St. Andrews

Drew got to cross a pretty big bucket list item off this past week when we went to St. Andrews for a 5-day weekend!  He and his friend John (and wife Natalie, our pals from UT who live in Amsterdam) have been planning this trip since last September so it's about damn time it got here!

So what makes St. Andrew so famous for golf?  According to Wikipedia, who can always explain it better than I can, it's "known worldwide as the 'home of golf'.  This is in part because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, exercises legislative authority over the game worldwide (except in the US and Mexico), and also because the famous links is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's four major championships."  So that means that golf was basically developed here and The British Open is played here every 5 years or so.

The guys played the New Course, the Old Course, and a course called Kingsbarns.   A lot of people have asked how you get on to play the Old Course, and there are several ways evidently.  You can show up and hope that there's a tee time available (depending on the time of year, you may have to get there at 4am), you can enter the Ballot, which is drawn 48 hours in advance, OR you can enter the lottery every September, select some dates you can go throughout the year, and hope they give you a time.  You can click here for more information about booking a time.

Our days consisted of the guys leaving for golf, the girls hanging out at the house we rented with the baby, going on a walk, having a snack, meeting the guys at a pub, eating lunch, more pub time, home to clean up, then out to more pubs and dinner.  It was lovely.  Anyway, here are some pics!

The tiny ass tin can of death that we flew over on.  ANXIETY.  

We walked around the course and the club on our first day to get a lay of the land.  

We did Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Hotel while the guys played the New Course!

Tea times and tee times.
(Not sure if I mentioned it but Natalie's sister Courtney and her fiance Mark joined us from Houston.)

Friday - Old Course day!!  Drew's warming up.

Maybe the best part of the day: the guys got knowledgable, friendly, Scottish caddies that were a really good time.  Drew's was very handsy and was constantly patting him on the back and putting his arm around him.  I loved it.

Drew and cutie Paul!

John, Nat, and their little baby Carter tucked away in her North Face :)

Now on the tee from the USA...Drew Solomon!
(He said he was shaking and really nervous hitting that first drive, because there are so many people there watching the guys tee off and come in on 18.  Sounds nerve wracking to me!

We walked with the guys for the first 2-3 holes and then I cut over on the beach for some Me time.

And then I sat on a rock and watched the tide come in.
#deepthoughts

St. Andrews is also the home to the ruins of what was the largest cathedral in Scotland: the St. Andrews Cathedral.

It was built in 1158!  That's whack.

There's also a huge gorgeous cemetery on the grounds.  

There are also some gorgeous ruins of St. Andrews Castle, evidently built between 1189 and 1202.  

If you keep going down this street the castle is on, you basically walk through St. Andrews University - really old, really gorgeous, and the alma mater of Will and Kate!!  We got some good stories from the cab drivers about them.

Picture on the Swilcan Bridge, a tiny but important cultural icon for the course!

The bros and their caddies.  The one on Drew's right is the most senior caddie and has been there since 1967!  He also happens to caddie for Bill Clinton when he's in town.  

Drew's takeaway from the trip: The Old Course was everything I hoped it would be.  If anything, it's made me realize that I need an educated caddie on every course I play for the rest of my life - particularly an inappropriate wise-cracking Scottish one.  The Old Course is very wide open and the greens are massive - complete with tons of bunkers with stories behind every one.  Depending on the weather and wind, there's a huge discrepancy with how well you can shoot.  I definitely plan on going back.  

Sounds like this place should be on every golfer's bucket list!  Glad he/we got to do it.  Cheers!