SUNGRL

After playing at Carnoustie we drove back to Edinburgh Airport and dropped our rental car back. We then took the tram into Edinburgh City. We are staying in more student accommodation not far from the city centre. We had tickets for the Tattoo which I had ordered online. I went up to the tattoo offices to pick them up and had a quick look around on the Royal Mile that leads up to the Castle. It was full of street performers and people – August is the Fringe Festival month in Edinburgh of which the Military Tattoo forms part of.

The show started at 9pm so after a quick bite we joined the queue to get into the castle. We had great seats. The performance started with the massed bands which are amazing. The theme of the 2014 Tattoo was all about celebrating Our Home, Friends and Family and it had a real global feel as the bands and performers are from all over the world. We had performances from Zulu dancers, a steel band from Trinidad and Tobago, a brass band from Singapore, a military band from Malta and our very own Kapa Haka group from NZ.

Our Kapa Haka group were joined by some Scottish dancers from NZ and the theme of their performance was the integration of the two cultures as many Scots have immigrated to NZ over the years. It started with a traditional Maori theme but morphed into modern day with both the Kapa Haka Group and Scottish dancers performing to the same music. The Kapa Haka group finished off with the traditional haka which was fantastic.

The beginning of the end of the show was started with a lone electric guitarist playing what we thought was a Mark Knopfler song. The bagpipes and then the rest of the band then joined in – it was truly WOW! After they finished a lone piper stood on top of the Castle and played a tune in remembrance of all those people who have lost their lives in battle. Another spine tingling experience.

All the performers then came onto the esplanade as the massed bands played various modern songs that all the performers danced to – it was announced as the greatest party on earth and the mixing of all the cultures in one spot was fabulous.

To finish off we all crossed arms and held our neighbours hands to sing Auld Lang Syne. It truly was a great spectacle and I loved every minute of it.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual series of Military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and International military bands and display teams on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The event takes place annually throughout August, as part of the wider Edinburgh Festival.

The word “Tattoo,” is derived from “Doe den tap toe”, or just “tap toe” (“toe” is pronounced “too”), the Dutch for “Last orders”. Translated literally, it means: “close the (beer) tap”. The term “Tap-toe” was first encountered by the British Army when stationed in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession.

The British adopted the practice and it became a signal, played by a regiment’s Corps of Drums or Pipes and Drums each night to tavern owners to turn off the taps of their ale kegs so that the soldiers would retire to their billeted lodgings at a reasonable hour. With the establishment of modern barracks and full Military bands later in the 18th century, the term Tattoo was used to describe not only the last duty call of the day, but also a ceremonial form of evening entertainment performed by Military musicians.

Now, on average, just over 217,000 people see the Tattoo live on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle each year, and it has sold out in advance for the last decade. 30% of the audience are from Scotland and 35% from the rest of the United Kingdom. The remaining 35% of the audience consists of 70,000 visitors from overseas.

The Tattoo performance takes place every weekday evening and twice on Saturdays throughout August and has never been cancelled due to inclement weather. The Tattoo is televised in 30 countries and a further 100 million people see the event on television worldwide. The Tattoo is run for charitable causes and over the years has given over £5 million to military and civilian charities and organisations, such as the Army Benevolent Fund. However, the greater benefit has been that, by independent count, it generates £88 million in revenue for Edinburgh’s economy annually.

On Sunday night we went to a pot luck dinner at David & Audrey’s place. We met their daughter Alison and her boyfriend Mark as well as a few of their friends. It was a great night with lots of chatter, laughs and red wine! Two of their friend’s, Mary & Graham are members at Carnoustie and invited us to play there with them if it worked out with tee times etc… Their daughter, Elsa was also at the get together – she plays off plus 2 and is off to play in the British Amateur Stroke play next week in Wales.

