Bratty
Princess Pouty (Queen of Fish Lips)
In a word, WOW!
I was up at St Andrews for a wedding at the Old Course hotel, and an American couple were talking about queueing up at 6am and trying to get paired up as early as possible, given that we had a wedding to be at at 2pm, and did I want to play with them?
My wife suggested if there was an opportunity to play, I should go for it, so I woke up at 5.45 and headed over to the starter's hut for 6am. They were first in a queue of 8-10, so there was a good chance we'd get out before our cut-off of 8.30am. Just standing next to the 1st tee was amazing in itself, and the anticipation was getting me rather jittery. How gutted would I be if we couldn't get on, I wondered?
The starter arrived at 06.45, took our names and asked for handicap certs. Which none of us had with us. I was able to get howdidido on my phone, so panic over for me, and as the other two were from the US, they were cut some slack (can't imagine that happens all the time!). They were going to be paired with a two-ball out first, and I was going out with a three-ball at 7.20.
However, the two-ball failed to show, so the three of us, plus another single golfer made up the first four-ball of the day! Chris had got his wife a caddy (Nick, the senior-most caddy, who was quality), and so we stood on the tee and fought over who wasn't going first!
Nervous as hell, I went second and took a 2 hybrid for position... and creamed it! Followed by a cheeky PW to 8 foot and holed the putt for a birdie. On the first. Of the Old Course!
I was on cloud 9, heading over to the second hole, but I was brought firmly back down to earth wth a three off the tee 7! The round then took on a surreal turn, seeing bogey golf and a couple of pars before hitting the 9th. Played sensibly off the tee, but overcooked the chip, leaving myself a monster putt of around 45 foot. Which I lined up and hit. The ball just trundled along with a couple of little twists... and went in for the second birdie of the round! Made the turn in 41, and was looking forward to the back nine.
Standing on the par 3 11th, the caddie says it's uphill, which I didn't really see (always believe the caddy!), so hit a softer iron than I should, and finished at the bottom of a hollow below the green. Looked at it, and thought, best to putt this, so took aim and fired. Straight up the hill, and in for the 3rd (and last) birdie of the round. Followed this with bogey and par golf, including a par on the 17th, which is as magical as it looks on telly, followed by a replica of the Rocca shot in 1995 on the 18th, well, at least where he started the putt from, as it was more like 25 foot than 70, but put it too far, missed the return and carded a bogey 5. Not that I cared, as I had completed the Old Course in two milestones. I shot 82, which meant 3 under par with handicap, my best gross score for 18 holes ever and I didn't go in a single bunker the whole way round! To say I was happy was an understatement.
The course is wonderful, and you just end up thinking about the bits of history all around you. The swales and hollows around and on the greens are like nothing else I've played on, and it was just such a special experience. Was it worth a 5.45am start and £100. You bet!
I was up at St Andrews for a wedding at the Old Course hotel, and an American couple were talking about queueing up at 6am and trying to get paired up as early as possible, given that we had a wedding to be at at 2pm, and did I want to play with them?
My wife suggested if there was an opportunity to play, I should go for it, so I woke up at 5.45 and headed over to the starter's hut for 6am. They were first in a queue of 8-10, so there was a good chance we'd get out before our cut-off of 8.30am. Just standing next to the 1st tee was amazing in itself, and the anticipation was getting me rather jittery. How gutted would I be if we couldn't get on, I wondered?
The starter arrived at 06.45, took our names and asked for handicap certs. Which none of us had with us. I was able to get howdidido on my phone, so panic over for me, and as the other two were from the US, they were cut some slack (can't imagine that happens all the time!). They were going to be paired with a two-ball out first, and I was going out with a three-ball at 7.20.
However, the two-ball failed to show, so the three of us, plus another single golfer made up the first four-ball of the day! Chris had got his wife a caddy (Nick, the senior-most caddy, who was quality), and so we stood on the tee and fought over who wasn't going first!
Nervous as hell, I went second and took a 2 hybrid for position... and creamed it! Followed by a cheeky PW to 8 foot and holed the putt for a birdie. On the first. Of the Old Course!
I was on cloud 9, heading over to the second hole, but I was brought firmly back down to earth wth a three off the tee 7! The round then took on a surreal turn, seeing bogey golf and a couple of pars before hitting the 9th. Played sensibly off the tee, but overcooked the chip, leaving myself a monster putt of around 45 foot. Which I lined up and hit. The ball just trundled along with a couple of little twists... and went in for the second birdie of the round! Made the turn in 41, and was looking forward to the back nine.
Standing on the par 3 11th, the caddie says it's uphill, which I didn't really see (always believe the caddy!), so hit a softer iron than I should, and finished at the bottom of a hollow below the green. Looked at it, and thought, best to putt this, so took aim and fired. Straight up the hill, and in for the 3rd (and last) birdie of the round. Followed this with bogey and par golf, including a par on the 17th, which is as magical as it looks on telly, followed by a replica of the Rocca shot in 1995 on the 18th, well, at least where he started the putt from, as it was more like 25 foot than 70, but put it too far, missed the return and carded a bogey 5. Not that I cared, as I had completed the Old Course in two milestones. I shot 82, which meant 3 under par with handicap, my best gross score for 18 holes ever and I didn't go in a single bunker the whole way round! To say I was happy was an understatement.
The course is wonderful, and you just end up thinking about the bits of history all around you. The swales and hollows around and on the greens are like nothing else I've played on, and it was just such a special experience. Was it worth a 5.45am start and £100. You bet!
