|
Scotland on my Mind by Dan King
Tuesday June 18th
Carnoustie Golf Links (Championship Course) |
Here I sit after a hard day of golf on the links, with a class of Bowmore Scotch and my first Cohiba cigar. Unfortunately not all is swell in paradise. The lone cigar shop in Aberdeen has stale cigars. I had to search long and hard for a decent Cohiba that didn't crack when I touched it. I could be facing King Edwards until we get back to Edinburgh in two weeks. I brought a travel humidor full of cigars with me but I'm down to about a 5 day supply. Oh the problems I face. Sure the weather has been wonderful, the people great, but the cigar situation is becoming worrisome.
I am sure most of you don't give two tuppence regarding my troubles. You want to hear about the golf. We left Haddington this morning. It was hard leaving East Lothian, but I at least was comforted knowing I'd be back in 4 weeks. I'll be coming back with Mark Koenig when we play Dougie Seaton on the West Links of North Berwick on July 15th. My companions and I were also feeling good because we were heading up to play Carnoustie.
The good news, I'm no longer 0-fer Scotland in the birdie category. Yep, I finally made one. After 92 holes of golf, I made it on the par-4 11th hole at Carnoustie. A good drive, an approach to 12 feet and a putt right in the middle of the hole. The bad news, I'm not quite as fond with Carnoustie as my friends.
Carnoustie is controversial. There are those that love it, and those that hate it. I'm some where in the middle of those two opinions. It is a tough course. Despite a complete lack of any wind, Mike, Dick and I, all (high) single digit handicaps had trouble breaking 90. I finished a few holes with BIP (Ball in Pocket). I found so many bunkers in my round it reminded me of my days surfing in Santa Cruz. I still haven't figured out how to hit out of Carnoustie sand. I believe I read somewhere there are 110 bunkers on the course, so I guess I missed more than I hit, but it didn't feel that way. You know how most caddies are ready to hand their player a putter when they are faced with an approach, mine always had my sand iron ready. On the 10th hole I hit into a greenside bunker, trying to hit hard to get the ball over the huge face, I hit the ball a wee bit too hard. It flew over the green, over the 11th tee, and into a burn on the other side. My caddie said it was the first time he ever saw a ball going into the burn in that particular spot.
I don't believe it was my game that made me not love Carnoustie. I don't need to play the game well to appreciate a golf course. If I did I'd hate most courses. It's just Carnoustie doesn't have a links feel to it. It is closer to an American type course than any others we played besides Dalmahoy. The only time you even can see the Fifth of Tray is from the fourth tee. It doesn't run through dunes and the rough is more similar to American rough than Scottish rough.
Carnoustie is not lacking for history. Golf has been played in the area for some 500 years. Alan Robertson came up from St. Andrews to lay out the original 10 holes in 1850, with Old Tom Morris coming up and expanding the course to 18 holes, and making numerous other changes 20 years later. The course as it is today was mostly done by James Braid in 1926, with minor changes made since then. Carnoustie men have a long and glorious history throughout the world, with many coming to America to find fame and fortune. Local heroes Macdonald Smith and Willie Smith won championships all over the world. Stuart Maiden, Bobby Jones teacher, left Carnoustie for Georgia.
The Opens across the links have also been won by some of the greats of the game. There have been 5 Opens played here. The 1931 Open was won by expatriate Scotsman Tommy Armour. His closing 71 was enough to beat Argentinian Jose Jurado who made a double-bogey six on the difficult par-4 17th. In 1937, Englishman Henry Cotton shot a wonderful 71 in the final round in terrible weather to finish well ahead of the entire U.S. Ryder Cup team. Byron Nelson, in his only Open appearance, finished 6 shots back. And of course there was Ben Hogan's wonderful Open in 1953, in his only appearance. Shooting 73,71,70 and a final 68, in a tournament that caddies still talk about admiringly. In 1968, to took an eagle-3 on the par-5 14th hole for Gary Player to hold off the charging Jack Nicklaus on the final day. When you come here, you shouldn't need to ask your caddie to show you where Nicklaus' 340 yard drive ended up on the 17th hole. They show you with out prompting. The final Open was won by Tom Watson in 1975, his first of 5 Open titles. He survived an 18 hole playoff, in heavy rain, against Australian Jack Newton.
