Day 210 at Ladybank

Posted by Michael on 31 July 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: , ,

Last night we stayed in a house that was built in 1780-something. An old house. But it was particularly cosy & we had a great time meeting our hosts, Shelia & Richard Evans and their son John.  The Evans are on a farm outside of Auchtemuchty a name a of township in Fife that I could say all day long despite my awefully kiwi accent not working too well with these Scottish place names. 

After a lie in until around 11am and a time to catch up on blogging duties, we headed out to our course for the day - Ladybank.

Ladybank is a parkland course set amongst pine trees and heather.  It is quite similar in character to courses back in NZ with similar turf and routing through the trees. There are plenty of dog-legs and playing off the general tees we regularly needed to hit mid irons off the tee.  If I may share with you a gripe of mine that we are generally not allowed to play off the back tees here in Scotland and are often left playing what could be a difficult golf course, off tees which were put in place before steel shafts were invented. I can understand the rationale of courses that they want to keep the pace of play up, but when your constantly playing 4 iron 9 iron into par fours you don't see the beauty of some of these courses.

That said, Ladybank was a good test because if you go astray you're in serious trouble.  Starting on the second hole which was just like being back home with pine trees on the right along a fence line and an incredibly narrow landing area. Generally off the fairways here is not only trees but heather which grabs your ball & if you're lucky enough to find it you're pushing your luck to get it out.  I wish I had video'd my efforts on 12 where after 3 futile efforts to hack the ball out I was more than a little flustered & finally took my medicine and chipped out.

The match of the day was a four ball with myself and the crafty Richard taking on the young bucks JP and John.  There were a few shots flying around but it was on the stroke one handicap hole, the 9th where things got interesting as everyone made a par 4.  A win to the good guys courtesy of Richard's two shots!! Unfortunately our run did not continue and we came up just short on the last hole.

There are some bomb craters in the terrain at Ladybank - I don't recall how they got there but, being the random kiwi punters that we are we re-enacted what would happen if it came mid swing:

 

Have a look at some of the photographs from Ladybank below, it is a strong track (off the tips anyway) and home to the final stage of the Open Qualifying which puts it in a revered standing over here.  Re our scores, I am in the process of putting them all up on the stats link at the top of the screen - so stay tuned for this addition to the site! Unfortunately the birdie counter has not been rollicking along and today we added just 3 to take our tally to 49 + 2 Eagles.  Again, we'd love for more people to be involved in this challenge as it really motivates us and is a great way of raising funds for The First Tee.  If you're new to puregolf2010 - all the $ we're raising is going straight to TFT NZ and none to our expenses. We're getting by at the moment anyway from the sale proceeds of our beloved Dodgy. 

John knocks it up on the par 3 10th hole.

see the heather & narrow shutes. This is 16 - a terrific dog leg left. Although there were about 6 such tee shots which did not favour my shot shape!

Thanks to Sheila and Richard for having us and Ladybank for kindly hosting us at their track. Another good day and 210 rounds of consecutive golf...

Q: what do you get when you play golf every day? A: a hideous golf tan - check out my feet

 

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The best greens in Scotland are at Panmure

Posted by Jamie on 30 July 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: , , ,

When conjuring a title for this post, it was tempting to use the pun “PanPure”.  That however would’ve been contrived, so I didn’t, favouring Plain English instead.  Anyway the sentiment: the greens at Panmure are really the best we’ve had the pleasure of putting on in this links wonderland (just a shade purer than North Berwick and Royal Troon, which were also quite magnificent).  I usually try to shy away from lists and rankings and the like – because they are polarising and I of course (as those of you who know me will no doubt know) avoid controversy at all costs...  But on this occasion I’m making an exception because I feel so strongly on the matter.  And putting is a subject dear to my heart.

Panmure’s the 20th oldest golf club in the world, and sits on the outskirts of the wee town of Barry (good Scottish name that it is), just down the road from Carnoustie (an equally good Scottish name).  It’s a qualifying course for Opens and Senior Opens (like last week’s) held at Van de Velde’s favourite track.    

My mum’s cousin Harvey has been a member there since 1959, which makes him part of the furniture.  He’s had the same locker the whole time, No. 15.  I wonder whether Nos. 1 to 14 have changed hands during his tenure or whether those old boys are still there too?  I dropped Harvey – whom I hadn’t seen for 13 years – a line on Monday to let him know we were playing Panmure on Wednesday at noon, and to ask whether he’d like to join us for a game.  Now retired from his family company in Dundee and from his duties with the Scottish Rugby Union (which he used to head up a few years ago), Harvey has a bit of time on his hands (most of which is spent fishing) and was only too happy to join us.  Super.