We worked out that Thursday would be the ideal day – unfortunately Mary was working but Graham was free. Steve was trying to convince David to make up the four but David didn’t think he could have two four day weeks – he had taken the prior Thursday off to play golf with us at Panmure. Anyway arrangements were made during the week and Thursday it was. David had also been convinced to join us – I told him that he better watch out – nine month holidays start with four day weeks!

We felt very lucky to be playing at Carnoustie which is another Open Championship Course having held it last in 2007. It is scheduled to hold it again in 2018.

Steve being Mr Competitive decided that it would be NZ versus Scotland. The Scots started well – both Graham and David hit the ball so well. Stevie wasn’t on his A game and I was a bit erratic off the tee although I did manage to redeem myself down the fairway.

We had lots of laughs and Graham was happy to impart his local knowledge with us on where best to hit the ball – just like at St Andrews this was in vain generally as my ball still had a mind of it’s own. Graham told us that the golf course had been owned by the Council and poorly managed and maintained until the mid 1980’s when they employed John Philp as Course Superintendent. He turned the course around and got it back on the Open Championship rota. We also learnt a new saying from Graham – he hit a great drive down fourteen and said “that was a peachy, peachy drive”

Fourteen was my favourite hole – it is called Spectacles because of the two large bunkers that sit about 100 metres from the front of the green. As you are approaching the green they look at you like spectacles. As you look down the fairway from the ladies tee, the left side is lined with these large bunkers and the right with a hill. It is quite picturesque.

We were three down at the fourteenth but with my shot a hole that they were giving me I managed to win the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth hole. Yes people you are reading that right – I won the holes – Stevie was nowhere to be seen! I am probably being a bit unfair and normally it is Steve that is carrying me!

Anyway we were all square going into the seventeenth and I needed the putt to take us into the lead but it wasn’t to be and we halved. All square still going into the eighteenth.

The eighteenth hole at Carnoustie was made famous by John Van de Velde – see below.

Again Graham hit a peachy, peachy drive. David went well right as did Steve – David found his ball but Steve did not. He did manage to find the ball he had lost on the sixteenth though – it was sitting nicely in the Barry Burn! I also went right but took a nice ricochet off the wall of the burn to be back on the fairway. I laid up nicely but then pulled my approach shot left – again a lucky break – the ball stayed in bounds by about two feet. I chipped on and two putted for a six. Meanwhile Graham’s second shot found the bunker – he got up and down for a four and a victory to the Scots! To be fair it was a deserved victory given that both Graham and David played great golf for most of the round while Steve & I had had better days : )

We had a great day and were very privileged to play this iconic golf course in great company. How very lucky are we : )

Golf is recorded as having been played at Carnoustie in the early 16th century. In 1890, the 14th Earl of Dalhousie, who owned the land, sold the links to the local authority. It had no funds to acquire the property, and public fundraising was undertaken and donated to the council. The original course was of ten holes, crossing and recrossing the Barry Burn; it was designed by Allan Robertson, assisted by Old Tom Morris, and opened in 1842. The opening of the coastal railway from Dundee to Arbroath in 1838 brought an influx of golfers from as far afield as Edinburgh, anxious to tackle the ancient links. This led to a complete restructuring of the course, extended in 1867 by Old Tom Morris to the 18 holes which had meanwhile become standardized. Two additional courses have since been added: the Burnside Course and the shorter though equally testing Buddon Links.

In North America, the course is infamously nicknamed “Car-nasty,” due to its famous difficulty, especially under adverse weather conditions. Carnoustie is considered by many to be the most difficult course in the Open rota, and one of the toughest courses in the world.

The term Carnoustie effect dates from the 1999 Open, when the world’s best players, many of whom were reared on manicured and relatively windless courses, were frustrated by the unexpected difficulties of the Carnoustie links, which was compounded by the weather. One much-fancied young favourite, a 19-year-old Sergio García of Spain, went straight from the course to his mother’s arms crying after shooting 89 and 83 in the first two rounds. The Carnoustie effect is defined as “that degree of mental and psychic shock experienced on collision with reality by those whose expectations are founded on false assumptions.” This being a psychological term, it can of course apply to disillusionment in any area of activity, not just in golf.

