Scottish lesson: Take your hat off just as you enter any building anywhere, or you’ll be reminded. Wait for the story below!
Scottish Vocabulary for the day: Car park: Parking lot
Trousers: (“Pants” will elicit the giggles.)
It was raining a bit in the morning and our tee time wasn’t until 11, so we had a rather leisurely morning today. Finally, at about 9, we decided to head back to Longniddry, where we were rained out on Wednesday.
Our starting time wasn’t until 11, but we got to the course an hour or more early, allowing for traffic. The darling country roads that lead through every little town can be quite tedious, but very charming. The narrow streets allow for one car to park on one side of the street and one car to get through, so if there are parked cars and oncoming traffic, everyone has to take turns.
As soon as we popped out of the car in the narrow, wet car park, Johnny noticed a beautiful girl with a fancy set of golf clubs just getting out of her car. He came right over to me, “Mom, I can see you’re going to embarrass me again.” Oh, why? I said, looking for the opportunity. “Because that girl right there is an LPGA player.” And he was right. Here we were at this quaint little course, the least famous of any of them, with Cheyenne Knight, whom we knew from The Ladies Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club (where we’ve visited for two days) on the weekend. And here she was just to play golf with her father.
Johnny was right. In no time at all, I managed to embarrass him by walking right up to her. “Are you from the LPGA?” She responded by introducing herself and asking us when we were starting. We exchanged starting times and realized she’d be right behind us! After a bit more conversation, she was off to the putting green, which I knew was no place to chat. This was her job.
After a lovely round, waving to her any time our paths crossed on the course, I stood with a whole group of locals who were on the patio, watching the 18th fairway. “That’s her ball!” One of them said. The whole group was there to cheer Cheyenne on. When she hit over the green, one said, “She’s into it now.” And then when she chipped up to one foot, they erupted in applause. It was like our own private event!
As soon as we packed our clubs back in the car, we headed for another wonderful “club lunch” at Longniddry. And there was Cheyenne and her father. They invited us to join them, and we had a lovely time. This is her first year and with lots of starts. Her most difficult moment was having to fire her caddy for chatting about other girls throughout their round. She’s very nice and very young. It was easy to see how the business of golf was a bit hard for her. (Note: After firing the dude and hiring a new caddy, or as a result of talking to me, Cheyenne won the Texas tournament just a few weeks later!)