Day 72:Royal and Ancient, and Expensive

Would you like to see a city given over,
Soul and body to a tyrannising game?
If you would, there’s little need to be a rover,
For St. Andrews is the abject city’s name.
-Robert F. Murray

Ummmm… Yeah… Wow… OK…(Said after a deep breath of satisfaction)

So I have been to Mecca. You can call me a Hajii. I have seen it all. I played golf in St. Andrews. What a glorious thing that it is. Home of the Royal and Ancient game.

Yesterday I arrived at St. Andrews just before 10 o’clock. I had to stay the night in Edinburgh. “Had to”, like it was some sort of punishment. Sorry, I am still enthralled every day with each new experience. It is still hard for me to believe what I am doing and where I am doing it. Somebody pinch me! Edinburgh was a night’s stay because I wasn’t going to be able to make it all the way to St. Andrews before the one hostel closed for the night.

My plan was to leave Dublin on the 18th. I flew out on the 1110 to Stanstead and immediately caught the British National Rail. It was supposed to be a quick eight hour train ride to St. Andrews giving me plenty of time to check in and prepare for yesterday. Problems, however, arose. Leaving Stanstead, I had to make a switch in Petersbourgh, then York, then Edinburgh, then Leuchars. All was going well until York. Some how I miss read the sign, was on the wrong track, or just wasn’t paying attention, but I jumped on a train and found myself heading towards Scarborough. That would have been fine if Scarborough was on the way to Edinburgh, but it is not. I did notice I was on the wrong train about five seconds too late. I rushed to the doors, only to find them shut and locked, not to open again, until Malton, a 30 minute ride away. Not discouraged, I enjoyed that ride in the countryside and hoped to catch the next train back to York. My train stopped in Malton at 1712, the next train wasn’t till 1808. I had an hour to kill and decided to venture into the town. It was closed, not the town, but all the shops in it. A Café was open though and I enjoyed a hot pork sandwich and some fries. 1808 and I was heading back to York.

A two hour delay, not a problem! The problem came when a stopover at Edinburgh wouldn’t get me to Leuchars until after 2330 and the hostel closed at 2200. That is when I decided a night in Edinburgh wouldn’t be a bad thing. In the end, the timing was perfect. Let me explain.

I woke up early yesterday and caught a 0800 train. That got me to St. Andrews plenty early. So, it is 10 o’clock and I am checked in and immediately head for St. Andrews Links. On my way, I purchase a golf glove for 8 pounds and a dozen previously used golf balls for 20 pounds. Arriving at the courses, I approach the starter for The New Course about a single walking on. He takes one look at me and recommends that I try the less difficult courses across the way. It had been over 7 months since my last round and The New Course is a championship course. At a minimum he wanted me to go to the practice grounds and warm up. I thanked him and went to practice. First though, I had to hire some clubs for 20 pounds. The practice round included 50 range balls, 2.70 pounds, and the chipping and putting area, 1.70 pounds. After successfully warming up, I started to head back to the New Course, but the shuttle driver recommended two easier and less expensive courses, either the Eden or Strathtyrum course. At 55 pounds, the New course is an investment, were as the Eden is 30 pounds and Strathtyrum only 22 pounds. Strathtyrum was wide open and I walked on as a single. It was 1204 by that point and I pretty much had the entire course to myself. It seemed the regulars had all broke for lunch. I was flying along. The course was short and relatively easy. I actually bogeyed the first hole, shot par on the second, and doubled the third. The fourth was another par but the fifth wasn’t pretty. In the end, I finished that round in less than three hours shooting 22 over par. Not bad!

It was just past 1500 and the entire day was before of me. I purchased a quick lunch for 5 pounds and decided that I would still try to play the New Course. It was a different starter and he more than welcomed me to wait for an opening and walk on. At 1600, after paying 55 pounds plus an extra 10 to continue using the clubs, I teed off with Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Guthrie, a father son team here on a golfing holiday. They had just flown in from the states and looked to get in a round before crashing from jet lag. In comparison, I was better than both of them.

Now to the course. Majestic is all I can say. Again, words can not describe it. The knee high dorge, the yellow scrub, the pit bunkers, the lack of any flat point on the course save the tee boxes, it was all St. Andrews. It is all majestic. I will look back and recall yesterday as one of my greatest days of golf. My greatest is still a round I played with my dad in San Jose back in the summer of 1999. If my dad had been here yesterday, it definitely would have eclipsed all other days. One thing I know is that I will be back. I will play here again, only not until I have a job. Yesterday set me back a lot. Let’s recall:

27.98 pounds – glove and balls
30 pounds – hire clubs
4.40 pounds - practice
22 pounds – Strathtyrum greens fee
5 pounds – lunch
55 pounds – New Course greens fee
20 pounds – souvenir hat

Grand total – 164.38 pounds

In US Dollars - $312.32

Ouch! Thank you credit cards.

Today, my goal is to spend little or no money. I will walk around, look for a place to put this on the Internet, and more or less, do nothing. I head to the Orkney Islands in the morrow.

Until then and tomorrow.

Jason