I should write a short blurb about Brownlees, the B&B I stayed at. The room was a touch too small for a large American but conveniently located for a traveling single. (And I managed to deal with the smallness.) The bathroom was in the hall and I had to share with someone I never saw, so it was never an issue. There was an alleyway right next to the door that led to the Scores and the R&A was just a minute away. The Alley came out at the top of a park that overlooked the North Sea and the Aquarium. Jo and John took good care of the silly American who didn’t even have a key to open his golf bag. Very tasty full breakfasts in the morning got you ready for a few rounds of golf or touring. I’ve never had beans with my breakfast before, but they work. All-in-all, a very pleasant week.

When I wasn’t golfing, I took the time to wander around the town; to the east is the Castle, the Cathedral, the Harbour, The East Sands, The St Andrews Museum; to the west are the West Sands, a university park and the golf courses; to the south is the botanical gardens; to the north is the British Golf Museum and the Sea Aquarium.
Continue reading Sight-seeing in St Andrews →

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.)
Continue reading Playing the Old Course →

There are some good restaurants in St. Andrews, with a variety of cuisines. I dined at a Bangladeshi restaurant, several hotel restaurants, a Thai restaurant, and an Indian restaurant. I passed on the Moroccan place because it was a take-away and an Italian restaurant because I didn’t have time.
Continue reading Dining in 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).
Continue reading Golfing at 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.
Continue reading Getting to St. Andrews →