Beating the first tee jitters

Playing golf in Scotland over the past few weeks took me back to the days when I was starting out with the game. Every first tee felt to me like the first tee at St. Andrews did last week. I had forgotten how nerve-racking an experience it can be when you’re starting out. It’s particularly difficult if you’re playing with complete strangers. I still get nervous still sometimes and I’ve been playing for 15 years now. So here are my tips for getting through it:

1. Look good! I thought of this one after we bought our argyle sweaters at St. Andrews; our thinking was, “hey, at least if we don’t play well we’ll look good!” Plus of course the more confident you are the better!

2. Use the club that you are most comfortable with. If your 7 iron is the club you always hit well, and you’re nervous – hit your 7 iron!! It doesn’t matter how long the hole is – you just want to get a nice shot into the fairway right?

3. Keep your head down. There’s an expression that says, “Never rush to look at a bad shot” and its so very true. When you lift your head in golf to turn and look at your shot… its never going to be good! Plus, if you’re nervous you’re more likely to have multiple swing shots in your head, and that’s not going to help anyone. So while you’re taking your shot – keep an eye on that ball the entire time; you’ll be amazed by the results!

St Andrews – the Old Course experience

It took 3 tries entering the daily ballot at St. Andrews for us to get a tee time on the Old Course; on Friday at 4pm we found out that we had a tee time on Saturday at 1:30pm. Our round on the Old Course at St. Andrews would be our last round of the trip to Scotland; how perfect!

Three days have passed since playing the Old Course and I’ve been struggling to find the right words to describe the round. All I could come up with is the word “experience”. Playing the Old Course at St. Andrews wasn’t just a round of golf on a famous course; it was an experience; an experience that I will not soon forget. We arrived at the course around 11am (yes, 2½ hours before our tee time). We didn’t want to feel rushed tee’ing off and as it turned out, by the time we had finished shopping for argyle sweaters (what else are you going to wear playing the Old Course?!?), finding the clubhouse and the practice facility, and hitting some warm-up shots, 2½ hours worked out to be just about perfect!

The first tee was unlike any first tee I’ve ever played from. It’s a wide open fairway; there are no hazards to speak of (at least not off the tee anyway), and its not even that long of a hole. Of course, its also the Old Course at St. Andrews, and there’s also the pile of spectators behind the front tee just waiting to watch you tee off. Noooooo pressure… After my terrible first tee drive at Carnoustie, I tee’d off with my trusty hybrid to build confidence; it was probably the best decision I made the entire round. Despite my shaking hands and racing heart, I hit the ball straight down the middle of that famous fairway and thus began one of the most enjoyable rounds of golf of my life.

Time absolutely flew by the entire 4 hours we were on the course. I put a ball in the gorse on the 7th; I put a ball in the burn on the 1st. I ended up in the hell bunker on the 14th and took two shots to get out. I don’t think I ever stopped smiling though. I walked along the undulating fairways feeling like they looked more like ski hills than golf holes, and gained an even greater appreciation for some of the shots the pros play. Between the two of us, Scott and I putt on shared greens; we saw tee boxes with bunkers; we made putts with elevation changes of 4 ft or more. And then there were of course some highlights; we avoided the Johnny Miller bunker, the coffin bunkers and also the Valley of Sin on 18. Unfortunately Scott was stuck in the road hole bunker, but his visit was brief and he played an excellent shot to get out. We both also drove our balls on number 17 over the Old Course hotel which, for me, was one of the most entertaining drives I’ve ever hit. And finally, after stopping for a photo opp on the Swilcan Bridge on number 18, I made my par and walked away still smiling.

Playing the Old Course may be a once in a lifetime thing; and if it is, I’m OK with it, because it was one of the best golf experiences of my life.

Trying to escape the hell bunker

The infamous road hole bunker

Perhaps the most photographed bridge in golf

Carnoustie: Car"nasty" is right!