There is no denying Carnoustie is a great championship lay-out. With champions, Armour, Cotton, Hogan, Player and Watson, only the finest players win here. I just didn't think of it as a fine example of Scotland links courses such as North Berwick and Gullane. I'd rank it behind both. However, you can be sure the winner when the Open returns in 1998 will be a golfer who manages their game extremely well. My guess, someone from the world's top-5 will win here.
One of the things that caught my attention during the first week of our holiday, we see many of the same people on the various courses. The group that was behind us at Gullane#1 was the same group that was ahead of us at Carnoustie. After the round at the Carnoustie Club, I saw a chap who I had also seen at the North Berwick club after our round. He looked familiar so I went and introduced myself. Ends up he is former PGA pro, Doug Martin. We compared itineraries, and he was much more jealous of mine, than I was of his.
My favorite holes at Carnoustie:
Hole#1 Par-4 401 yards (Cup) The course starts out well. A wide driving area, the fairway narrows as it gets closer to the green. A hump down the right side helps to keep wayward drives in the fairway. Dunes down the right side make it difficult to run a shot up from that side. The green sits at a 40 degree angle from right to left.
Hole#3 Par-4 337 yards (Jockie's Burn) The only short par-4 on the course. Bunkers run down the left side of the fairway and sand hills down the right make it difficult to hit this narrow fairway. Jockie's Burn runs down the right beyond the bunkers and cuts across the front of the green, no more than 10 paces from the putting surface. The greenskeeper was having a good time the day we played, putting the pin on a slope at the very front of the green.
Hole#4 Par-4 375 yards (Hillocks) Not a terribly difficult hole, nor that memorable accept for the green is shared with the 14th, making the putting surface some 70 yards deep with a ridge separating the two areas. I've always enjoyed this type of feature, though it can be over-done.
Hole#6 Par-5 520 yards (Long) The left side of this hole is Hogan's Alley, just along the left side is OB separating the Championship course from the Burnside course. In the '53 Open, Hogan hit his ball over the OB and the crowd along the left with a fade. The fans claim in the final round he hit his ball into the divot left from his shot in the morning round. He birdied the hole in both rounds. Barry Burn runs down the right making a second shot lay-up difficult between the burn right and the O.B. left.
Hole#11 Par-4 362 yards (Dyke) Not really all that memorable a hole accept for personal reasons. Here is where I finally got my first birdie in Scotland. Way to go Dan!
Hole#14 Par-5 483 yards (Spectacles) On the yardage book this says it is a par-5, on the recently printed cards it is a par-4. This is where Player hit his three-wood to within 2-feet for his eagle (so it was a par-5 then). If it is a par-4, it is one tough par-4. I didn't take any chances hitting a 7-iron second shot short of the spectacles. The spectacles are very forbidding looking bunkers. They are a set of two right in the middle of the fairway, 70 yards short of the green. The faces of these hazards are 12 feet high. Even laying up short leaves no bargain as you are faced with a blind shot over these monsters.
Hole#16 Par-3 245 yards (Barry Burn) Not sure why this is called Barry Burn. The burn runs through out the course, and really doesn't come into play much on this hole, being far right. It should probably be called Driver, since that is generally what your caddie insists you play. I had a 1-iron out and he took it out of my hand and put a driver there. I hit a good driver, which rolled off the left side of the green. No way I reach with a 1-iron. In the '68 Open, Nicklaus was the only golfer to get his ball to the hole, hitting driver to reach (from the championship tees at 270).
Hole#17 Par-4 433 yards (Island) Prior to the '75 Open, this was a birdy-able Par-5. The tees were moved up some to make it a very difficult par-4. Barry Burn runs through the fairway, 200 yards from the tee and then loops back around cutting across again at 240. The best tee shot is normally on the island between the two sections of the burn. The green is in a hallow between sand dunes.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Dan King
Back to Scotland on my Mind Home Page