We were lucky enough to experience the course off forward tees and with very little wind but after our experience on the Old Course can only imagine what it must be like wen the wind does blow.

1999 Open Championship – Carnoustie
Paul Lawrie won his only major championship in a playoff over Jean van de Velde and Justin Leonard. Lawrie, down by ten strokes at the start of the fourth round,completed the biggest comeback in major championship history, headlined by van de Velde’s triple-bogey at the last hole.

Van de Velde, who was in control through the latter half of the championship, held a seemingly insurmountable three-stroke lead going into the 72nd hole. He teed off with a driver, which was heavily criticized by the ABC broadcast team, and pushed his shot into the right rough of the 17th hole. He later claimed that he thought the lead was only two strokes, which is why he chose not to go with a safe club, such as an iron. His second shot landed in an area of knee-deep rough after his ball bounced backward 50 yards off the grandstand and off of a rock in the Barry Burn. Had the ball stayed in the grandstand he would have been able to drop without penalty. Then the thick Carnoustie grass stifled him again, as his third shot went into the burn in front of the green. Van de Velde took his shoes and socks off and entered the burn, considering an attempt to play the ball from the water. He decided against it and instead took a drop (fourth stroke), at which point he hit his fifth shot into one of the deep greenside bunkers. He pitched out safely and buried an eight footer on his seventh shot for a triple-bogey. This forced the three-man playoff, which he eventually lost.

Due to the three-stroke lead van de Velde had going into the final hole, his name had already been engraved into the Claret Jug. Following his collapse, the engraver had to scratch through van de Velde’s name and then engrave Paul Lawrie’s name into it. Beginning with the 2000 Open, the winning golfer’s name is no longer engraved into the Claret Jug until after his scorecard is verified by tournament officials and signed by said winning golfer. Van de Velde’s play on this hole is still widely considered to be the worst “choke” in golfing history, and some have even used the term “pulling a van de Velde” to describe similar events.

Neither van de Velde nor Lawrie has been in contention during the final round of a major since.

We arrived in St Andrews on Saturday night after our time in Edzell. We were staying at Agnes Blackadder Hall which is campus accommodation for the students during the university term. Over the summer months is it used like hotel accommodation. It was only a 15 minute walk into the centre of St Andrews. Saturday night was a lovely night with blue sky and the sun shining so we took a drive into the town and then out onto the coast to check out the many golf courses. There are three golf courses right in town – the Old Course, the Jubilee Course and the New Course but there are many more in the surrounding area and along the rest of the coast beyond the town.

St Andrews is a former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. The town is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and the oldest in Scotland. The University is an integral part of the burgh, and during term time students make up approximately one third of the town’s population.

St Andrews is also known worldwide as the “home of golf”. This is in part because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, exercises legislative authority over the game worldwide (except in the United States and Mexico), and also because the famous links (acquired by the town in 1894) is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf’s four major championships. Visitors travel to St Andrews in great numbers for several courses ranked among the finest in the world, as well as for the sandy beaches.

The town is very quaint and the buildings were lovely. There was a fair in town which was taking up the main street – it was really busy and all these noisy rides etc… detracted from my first impressions. There are many golf shops which kept us busy during the time we were there. We also discovered The Vic – a pub that had a very groovy atmosphere and great food.

I was also taken with the Tom Morris golf shop which sits alongside the 18th green. We went in to have a look and the girl in their was so friendly sharing the story of Tom Morris with us. See below for more details on Tom Morris. Where the shop stands today was his original shop and the building is still owned by his great, great, great granddaughter who lives above the shop. The corner where the shop sits along with the Old Course shop and a hotel would be the most expensive real estate in St Andrews.