Wow – I got my butt kicked today. Carnoustie is the site of Jean Van de Velde’s famous implosion on the 18th hole of the British Open when he had a 3 shot lead and made a triple bogey on 18 which then forced a playoff that he then lost. The fashion he did it in though is what makes him famous… have a look at the video footage to see for yourself: Video Here’s a short break-down… He drove his ball off the tee and fortunately narrowly missed the burn. (The burn is basically a creek that runs through the golf course; see the photo above) On the 18th at Carnoustie, the burn runs across the front of the green making your second shot pretty difficult as well. With a 3 stroke lead he could have laid up his second shot and then chipped onto the green, and still won but instead, he decided to go for the green with a shot that ended up hitting the grandstands. Normally a shot that hits the grandstands results in a free drop for the player, but Van de Velde’s shot bounced off the grandstand and into the thick rough next to it. He tried to hit his next shot to the green, but instead ended up in the burn in front of the green! Next he took off his shoes and socks and hopped into the burn planning to play his shot out of the water. Thankfully he came to his senses though and instead took a drop outside the burn. He then hit his ball into the greenside bunker, and it took a sand save (hitting the ball out of the bunker and sinking the putt in one stroke) to get into the play-off. In short – Van de Velde did what any amateur could easily do on the same hole…. Except he’s famous for it because it cost him the British Open!

My own Carnoustie experience started with a duff on the first tee into… the burn! Sigh… if only there had been a practice range I feel like it would have helped a lot to give me confidence over that first drive. Unfortunately I spent most of the day trying to find my swing. My whole day basically felt like what I imagine Van de Velde’s 18th at Carnoustie felt like. On the downside, it was most of my round that felt that way, but on the bright side, I didn’t have a tournament on the line, and I hit some pretty great bunker shots out of some pretty nasty bunkers (See the photo below for an example). My caddie told me on the 18th that they used to sell, “I beat Van de Velde” souvenirs in the pro shop. Unfortunately for me – my 18th was so bad that I couldn’t even have bought one of those souvenirs today!!!

The highlight of the round today was after 10 finding out that we had finally secured a tee time at St. Andrews on the old course for tomorrow via text message from the golf travel company. I did enjoy the round, but right now I am not in a hurry to get back to Carnoustie!!!

Below: One of the "spectacle" bunkers at Carnoustie

Kingsbarns: A biiiirdy-full day on the links

(From Tuesday, left - this is the only place in the world I don't mind calling them the ladies tees). Kingsbarns course, which is located about 5 miles south of St. Andrews is ranked #54 in the world for best golf courses. We couldn’t resist giving it a go, and have zero regrets about doing so. Today the sun was shining again and the winds were fairly calm (very calm for Scotland at least), but this time the golf story doesn’t get messy… well, just it did in a few parts I will admit.

To get a good picture o fthe beauty of Kingbarns, just take a look at the homepage of its website: www.kingsbarns.com. I was a bit worried about the course because from the front tees it’s only 5200 yards so I thought that might take away from it feeling like a true Scottish links course, but I was dead wrong. On the second hole, my caddie advised me to hit my approach shot at the par 5 about 40 yards left of the pin. On my own there’s no way I would have ever aimed that far left, but I trusted him and made the shot after which we both watched the ball roll up and around a swail on the green, stopping only about 10 feet short of the hole for my birdie putt. I knew from that point on two things – first, I had a great caddie. Second, it was was going to be a fun day.

Links golf is special to me because of all of the fun and interesting shots you can make. Over the course of the round today, I had several putts from way off the green (one unfortunately I putt clear across the green and into a bunker), punched shots along the ground and used the contours of greens to land approach shots in places I never would have though of on my own. I was also enterained by stories from my caddie about the course, about some of the famous people he had caddied before, and even a story about a golf club ending up in the ocean. (For his protecton I’ll keep that one private!) Maybe the best part of the day though was seeing Scott smiling as he walked up the fairways toward birdie putt after birdie putt. Hence - a biiiiirdie-ful day! Would have been nice if I was hitting my own birdie putts, but hey, I'll take my 91 and run.

(Below - the signature 12th hole at Kingsbarns called, "Ordeal")

Royal Troon: Hurts so good

In the immortal words of John Cougar Mellancamp, Royal Troon made me “hurt so good” today. This is the course that Colin Montgomerie (“Monty” to the golf world – one of the greatest Scottish golfers of our lifetime) has said, “is more difficult than good.” The 114 on my scorecard by round’s end has me completely agreeing with this quote and feeling like I was lucky I didn’t shoot 120!