Harvey’s one of life’s lovely folk: an affable, laid back character who seems to know everyone and doesn’t have a bad word to say about any of them.  I think the reason he didn’t play (he just walked round with us) was because he thought we were gun golfers and he didn’t want to hold us up if he wasn’t on form.  A very modest fellow.  Given the way I struggled around he would’ve likely beaten me in any event!  Although being so modest he would’ve kept it to himself...

Like Royal Troon, the first few holes are gentle and lull you almost into a false sense of security.  Today however the wind was gusting strongly into us, making them (in fact, the first 10) a pretty testing affair.  On the glassy greens though you always had a chance at your par putt if you’d been so careless so as not to be on in regulation.  Around the course are a plethora of rustic features, giving it a very aged feel.  Take the greenkeeper’s hut adjacent to the 1st green, or his house adjacent to the 2nd.  They look like they’ve been there since Moses Struck The Rock (a nice lick of paint gives the appearance of mutton dressed up as lamb – a Kiwi phrase that I haven’t as yet heard over here).  There’s an army base by the 16th too; I imagine it’s there because the links terrain – with its dunes, tussock, gorse and heather – probably looks just like Afghanistan.  Certainly my own experiences of linksland warfare (Cowboys and Indians) as a youngster remain vividly etched in my grey matter.  As a fervent Indian I’d always find the best vantage points among the gorse from which to fire my bow and arrow at my Cowboy brother.  Of course he’d tell you otherwise – but those Cowboys aren’t to be trusted.



The course starts to blossom as you reach Hogan’s Hole, the 6th.  (Apparently it was Benjamin’s favourite hole in Scotland).  It’s a beauty.  A blind tee shot is played to a fairway that for the shorter hitters is a double one (with the 7th), then up through a few moguls to a raised green surrounded by heather and gorse and general mischief.  On the 6th we played through a group of American chaps that had been playing at a leisurely pace.  I hit a low draw from the tee leaving only a wee punch 6 iron up to the dance floor – but standing over the approach felt a little rushed and blocked it into the bundai.  With our American friends waiting back on the fairway we didn’t want to look for it for more than a minute or two, so I declared it lost, took a triple and moved on to the next tee.  The beginning of the end after an acceptable start.  Shame – but that’s golf.



Harvey provided invaluable local knowledge and was full of good stories.  I particularly liked one he told about Tarum Airlines (anyone heard of them?), who he and the Scottish team flew with some years ago (once and once only) - apparently they had to tape one of the exit doors shut because it was coming loose!  And the big burly forwards were asked to move down to the back to balance the plane for landing!  It’s not like it used to be...  

Below are a couple of photos of the 8th hole, which is a wee cracker.  Blind tee shot and - unless you're on the right hand side of the fairway - a blind approach.



The sun poured over the links for the most part, and the wind blew enough to make life very interesting.  Perfect golfing conditions.  Over the past couple of weeks I’ve grown to love (or rather, rediscovered my love) for the way the sun shines between the clouds here.  Not like NZ or Aussie, or even the US, where the sun sits alone in a piercing blue sky.  Here the contrast is greater; invariably the sun dances between dark clouds, creating a greater appreciation for that warmth-on-the-back-of-your-neck feeling.  It’s like Christmas: if you had it every week it wouldn’t be the same!



In the clubhouse Harvey treated us to lunch and a refreshing beverage – not in the very impressive wood panelled lounge (which requires a jacket and tie), but in the amusingly named “Dirty Bar”.  A steak pie and chips taste quite wonderful when you’ve been sluggling it slowly around the links.  A few of Harvey’s pals, who’d been playing behind us, came up to offer kind words and a few quid each for The First Tee.  Harvey also threw a fiver in, God Bless Him.  A very generous and gracious bunch; Michael and I were humbled.

Before we left we got a quick tour of the Big Boys’ Bar and the Dining Room, the walls of which are lined with paintings of the club’s early captains (the Earl of....the Duke of...etc etc) - they looked androgynous and English in their full regalia, and would get beaten up if they walked around downtown Dundee these days.  In their day I’m sure they were distinguished and revered.  And probably beaten up at school too.

Thanks Harvey – great to see you and to catch up on 13 years of news!  Don't know how you managed to escape without having your portrait taken, but I'll source a photo from somewhere...

JP 

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