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Scotland on my Mind by Dan King
Sunday, July 14th
The North Berwick Golf Club (West Links) |
Balls, clubs, and men I sing, who first, methinks,
Made sport and bustle on North Berwick Links,
Brough coin and fashion, betting and renown,
Champagne and claret to a country town,
And lords and ladies, knights, and squires to ground
Where washerwomen erst and snobs were found.
--Mr. G.F. Carnegie
Despite what Mr. Carnegie wrote above, North Berwick was a famous town prior to golf. It became a Royal Burgh in 1373 when owned by William, Earl of Douglas and was known for years as a fashionable watering place. However, there is no denying North Berwick's close link to golf history. As an early port, this was as likely a place as any for some of the earliest golf ever played in Scotland. With numerous golf courses within a few miles of North Berwick, it is also becoming a golf paradise for those tired of St. Andrews.
This was my return to North Berwick after playing it almost exactly one month previous. After touring over all of Scotland, it was nice to return to one of my early favorite courses on this trip. The West Links still ranks highly on my list of favorite courses of Scotland. Playing the holes, it was like returning to old friends, and I could easily re-call my play on the holes some 600 holes previously. The only hole that really gave me pause to remember was Bass (The 12th). For some reason that hole did not stick in my memory as well.
When ranking favorite courses on this trip, I think I need two different categories. It is difficult to compare the North Berwick West Links, Royal Dornoch, St. Andrews, Royal Aberdeen, Carnoustie, etc. to the Cruden Bays, Tain, Machrihanish, Prestwick, etc... The first group are championship courses. The pro players could have a tournament there with minimal changes to the lay-out. The second group would not make for as good a pro-tournament, they would be more likely to score very well on these courses. However, I regard them highly because they were fun courses.
In ranking North Berwick West Links, I'd rank it just behind Royal Dornoch, but slightly ahead of St. Andrews Old Course on the list of Championship caliber courses. As on most links courses, the test of the course is dependent on the wind. When we played the course in June the wind was coming from the east. This round in was coming from the west.
The plan was for a Ryder Cup day. Mark and I representing the USA and Dougie and Donald (donald@sandwood.demon.co.uk) from Whitekirk representing Scotland. My record in these Ryder Cup matches were 1-1, winning in Dahlmahoy 1-up against Alex and his mates and losing 4-3 at Cruden Bay to James and Nichol. This was the rubber match.
The USA took an early lead, going 2-up at Carlekemp (Par-3 4th), mostly thanks to Mark and I being able to gang up on Dougie and win the first. Donald was told our tee-time was 2:00 and we teed off at 1:40, so Donald missed the first hole. Donald and Dougie whittled into our lead on the outward holes into the wind, winning the two holes back on Bunkershill (Par-4 5th) and Quarry (Par-3 6th). Halved holes the rest of the way out, and it looked like the match would be tight all the way. Then Mark went on a birdie spree at the beginning of the back-9. A tap-in birdie at Eastward Ho! (Par-3 10th) and a two-putt variety at Bos'ns Locker (Par-5 11th) followed by a 30 foot long slam-dunk birdie putt at Pit (Par-4 13th) put the USA 3-up with 5 holes to go. Just so you all don't think I was just jumping on Mark's back and riding him in, the match was closed out on the Redan (Par-3 15th) with a par by yours truly.
We played the last 3 holes with a new match for the second pint. Scotland won the match that 3 hole match one-up. It looked good for a half on the final hole when I drove the green, but 3-putts later, all I had to show for it was a par.
A few pints upstairs in the club-house, over looking the 18th green, and it was time to say cheers and good-bye to our friends from Scotland. This was Mark's last evening in Scotland, so we picked up a few Romeo & Julieta cigars in the humidor at the Old Clubhouse. We smoked those little lovelies in the bar at the Mallard, watching the golfers play along Gullane Hill. We considered taking a few clubs and playing some of the holes of Gullane #3, but the pints we had drank along with the relaxation after a good cigar helped us to decide to stay indoors and continue to drink.
No need to go into detail on the holes, having done that on my previous play of North Berwick. Some of the holes that played hard previous were a little easier with the change in the wind, but I'll stick with my initial nominees.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Dan King
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