Christophe Mac in the House

My godson Christophe MacIntosh came to visit us in St. Andrews this week. He is currently a freshman at the University of Edinburgh. It was great to see him, and we had a lot of fun when he was here. We played the Jubilee golf course on Friday and the New Course on Saturday with Barbara. He is a pretty good golfer for someone who only plays a few times a year, but hopefully he will get to play a lot more now that he in in Scoland. We also had a great dinner at the Tails End, our favorite fish and chip shop in town and a few beers at the Central Bar.

Hopefully we'll get to see a lot more of him while he is at Uni.

Scotscraig Golf Club

I have a goal to play a new course every time I come to Scotland, and this time it was the Scotscraig Golf Club in Tayport, about 20 minutes outside of St. Andrews.

Scotscraig was founded in 1817 and is the 13th oldest golf club in Scotland. In 1888 the "new" course was opened extending the course to nine holes. In the 1890's Tom Morris advised the club on the extension to 18 holes and in 1923 the course was redesigned by five time Open champion James Braid. It has remained largely unchanged since then with the exception of making it longer.

Unfortunately there has been a lot of rain this year and the course was very wet. Several of the bunkers were underwater, but the grounds crew was doing a good job of getting the course back in shape. Scotsgraig is a good challenge. It has been an Open qualifier for the last 20 years. It is a tight, parkland style course with some trees and a lot of gorse. You need to drive the ball straight here or you will be in a lot of trouble. The fourth hole is the most challenging with a near impossible elevated green that slopes off in every direction.

Overall this is a very fun course and I would highly recommend it. It costs 56 pounds ($90) for a midweek round and 72 pounds ($119) for a round on the weekend. They also have some deals that pair a round of golf with lunch or dinner. You'll also find a fully stocked pro shop to go along with a nice restaurant and bar.

Dad's 70th Birthday

My sister has been working on a plan for over a year now to get a plaque on a bench on the Kingsbarns Golf Course to commemorate my Dad's 70th birthday. Yesterday it finally came to fruition. After dozens of e-mails back and forth across the Atlantic, we got the plaque installed.

 

The best news of all was that it was a complete surprise to my Dad. We had just finished playing golf on a near by golf course, when I asked him to swing by the Kingsbarns course to get some merch for a friend. He fell for it. When we got there my Mom was waiting with a bottle of champagne.

 

The young man in the first picture drove us out to the 15th tee and installed it as we popped the cork on champagne. it was a wet and windy day, but it was still a lot of fun.

This course is very special to my Dad as he grew up in Kingsbarns and is a member of the Kingsbarns Golf Club. My Grandfather was also the last person the win the Scottish two ball championship (with my Great Uncle) on the land that is now Kingsbarns Golf Links. It was a nine hole course before WW II, but was never opened again after the war.

Marathon Woman

Last New Year's eve Barbabra registered for the Portland Marathon as part of the celebration of her 50th year and yesterday she completed the mission. Months of training, getting up at 5:30 a.m on Saturdays, blisters, sore feet, paid off as she looked fresh and confident when I met her at the 22 mile mark. From there she cruised in to set a new personal best.

Congratulations! You are amazing.