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The Beginning of Golf

On Friday we had a really great day. Our tee time was for 5:00 so we had all afternoon to look around. We went to St. Andrews Castle and St. Andrews Cathedral which were in ruins but still pretty cool. At the cathedral we walked up over 100 stairs to the top of a tower and got to see the entire city of St. Andrews. After we had lunch we went back to the car and I couldn't find the car keys. I went into total panic mode. I went back through the stores we'd been in, to the cathedral and then my dad called and said there was a note on the car that they had found the keys right next to the car. OOPS! All was well though and we went to the British Golf Museum which was great. They had clubs and balls from the 1500s to now. It showed the evolution of the game and players. Overall it was a great experience especially since we were about to play St. Andrews. Speaking of, St. Andrews was even better than we expected. It started to rain on the first tee and the wind was blowing, finally it felt like Scottish weather. Every single hole is completely different and the aura around the place is incredible. You just feel like you're a part of history. We both were playing pretty well but I was up in the match going into the 16th hole (The Road Hole). I hit a great drive but a little to the right and it started bouncing down the road (Out of Bounds). My next drive was hit exactly the same (Out of Bounds). I'm hitting five on the tee and top a drive. I then take my three hybrid and proceed to hit that out of bounds. Now I'm hitting 8 and put a 230 yard three iron on the green and two putt for 10... We had to wait on the next tee for a while so I ran back to the tee with just my pitching wedge. After three shots I was next to the green and putting my wedge into a sand bunker where it took me 2 to get out. On the green in 7 and two putted for 9. So I learned that I could do better hitting and putting with just a pitching wedge than playing the thing regularly. Ouch.
The highlight may have been the 18th where we've seen many times players in the British open cross over the famous bridge and onto the 18th fairway. It was an amazing experience and one we'll never forgot. Here are some pictures from the day!

St. Andrews Webcam

Once again there's a webcam, so if you didn't get to see us today at Carnoustie, there's a possibility to see us tomorrow, Friday, at 11:00 a.m. Chicago time. There are a bunch of different holes to view, so the 1st and 2nd around 11:00 - 11:20 or so. Then 16 - 18 around 2:30 maybe more like 3:00 for 18th. That's a little harder to predict. Anyway, good luck viewing if you do. And did anyone see us today?

http://www.standrews.org.uk/welcome/webcam/webcam.html

Carnoustie

We had heard from numerous people that Carnoustie would be the toughest course we would play. Luckily for us, the weather was great and the wind wasn't too bad, so it played a little easier. The bunkers however were incredibly tough. Before the round started we looked at the yardage book and counted 116 sand traps. On hole #14 the traps were 15-16 feet high. As you can see in the picture, the sand wall is still quite a bit above me. However, neither of us entered these bunkers known as the "Spectacle Bunkers" which was very fortunate. The finishing holes: 16, 17, and 18 are incredibly tough with the 18th known to be one of the hardest par 4 finishing holes in all of golf. Jean Van de Velde is famous for his collapse here in 1999 when he took a 7 and went into a playoff where he lost. The picture of us with the hotel in the background is on the 18th tee and there's another where we are on the 18th fairway. Here is a flyover if you're interested:
All that said, I played pretty well and shot the low round of the trip thus far, an 87. Dad had a couple trouble holes and ended with 93. Overall, I think I'd like to play this course again over any of the others because it's great to play a course you've seen on T.V. and also to know all of the tradition that comes with the course. In the clubhouse they have at least 10 pictures of Ben Hogan playing the course and thinking about Hogan and me playing the same course is pretty cool.
Speaking of tradition, around 7:00 tonight we found out that we'll be playing the Old Course at St. Andrews tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Before our round, we're going to the Golf Museum which looks over the past 500 years of golf. Should be quite interesting.

Pictures from today:

Update on tomorrow

We tee off at Carnoustie at 2:30 p.m. which means 8:30 a.m. Chicago time. If you're near a computer you can go to this website http://www.angusahead.com/VisitAngus/Webcams/carnoustieWebcam.asp and see us tee of. There's also a website on the 16th and 18th hole, but we don't know at what time we'll be there. Anyway, thought that was pretty cool.

Another day of golf in Scotland

Our caddie yesterday told us that the course we played today, Murcar, was "rubbish" compared to Royal Aberdeen. However we did not find this the case at all. Although the winds weren't quite as bad, the fairways were actually narrower and the elevation changes were remarkable. The rough was a little thinner and there were less blind shots which made it a little easier. Pictures tend not to do the course any justice but there are a couple where you can see just how narrow the fairways are and all the hills, valleys, and crevices that the ball tends to find. Rarely is there a flat shot or putt for that matter. Either it's downhill, uphill, sidehill, or kick-you-in-the-a** hill which is mostly what happens. Either way, it was a good match today as we were never more than 2 holes up or down on each other, but dad prevailed, winning 91-93 and won the match play 2 up. We agreed it's probably the 3rd best course out of four so far, but is fighting with #2, Nairn for that spot.
We were going to go sightseeing afterward but didn't find much that we wanted to see in Aberdeen. We've been downtown the past two nights which has been very busy compared to what we expected (people everywhere up and down the sidewalk around lunch time). We'll head downtown again soon and eat dinner down there and enjoy another night in a European city.

