Breakfasts at the Golf Lodge are quite a treat. A nice buffet of cold items is set out plus Tom cooks up whatever hot dish folks want. He always comes around to make sure all is well with the meal.
This morning, we mentioned to Tom that there we had heard much buzz in the town pubs about North Berwick changing the name of one of the holes (see yesterday’s post). He’s been a fixture of the local golf scene forever and was shocked. Changing the name of a hole? Unheard of. After we told him which hole it was and that they were re-naming it to ‘Hill’s Hollow’ it took a while to register that he’d been had. It was hilarious!
Back to golf. Big, big day today. Muirfield!!
At Muirfield, home of the ‘Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’, visitor times are restricted to Tuesday and Thursday and book up well over a year in advance and within a day of being offered. Even more restrictive is the visitor 36-hole booking that comes with a morning fourball, lunch in the members’ dining room (jacket/tie req’d) and an afternoon foursome. We were able to secure the last 36-slot available when bookings opened then built the rest of our golf holiday around that date.
Muirfield is one of the finest links courses in the world and has hosted 16 Opens and 11 amateur championships including the Ryder, Walker, & Curtis Cups. The opening nine holes circle clockwise around the perimeter of the course and the final nine runs counter-clockwise on an inner circuit so wind conditions are constantly changing.
We hired caddies for our morning fourball. Good chaps all. Lunch in the member dining area was excellent. Cameras are outlawed so there is no photographic record of us lads looking almost civilized in jackets & ties. Our afternoon foursome (sans caddy) moved quickly and we finished as the sun set over the Firth. Very special.
Daily Info
- Morning Game
– Singles
– Bill @ 76 net - Afternoon Game
– Foursome, Dick & Mike vs. Bill & Kevin
– D&M kicked booty finishing 8 under B&K - AM Caddies – Mike, Kevin, Dave, Craig
- Lost Balls – 1
- Bunkers – 17
- Low Gross, AM – Bill @ 87
- Low Net, AM – Bill @ 76
- Birdies, AM – 2, Bill, Kevin
