St. Andrews and Carnoustie

Before we get started, you can click on the photos to make them bigger; I chose the small size which I can now see is quite small. Now on with the news. In our most recent adventure, this past weekend, we undertook what ended up being one of the most fun weekends I can remember. William and I headed back up to Scotland for another golfing mission, this time to St. Andrews, the home of both golf and this years Open Championship. What made it even a little cooler was the fact that all the scoreboards and most of the grandstands were already up for the Open; additionally, the course was in immaculate shape, as a small army of groundskeepers are preparing it daily in the mornings, which I witnessed on early Tuesday morning (we will get to those details later).

For those who live under a rock, do not like golf, or additionally have no clue, St. Andrews is arguably the most famous golf course in the world; Augusta has an strong argument in my opinion for that distinction. Regardless, it is easily the most iconic, with the Swilken Bridge, the clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the Road Hole, Old Tom Morris’ shed, and the double greens. It was an absolutely wonderful trip.

Getting on the Old Course is easier than one might think. All you have to do is put your name in a lottery the day before you want to play and you get decent odds of getting on; our understanding is that we had about a 1/3 chance because it was a holiday weekend. I entered our name on Friday for us to play on Saturday, and sure enough, I got Katherine to look online for us, and our names came up at 11:40. I almost couldn’t believe we were that lucky on our first try.

The next morning, we woke up early from a miserable night’s sleep in Edinburgh in quite possibly the worst hostel I have ever seen, and headed an hour north to St. Andrews. It was an important round on several fronts. Firstly, it was an elimination round in the British Cup; with me leading 1-0, William needed to answer. Secondly, we were on the most famous course in the world, so you always want to go out there and play your best.

I didn’t play my very best, but I sure had a chance to. I was very nervous on the first tee; with the R&A clubhouse in the background, the grandstands, the Swilken bridge in the distance, and a decent sized gallery, I did not hit my best shot. I however shot a pretty good 40 on the front; I even had a 3 footer for 39 (which would have been great), but of course I choked. I shot 45 on the back, which included a 50 yard (yes yard) putt holed for birdie and also a quadruple bogey 7 on a par 3 (which crippled my chances at 79), for a decently solid and respectable score of 85.

I hit a few of the best shots I have ever hit in my life on Saturday. The first one, the 50 yard put, is easily the longest I have ever holed, and to that point probably the longest I had ever attempted. Another hole that I will remember is #17, the road hole, the most famous in the world. For those who don’t know, the road hole has a blind tee shot, OB on the right, hence the road, and is additionally very long hole (500+ from the tips). It is one of the hardest holes in championship golf, and no doubt many a pro will make a mess of it come the Open. The drive is one of the most intimidating in the world, and my caddy asked me if I was going for the girly line, which would be a shot off to the left, or the manly line, which is straight over the shed, flirting with the OB right. I took the manly line, and striped a beautiful 300 yard+ drive down the middle; it was the best drive I have ever hit (Willy got a great photo of it, which can be seen below). The second shot on 17 is equally intimidating. I pulled a 4 iron and again took an aggressive line, flirting the famous road, and stuck it to 15 feet. My first putt, which was sharply uphill, was a choke, left 7 or so feet short, but I drained the next one for a par on what many believe to be one of the hardest holes in the world. I won’t be forgetting that one any time soon. It was probably the best golfing day of my life. I additionally captured the British Cup, my second major cup victory, the first being the Knoxville Cup.

On Sunday, we headed an hour north to play the Carnoustie golf links, which has the reputation as the hardest golf course in the world. After the 1999 Open there, it was dubbed Carnastie, because the winner that year was 9 over par; in that Open, Sergio Garcia was 30 over and famously collapsed crying into his mothers arms after shooting 89 on Friday of the tournament. Carnoustie was home to some very famous moments in golf, like Ben Hogan’s only open championship, but no moment, maybe in the history of sports, is more infamous than Jean Van de Velde’s epic melt down on #18 in 1999. It is one of the biggest choke jobs in all of sports history. It, additionally, was home to Padraig Harrington’s 2008 Open Championship. The place has some history to say the least.

Up until Carnoustie, I had been very lucky with the weather, other than the wind at Royal St. Georges. Well at Carnoustie, we got the full Scottish experience. 30 mph wind + rain + the hardest course in the world = some bad scores by William and myself. William got the better of me on Sunday, but it was still a greatly enjoyable day.

We took the day off on Monday to head down to Edinburgh, as we had already gotten done with our golfing goals by Sunday, and we hit all the touristy sights there, but the entire day, the only thing on my mind was trying to get out and play the Old Course one more time. I will most likely never go back there, and the thought of that nagged at me all day until finally, around midnight, I decided I would wake up early and try and get on the course again, this time alone because William is not as stupid/crazy as I am.