When we were driving back through downtown after the round today there was a graduation of some sort and people were walking in all dressed up. Saw at least 2 more kilts which brings the total to 3. Super exciting.

Total Score through 4 rounds:
Dad: 371
Justin: 390

ouch.

Also, the pictures are posted from yesterday too.



























After looking at this last picture, you might be wondering, "well where's the fairway?" Answer: Exactly

While America fights for freedom

Royal Aberdeen golf course was built in 1780, which means we played on a course that is 228 years old. The clubhouse is fantastic with old pictures of the course and golfers throughout the years. There's a wall showing the club champions dating back until 1832 and another showing the club presidents which dates back until 1780. The place has history all around it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much more history made because it's the toughest course we've played so far and the wind was unreal. Many of the fairways were 15-20 yards wide once off of them the rough was thick and heavy. Yuk. The weather though was gorgeous again! Tomorrow it is supposed to get colder, high of 57.

Before golf we made an hour and a half trip to a local distillery. We arrived around 10:15 with no other cars in the parking lot. The man inside said they wouldn't be taking another tour until 11:00 and that the tour takes about 45 minutes. We had a 2:00 tee time and couldn't risk not being back, so we couldn't go on the tour, even though nobody else was really going to show up. It was very sad but we did get a brief overview of the distilling process and watched a short video. Overall though it was a little disappointing, especially because the drive was so long.

The days have started to blend together and there isn't a ton of excitement other than golfing. Not sure what we're going to do after golf tomorrow, but we'll find something to do. Maybe we'll go kilt hunting!

That's all for now. Cheers!

Dad: 92
Justin: 103

Hardest course I've ever played, hands down.

Kilt Sightings: Still just one

# of times we've eaten at the "Filling Station": 2
(insert joke here)

Cribbage Games: 28
Justin: 18
Dad: 10

At least I'm winning at something!

Uploading pictures is running a little slow, so I'll post those asap, hopefully in the morning here.

Also, thanks for all the comments, it's fun for us to read them all so keep them coming. Hope your enjoying the blog!

One tough course, Two Scottish Caddies

This morning we woke up and headed straight for our next course, Nairn. The weather was a little chilly this morning but warmed up. They said that near the coast the wind helps the weather stay cool but inland it got into the mid to high 70's. For us it hovered around 70 all day I think. However, the wind is not as helpful on the golf course as it is for the weather. We battled 20-30 mph winds all day today making some holes quite difficult, especially those into the wind, but more so the cross wind holes. Our caddies Jack and Alister were in their late 70's but knew the course extremely well. Capt. Jack had a name for every shot whether it was the "Frank Sinatra" drive out of bounds because it was "dead and gone" or the "Dolly Parton" putt because it used all of the cup. He was the stereotypical Scottsman. After golf we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to Aberdeen where we're staying in a refurbished Victorian mansion which is quite fun. There was a bar/casino downtown so we traveled over there for a little while and after about an hour of playing we lost a little but won a bit more, not bad...

No kilt sightings today. In fact no unusual sights at all which is kinda sad. Tomorrow we're off to a distillery and then playing Royal Aberdeen. Weather is supposed to be the same the next two days. We'll see. Cheers!

Dad 100
Justin 96

Total:
Dad 188
Justin 194

# of times lost: 2 (I added a half for stopping and asking for directions even though I told someone I knew where we were...)

# of Scotch and Cokes: 8

Games of Cribbage 23
Justin 14
Dad 9


Some Pictures:

Castle Visit & Golfing

This morning we woke up and took a drive to find the Loch Ness monster. Our hotel is about 15 minutes from the beginning of Loch Ness which is a really huge lake. While driving along we ended up seeing a sign for the Urquhart Castle so we decided to go. Not sure when it was built but a missionary in 500 AD happened upon it and it also went through numerous battles throughout the Middle Ages. The part that is left today is mostly ruins but it was fun to walk around the grounds and see the remains of the castle. There was a trebuchet right before the entrance of the castle which was great to see in person as Megan and I have seen it only on "Little People, Big World". The highlight of that trip may have been the man I saw in a kilt, and not like a staff member being paid to wear a kilt for "historical" purposes, but a dad with his two teenage daughters in a full kilt. We were in the gift shop and I tried to discretely take a picture without the flash which is why the shot might be a little blurry.

