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: