All posts by Jack

Playing the Old Course

I had been trying to find out how to get a game on the Old course since I arrived. There was no club house for the OC, just the starter shack. The two clubhouses on the property are by the New/Jubilee and the Eden courses. Everyone kept mentioning the ballot, where they drew the starting times from a hat for the next day. So I went to find out how to get on the ballot and discovered that the ballot is for groups; singles aren’t allowed on the ballot. (I never did find out where you go to get on the ballot.)
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Golfing at St Andrews

With clubs on shoulder, I headed down to the New Course Saturday morning. There are five courses at St Andrews, in addition to the Old Course. The New Course and the Jubilee Course are Links courses, similar to the Old Course. The Eden, Strathtyrum and Balgrove (9 hole) Courses are more parkland-type courses, more inland than the others and more similar to American courses. The clubhouse for the New and Jubilee is located near the first tees for those courses, while the other three’s clubhouse was located farther away across the Old Course. The Old Course doesn’t have a club house, just the starter’s shack and the caddy shack. The R&A is not a clubhouse for the Old Course, it is just a clubhouse for a private golf club located by the first tee of the Old Course (and not open to the public).
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Getting to St. Andrews

St. Andrews is a wonderful town. I would say that every other house in town is a B&B, but that would be an exageration. The house that isn’t a B&B is the exception.

It is also, one might say primarily, a university town, complete with ruined castles, churches and cathedrals. I toured through the town quite a bit, snapping photos, on film so it will be a while before I post any.

I arrived on Thursday, my clubs arrived the following evening. Fortunately, I thought to carry an extra change of clothes in my bag since the rest of them were in the golf bag. Turns out that my Denver-Chicago-Glasgow flight itinerary got slightly askew when the Denver flight was delayed an hour and when we were ready to take off it was too warm to take off with enough fuel to reach Chicago safely. (Not enough air density to lift a fully loaded plane.) So, the plane stopped in Kansas City to refuel and we arrived about an hour after my Glasgow flight had left.
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Omishi Magical Theater – Risky Safety

I didn’t want to review this one, but I should, just to remind myself not to watch it ever again. Sometimes, my memory fails and I forget that I watched something, and then, five years later, I waste another hour or two rewatching the show.

Omishi is, I think, a show for grade schoolers that teaches them that everyone gets sad from time-to-time, so please, don’t kill yourself. You’ll be happy again real soon now. If you want more details, follow the link.

Rover boy

All this commentary on Karl Rove makes me wonder.

Here Karl is, busy accusing the Democrats of being traitors for playing politics, while he is playing politics by being a traitor.

(Isn’t it about time that these idiots learned that their side lost, that the South shall not rise again.)

– 3rd rail – Liberty leads to liberalism leads to liberals

– 3rd rail – Liberty leads to liberalism leads to liberals

Thanks to Avedon for pointing out this link. I think Chris Cobb sums up, quite nicely, the need for liberals to reclaim their roots. And from a brand development/marketing guy. These comments also follow nicely on what I began to look at last week.

Freedom of Speech is a liberal idea. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” is a liberal Idea. Representative democracy is a Liberal Idea.