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Scotland on my Mind by Dan King
Saturday June 22nd
Moray Golf Club (Old Course) |
I'm having trouble writing about Day#10. I want to give the course and town justice, but I think we were all somewhat burned out from the previous nine days and were looking for a quiet day. After the fun we had playing Cruden Bay the previous two days, it was going to be difficult to compare any course to that experience.
Our stay was at a very nice hotel across from the golf clubhouse call The Stotfield Hotel. We checked in and were able to walk across Stotfield road to the starter.
I've been amazed by how uncrowded courses are in general in Scotland. Carnoustie was much like an American course with a foursome on every tee, fairway and green. Other than that we had courses all to our selves. We arrive at Old Morray and there is nobody around. This is late Saturday morning when we know every course at home would be covered with golfers. The weather was overcast, but hardly any wind and we all ended up taking off layers of clothes until we were down to shirt sleeves. Yet nobody about. I think I did get a clue the next day. I was up working in my hotel early the next morning. 3:30, first light there went a group to the first tee. From first light until around 9:00 the course was busy. The members go out, get in a round and are home for breakfast. They leave the later time for the tourists.
After our round we did eat a wonderful supper at a hotel down the street from ours called the Skerry Brae. The hotel has a sign in the window overlooking the 18th fairway that advertises they serve food all day. We ate in the wonderful old bar and talked food and beer with the owner, an Irish expatriate. He told us about his trip to the States, driving all over the country looking for decent beer. We sympathized while drinking yet another pint of Belhaven's Best. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it. Large portions are the deal here. The onion rings in some sort of ale batter were the best any of us had ever sampled. The deserts were not quite as good as "Death by Chocolate" at the Old Clubhouse in Gullane, but they run a close second.
My favorite holes at Old Morray:
This is tough. As I said, we were all a little burned out from Cruden Bay and appreciating Old Moray was difficult. It sits out on a point in Morray Firth and should be beautiful. However, the RAF airfield at Lossiemouth sits adjacent to the course and hurts the ascetics of the area. I also think many of the holes were repetitive, nothing really stands out in my mind on a majority of the holes.
Hole#2 Par-4 482 yard (Cup):
A short par-5, protected by a narrow fairway with nasty rough, and not much distance between fairway and the gorse. A slight dog leg left, but make sure your tee shot is far enough right to have any shot of the green. Pot bunkers run down the right side ready to catch off-line lay-up shots. What I most liked about this hole was that the green sat in little cup, a foot and a half below the level of the fairway.
Hole#6 Par-3 134 yard (Gordonstoun)
A very attractive par-3, only hurt by the chain link fence separating the course from the airfield. 5 pot bunkers protect the green with plenty of gorse not far off from this very small green.
Hole#11 Par-4 398 yard (Lighthouse)
This is the strongest hole on the course. Plenty of pot bunkers reside on both sides of the fairway. This is one of the only courses you are hoping a wayward tee shot will jump into one of these nasty pots, if it doesn't it will end up in the gorse. On your second shot, there are a few pots, but there is also a well hidden burn which runs across the fairway 50 yards short of the green. Gorse in the back of the green comes almost up to the putting surface.
Hole#18 par-4 414 yard (Home)
Beautiful homes and hotels run along the right side of the fairway beyond the Out of Bounds area. The teeing area, which is shared by the second tee, is pointed toward the left away from the houses and also away from the 18th fairway. There is plenty of room, with hole#1 and hole#18 sharing the fairway, but pot bunkers separate the two areas. The green is the biggest on the course and is in a little hallow below the clubhouse. Play of this hole is also a little tougher knowing the members are watching from behind the clubhouse windows. Dave Hamilton, for one, calls this the prettiest finishing hole in Scotland. I still give the nod to the 18th at North Berwick West Links.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Dan King
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