So, I woke up at 3:45 and took a shower and headed down to the road to the Old Course as the sun was coming up. It was a pretty awesome moment for someone who loves golf; it was just me sitting there alone for a few hours watching the sun rise over the old course. After waiting for several hours, my name was finally called at 7:45, and I was once more on the most famous course in golf. On the front, I again carded a 40, but on the back, a 9 on a par 4 and a triple on 17 (I had that one coming), where I took a club too much on my approach and flew the green onto the road and OB, killed my chances at bettering Saturday’s 85. Still, 88 was not too bad, and getting up early and playing again was something I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a once in a lifetime trip, and I played what is now my favorite course in the world twice. Hopefully next time, if there is a next time, my Dad and brother will be able to be out there with me.

Ps. If you are still reading this, I am thoroughly impressed

Paris

A week after Turnberry, it was time for a non-golf trip, as people were beginning to question whether or not I was actually over here to learn and travel. On Saturday morning, Mary, who is doing maymester in London, and I took the eurostar over to Paris to meet up with some of her friends, Ferrell and Emily (whose dad graduated from MUS with my father, small world). We got upgraded to a really nice hotel because our original hotel was overbooked, so it was ESPN and air conditioning for me. What I was not able to enjoy over the weekend was a bed, as the three women got the King to themselves (if women want equal rights, why cant they have equal floor?). I digress. I ended up not having to pay, so it all works out in the end.

Anyhoo, we hit all the main sights in Paris pretty hard. Eiffel Tower, the Arc De Triumph, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. We probably walked 5 miles on Sunday, as we walked from the Arc De Triumph to Notre Dame and back to the Eiffel Tower. The sore feet were worth it at the end of the day. The only thing we missed out on was the French open, because I procrastinated on booking the tickets, and by the time we were ready to go, they were all gone.

One negative thing about Paris was that everyone smelled like death. Literally death. Many of the locals apparently do not wear deodorant, because the metro (subway) smelled something awful. That is my one and only complaint. In addition to holding my breath on the metro, I also got to test out my French skills acquired over the years from high school and college. I was decent, and it was cool to actually put something to use that I learned back in the day. Below, you can see Mary D and Ferrell who are appalled at the Mona Lisa’s lack of coolness and the general odor in the room.

The best part about Paris was the delicious food, which I have not enjoyed for sometime, as the English, for some reason, are just bad at food. Eating out was the main attraction for me. It was overall a great trip.

Turnberry

I haven’t blogged in a while; for this I am sorry. The first matter to discuss is our trip to the Turnberry Resort, on the southwest coast of Scotland, which we took a month ago. As you can see, the place was amazing, probably one of the most beautiful places that I have ever visited.

Turnberry is the most recent host of the Open Championship, which saw Stuart Cink defeat the great Tom Watson in a three hole playoff. Watson, 59 at the time, will be forever linked with the Alisa course at Turnberry for his unbelievable performance in 2009, as well as his victory there in 1977, dubbed the duel in the sun, which many, including my father, believe to be the greatest Sunday in golf history. Needless to say, William and I were pretty fired up to get out there.

There were ocean views on almost every hole, many times the ocean came into play, especially on 8 & 9 where you drove from a peninsula and had to carry the ocean to get to the fairway. It was easily the most beautiful course I have ever seen. I played on somewhere in between bad and bad/average, carding a 90 that included a 4 putt and 4 three putts. I chalk that up to either William and I practicing on the wrong putting green for 45 minutes before the round or my just being a bad golfer. Either way, I was disappointed, as I hit the ball decently. One of these times, I will stop playing woeful bogey golf and do something with myself.

The Turnberry resort was spectacular, with the locker room and club house being top notch and the hotel being one of the most famous in the world. One of my favorite parts about the resort was their 18 hole pitch and putt, which William and I took full advantage of. The hotel and pitch and putt are pictured below.

One of the best parts of the trip, in addition to taking round one of the British Cup (the three round competition between William and myself), was staying at the Fairways Turnberry Bed and Breakfast. Steve and Sandra, the B&B’s owners were absolutely wonderful. Turnberry, being a bit remote, has very few places to eat if one does not have a car. Steve and Sandra drove us everywhere and even took us out to eat one time. It was the best Bed and Breakfast Experience I have ever had. As we left, Sandra gave us a hug and told us she would miss being our mom.

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club

The above picture is of our 17 Century English Society class with our teacher, Dr. Ian Archer. Dr. Archer is the sub-warden of Keble College and acts as the liaison between UGA and Keble/Oxford in addition to being quite a character. It has nothing to do with the following but is a neat picture.

This past Monday and Tuesday, I undertook another solo mission to an Open rotation golf course, this time to Royal Lytham and St. Annes Golf Club. Royal Lytham & St. Annes has hosted ten opens, going back to 1926 when Bobby Jones won his first open. It will also host the open again in 2012. The clubhouse is full of Bobby Jones memorabilia including all four of his 1926 scorecards. Also, on the course, there is a plaque commemorating Jones’s miraculous shot that sealed the open for him (both the cards and the plaque are pictured below). Other champions at the club include Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Lheman, and David Duval.