Thomas Mitchell Morris, Sr. (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, was a pioneer of professional golf. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, the “home of golf” and location of the St Andrews Links, and died there as well. His son was Tom Morris, Jr. (died 1875), best known as “Young Tom Morris.”

Morris was the son of a weaver, and began golf by age ten, by knocking wine-bottle corks pierced with nails (to serve as balls) around the streets of the town using a homemade club, in informal matches against other youths; this was known as ‘sillybodkins’. He started caddying and playing golf from a young age, and formally was hired as an apprentice at age 14 to Allan Robertson, generally regarded as the world’s first professional golfer; Robertson ran the St Andrews Links and an equipment-making business. Morris served four years as apprentice and a further five years as journeyman under Robertson, by most accounts the world’s top player from about 1843 until his death in 1859. From the early 1840s, Robertson often chose Morris as his partner in challenge matches, played by alternate shot format, which were the principal form of competition at that time. It was said the two never lost a team match played on even terms. The team became known as “The Invincibles”. Morris by his early 20s was the second-best player in St. Andrews, close to Robertson in golf skill, and won an informal match from him over the Old Course in 1843, but the two players rarely played seriously head-to-head. As Robertson’s employee, Morris was in somewhat of an awkward position.

Morris worked under Robertson at St Andrews until 1851, when he was fired on the spot after being caught by Robertson playing the new guttie golf ball; Robertson had a profitable business making the featherie ball, which was threatened by the emergence of the guttie. Morris was then hired by Prestwick Golf Club, which was just starting up. At Prestwick, he designed, laid out, and maintained the course, ran his own golf equipment business selling gutties and clubs, gave instruction to players, and ran events. He was influential in beginning The Open Championship in 1860, and struck the very first shot in that event.

Morris returned to St Andrews as greenkeeper and professional in 1865, at a then-generous salary of 50 pounds per year. He was sought out by the Royal and Ancient, which formally passed a motion in 1864 calling for his rehiring. St Andrews was then in very poor condition, and his first task was to correct this. He did so by widening the fairways, enlarging the greens, applying greenkeeping techniques he had developed at Prestwick, building two new greens (on holes 1 and 18), and “managing” the hazards. He stayed in the post until 1903, a total of 39 years, and was kept on after this by the R & A at full salary.

Morris worked as a greenkeeper, clubmaker, ballmaker, golf instructor, and course designer, as well as playing match and tournament golf. He came second in the first Open Championship in 1860, and won the following year. He followed this up with further victories in 1862, 1864 and 1867. He still holds the record as the oldest winner of The Open Championship at 46. Also, he was part of the only father/son couple being winner and runner-up.

Morris held the record for the largest margin of victory in a major championship (14 strokes in the 1862 Open Championship), which stood until Tiger Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open by 15 strokes. He became the second player to break 80 over the Old Course, scoring 79; Robertson had been the first to do it. Once his son Young Tom Morris became an accomplished player in his own right by his mid-teens, in the mid-1860s, father and son formed a team for challenge matches, usually played by alternate shot (foursomes play), where they proved very successful. Their partnership, although not exclusive, would continue until the death of Young Tom in 1875.

Morris played a role in designing courses across the British Isles. He began by assisting Robertson lay out ten holes at Carnoustie in 1842. His subsequent work included Kinghorn Golf Club in 1887, Prestwick, Muirfield, Machrihanish, the Jubilee Course at St Andrews, Balcomie at Crail, Moray, Askernish in South Uist, Lahinch and Rosapenna in Ireland, Warkworth and Royal North Devon Golf Club (Westward Ho!) in England, King Edward Bay Golf Club in the Isle of Man and the Castletown Golf Club in the Isle of Man.

