Tales From The Pittenweem Road

From home, Bobby D. writes:

"No blog this morning? I was looking forward to it."

Ouch!  Pierce me to the heart.... I just had a lazy morning and will endeavor to do better in the coming days, except when I don't.

We've had a lovely two days of golf, Thursday on the Craighead and yesterday on the Balcomie, each featuring distinctly non-Scottish and/or non-Crail experiences.  Both days were dry, although in each case not the kind of day when you're confident of staying dry, meaning that the golf bag is jammed full of wardrobe alternatives.  On Thursday, it didn't rain until bedtime but yesterday, after an unusually late tee time (more on that in a bit), we noticed the streets of Pittenweem were wet as we drove home, so a near miss.  Still, dry is good....

I'm also blogging without the benefit of the camera, and on top of that I forgot to take my phone with me yesterday, so Employee No. added Court Photographer to her list of responsibilities.  

Could that stance be narrower?  All else aside, it's just a beautiful property with million dollar North Sea views.

Not much to report from the Craighead, as we're both settling in and finding our games, though all it takes is one ball to trundle into a bunker to wreak havoc with a scorecard.  Some actual golf was played, as an example I had my first eagle put of the trip on the Par-5 eighth, and Theresa was driving it especially well for a bit.

But the notable bit was something that rarely happens.  We had seen a single man tee off in front of us, and almost caught him a couple of times.  Pace of play seemed slightly sluggish, though we actually got around in 3:30, but it must have seemed much slower to him.  But we caught him on the 17th tee, and he suggested we play in with him, something that just never happens in Scotland.... Turns out he's an Aussie and find that aspect of Scottish golf equally curious, like us happy for the company.

An Aussie as I said, but one who married a Scottish girl from Peterhead (on the East coast north of Aberdeen), though they live in France.  He had driven up from Edinburgh, though we didn't realize he had done so with his wife and father-in-law, who were parked on a bench behind the 18th green as we finished.  On the one hand it's nothing little half-hour interaction, but how nice to share travel experiences and reactions with fellow travelers (admittedly, those last two words are typically used to connote something entirely different).

We were back on the Balcomie yesterday with a 2:40 p.m. tee time, a time I tried to move up but ultimately decided might be fun to see the place in the late day light.  I know, the assumption that the sun would be available to us in Scotland is really a scratch.  As they used to say about second marriages, the triumph of hope over experience..... The reason we were so late was a junior competition, both men and women, and I was told by David Snodgrass, the Head Professional, that one of the boys had posted -1, so the kids can play.

As I've noted previously, the Balcomie is where pace of play goes to die, but we got quite lucky.  We were there early and saw the last tourney group tee off.  The starter explained that they had left a gap on the tee sheet, and regular play would start at 2:30, one group ahead of us.  After checking out the Open in the clubhouse we found that the one group was a fourball playing some kind of match, and they were kind enough to allow us to jump ahead, meaning we had an open golf course ahead of us.  Be still my foolish heart, we  proceeded to play the first twelve holes in two hours, perhaps explaining why we both played so well.

If you'll recall my prior blogging of the Balcomie, I had done a deep dive on the fifth hole, Hell's Hole, a brutal Par-4 that's the No. 1 stroke index hole on the course.  It features a classic cape tee shot, and on that day I got overly aggressive with my line off the tee and my ball presumably sleeps with Luca Brasi and the fishes in the North Sea.  This time I was only slightly less aggressive with the tee shot, but we found it in the rough having just cleared the OB.  

As I noted the other, day, the tee box points you directly towards the sixth green, and yesterday I had a group playing second shots from short of that green, so the choice was waiting or taking the more aggressive line.  And your humble blogger isn't great at the patience thing.... My lie in the rough wasn't brilliant, +/- 190 yards out, so I decided to "play smart" and hack out a 5-iron that would leave me short of the green.  Subsequent events defy explanation, because I most certainly pulled said 5-iron and it was never enough club to get there, but we found it on the green only ten feet from the hole.  That sixth tee box is elevated, and the only way I can explain it (my line of sight to the green was blocked) is a fortuitous bounce off the sixth tee.  But I made the putt and who doesn't like to birdie the hardest hole on the golf course, much less a hole on which I've never before even made par?