It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining and it was about 70 degrees. Warning! When a golf story starts with a positive comment about the weather – the golf part of the story is probably going to get messy! And that it did! I was really excited right off the bat because we were paired with another couple so I was not alone on the front tees. The first few holes went pretty well – my driver was working; I stayed out of the rough and the bunkers, but I still wasn’t scoring well. “That’s okay,” I thought to myself, “it’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, and I’m playing one of the nicest golf courses in the world!” It’s a good thing I was able to hold onto that attitude because before too long I found myself pulling shots (which basically means hitting them waaaaay left of target), and suddenly I was contending with very thick fescue, and veeeery deep bunkers. Made it through the front nine though, feeling pretty good about my 53. Yes, 53 on the front – so that means 61 on the back. Yikes!

As we walked along the path toward the 10th hole, Phil, one of our group’s caddies told a story about Gary Player (yet another incredible golfer – this time South African) being asked by someone at the 10th hole on Royal Troon what the toughest back 9 is that he’s ever played; his response, “I’m standing on it.” Before our round we had also read about Arnold Palmer describing the 11th hole as, “one of the most dangerous holes in golf.” That same hole dashed Jack Nicklaus hopes of winning the British Open in 1967 when he scored a 10. All that was missing was the dramatic dooming music as we made our way up to the 10th tee box. Well, once again, I now understand the quotes. My highlight from the back nine was actually beating Jack Nicklaus score on the 11th hole; my score – a 9! That 9 though includes one shot that I actually hit myself with accidentally (that’s a new one) so who knows if the USGA would actually penalize me another stroke for that so maybe I didn’t beat him afterall! The back nine was just so tough. Briefly I felt down about how I was playing, but then I stopped and reminded myself that I was playing a long difficult course and I was clearly tired and my swing was suffering as a result of the fatigue. And oh yeah - I was still playing one of the nicest (and toughest) courses in the world... so in short, my hurt... started to feel good.

(Above right - the "Postage Stamp" hole at Royal Troon; named for the very small green which is only 11 paces wide. Below - discussing club selection at the Postage Stamp hole with my caddy, John)

Turnberry: 105 never felt so good!

Maybe it was the fact that the sun was shining for almost the entire round. Or perhaps it was the refreshing smell from the sea across the 8 holes that fall next to the water. Or maybe it was the birdie on the 6th hole (after leaving an eagle putt embarrassingly short). Maybe it was the beautiful views and challenging, yet fair course design from the front tees (even at approx 5800 yards) Then again, maybe it was the friendly (and incredibly helpful) caddies who reminded us both of just how far that ball can roll on a links course. Come to think of it, the roll alone on a lot of holes could have been the reason alone! Or it could have had something to do with Scott and I getting to play alone today, and Scott shooting a great score. There was also the friendliness and smiles on the faces of the men playing in the groups in front of and behind us. And let’s not forget the lager shandy at the bar after the round where we could sit and watch groups come up the 18th hole. Maybe its just the memories of Tom Watson’s incredible attitude and sportsmanship when he lost the British Open here in 2009; what a great attitude. Whatever the reason, shooting 105 has never felt as good as it felt today at Turnberry. Bar none - one of my favorite rounds of golf. I highly recommend it.

If its not Scottish...

If you google "origin of golf" you'll see that there is in fact some debate as to where the game of golf originated. Some argue that a game similar to it was played in the Netherlands or even in China as early as the 1200s! However, a spokesman for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, said "Stick and ball games have been around for many centuries, but golf as we know it today, played over 18 holes, clearly originated in Scotland." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_golf) Based on the fact that there are references to golf in Scottish parliament from as early as the 1400s, I believe him! I'm sure that my Scottish heritage has not created a bias at all.

And so when one has two weeks off in the middle of the summer golf season in the North East of the USA with 90 - 100 degree heat, what else would you want to do than turn the temperature down a notch (to around 60) with a trip to Scotland for golf! So here I am in Scotland - our hotel last night was only about a mile down the road from the local municipal course which looks like a challenge all on its own, but we're here to P-L-A-Y and that's what we're doing. We have 3 rounds booked - all on courses where the British Open has been played. We are hoping for a 4th round at St. Andrews but will have to wait for lottery results tomorrow to find out whether this is going to happen! I'm ready to be humbled by the game... stay tuned for details...