Morris was also the father of modern greenkeeping. He introduced the concept of top-dressing greens with sand, which significantly helped turf growth. He introduced many novel ideas on turf and course management, including actively managing hazards (in the past, bunkers and the like were largely left to their own devices, becoming truly “hazardous”) and yardage markers. He was the first to use a push mower to cut greens. He improved St Andrews by widening fairways to handle increased play, enlarging greens, and establishing separate tee boxes on each hole; all of these measures spread out play over larger areas, and led to better turf conditions. In course design, he standardized the golf course length at 18 holes (St Andrews had at one time been 22 holes), and introduced the concept of each nine holes returning to the club house. He also introduced the modern idea of placing hazards so that the golf ball could be routed around them; this was the beginning of strategic design, which has dominated golf course design ever since. Before his times hazards were thought of as obstacles that either had to be carried or were there to punish a wayward ball.

Morris kept working right up until his death, just before his 87th birthday which was no mean feat back in those days. He had outlived all his children. He died after falling down a flight of stairs in the clubhouse of the New Golf Club in St Andrews. He is buried in the grounds of the St Andrews Cathedral, and his grave attracts thousands of golfers who wish to pay homage.

We booked into play the Jubilee Course on Wednesday morning before we knew we had got a place on the Old Course in the ballot. We wanted to make sure we experienced at least one of the courses in the heart of St Andrews.

After finishing playing on the Old Course at 8.20pm on the Tuesday night we were teeing off on the Jubilee Course at 7.20am on the Wednesday morning. The sun had come out but the wind was still blowing. The Jubilee proved just as challenging as the Old Course but again it was thoroughly enjoyable.

The Jubilee Course is the third championship course at the Home of Golf. Built in 1897, it was originally intended for use by ladies and beginners however after seeing its prime golfing location between the New Course and the sea, the Jubilee was converted to a championship layout in 1988.

How lucky are we to have played these two fantastic and famous courses.

We put our name in the ballot on Saturday for Monday and missed out so tried again on Sunday for Tuesday’s ballot. We checked the ballot online on Monday morning and wahoo we had been drawn out for Tuesday at 3.40pm. Luckily it stays light over here until 9.30pm so plenty of time to finish our 18 holes.

Monday had been a pretty wet day so we were hoping for good things on Tuesday. It was slightly better in that the rain wasn’t quite as persistent but the wind was still there. We went for a drive down to Crail in the morning and hit balls at a range. It was blowing like crazy so that was interesting – I couldn’t keep my hat on and the golf balls were being carried quite a way with the wind.

We had some lunch in town and then headed to the course – the anticipation levels were high. We usually play golf in the mornings so teeing off at 3.40pm was a bit strange for us. We were paired with a couple from Zurich in Switzerland – Martin & Jacquelyn. They were really nice and Martin was a bit of a character. Jacquelyn didn’t speak a lot of english and couldn’t understand a word the Scottish starters and marshals said – mind you we had to listen carefully too!

The rain decided to grace us with it’s presence. Scotland the Brave was taking on the SUNGRL and winning again!! I had trousers on – this is nearly unheard of – along with a thermal and my puffer jacket. After a few holes you got used to the rain and wind – it made for interesting golf. It was quite exhilarating out there. The course marshals were really helpful and friendly giving us tips on where to and where not to hit the ball. This was quite often in vain as I am sure my ball had a mind of it’s own. In saying that I had four pars and actually played quite well.

Stevie was playing nice golf but the tricky greens and holes were making pars prove elusive. He finally got a par on the 11th and the flood gates opened – he parred the 12th, 13th, 17th and 18th. The highlight was his par on the infamous road hole. He had an audience – they told him to take on the corner which he did and it landed nicely on the fairway. He then hit his driver off the deck to get it within 6 feet of the hole. This impressed his new friends that he had made on the hole – a couple of teenage lads that played off 3 and 4. They were like “wow, did you just hit your driver off the fairway?”, “are you here warming up for the open next year?” They walked up to the green with us to see if he could make a birdie but no he had to settle with a par.