In my prior Balcomie post, I had planned on writing about the 13th hole, quite the unusual one-shotter.  The Balcomie strikes me as a place you'll love or hate, it's so quirky as generate the widest array of reactions.  I enjoy it (and Theresa much prefers it to the Craighead) because it never fails to provide 4-6 truly interesting golf shots per round, though one never knows when those will present.  Of course, I also enjoy it for the eye candy, brilliant North Sea exposures, and also for the fact that I can pretend I'm a big boy and reach Par-5's and the short Par-4's.  I had one round last year in the firm and fast conditions where I had three eagle putts, and who among us doesn't like that?

But the quirkiness and tight quarters ensure that not everything will work as well as we might hope.  Old Tom did a heck of a job, though his failure to anticipate how far we would all be hitting the ball 125 years later is understandable.  The thirteenth is such an example, an uphill Par-3 that plays 209-214 yards from the men's tees.  You'll get a sense perhaps of where I'm heading when I tell you it plays 203 yards for the ladies, there being nowhere else to provide them a shorter tee.  It's a Par-4 for them, but that additional stroke is only of marginal utility.

This is what it looks like from the 12th green:

You'll just have to accept that the hole is far more uphill than it appears in this photo, and that bank of long grass makes the tee box feel claustrophobic.  Here's Theresa on the tee:

I think Theresa can clear the bank with a good drive, but boy is it tough to commit to the shot.  In this case she moved to the front of the tee box, but her not-her-best-not-her-worst drive just caught the top of the ca-ca.  The only other play is to the short left, but at best that still leaves quite a difficult, blind second shot to the green.  The kids in front of us yesterday were playing stroke play, so when one hit it into that bank they had to find it, which they miraculously did.  But, as I think you'll appreciate, you can't shorten the hole for the ladies (and shorter-hitting men) because they won't be able to elevate the ball sufficiently to clear, though the extra stroke of par seems like it should be more like 2-3.

Here's what it looks like from up top:

For me, club selection is an issue.... driver is too much, I've visited the car park previously.  But 3-wood feels like not quite enough, though that might also be a result of having no confidence in that particular club.  Notwithstanding that, I hit a perfect 3-wood on Monday and actually ran through the green.  I hit a really good soft pitch to about six feet and made the putt, my first three ever on that brute, and just then the heavens opened up.  We had fought small squalls all day and it was going to be a slow final five holes and we were next to the car park so the bride and I just looked at each other and nodded, each knowing that in that moment we'd rather be here:

We knew the rain wouldn't last, but we enjoyed watching the groups in front and behind us play those four holes that the bar overlooks.

That three was sweet, but yesterday I made quite the comical four, as I hit my three-wood hard but thin, driving it straight into the bank, where it should have plugged.  Instead, it hit a rock and bounced back, and somehow I got a PW to the green from a severely downhill lie.  I was owed one, perhaps, since the bride hit one into the North Sea on No.5, only to have it bounce back into play off a rock....

A delightful day on the Balcomie, and not only because we stayed dry..... A couple of final notes before we get on with our day.

A Berry Good Time - There's a farmstand between Celardyke and Crail that we've patronized on prior trips, and I remember the strawberries and raspberries as being just fine.  But this year, the first bite resulted in an explosion of flavor in my mouth, and Theresa quite agrees.  I suspect the difference is in being here a month earlier, but we can't get enough. 

Our Rainbow Coalition - We might prefer it a little drier, but there is one obvious benefit to the rain:

Kon-Tiki On The Firth - These strike me as brave souls, it being the North Sea and all:

But I didn't know you were allowed to ride a paddleboard in the tidal pool:

Dining Al Fresco - We've only had the one dinner outdoors, but Theresa scout out the Clock Tower Cafe, where yesterday we had a delightful breaky:

When the sun is out and you're blocked from the wind, it can be downright balmy....

Pop Quiz - Just to see who was actually paying attention.... Quick, kids, name the two big families of the Pittenweem fishing industry?  Here's one:

Obviously Clan Bowman has diversified (joiners are carpenters), and the second is Hughes.

Evening Light - Filed under Things That Never Get Old:

Weekend Plans - Not a great weekend of weather in store.  Today will not be too bad, but tomorrow will be both wet and very windy.  I expect to see much of the Open via Sky's streaming service, assuming no further interruptions.

