Our week in St. Andrews continued to get better and better. We were sitting in the Crail clubhouse having lunch and we both said we couldn’t believe how each course, each day just kept getting better. True, warm sunny days had a lot to do with it but it was more than that.
The quality of each course and the friendliness of the Scots combined to make each day a truly wonderful and memorable experience.
Such was the case on Thursday when we headed south to another amazing and historic course, North Berwick’s West Links. Like much of the links land in Scotland early golf was played on these grounds in the seventeenth century and the North Berwick Golf Club officially was formed in 1832.
This is a course with holes like “Pit” and “Redan” which has been a model for long par three’s for centuries. And it was a lot of fun.
We got a bit of the Scottish weather as it was cool, gray and cloudy when we teed off, again as just a twosome, but soon the sun shone through and we were striping off our jackets and sweaters.
But as they say in Scotland you can get all four seasons in a day and that day we did. Well at least on the course we had a few with a heavy fog rolling over some holes mid round and a healthy wind guiding our balls away from the green. We even had a bit of winter that day, but that’s for later.
North Berwick was as fun…and they like to say, as quirky as they come. There were many blind shots and deep bunkers and even a stone wall that I used as a bumper for an approach.
The 15th hole, the Redan surprised both of us as most of the green is not visible from the tee and that blind shot comes into play again. But amazingly we both carded a par there and loved all the humps and bumps and surprises that North Berwick gave us.
As with many of these classic courses it starts in town and heads out along the Firth of Fourth and has amazing views from most of the holes. It was really a good walk with a little golf thrown in there.
This was a big day for us as we headed back into Edinburgh for the evening showing of the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo. After a side trip to their offices for a pair of replacement tickets (I had temporally misplaced ours, they weren’t lost!) and an average dinner we headed over to Edinburgh Castle for what has been called the greatest Tattoo in the world.
The Tattoo here being of the military band musical kind, not the body art version.
I had seen some of the past Tattoo’s footage on the internet but I wasn’t prepared for the incredible show that we watched that night. Two hours of non-stop out of this world entertainment by groups from all over. New Zealand, Jordan and Norway had bands performing and we even had snow-making machines spray us with snow…so we did get all four seasons in a day.
We both were impressed not only with the quality of the entire production but the quality of music coming from these varied bands, pipers, singers and choirs was world class. It was an event that we’ll never forget and anyone in Scotland in August has to put it on their list. Amazing simply doesn’t describe it.
The only problem we had with it was our mid-morning tee time at Cruden Bay the next day, a good two plus hour drive from St. Andrews. So we were dragging a bit as we pulled into Cruden Bay’s parking lot.
And that was as good as it got for me. Let’s just say that I am glad I packed a bunch of balls because I left a heck of a lot in the deep grasses that border Cruden Bay’s fairways.
Cruden Bay is another historic course originally designed by Old Tom Morris and Archie Simpson. Officially opened in the 1890’s all the big boys have played there including Old Tom, Harry Vardon and James Braid.
Now, Cruden Bay is on an amazing piece of land with huge dunes that offer spectacular views and at the same time forming the valleys that the links meanders through. The views of the North Sea were dramatic as was the landscape that Old Tom and crew used to carve out this beauty.
We both agreed that this was some great course but it was distinctively different from all the links courses we had played before. The others, for the most part were old classic styles with tees close to greens and holes close together. But Cruden Bay took advantage of the massive land and dunes around it and spread the holes out.
It is a man-sized course. The card says the blues are only 6609 and the whites we played from were 6263 but with the wind we had it played so much longer. That and the fact that my slice had reared its ugly head.
One of the fun things about Cruden Bay is that included in your green fee is a little bottle of Cruden Bay’s Scotch. Now, it wasn’t the Benromach 15 but after a few holes it came in handy…I needed a drink. That and our now daily habit of packing our flasks for some mid-round refreshment helped me get through my toughest round.
Cruden Bay was a magnificent course with memorable holes and breathtaking views that make it worth the trip. As usual the folks there we so friendly and accommodating and even though big bro got me and broke my winning streak I was thrilled that we had made the trip.
On the way back to St. Andrews, as I slipped on my shoes to get out to get gas the lost Tattoo tickets made an appearance from under the passengers seat.
We laughed like hell.
Click here for a taste of the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo.
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