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.