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Scotland on my Mind by Dan King
Thursday, July 4th
Cruden Bay Golf Club |
Last night driving up from Crail, we arrived in Cruden Bay around 7:30 p.m. We figured we'd stop by the clubhouse before finding a place to stay. Maybe we can set up a match or make sure we can play the next day. Sure enough, when we arrive there are two of the gents who I had met on my previous trip to Cruden. James, who became the club champion shortly after we were there last, and Nichol. We asked them if they wanted to play a Ryder Cup type event, USA vs. Scotland, the next day. They said they'd let us know and James offered to help us get a place to stay. He took us over to the Kilmarnock Arms down the road from the clubhouse. His family runs the hotel, and we got a very comfortable room for L15.00 a night.
Kilmarnock Arms is were Bram Stroker used to stay while on holiday at Cruden Bay. Walking along the bay and the golf course inspired him in his writing. It's not far from the 3rd green and 4th fairway. The food was hearty and the bed comfortable (what more could you want from a place to stay), the only problem was no shower. A shared bathroom only had a bath.
My vague plans did not include coming back to Cruden Bay. But Mark read my account of our time here and wanted to come back. Cruden was reported on earlier in a previous post, so I won't go into any details on holes here. In playing here again, I'm reminded on Bernard Darwin's quote in his book: "there are burns to cross, hills to carry, and hidden nooks to drop into. Some of the shots are blind -- willfully blind if you like to call it so...but there are some truly fine golfing holes, on the grand scale." I remember reading in Spirit of St. Andrews by Dr. Alister MacKenzie that blind holes can be fun, but as we grow older, the members get tired of scurrying over a hill to see the results of their shot. In general, I'm not a fan of numerous blind holes. I like Royal Dornoch better than St. Andrews because you can better follow the result of your shot. However, somehow the blind shots work here at Crudin. Perhaps it is because the blind holes are no overly penal. Therefore, when we are hurrying to see the results, it is more with happy anticipation rather than fear.
That evening, while in enjoying a pint and cigar in the lounge of the Kilmarnock Arms, we got the call from James. The match was on, Scotland vs. USA for 9:00 the following morning.
The match went back and forth over much of the front nine. We were mostly concerned with James, who has such a beautiful swing. But more often than not, it was Nichol with his weird little swing that was beating us. When we won the 9th hole, we were all square going into the back-9. But then Scotland got hot. They won the 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th to close us out 5 and 3. Heartbreaking loss. A pint to the victors. It was all great fun, and playing a 4-ball in a little less than 3 hours is how the game should be played.
While drinking our pints, Stuart, who caddies for me once on the previous trip showed up in the clubhouse. We asked if he wanted to get out for another round. James and Nichol couldn't since they had an important 2-ball match that evening (which they ended up winning on the 19th hole). Stuart, Mark and I headed out at about 1:15. I went one-up on both of them at the first hole, and said that I should quit then. I was right as Stuart threw a 71 at me, that left me buried 6 and 4. Once again great fun, and numerous groups waved us through on the course, allowing us to once again finish in less than 3 hours.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Dan King
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