Today was our day to play Panmure, a little-known golf course on the east with Carnoustie very near and Monifieth sharing an OB(out of bounds) line. We were welcomed like old friends (no tour buses) and given lovely bag tags and a coupon for Kümmel after our round! I learned about this course from a little watercolor book called “From the Tees” that I bought last year. Absolutely lovely, but tricky in the wind. #6 is called “Hogan” because in 1953, Hogan came here a week before the Open and practiced every day. His favorite hole was #6. He then went on to win the Open by 4 strokes.
We played in nice weather!! It wasn’t sunny, but it was only blowing a bit, and no more than a spatter of rain just after we finished. We arrived in time to warm up and were told that our caddie would meet us about 15 minutes before the round. As we wandered toward the first hole, no caddie. The head starter (such lovely people here) said he would drive the caddie out to us when he arrived. Backstage, an email was never sent so they had to scurry. By the time we were just ready to tee off on #2, the head pro drove Kerr out to us in a buggy. Really nice service.
Kerr was to be my caddie. He hefted my bag and told me where to put every shot, as caddies do. We had a lovely round, just the three of us. The Hogan hole was definitely my favorite, too. The fairway turns to the left and the green is elevated. It’s gorgeous. My round was pretty good, but John said his game suffered from lost balls (though he hit lots of great shots.)
Golf story of the day from Kerr: When he started caddying young, things were different. There weren’t any stand bags. You just lay your bag on the turf. He was working with an older caddie one day when his man hit it into the tall, tall rough. It took three caddies to find the ball and when they did, the two caddies went off to find their players’ shots. Then the older caddie called them back, embarrassed. “I need a bit more help,” he whispered. “Can’t find the bag!”
Lunch was in the very traditional clubhouse (reminiscent of Kilspindie and Longniddry). While we were eating, one the fellows who let us play through on #6 came to introduce himself and invite us to play his course in South Africa! He gave me his number. Should we follow up? Or not…Hmmm…
With some daylight remaining, we decided to visit the other Macbeth castle, Glamis. “All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis. All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter.” This was a terrific castle. It had some medieval bits and some updated 19th century rooms with great portraits on the walls and stories to explain the whole family. The very strong Queen Mother connection made it completely legitimate and really connected. (Sorry Cawdor!) We had a delightfully quirky tour guide who knew all the stories and was very relaxed. He added humor by knocking on doors and walls to awaken the resident ghosts and then followed up with great ghost stories! No actual ghosts, but since were the last tour of the day, the lore made it all the more enjoyable. (We couldn’t take any photos inside except in the last room.)
Terrific day, even though I didn’t buy another hat. The one I tried on did not get the nod from John. Tomorrow rain