Day 14: The Home of Golf—St. Andrews at Last!

We arrived at the New/Old Course at 8:30 am and secured a tee time for 9:37 am on the New Course. (Really lucky—this is a terrific starting time!) The New Course runs right alongside the Old Course and with plenty of ocean views. So, anytime we want during the game, we can run over and touch the sacred ground. Ha ha! Or, after our game, we can walk the old course and play an imaginary game!

I thought you might be tired of haggis, so no pictures of breakfast. Instead, this garden is near the starter at the New Course. Just lovely and bright!

We started with breakfast upstairs, then came downstairs to pay and get one trolley (John is carrying his clubs every day). We found out that we’d be playing with two other players, both singles. We lucked out with David and Cameron, both 30-somethings. Cameron had graduated from Georgetown Law School and was now working in New York. A very nice guy. And David was working for a start-up that helped with student loan forgiveness. He was the big hitter.

Here is John starting his excellent game. No lost balls, lots of great putts. Low score!

No time to take pictures of us since we’re playing speedy golf. Very fast game, just a snap here of the Eden estuary and the lovely grasses.

We started strong with four good tee shots. I hit my second over the middle of the fairway island, then another shot onto the green. John had the best drive, was on in two and two putts for par. Then on to the second. The day was sparkling but windy. I wore my fuzzy hat and rain pants to stop the wind. Hole after interesting hole. Great shots from all of us, but I suffered on the putting greens. We had been stopped by the greenskeeper after two holes to say that we were the first non-members on the course today, so it was our job to keep the pace. He indicated that we could do better. So we were hitting hard and walking fast. Sadly, that’s how my putting went as well!

You can see how quickly we’re playing, putting, and marching to the next hole—and yet it was a great game!

We saw the greenskeeper again a few holes later— he was becoming a friend— who said we were doing a good job. Still, we outpaced ourselves. This was a classic links course—9 out and 9 back with tee boxes right next to every tee, which made it ideal for walking. I’m happy to say that after 3 hours and 20 minutes, we arrived at the 18th green—and I made the last putt! Hooray. We all did great.

Had to include this photo of the Swilcan River on the Old Course.

There were scads of people everywhere wanting to walk the 1st and 18th fairways.

We went to walk the Old Course afterwards. We put our clubs away, changed our shoes, and a-walking we did go! It was great fun to remember all the shots we’d played 6 years ago, with my son Johnny. I found the evil bunker I had issues with, and the green that Johnny putted to from a long way off. It was just beautiful out there.

Bunker on the seventh hole of the old course

And this bunker, also on #7, was enormous— see the tiny flag behind for reference. I have a score to settle here from 2019–someday, I’ll be back. And I’m bringing my clubs!

Finally, John is in the Waterloo Lounge at the Golf Hotel. This hotel has a long history with golf and was the start of it all 300 years ago. We didn’t stay here this time, but we had to visit.

After our walk (7 miles today!), we took a small break before going to the Golf Hotel, which our host for tomorrow’s game owns. He was working in the kitchen on a very busy night, so we will see him tomorrow. It was so much fun to be in that ancient and historical hotel, though. And the drive there and back was lovely.

Great day, though we’re rather tired!