Swilcan Bridge and More

Maybe the most famous golf course picture spot in the world is the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole at the Old Course at St. Andrews.  I can now say I have played the Old Course and had my picture taken on the bridge.  I went on to bogey the hole after a nice drive.  However, I  had just gotten a par on the very difficult 17th; the famous Road Hole so I was pretty delighted.  

This round was the first of a marvelous golf trip to Scotland with major stops in St. Andrews, Machrihanish, and Dornoch.  And while the standard question I receive after I return from a golf trip to Scotland is "did you play the Old Course at St. Andrews", every course I played on this trip was as enjoyable as the Old Course and several much more scenic.

I played nine rounds of golf:

St. Andrews Old Course (Ranked between 4-7th in world)
St. Andrews New Course (not so new as it was built in the late 1800's)
Machrihanish Old Course (Ranked 50th something in world...played four rounds)
Royal Dornoch (Ranked between 6-15th in world)
Fortrose (An amazing hidden gem)
Brora (One of my most favorite courses ever)

On the St. Andrews courses I could see the North Sea on a couple of the holes, but on all the other courses I could see either the North Sea, a Firth off the North Sea, or the Atlantic Ocean from most of the holes on the courses.

All of these courses were either designed by Old Tom Morris or James Braid and while some have had some minor revisions, they still maintain the old design elements that make playing seaside links courses in Scotland the most enjoyable golf experience in the world...at least to me.

While I had driven a car on the "wrong" side of the road in my previous three trips to either Scotland or Ireland, I was quite amazed how quickly I became comfortable driving on this trip, because I had not been comfortable on the previous trips.  And its a good thing as I was making this trip alone and I would drive over 1000 miles on this trip.

While this was a golf trip one does not drive over a 1000 miles from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and back to the North Sea without enjoying the splendor of Scotland.  Yes, it is a beautiful, extremely interesting country with really nice folks.  Of course the Scottish accent of these nice folks made many hard to understand, but I found they had just as much trouble with my US accent. 

Jerry and Anne at the Castlemount B & B in St. Andrews were marvelous hosts.  Right across the street from the Castlemount is castle ruins and right behind the castle is the North Sea.  Son Rich and I had stayed at Castlemount three years ago.  The Royal Hotel in Campbeltown, close to the Machrihanish Golf Links, was fabulous.  My third floor corner window looked right out on the harbor.  And Isla and Hugh are like family...Rich and I had spent several days at their Highfield House in Dornoch three years ago.  And they reserved a spot for me next to their other guests sporting vintage cars.

And may I add that with the B & B's amazing and delicious breakfast's one does not go hungry.  In fact, with just a piece of fruit or quick snack I was good until dinner time.

Making this trip alone was not the original plan.  In fact, I had planned to make this trip in August of 2013 with friend and former business colleague Tom Jones from Phoenix, Arizona.  Tom and I had literally discussed someday making a trip together to Scotland for nearly 20 years.  In that time we both had made trips Scotland, but it simply didn't work out that we would go together.  Then in December of 2012 I contacted Tom and told him I was planning to return to Scotland in the summer of 2013.  Within a month all of our plans had come together and we had our plane tickets, lodging and most of our golf courses lined up.  But a couple of months prior to our departure I had a personal family situation that simply would not allow me to make the trip.  One of the toughest things in my life was to tell Tom I had to cancel.

However, Tom made the trip and I followed his itinerary every day and he did the same on my trip.  In a way it seems like we made these trips together.  We both had splendid times...I believe much better than we anticipated by traveling alone.