Meanwhile back on planet Earth I had also taken on the corner but unfortunately my ball was nowhere to be seen – I did have a look in the hotel garden and pond but couldn’t see it. I hadn’t heard any glass breaking so figured it was just hiding in the shrubbery! I dropped another ball on the fairway and proceeded to go in the infamous road hole bunker. I got out in one which also impressed Steve’s new friends.

Steve, Jacquelyn and I all had great drives on the 18th – I am unsure what happened to Martin’s as he hit a provisional. Steve’s new friends were still with us and proved useful as photographers on the Swilcan Bridge. They were nice lads and were in town playing in a tournament – they wished us well and went on their way.

We finished our round at 8.20pm so it had been a bit slow but we had thoroughly enjoyed it. The rain had finally gone away about the 12th and we even had glimpses of blue sky and sunshine by the time we finished. We had walked over from our digs at the university so had to walk back which was a bit of a struggle – we were stuffed – that wind had taken it out of us but we wouldn’t change the experience for anything : )

The oldest and most iconic golf course in the world. The Swilcan Bridge and Hell Bunker are recognised across the globe, yet the greatest feature of the Old Course is that despite its grand status it remains a public golf course, open to all.

The Old Course at St Andrews is one of the oldest golf courses in the world a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews club house sits adjacent to the first tee, although it is but one of many clubs that have playing privileges on the course, along with the general public.

The Old Course at St Andrews is considered by many to be the “home of golf” because the sport was first played on the Links at St Andrews in the early 1400s. Golf was becoming increasingly popular in Scotland until in 1457, when James II of Scotland banned golf because he felt that young men were playing too much golf instead of practicing their archery. The ban was upheld by the following kings of Scotland until 1502, when King James IV became a golfer himself and removed the ban.

The Old Course was pivotal to the development of how the game is played today. For instance, in 1764, the course had 22 holes. The members would play the same hole going out and in with the exception of the 11th and 22nd holes. The members decided that the first four and last four holes on the course were too short and should be combined into four total holes (two in and two out). St Andrews then had 18 holes and that was how the standard of 18 holes was created. Around 1863, Old Tom Morris had the 1st green separated from the 17th green, producing the current 18-hole layout with seven double greens. The Old Course is home of The Open Championship, the oldest of golf’s major championships. The Old Course has hosted this major 28 times since 1873, most recently in 2010. The 28 Open Championships that the Old Course has hosted is more than any other course, and The Open is currently played there every five years. The Open will be held on the Old Course again in 2015.

Old Course and Bobby Jones
There’s an interesting relationship between St Andrews and one of the most famous golfers of all time, founder of Augusta National Bobby Jones. The first time Jones played St Andrews, in the 1921 Open Championship, he infamously hit his ball into a bunker on the 11th hole during the third round. After he took four swings at the ball and still could not get out, he walked off the course. Six years later when the Open Championship returned to St Andrews, Jones also returned. Not only did he win, but he also became the first amateur to win back-to-back Open Championships. He won wire-to-wire, shooting a 285, which was the lowest score at either a U.S. Open or Open Championship at the time. He ended up winning the tournament by a decisive six strokes.

In 1930, Jones returned to St Andrews seeking to win the British Amateur. He did win by a score of 7 and 6 over Roger Wethered, and proceeded to win all other three majors, making him the only man in the history of the sport to win the Grand Slam. For the rest of his life, Jones would go on to fall in love with the Old Course. Later in his life, he was quoted saying “If I had to select one course upon which to play the match of my life, I should have selected the Old Course.” In 1958 the town of St Andrews gave Jones the key to the city, becoming only the second American to receive the honor after Benjamin Franklin in 1759. After he received the key, he was quoted saying “I could take out of my life everything but my experiences here in St Andrews and I would still have had a rich and full life,” which is a testament to the pedigree of the Old Course.