Next we were on to Royal Dornoch. The course lays directly on the Firth of Dornoch which is really an inlet of the North Sea. The day was gorgeous, probably hovering around 70 as we teed off and got a little chillier as the round went on. On two of the par 3's I took a 7 and a 10, ouch. The course wasn't too hard, but the greens were HUGE and it was impossible to read a putt. Luckily we had caddies that would do that for us. Dad had a 69 year old Scot named Hamish and I had a 15 year old named Robert. Both were incredible caddies actually. They are included in a picture below.

Overall it was a fabulous day and looking forward to our play tomorrow when we go to Nairn which is known for their fast and "perfect" greens.

Dad 88
Justin 98

oops...

# of people we've seen in kilts: 1 (YAY! Hoping to double that tomorrow)

# of Scotch and Cokes: 5

# of times we've been lost: 1 1/2 still because we didn't get lost once today, although I almost got us killed driving because I kinda forgot to look right with oncoming traffic. It sounds really bad, but it's easy to do, I swear....

Games of Cribbage: 18
Justin: 10
Dad: 8

Cheers!

In Scotland!

Well we made it to Scotland which is great. We took a plane ride from London to Edinburgh this afternoon. The challenge was to make the 3 hour drive from Edinburgh to Inverness driving on the other side of the road. Though we found it challenging at first overall it's not too bad. Dad had a little trouble staying in the middle of the road and had a couple curb checks. I, on the other hand, had trouble with the crazy turnabouts here. At one of them I missed the exit so we had to go around again which felt more like a roller coaster than a turnabout. Either way we escaped without an accident. The town of Inverness is really cool, it has a ton of little Scottish shops and a mall which was surprising. We ate at a place called "The Filling Station" which is basically like a Chili's. We split an order of Nachos and some awesome Lasagna.

Scottish Facts and Other Observations:

The Difference between Scotch and Whiskey and Bourbon: Nothing really, just taste variations as Scotch and Bourbon fall under the category of Whiskey.

The Difference between Scotch and Whiskey and Bourbon for Justin: Nothing really, they're all delicious.

# of people we've seen in kilts: 0 (REALLY hoping this goes up!)

# of times we've been lost: 1 1/2 (really we haven't been lost as we've found our way back, but we almost stopped once, so that's our half)

Games of Cribbage played: 15 Score: Justin 8 Dad 7 Not bad...

That's all for now, here's some pictures to look at, not too many. Super excited to post some pictures of the course tomorrow. Cheers! (It's what Brits say, even without a drink and it's growing on me.)

Touring London

Here are some things that I learned over the past 24 hours:
1. On our ride from the airport to downtown we went on the Picadilly Line.We made about 10-15 stops between Heathrow and Picadilly and everytime we made a stop a woman's voice came on and said "Picadilly Line Service to Cockfosters." You couldn't have paid me not to smirk everytime she said that.
2. Way Out in London means Exit.
3. I thought because they drive on the other side of the street that walking would be the same way, but it's not, everyone still walks on the right side of the sidewalk, strange right?
4. Bloke in London still means Bloke...
5. At lunch I ordered a Jack and Coke and when it came out it had a bendy straw. Then at dinner my sprite/lemonade (not really sure what the drink was) also had a bendy straw. How great that a country relies solely on bendy straws for drinking purposes.
6. When people ask where you're from, it's wise to say "The States" and not anything else really.
7. British people are very friendly, well mainly only to each other, but still if I were a citizen here I think it would be very nice to meet people.
8. Everything is expensive here which kinda sucks.
9. Finally, "Eat" is not something you do with food, but rather some place you visit to consume food which happens to be everywhere which is possibly why British people always seem hungry.

Here are some pictures including a couple that are a little strange, if you click on the picture it should enlarge:

And It Begins

So far it’s already been an adventure… As always airport people switched our seats so we were at the counter for about an hour trying to figure out how to get our original seats back. Though we weren’t able to do that, the flight wasn’t full and we managed to switch seats once we got on the plane. The plane was pretty cool, each seat had a personal video screen with a bunch of different options for movies, tv shows and even games. I think my dad played Tetris for at least an hour of the flight. That game is crazy addictive and he confessed that there were many late nights downstairs in the basement that he’d play Tetris after we had gone to bed. Once we landed we waited in an hour line to get through customs. There were some Canadian girls in front of us and we got to talking with them which was fun, ay? Seriously they did say ay, a lot. We just checked into the hotel and going back to Heathrow to catch the “Tube” and find a hop-on hop-off bus tour around London!
Apparently the charge for Internet in the room is 6.99 pounds for an hour and 14.99 pounds for 24 hours, which is like $14 and $30, so I’m hoping to post this once we're downtown.

Here we go

I'm going to try to update daily about what we did, where we played, what we shot and of course lots of pictures.