The 340 yard 7th at Crail Balcomie Links plays even shorter than that downhill and downwind, but the blind tee shot, out of bounds on the right and rough on the left makes the conservative play the best option.   

 

    We are on the train from Edinburgh to London after a week of golf in the Kingdom of Fife.  We bracketed our week with rounds at the Crail Golfing Society's Balcomie Links; otherwise, we played a different course every day.
    My son Tim and I are comparing notes and can't recall even a mediocre hole we played.  I suppose a couple of short par 3s came closest, those that lacked bunkering or any other visible hazards from the tees, but invariably when we arrived at the green on those, the contours in front and on the surface seemed hazards in their own right.
    We agree that the Old Course at St. Andrews was the best for all the clichéd reasons related to history and classic course design - some might say "ancient" course design.  I wrote about our round at the Old Course a few days ago and won't belabor again the emotional delight of the experience.  Suffice to say it lived up to all expectations.
    Sometimes, though, the most memorable courses are those for which you have no expectations whatsoever.  Count Scotscraig Golf Club, 20 minutes north of St. Andrews, in that category.  Our hosts for the week, George and Dorothy Horsfield of Crail (and Glasgow) invited us for a round at Scotscraig Tuesday after George learned there were no tee times at the fabled Kingsbarns.  Any disappointment was more than assuaged by our round at Scotscraig, the only inland, non-links course we played during the week.  Somewhere between a heathland and parkland layout, Scotscraig's charms were fully on view from the tee boxes and fairways; no hidden bunkers here, although plenty of nasty ones.  In a few days, Tim will contribute more elaborated thoughts about Scotscraig in this space.
    I would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite from among the rest.   After the Old Course Saturday, I may have lowered my expectations a bit, but Lundin Links on Sunday was no major comedown, perched as it is above the Firth of Forth, with plenty of sea views and excellent links turf.  If anything, the greens could have been faster.  All the courses on the Fife coast are short, at under 6,200 yards, and with a little discipline, you should score low when friction, especially on the greens, works some magic on the ball.
    Elie Links, our Monday choice, provided dramatic views from a little bit inland of the sea cliffs.  Elie Links appears to have been shaped by some significant volcanic activity.  The 10th green, for example, is framed by a severely vertical rock mountain, and a sheer rock cliff behind the 13th green dominates many of the views on the course.  Views aside, I found Elie to be one of the sterner tests of the week and, as well, the toughest walk for this sexagenarian.
    Balcomie Links featured the best combination of views and stellar golf holes of our entire week, better even than the Old Course (because of the more dramatic views at Crail).  From the first hole to the last, the sea is always in view at Balcomie.  The first day we played the course, the renowned Scottish wind was rather tame, but on the sunny day that wound up our week of golf, the strong breezes caused a typical two- or three-club change on most shots.  Many of Balcomie's greens are pitched forward, elevated enough to require shots that must negotiate the false fronts and still stop within, say, 20 feet of the hole, by no means a given on such firm greens.  Again, Tim the golf architecture maven will hold forth in the coming days with more detail here about Balcomie Links.
    More later.

The views at Elie Links feature not only water, but also some impressive hard rock formations -- like this one behind the 10th green -- the most dramatic backdrops of the week (except for the city of St. Andrews at the Old Course). 

The drive over the Old Course Hotel at #17 is a knee-knocker, but the sense of achievement once you clear the shed is worth the sweat.

    One visitor to this space from Denmark wrote me the following the other day about his own experience playing the St. Andrews Old Course for the first time:
    On the back nine I had developed a so severe case of the shanks that I did not dare aim for the 18th green in fright of hitting one of the expensive cars parked alongside the fairway. It took almost a year to get rid of the shanks and lots of hours on the range.  I will never forget the embarrassment.  I cannot say that I enjoyed the round...
    My own first-round intimidation at the Old Course last Saturday was at the very beginning of the round. From watching the televised Open Championship (what we Yanks refer to as The British Open) and from reports of those who had played it, I knew the fairway on the first hole was wide.  But nothing can prepare you for just how much room you have -- two enormous fairways with no rough to speak of between them, and a fence so far right as to make it superfluous.  If you aim down the left side of the first fairway, it is impossible to hit the ball out of play on the first at the Old Course.
    Well, almost impossible.  I ripped my initial drive hard left off the tee yesterday and watched it roll and roll on the hard turf toward the famous Swilken Bridge in front of the 18th tee.  Friction finally took hold and the ball