Have a great weekend and we'll visit again soon.

East Neuk Microblogging

Shall we catch up?

As you'll have intuited, I shan't keep you long....  They're on the golf course at Hoylake and it's my intention to pop for their streaming packages in a few minutes and to take it all in, at least until we head over to the Craighead for a noon tee time.

The headline to share is that my camera has died.  OK, what's actually died almost assuredly is the camera's battery and, were I home, I'd be receiving a replacement battery from Amazon today....But, the whole point (and the only time I actually use this camera) is when I'm an ocean from home, so we'll be muddling through with the phone from here on.  And with the Open on and Elsie and John arriving on Monday, we'll be understandably pacing ourselves for the remaining time here.

Pretty much every morning begins with a walk to the tidal pool:

It never gets old to us, though your mileage may vary....  We always ask those we see leaving the pool how their swim was and the answers don't vary, the water is always characterized as being warm and fresh....Given that it's basically the North Sea, color me skeptical, but the bride has not yet ventured in.

Took a lovely walk along the Fife Coastal Path to Anstruther:

It's a great spot, though as typical here it takes one across the Anstruther nine-holer:

That's the green of the famous Rockies hole looking back to the tee, with that brow short of the green specifically designed to kick your ball into the Firth of Forth.  And the next one as well... and since the Firth is marked as OB, you'll be exhausting your ammo supply, the best argument for a Stableford for sure.

Anstruther is a little too cosmopolitan for our tastes:

 Little alleyways are called wynds, though shouldn't they give us the updated name?

Egads, I can remember when Scotland was a classy place where you could bring the kids:

Sorry, kids, I forgot the trigger warning....

Don't tell Napoleon or Tate, but they have kitties in Scotland:

Officer, I'd like to report a robbery:

When was the Rev last seen?  Sometime in late 1791....

Oddly fascinating watching the small fishing boats come and go, mostly after langoustines we think:

This is about as busy as we've caught the pool:

It's not uncommon for the wind to sit down late in the day, and we were able to eat dinner outside:

Spectacular, on the odd occasion when it's not blowing a gale...

We grabbed a bench late and spent a few minutes watching this family trying to catch something, although we don't know what:

I mentioned our wynds above, this being the closest to our house:

Some have stairs and this is wider than most, but that photo in no way captures the pitch, as each walk up it requires an oxygen break halfway up.

We also took a trip over to Kellie Castle, where we thought we'd previously visited, but were likely mistaken in that:

The gardens being much of the appeal, though the tour of the interior had much of interest.

In the courtyard we found this gent with a Harris Hawk, which oddly enough is native to the American Southwest:

The oldest section of the castle inconceivably dates to the 1100's, the tower to the left of the drainpipe:

As explained, they'd have had some sort of steps or ladder to enter at the second floor, one that could be pulled up when under attack.  That might work, as long as the larder was full...

Dinner at one of our faves, the Dreel Tavern.  Last year Elsie and John convinced us to walk there, easy enough but just something that never occurred to us.  We wanted to do the same this year, but the heavens opened up at exactly the wrong time:

Another spectacular evening displaying Pittenweem at its best:

As we were winding down, a call came from Theresa upstairs, who didn't want me to miss this cherry on our day:

Cheers.

Midweek Musings - East Neuk Edition

Greetings from the Kingdom of Fife, where I've had sufficient coffee to open a new post, scanned the Yankees box score (two hits, so they covered the over/under) and taken a quick gander at the Met Office's weather forecast for Fife...  So, where were we?

As I shared last year, the Crail Golfing Society dates to 1786, making it the seventh oldest golf club in the world:

Isn't good gentlemen redundant?  Never mind, but did you ever wonder where Clifford Roberts came up with this?

Kinda surprised there wasn't a tartan of some kind involved.... The Balcomie itself dates to the 1890's:

That Old Tom quote is great, at least until you notice that he said virtually identical words about each course he laid out.....

We are told that the course we play is very much as Old Tom laid out, and that I suspect is very true.  I call it a mini-Old Course, for it shares obvious DNA with the old girl.  There's only the one double green, though in this case the hole numbers add to nineteen (you're likely aware that the seven double greens on the Old all add to eighteen), but also those tight playing corridors and short Par-4's that afford even players with my limited skills to reach.