One of the unique features of the Old Course are the large double greens. Seven greens are shared by two holes each, with hole numbers adding up to 18 (2nd paired with 16th, 3rd with 15th, all the way up to 8th and 10th). The Swilcan Bridge, spanning the first and 18th holes, has become a famous icon for golf in the world. Everyone who plays the 18th hole walks over this 700 year old bridge, and many iconic pictures of the farewells of the most iconic golfers in history have been taken on this bridge. A life-size stone replica of the Bridge is situated at the World Golf Hall of Fame museum in St. Augustine, Florida. Only the 1st, 9th, 17th and 18th holes have their own greens. Another unique feature is that the course can be played in either direction, clockwise or anti-clockwise. Along with that, the Old Course has 112 bunkers which are all individually named and have their own unique story and history behind them. The two most famous are the 10 ft deep “Hell Bunker” on the 14th hole, and the “Road Hole Bunker” on the 17th hole. Countless professional golfers have seen their dreams of winning the Open Championship squandered by hitting their balls in those bunkers.

The general method of play today is anti-clockwise, although clockwise play has been permitted on one day each year in recent years, and since 2008 has been allowed on the Friday, Saturday and Monday of the first weekend in April. Originally, the course was reversed every week in order to let the grass recover better. One other unusual thing about the Old Course is that it is closed on Sundays to let the course rest. On some Sundays, the course turns into a park for all the townspeople who come out to stroll, picnic and otherwise enjoy the grounds. As a general rule, Sunday play is allowed on the course on only four occasions:

The final day of the Dunhill Links Championship, an annual event on the European Tour.
The final day of The Open Championship and Women’s British Open when it is held at the Old Course; this happens roughly once every five years for the men; the women’s championship began its turn on the rotation in 2007.
The final day of two top amateur events, the St Andrews Links Trophy and the St Rule Trophy.
Sunday play may also occur when the Old Course hosts other major events; for example, when it hosted the Curtis Cup in 2008.

On Sunday we went out to St Andrews Bay to play the Torrance Course – we thought it would be a good warm up for the real mccoy if we were lucky enough to get on later in the week. Actually warm up is probably not the right choice of words as it was rather chilly and wet – Scotland the Brave was challenging the SUNGRL and winning.

The course was originally flat farmland. It was originally designed by Sam Torrance who is a Scottish professional golfer and sports commentator. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, with 21 Tour wins. Torrance was a member of European Ryder Cup teams on eight occasions.

They were preparing the course for the Scottish Senior Open which starts this Friday the 15th August. They play the course in a slightly different order so had these big signs up with the tee numbers. They told us to ignore them and just follow the normal numbering. We did this but still managed to play the 18th of the Kittocks Course which is in the same vicinity.

It was a good introduction to the Scottish links courses.

On Saturday I took a drive to Glamis Castle – Glamis is pronounced Glams and is situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland. It was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, wife of King George IV. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Their second daughter, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was born there.

It is a very picturesque castle set in large grounds. I took a tour and the guide we had was excellent. She was very animated and relayed the history including that of the ghosts of the castle very well. The castle is currently the home of Michael Bowes-Lyon, 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, a former army officer, who succeeded to the earldom in 1987. They still use the castle for family get togethers and the little chapel inside the castle for church services. The chapel seats 46 people.

The castle is also used for weddings and there was one happening the day I visited. They had a piper on the steps and the bride and bridesmaids arrived by horse and carriage.

We saw the Queen Mother’s sitting room and bedroom – Glamis was one of her favourite places to visit over the years.

Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon family since the 14th century, though the present building dates largely from the 17th century.

In 1543 Glamis was returned to John Lyon, 7th Lord Glamis. In 1606, Patrick Lyon, 9th Lord Glamis, was created Earl of Kinghorne. He began major works on the castle, commemorated by the inscription “Built by Patrick, Lord Glamis, and Dame Anna Murray” on the central tower.