stopped about 10 yards short of the right edge of the 18th fairway.  Actually, it left me a pretty decent approach to #1 green, but the embarrassment of such a dreadful opening shot made me try too hard on the approach, which I hit off the back of the green.  It took me three to get down.  I wanted so badly to impress those golfing gods who look over the Old Course that I went out of sync - bollocks they might say locally -- for the first five holes, going seven over par.
    I was just about to right the ship when summer changed to winter in a matter of minutes, another thing you take for granted and even wish for at St. Andrews so that you can experience the wind and rain that is as much local custom as kilts and haggis.  But just two holes of pouring rain were enough "real" experience for me.  By the time sunshine had returned, I was done in, a 10 handicap carding a sloppy and unforgivable 44 on the first nine (and that with a 20-foot putt that fell for birdie on #9).
    But the Old Course giveth as well as taketh away, and one 60-yard six-iron roller from off the 12th green to two feet (for birdie) set me right.  I began channeling Kel Nagle, the Aussie who surprised everyone, including himself, in 1960 by defeating Arnold Palmer.  On the famous Road Hole, #17, I hit my best drive of the day straight over the middle of the Old Course Hotel shed, then nailed a five-iron to three feet, prompting my young caddie to announce it as one of the best approach shots he had seen there; discreetly, he did not add "...by a guy who shot 44 on the front."  (I gave him a generous tip later for his discretion.)  In shock, I made the putt for birdie on the Road Hole, followed it with a good two-putt par in the shadow of the members' clubhouse at the 18th, and carded the most memorable 83 of my life.  I racked up three birdies overall for the day (and just five pars) and bore proud witness to my son Tim's even par round of 72, with three birdies himself.
    It is hard to judge the Old Course the way you might any other great golf course, such is the aura and history of the place.  I don't have much to compare it with in terms of truly "great" golf courses I have played.  The Old is not as tough as Pine Valley, which is an exhausting experience that presents trouble on virtually every shot, no let-up whatsoever.  St. Andrews gives you a breather now and then but a few misplaced drives might very well cause you to play sideways, or even backwards, out of one of its many sod-faced bunkers.  The medicine you have to take on the Old Course can be more bitter than anywhere else because, at just 6,300 firm yards, every green is easily approachable if your aim is true off the tee box.  But sometimes even the well-struck drive hits a mound and bounds into a deep jail.  I was lucky and found sand only twice, both times at greenside, and was able to play forward although with no opportunity to get close to the hole.  The backsides of those greenside bunkers slope down to the putting surfaces, leaving no good way to get close to most holes.
    The Old Course cannot be compared to any great course that has some length to it.  You play a different game at the Old than, say, at Shinnecock Hills, a relentlessly long and windblown track.  Although the wind plays a vital role in strategy at both courses, a winning stroke at Shinnecock is likely to be a blast - think Corey Pavin's sparkling 4-wood on the 18th to win the U.S. Open in 1995 - whereas the winning stroke at The (British) Open Championship is likely to be a 40-yard putt at the Old Course finishing hole.
    Pinehurst #2 and the Old Course share an emphasis on the short game, the severely rolling greens providing a number of options - putter, six-iron, lob wedge - from 20 yards off the putting surfaces.  I chose putter for anything within 60 yards unless there was a hazard in my way.  It was exhilarating to be able to use the flat stick in ways most U.S. courses never permit.  My putting from 20 feet seemed to improve as I bore down on those 60-yarders, and the most memorable shots at the Old Course - and indeed of my week of links golf - were the putts and mid-iron chips from well off the greens.  
    In degree of difficulty, I would put St. Andrews at the Augusta National level, meaning for us normal golfers - i.e. not the pros for whom 450 yard par 4s are short - a good score is possible if you think strategically and stay out of trouble.  St. Andrews and Augusta are all about patience and positioning.  Greed kills at either place.  The Old Course's greens are certainly firmer than Augusta's, but the Georgia course's putting speeds are way faster.
    Although you pay mightily for the privilege of playing the Old Course - about $300 per round at the current dollar exchange rate - The Links Trust, which runs the courses of St. Andrews, does its best to pile on the extra bits.  A nicely annotated yardage book comes along with the scorecard after payment of your green fees, as does a little "commemorative tin" which holds tees, ball marker and divot tool.  A cheery gentleman wearing what appears to be a misshapen stovepipe hat greets you on the first tee, welcomes you to the course, and offers to take your group's photo (I took him up on it).
    There were just two things that seemed a little odd and out of place at the Old Course, neither of which diminished the experience, for me at least.  First, although back tees (white) are in place and add up to just a 6,700-yard layout, no non-professionals are permitted to play from there.  Tim, the college golfer, was bummed out by this.  The other oddity was the rest room out behind the Old Course's #9 green.  The urinal was stamped with the manufacturer's name, Armitage Shanks.  No course should ever plant such a seed with a name like that.  Perhaps, subconsciously, that is what did in our friend from Denmark on the back nine at the Old Course.

 You don't want your round to end as you stand on the 18th tee at the Old Course.