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I'm stateside now
I've been state side now a little over a month. I meant to write my wrap up shortly after I return, but it seems when you leave for a 6-week hoalidays things don't get taken care of while your gone. When I got back, there wasn't much time to get over the jet lag before it was places to go, people to see and things to do.
During the month since I got back, Scotland hasn't been far from my thoughts. One of the first questions I get asked was: "Did it meet your expectations?". My answer is that it far exceeded my expectations. I went to Scotland on a pilgrimage. I love the literature and lore of golf. Scotland, being the birthplace of this game (I vote for Scotland over the Netherlands), was important to my education as a golfer. How can I ever understand the attraction of this game with out seeing first hand how the game was formed? It was almost my duty as a golf lover to go. Was fun high on my list of reasons for this pilgrimage? I don't believe it was. When a Moslem heads for Mecca, I don't believe it is with the idea of having a good time. We head on these pilgrimage because it is our solemn duty. It is an experience that will help up grow and learn.
Fun, Fun, fun...
The amount of fun I had on this trip was a bonus. Playing links courses is fun. When I arrived in Scotland, I wasn't too sure how my game would work in Scotland. I had this vision of running every shot up to the green. I'm a target golfer, will I be able to pick out targets? The media presents links courses as featureless terrain, devoid of any definition. When I first arrived in Scotland, I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the area. In America, the beauty of the course is the different shades of green. In Scotland, it is the contrasting colors. The green, mixed with the yellow of the gorse, the purple of the heather, the white of the sand, and the brown of the whins. The sky is always there in all it's many colors. There is rarely anything to block out the views of the sky. Walking from the 6th green to the 7th tee at Royal Dornoch one morning, arriving at the tee and looking out the fairway toward the North Sea was the most beautiful site I've ever experienced. If there is a Golf God, I found his hang-out.
Bit of Scottish Shot making
Prior to arriving in Scotland, I had worked on a run-up shot. Now I wanted to use it at every opportunity. I had a great time with the shot. It added a new element of fun into the game. From the middle of the fairway, 100 yards out, you hit this little punch 7-iron that never gets more than 2 or 3 feet off the ground. It just runs along the ground, disappearing from view and then reappearing again. When it disappears, your anxious to see it again. Often times this takes longer than you expect. But then there the ball will be, on it's way to the green, scampering along between the humps and bumps of the fairway. What great fun.
My problem was that I was using this shot constantly. I was taking my experience of golf, the architect dictating how the hole should be played, and applying it to Scottish Links golf. In America, the architect generally dictates that you fly the ball to specific targets. In Scotland, I thought it was dictated that you run the ball along the ground. I was wrong. There is nothing dictated in links golf. You have a large number of options. The one you choose can vary depending on the hole, the surrounding terrain, or just how you feel at the time. Sometimes a certain shot works best, sometimes another and other times there is no best. Two golfers can end up in identical positions using two completely different avenues to arrive there. Who's to say which one used the best technique?
Links vs. Parkland
One of the biggest differences I found between links courses and parkland courses is the different feel you get for the course. On a parkland course, the terrain of the course is rarely important. The majority of the game is spent flying over the terrain. Pick a target, and try to reach that target. Sure at times you have to consider the below terrain, just in case you don't play the shot as visions, but since golfers are generally optimistic, we generally discount the terrain. In links courses, you have to pay attention to the terrain. The courses are harder and faster, therefore, thought must be given more to how the ball will react when it touches down. Attention must be payed to the slope of the course, how water flows around the course and the various colors that give a hint to the hardness of the surface. Many people may not like this, because it brings more of luck into the game, but I love that quality. I don't really believe golf was ever intended to be a fair game. Golf is about how you handle good and bad luck.
