(First of all, we hope our So Cal friends and family are high and dry and that the predicted disaster lessens quickly. We’re watching the news with you.)

Now life feels normal. We woke and had a delightful breakfast with our new host, Annie. Other guests (Charles Spencer and Helen) were UFLs (Up From London, is a thing here) and knew the area very well. Their mission is to find Cluny’s Cave, a mythical place that involves a missing treasure, referred to in “Kidnapped” by Robert Louis Stevenson. For these tourists, the search continues! 

After a delightful breakfast of porridge with fruit and cream with a side of scrambled eggs, we were off to our course for the day, Boat of Garten, named after the ferry on the Spey River. These days, there is delightful tourist train that goes back and forth (think Disneyland) on a private track right next to the course. Every hour or so, we were treated with toot toot, rumble rumble, chug chug. 

Our tee time was 10:30. We arrived to a few clouds then sparkling sunshine to illuminate the clubhouse and starter’s house and shop. Absolutely charming. There is no driving range, but a netted cage that is perfect for swinging pa few clubs and feel that all is well. We asked the starter if we could team up with anyone—always looking for locals to play with for course knowledge and a bit of culture. Instead, we were teamed up with a couple from St. Louis, our age, and their caddies, who were both very Scottish. Absolutely perfect. I could tell that the woman was going to be a big hitter and she was. Wow. But only when she focused. I wanted to take her aside and work on a few mechanics so that she could be consistent, but that isn’t really done. So, while my game was a bit shorter, my score was much lower. John was hitting gorgeous shots but not always in the fairway. Shots in the trees were often lost. Not fair! The caddies were so much help and fun. 

Besides finding balls and giving a few putting lines, they gave us knew golf gags. If your putt is too short, “You didn’t eat your porridge” and if your ball is near a bunker, it is “Nitby”—not-in-the-bunker-yet! If you ask your partner where you drive just went, he might answer, “Blind Stag,” —no ideer. If you are on the green and it’s still your turn, “Dead Sheep”—still ewe (you). We laughed and laughed, but suspect our friends back home (not you!) might not get the gags…and explaining doesn’t make them funnier. Ha ha!

Boat of Garten is a parkland course (with trees and bushes) that runs through a hilly valley. It felt very natural. It was challenging, but fair and spectacularly beautiful. On the 10th tee, we were treated to a display of hickory sticks in use! There were enough bags for each of the groups ahead of us to play three holes with these historic clubs. We weren’t part of the group, but our younger caddie, Bruce, gave it a try and put a nice ball in the trees. Two holes later, since we’re at the rear of this special group, we were invited to “clean up” the drinks and treats left for them. We were given tarts and meat cakes, beer, and tea, all as part of the party— very festive! It was just the break we needed and probably why this game took more than 4 hours!(very un-Scottish!)

At the end of the game, we had a late lunch and talked to the woman who had served us on the 10th green. A retired mechanical engineer (Gordon) spotted John (also an engineer) and started a conversation about S/N Curves. I brought up the recent Titan disaster (should have built round) and he brought up the amazing Concord and how it never experienced fatigue because it was constantly “self annealing”— super cool stuff for just chatting at the golf course! Nodding and smiling goodbyes, we went into town to buy Annie a special request item from the Post Office General Store. We had a lot of fun deciding which coffee cozy (yep, that’s a thing) to buy her which pleased her very much when we returned!

Back home, we took a wee rest to change and turn around, then out into the fresh rain—destination Gordon’s Hotel for more bar action. Sadly, our friends did not return tonight so we had our own whisky tasting and mini tutorial from the barman. An absolutely delightful day full great golf and interesting people!