along the coast, then takes a big loop inland for nine, then comes along the shore back in. Just lovely and completely traditional. If you look at any scorecard, that’s why it says “In” for the back nine score, and “Out” for the front nine score. It’s Scottish!

The first hole is very reachable with a tricky pin placement today, on the left. The second hole has a below-grade green with the pin partially exposed. The name of the hole is “Cup” because the long, thin green that catches most balls, though a ball hit left of the green will roll right back nicely, which suited today’s pin placement. The par threes were reachable, but there were lots of par-5s for women, making the rating 139. It played long, but fair. 

The holes coming back in were lined with white, green, and blue sea grasses on the seaside and gorse on the land side, making for poetry and terror. Another notable feature is that, opposed to the first time we played here in 2017 and even yesterday when we arrived, there were no jets flying overhead!  Since the RAF airbase is at Lossiemouth and abuts the 8th green, we have been “blasted” on this course with jet noises so loud that we had to drop our clubs and cover our ears. How nice to play to just the sounds of sea birds and gentle wind today.

As usual in Scotland, it wasn’t the distance as much as the putting that cheered us on. Good putts made for decent scores. The bunkers were easy to get out of, but not as easy to just roll into like so many Scottish courses that seem to bank the fairways toward them. All the bunkers here were revetted, which means built by layers in that very Scottish way. 

After the game, we stopped at the old and quaint clubhouse and noticed the American flag flying!  I forgot to thank the starter for the recognition, but will do so when we come back on Sunday. The clubhouse is like an old wooden boat with lots of varnish and paintings on every wall. As is very popular up here, the carpet has a tartan pattern throughout. The bar has lots on tap and a full selection of spirits. This time of year, outdoors is as popular as indoors, and something big was going on because the cheering, laughter, and jolly good times were loud!

Sorry, but golf was the thing today. In the evening, we went to dinner in our very charming Golf View Hotel. John had beef stroganoff, and I had garlic shrimp and haggis, just to confirm, this is the best haggis in Scotland. Apparently, it comes from Dingwall’s Cockburn Butchers, known for their champion haggis. The running gag that everyone plays into is that haggis is a rarely seen animal, hard to catch, and “Oh, there goes one now!”

Good night.