Another difference I see between typical parkland golf and linksland golf is the premium it puts on certain shots. In America, the premium has gone toward a much more driver and putter game. Hit a good long drive, you should have no trouble hitting the green, and then you hopefully make your putt. The approach is not as important, especially with the flattening of most American type greens. In linksland golf, the premium is much more on approaches and chips. Wayward drives were seldom punished as much as stateside. Often placement of your drive was better than length. With the links courses playing hard and fast, a wedge to a green was no big advantage over a 5-iron. With greens generally hard, approaches are more important, and since greens rarely held, you'll be chipping much more regularly. Greens developed over natural sites, rarely are they flat. The important point was to get your ball to a specific part of the green to give yourself the best putt at the hole.
Scottish Cuisine? Fuid
Another concern I had when going to Scotland was the food. Face it, the Scots aren't famous for their cuisine. I was pleasantly surprised by the food. I had some of the best seafood I've ever eaten. They also do ethnic food very well. And despite the threat of mad cow disease, I had some wonderful steaks (though it is tough to get a steak cooked medium rare). My biggest regret was that I waited until my last morning in Scotland to have haggis.
My new mates
The people I met in Scotland were wonderful. On the first tee at Gullane#2, within hours of arrival on Scotland, there was Dougie Seaton to great us. He made us feel right at home during the early part of our trip. Sitting around Dahlmahoy after our Ryder Cup day and drinking pints with the Scot team was a highlight. Our friends at Cruden Bay were wonderful as well as the group at Balcomie. My only suggestion if scheduling your own pilgrimage, go with a number of people other than 4. during the first half of our trip, we were a foursome. This means you have less opportunities to meet locals. Once we became a two-some or a single, we met many more people on the trip.
The semi-real time diary
Shortly after my return I watched "The Endless Summer" on my local cable. This was an important movie of my youth. It got me into a short period of surfing. If your unfamiliar, the movie was a very low budget flick about two surfers out circling the world in search of the perfect waves. The movie was revolutionary because it was a successful low budget movie. I'm not putting my Scotland journals on an identical footing as "Endless Summer" but I thought it was fun to update them as I go. It was a diary that I just shared with all my friends over the Internet. You could see my changes of attitude as I went along. I thought this was a good way of sharing my trip, rather than just writing a diary and publishing on my return. Reading over the diary, there are numerous parts I would now change, but then that would destroy the spontaneity (then again, maybe I will go and fix some of the more glaring typos). It also changed as I received e-mail suggestion from numerous readers. My biggest problem with the diary was the lack of fast reliable network access in Scotland. I was not able to correspond with readers as I went along. Hopefully, next time I'll be better prepared for Internet problems.
And of course, the cost chairge
People have asked what I spent on this trip. I didn't keep very complete records. I over-spent early, and tried to under spend later. When I first arrived in Scotland, it was difficult to not think of the British pound as being equivalent to an American dollar. In reality it was closer to 1.6 American dollars. So when I was thinking I was getting a good deal on things, I was actually over-spending. I figure I spent about $8,000US. Close to $1,000 a week plus $1,000 for airfare. I didn't spend much on souvenirs (souvenirs leave me with the feeling I won't be back) but then made up for that with book purchases. I figure between the few souvenirs I bought and the numerous books, I probably spent a little shy of $1,000.
Was 6 weeks long enough? That's a difficult question. I think I could have jammed as much fun into about 3 weeks, but it would have been a hurried three weeks. There were quite a few courses I played 5 or 6 times. Then again, it can take a few plays of the course before you appreciate it. I would have loved to spend more time in Dornoch and Machrihanish. I played 20 links land courses. I hit just about all the more famous ones, except for the west coast courses. However, there are 80 linksland courses in Scotland, so I only really played %25. I think to really do a proper course study of Scotland, a year would be a fair amount of time to spend. To get an appreciation of the courses and land, 3 weeks is probably the minimum time to spend. So somewhere within those two time frames should be the number, depending on what your planning on getting out of the trip.
I'm anxious to get back to Scotland. It might just have to wait a while longer, Ireland seems to be calling my name now. But I'll hamecomin. I know I will.
Cheers and thanks for reading,
Dan King
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