East To The Craighead

The Crail Golfing Society was formed in 1786, making it the seventh oldest golf club on our little planet.  Its new course, The Craighead dates back only to 1998, the first solo design of the now ubiquitous Gil Hanse.  Crail occupies the very Eastern tip of the Fife Peninsula, with the Craighead on the slightly higher headland overlooking the Firth of Forth.

We departed yesterday in sunny, blustery conditions, though with the Met. Office weather advisory in the back of our minds.  On arrival, I asked Gaeme Lennie, the longtime head professional at Crail, about that rather dire threat of thunderstorms.  He scoffed at that though, when I was perhaps too eager to declare victory, added, "Now, I'm not promising that you'll stay bone dry...."  Yeah, no percentage in that.

Crail has a rudimentary driving range, and the girls and I used it to dispense with our travel rust.  It played straight into the wind, such that my six-iron was carrying well over 100 yards...  Just a wee breeze...  We wanted to include Jewelle in a match, so we decided that the three of us would play skins, while Employee No. 2 and I had our usual blood match...  Fortunately, the various tees all play to the same Standard Scratch (more on that later), so no further adjustment to handicaps required... Still, far too many dots on the card.

Graeme's assistant in the shop talked me off the 6,651-yard white tees, which turned out to be quite a good call.  Especially since the course was quite soft...  All irons into greens were leaving pitchmarks, not typical at all in Scotland.  We had a couple of minor squalls hit during the day, but minor is the key word.  The rain jacket never came out of the bag, and the sunglasses stayed on at all times....  

The Craighead features an interesting mix of holes, and the routing is such that no two holes play in the same direction.  On one downwind short Par-4 it was seven-iron flip wedge, but the same length hole back into the wind was driver-hybrid.  This is the attractive grren at the short third hole, named Balcomie Castle:

As is typical, the caddies are an integral part of the fun.  Though my throat felt raspy by the end of the day, from the necessity of speaking over the wind.  Jewelle and I landed the experienced hands, Stuart and Brian, who trek here from Glasgow each day.  Theresa landed Lewis, a fourteen-year old on his first loop ever:

Well, she's always liked them young and eager to please.... For any fans of Friday Night Lights, he reminded me of Landry.

The golf was spotty at best, though the bride got off to a strong start.  So strong, that I found myself three down after five holes.  Stuart could be heard mumbling, "The only way she's going down is if she falls"...  Though one need beware of the early call in links golf....

Above is the girls taking care of business on the exposed seventh green.  Your humble correspondent had left his tee shot short left to a devilish front pin, and deftly executed one of those linksy runners using a nine-iron and a putting stroke (the ball in the foreground was dropped at Stuart's suggestion to try the difficult putt from the back of the green).  Back in the day, I'd spend the two weeks before a trip working on that very shot, though not so much this time.  Whether that's a sign of maturity or laziness remains unclear.

That exposed green offers some eye candy:

As we make the turn, the routing brings us closest to the back four holes of their Balcomie Links, as well as the well-situated clubhouse:

In all their 36 holes, it's difficult to find a spot where either the North Sea or Firth of Forth are not visible.  Far from always the case, even though links golf is by definition seaside golf.

The other omnipresent feature on the Craighead are the stone walls, which aren't merely ornamental:

Featuring 'Danes Dyke' - a 1200 year old defensive wall built by Viking marauders to keep out the local Pictish tribes and which comes into play on four holes

On the eleventh hole we play directly over Danes Dyke on our second shot, though no marauding Vikings are in evidence.   This from the 11th tee might just be the most Jewelle photo ever:

You'll be tempted to stare at it all day wondering how she can possibly make contact, but I implore you to just keep scrolling...  

Lots of variability, including some distinctly non-linksy features.  

The green above, the 12th I believe, features a false front....  In the present soft conditions it's better to fly the ball to the pin.

No. 14 is the aptly named Lang Man's Grave, a mere 402 yards from my yellow tees, but virtually impossible to get there from here back into the wind.  Gil tucked a section of the green to the far left, required a well-calibrated carry to go straight at our pin:

There's all sorts of room to the right and the ground feeds to ball right-to-left, so there's no need to take the direct line.... There was a major competition on, which explains the series of exacting hole locations we found.

As noted above, the golf was quite spotty, and unfortunately Theresa was unable to maintain her early form.  I had a bit of an odd day...  Tee-to-green looked much better than it felt, though I was able to pull off a few of those flighted iron shots that the chicks dig.  Putting was a different matter, as my Scotty felt uncomfortable from the first ball I dropped on the practice green.  Comically inept putting it was, though poor Stuart never stopped trying to help.

I managed to prevail against the bride 2&1, though midway the the back nine I lost the plot on our skins game.  One thing I did notice on the scorecard was a course rating and slope, which I assume to be a part of the efforts to unify the handicap system worldwide.  Dean Knuth, the Pope of Slope, used to have a page estimating Scottish course ratings and slopes, but those were for guidance purposes.  The USGA now offers this guidance:

Q. How do I post a score made on an international golf course for handicap purposes?

A. The USGA® authorizes many international golf associations to issue a USGA Course Rating™ and Slope Rating®. 

We recommend that the individual contact the golf club where he or she will be playing (or has played) and request the ratings for the course. If not feasible, the Authorized Golf Association’s website may have this information. If the international golf course has Ratings, then scores can be posted for handicap purposes if it’s during the Association’s active season and the score is acceptable. If no Ratings are available, or if there is not a golf association authorized by the USGA in the area, then scores are not acceptable for handicap purposes. Unfortunately, there’s not a way to convert another rating system (such as the Standard Scratch Score, or “SSS,” System) to the USGA Course Rating System™.

I can now post scores from Scotland which is not good news for Bobby D. and my other Fairview golf buddies.  I'll have that trend on a strong northerly course within days.... 

Our day at Crail ended as it should, with a pint in the clubhouse:

Stuart was good enough to join us...  Brian opted for a bite to eat before they headed out to play a few holes, and Landry Lewis of course is many years from his first legal pint.