Kingsbarns

NOTE:  This post was started at the Glasgow airport hotel and finished after arriving home.

Saturday remained an open day on the calendar until, well....Saturday.  The day after weather forecast was ranging from dire to iffy, so no need to commit big dollars.  But Saturday dawned promisingly, and playahs gonna play, so Employee No. 2  baited me by noting it was a shame that we didn't have room under the budget for Kingsbarns.  As if...

Funny Business Model - You'd think that if you're filling open spaces on the tee sheet at the very last moment and, a great seizer of opportunity I am, paying full retail, they'd at least make it easy.  But no, on a Saturday at the height of their season, Kingsbarns doesn't see a need to answer their telephone.  They encourage a soul to leave a message that will be promptly returned.  Promptly?  That's the worst pronunciation of "Never" I've yet heard.

And yet they got my money....but it was a gorgeous day and it's quite the overpriced charmer of a links.  It was old buddy Mark Parsinen's first project in Scotland and He chose Kyle Phillips to design the course, which opened in 2000.  The bride and I played it shortly after it opened in 2001, and it's eye candy from start to finish.

An Interlude - We made a day of it in Kingsbarns, visiting the Cambo House grounds and Walled Garden.  After Parking, somebody made a new friend:

A fun looking wedding was taking shape, and as we left later we saw the bagpipers marching across the field.  Strangely enough, we walked down to the water and found ourselves on the 15th tee...the far end of their property.  Pretty little spot, that....

Early Wows - The property just has a special feel to it...heck, even the putting green seduces you:

I threw another opening hole birdie at the girl, and she came back with a tasty up-and-in from that front-right bunker on the Par-3 second, pictured below.

The golf was sick, I shot 39 with a silly double and she posted 44, despite making a bit of a mess of the ninth to open the door for me to halve the nine.  I beat her by five, I give her five a nine, it all seems so....I don't know, even.

No caddies could be rustled up, so we're out there pushing our trolleys.

I should also add that we had great company for the day, Daphne and Art who live in the Phoenix area.  Art has a scorching low ball flight that screams Scotland at you and Daphen leads you to believe she's a newbie, then pounds it.

I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit Smoking - Art and I had good fun on the 301-yard Par-4 6th, flying the two target bunkers with wildly differing shots:

Art of course drilled his low and I teed it high and watched it fly, and this was the result:

His is the closer ball (assuming you can make them out) thanks to that lower ball flight, but in a normal year (i.e., without such soft conditions) I'm guessing he'd be off the back of the green and I'd be pin high and ten feet for eagle.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it....

Good Shots - In both senses, as Theresa caught this punched 7-iron on the Par-3 eighth.

The shots I remember most from these trips are the linksy shots, where you match the club and trajectory well, and that one qualifies.

Daphne and Art compared the Par-5 12th to the finisher at Pebble, wrapping left-to-right around the water.  I actually thought it far more interesting, with a fairly difficult second (even harder if you fade the ball) and far more to catch your eye on the third.  See if you agree:

The approach has bunkers left and right, and a multi-tiered green as well.

This is the best photo I got of it, but angle is more severe making the second quite a test.

We all played their signature hole, the Par-3 fifteenth well, including this by herself:

Hard to see why it's the signature hole:

The Results - The trip-long competition had been closed out on The Old Course on Thursday, but my Tessie was looking for redemption. This was without doubt the best the two of us played collectively, as the bride shot an 89 and I finished with a 79. As noted above I give her ten, and it seems those chaps in Far Hills know something about mathematical algorithms, since the match was halved.

Bumping Into Old Friends - A fun and amusing coda to our day at Kingsbarns... when we played the 15th hole, there was a woman sitting on a bench with her border collie, just enjoying the warm day and watching the golfers pass through.  We exchanged some pleasantries and, after ensuring the she liked strangers, we found out that the collie's name was Meg and that she's not especially picky, pretty much anyone with hands can rub her belly.

As an aside, it's quite typical for there to be public access near a links, to wit our morning visit to the fifteenth tee and that unidentified gent in the photo of Theresa above.

Meg and Scott:  Scott's the tall one.

In any event, on our way home from our nightly walk to the harbor, we ran into that same woman and the delightful Meg, who seemed particularly happy to see us again.  Or anyone...We had a delightful chat and it made us feel like Crail locals. We'll be back, Meg!