During the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, soldiers were garrisoned at Glamis. In 1670 Patrick Lyon, 3rd Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, returned to the castle and found it uninhabitable. Restorations took place until 1689, including the creation of a major Baroque garden.

John Lyon, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, succeeded in 1753, and in 1767 he married Mary Eleanor Bowes, heiress to a coal-mining fortune. She was an only child and her father insisted that John Lyon could marry his daughter on the proviso that he took her last name, hence the Bowes Lyon surname coming into being.

In 1900, Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon was born, youngest daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his countess, Cecilia. She spent much of her childhood at Glamis, which was used during the First World War, as a military hospital. She was particularly instrumental in organising the rescue of the castle’s contents during a serious fire on 16 September 1916. On 26 April 1923 she married Prince Albert, Duke of York, second son of King George V, at Westminster Abbey.

Since 1987 an illustration of the castle has featured on the reverse side of ten pound notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The two countries had shared a monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his double first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. Although described as a Union of Crowns, until 1707 there were in fact two separate Crowns resting on the same head (as opposed to the implied creation of a single Crown and a single Kingdom, exemplified by the later Kingdom of Great Britain). There had been three attempts in 1606, 1667, and 1689 to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early 18th century that both political establishments came to support the idea, albeit for different reasons.

The Acts took effect on 1 May 1707. On this date, the Scottish Parliament and the English Parliament united to form the Parliament of Great Britain, based in the Palace of Westminster in London, the home of the English Parliament.[3] Hence, the Acts are referred to as the Union of the Parliaments. On the Union, the historian Simon Schama said “What began as a hostile merger, would end in a full partnership in the most powerful going concern in the world … it was one of the most astonishing transformations in European history.”[4]

We were entrusted with looking after Lucy and Mac, two Wheaten Terriers, for 3 nights. What were Gus & Sheila thinking? I was designated feeding duties and Steve walking duties.

On Wednesday night we took Mac for a walk along the river. It had been raining quite heavily so there were a number of puddles. Steve slipped over twice and Mac looked a little grubby on returning home – nothing a good towel down didn’t fix.

That night watching TV, Mac started barking madly at the TV. Apparently this is quite common especially when the ads come on so you need to mute them quickly. The ad he was barking at showed these two little puppies – Steve changed the channel and Mac raced out of the room into the next room thinking the puppies had gone in there.

Thursday morning Steve took the both of them out for a quick walk before golf. He returned with both dogs – a good sign but told me that I needed to go with them next time – he struggled to control the pair of them!

Thursday night we took them to Nicholas & Veronica’s place. We had them in the back seat of the car and Mac stood up the whole way checking the landscape out. He saw a cow in a paddock at one stage and barked his head off – he is very loud in a confined space.

Nicholas & Veronica also have two dogs so it was like a circus. We sat outside in the garden and all the dogs were going berserk still. Next minute we heard a splash and Nicholas thought it was one of their dogs who had jumped in the pond. On further investigation we found out it was Lucy – she was covered in pond scum and green bits! She had changed from a blonde to a black in a matter of seconds. We are unsure if she jumped in to cool off or the other three dogs pushed her in. I couldn’t stop laughing – she looked hilarious. Steve was panicking as to how we were going to get her clean again. Nicholas being much more of an expert than us told us not to worry, we’ll let it dry and then wipe her down. Needless to say she was banished outside for a while.

Friday morning we both took them for a walk and they both proceeded to do their business in the Main Street of Edzell. Lucy did hers on someone’s doorstep. Luckily we had the black bags on hand. Please note that it was me and not Steve that dealt with the little deposits.

We took them with us on our day out with Nicholas & Veronica. Apart from the odd growl from Lucy when Mac encroached on her space they were fairly well behaved.

We said goodbye to Lucy & Mac this afternoon which was sad. It was a good introduction to having a dog ourselves and I am afraid Steve didn’t pass the test – just like a child, he likes the idea but only likes the fun side of it!