Headed out for my first full 18 on Monifieth Medal since my season ticket for both courses went live on April 1st, though I did play the back nine in dead still conditions the other night.
This afternoon was very different - although it was beautiful sunshine there was a constant 40mph (gusting well above that) bitingly cold wind blowing from North, North, West - so basically straight across left to right for the first six holes which have out of bounds and the main railway line from London to Aberdeen on the right. Amazingly I managed to avoid my occasional push on any of those holes, managed to hit it up the left and let the wind bring it back.
Nobody booked in front of me and just a young low handicap lad straight behind me - let him through at the fifth as I had a real camera (well my wee Fuji that i use on holiday) with me and wanted to take some pics - nobody else for a good half an hour behind us.
It was an adventure out there - aiming right or left of fairways and greens and watching the wind bring it back. Very much the sort of day when if it starts going wrong you could end up losing your swing. I hit the ball well (for me) today and loved playing the full 18 on the Medal for probably the first time in five or six years, scored 45 out and 44 back which is OK for me, could have been better but given the wind could have been much worse.
My hands were getting very cold by the time I walked off the ninth green and I considered just going up 16, 17 and 18 as there looked like there could be rain in the direction the wind was coming from but decided to carry on as holes 10 to15 are largely sheltered from the wind (at least at ground level) - the wind was still affecting the ball though as I discovered at the 13th when my wedge approach dived left into a greenside bunker I'm sure wasn't there five years ago - led to me playing a shot while on my knees for I think the first time ever - successfully too (well I got the ball out pin high - missed the putt).
Had to have a look in the hole at the back of the green to check as I walked across the par three 14th (which was right into the sun) but then spotted my ball in the rough at the back of the green - was right on line, and I'd had the thought of 'do I want this to be in the hole when I'm on my own' as I walked off the tee.
Then had an exciting time on the 15th - was just about to putt from the back of the green when I noticed that the background had gone completely white - just managed to get my rain jacket on and we had a cracking hailstorm which must have lasted less than a couple of minutes, thankfully it wasn't rain and even more thankfully it was brief.
Rest of the holes were uneventful - steady golf, wind dropped somewhat after the storm and as I walked off the course I had a look at the forecast on my phone - 17-26mph forecast for rest of evening - will be nice out there.
Here's some snapshots of the Medal - not the best lighting conditions for photos.
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Par three - 5th green
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Walking off the 7th tee
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Par five 9th
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Par three 11th looking back towards the tee
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12th hole from the left rough - you can see a haze in the background which is dust from ploughed fields blowing across Panmure (which is the other side of those trees)
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13th hole from left rough
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14th green
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15th green - hailstorm
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15th green - a minute later
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15th green another couple of minutes later