The distinct thing about this club is that they have a dormy house (see the bottom two pictures below), similar to the crow’s nest at Augusta National, that is open to visiting golfers on the weekdays. I was lucky enough to get a good deal and stay at the club for Monday night. The package included formal dinner (coat and tie), breakfast and lunch in the clubhouse as well as my round of golf, each of which were incredible. Again, it was a solo-mission, as William bailed on me, so the meals were a bit lonely, but the views of the course form my table more than made up for it. Unfortunately, I had to write a paper on Monday night, so I was not able to mingle in the clubhouse and poker room with the other dormy house guests. It was a late night and an early morning, but I would certainly do it again. Below are a few shots of the dining room and clubhouse. You can see the portraits of Jones, arguably the greatest golfer ever who also co-founded Augusta National, in the upper right, Player, in the lower left, Seve, in the bottom/middle left, and Lheman and Duval in the Lower right.

I woke up early Tuesday morning to the sight shown below. The weather was beyond perfect by English standards, 55, sunny, and most importantly, no wind. I had a 8:20 tee time, so after a very long night’s work it was a quick turn around, but again, it was worth it. I met my caddy a bit before the round, he watched me hit a few balls and we were off. Gary, my caddy, much like the one at Royal St. Georges was awesome; he really helped my game and showed me many famous places on the course like where Tiger nearly drove the green on a down-wind 470 yard par 4 and where he made a triple bogey after going bunker to bunker.

Again, I played decent, but not as well as at Royal St. Georges, as I shot the same score but in much more favorable conditions. I hacked it around pretty good on the front shooting 47 and three putting several times but shot a respectable, by my standards, 43 on the back for an unimpressive total of 90. I played much better on the back so I am hoping to parlay that into an impressive score at Turnberry this weekend, where William and I will face off in what is shaping up to be a Watson and Nicklausesque battle. Here is a video I stumbled across that has really been getting my blood flowing for Monday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsjJ2dJaQlo

New Classes and the Keble College Ball

Now onto the school aspect, school has gotten much more relaxed now that we are in normal Oxford tutorials. William and I are coincidentally in the same tutorials, International Law and International Business. We have each class once a week, one on Wednesday and one on Friday, with just the teacher and us. We have essays due pretty much every class and have to defend them in front of the teacher, especially in our International Business class. It is not that the tutorials are any easier than the seminars (because they are arguably harder grades wise), it is just that the seminars were eight week courses condensed into four, whereas now, we have the appropriate time to prepare well for class. Our classes are in Brasenose College (pictured below) and in the Law Faculty building (which is nothing to write home about).

Last Saturday, we also had the Keble College Ball, which was quite the event. Keble is apparently known throughout Oxford for having one of the best balls in the University. Those rumblings are correct. There was unlimited food and drink galore, with five or six restaurants catering. There were also two stages with four or five bands on them throughout the night. Additionally there was a live Karaoke band in the college bar and stand up comics, a hypnotist, and a huka lounge. It was extravagant and also one of the best nights so far in Oxford.

Royal St. George's Golf Club

I have been pretty bad about posting, as I have only posted once in seven weeks; I knew that would happen, but today I am trying to make up for it. Our tutor cancelled our meeting today because she is sick, so today is the blog catch-up/ prepare for the trip to Turnberry tomorrow day.

The first thing we need to discuss is my trip to Royal St. George’s Golf Club. The club is located in Sandwich, England on the southeast coast of the country. It has hosted 13 Open Championships with winners including Ben Curtis, Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle, and Walter Hagan. It will additionally host the 2011 Open next year.

As Evidenced from the photos of the course, it was beautiful with rolling sand dunes and views of the ocean throughout the course. Several of the holes have out of bounds to the right because the beach is right there. The day I played, it was about 50 degrees outside with a steady 25 mph wind. It was brutal, but luckily I had booked a caddy who helped me navigate the wind and taught me some of the important links shots for days when the wind is that bad.

I played decently well considering the brutal conditions, hitting some good shots and staying away from anything worse than a double. It was a success on the whole. One thing that I was rather surprised about was how welcoming the club was to me, especially given how it is one of the most exclusive and prestigious in the world. The moment I arrived I had people greeting me and making me feel welcome. The best example of this was when I was tying my shoe before hitting balls, a man came up to me and introduced himself and asked me a bit about where I came from and a bit about Oxford; he then proceeded to invite me to join his match for the morning, but I had to decline, as I had booked a caddy for an hour or so later. My caddy later informed me that I had made a big mistake in turning him down, as he is the captain of the club and a former executive at Lloyds in London. New rule: always say yes in situations like that.

Another instance of their hospitality was my caddy giving me a ride over to the train station from the course, which he certainly did not have to do. I was so excited that I declined taking a shower in the locker room and forgot about both the lunch I was supposed to have in the clubhouse, which is supposed to be amazing, and getting any souvenirs. I now am going to have to call over there and see if they will ship me a flag and a yardage book. Furthermore, missing the lunch in the historic clubhouse is a bit of a sore spot with me still, but the day on the whole was still excellent.

In Sandwich, I stayed at a little pub called the Kings Arms that was more than hospitable. The pub was over 400 years old and served some solid pub food, but the main reason it got the thumbs up was that I had a little TV in my room on which I watched Phil capture his third Masters Championship. It was a great weekend overall.