I remember an article about the Old Course (can't remember the source) in which the author called it the the narrowest golf course on the planet and a mere few pages later spoke of the great width available.  I poked some fun at that, but also conceded that he was correct in both cases.  In some spots on the Balcomie there's four fairways of width, but at other times you're sharing fairways with a gaggle of folks.  The downside, though, is that pave of play will always be an issue, for the same reason that Open rounds at St. Andrews take six hours.

When last we spoke, we were headed to the fifth tee, one of its more famous holes with a notable name:

Hole 5 – Hell’s Hole – Although this could easily describe the difficulty of the hole the name comes from the rocky area of the beach on the right of the hole.

It's a scorecard-wrecker for sure, and your humble blogger's cards was so wrecked...Here's a look at her:

The hole plays from 427 - 447 yards, though at that shorter distance it's considered a Par-5.  

The drive is a classic cape hole, the fairway angling away to the right.  The Course Guide contains all sorts of useful information on carry distances, which would have been quite useful....that is, had I not left it at the house.  Amusingly, the first thing see as we arrive on the tee box is this gentleman doing the walk of shame:

Been there, done that, although not on this specific beach.... A couple of things jump out at the players, as we see the bride on the tee:

First, the tee box points us directly at the sixth green, a Par-3 that plays in the opposite direction.  Did I mention pace of play issues?  The Course Guide indicates that line is a 188-yard carry, so most players won't want to bite off too much more than that, especially into the wind as we were.  But there's two greenside pot bunkers protecting that Par-3, and there's likely no worse place for your drive to find.

The second issue is that there's isn't really much of anywhere for Theresa to land her ball.  It worked fine that day and is manageable in these softer conditions, but when it's really linksy it's easy for those balls to kick right into the North Sea.  From the 7th tee box we get a view of the second shot, which takes the players to the far end of the property:

It seems they are OB crazy in Scotland.  I've previously noted that John Coupland's tee shot last year covered the actual water, but was frustratingly within the area designated Out of Bounds by white stakes (as indicated in the Course Guide).  Why is it OB?  No clue, except to guess that they don't want folks playing from the beach, but John's ball was in grass on Crail real estate, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

But I did notice in walking through the Anstruther nine-hole golf course yesterday that on their famous Rockies hole, they have similarly designated the rocky beach and Firth of Forth as OB.  Seems pretty clearly a lateral hazard to this observer, and I'd think you'd want to allow folks to drop and keep moving (in the U.S. we've gone the other way, we're red stake crazy).  On the Rockies it would be easy to Tin Cup it, well, all but the last part where the ball goes in....

The green site on hell's Hole is decidedly non-hellish, a beautiful spot with livestock as part of the experience:

Theresa got this one that she titled, Still Life with Cows and Scott:

As I hinted, I hit a great drive that looked perfect.  Oh, it started on a clearly aggressive line, but drew back nicely towards apparent safety, with my principal worry being that it might have run through the fairway.  Since it wasn't found, we can safely say that I got too greedy, though that's a post hoc conclusion.  The problem, indeed the strategic logic of a cape hole, is that the safety comes with a price, a longer shot into the green.   I've been over the green in two, but I await my first par on Hell's Hole still.

I did make my first par on an equally difficult Balcomie hole, but the day has dawned and we'll have to defer our discussion of the 13th hole until another time.  

East Neuk News

Kind of a funny moment for your humble blogger, as out of the corner of my eye I'm watching an ESPN Livecast of the Yankees in extra innings in Anaheim, not that the outcome isn't inevitable.  It's just that I'm not usually watching baseball at, checking watch, 6:04 a.m.    Twice in the last couple of days I've seen two locals in NYY swag, a common occurence here.  In both cases I had a chance to inform the parties that, in New York in the summer of our discontent, no one is wearing their Yankee swag.  Too triggering, as the kids like to say..

When last we visited, Employee No. 2 and I were en route to the Craighead for our first round at Crail, on Gil Hanse's Craighead Links.  Our dueling weather forecasts were undecided on precipitation, though both made clear that it would be howling out there.... The flags were billowing as we arrived:

But that sky doesn't seem so threatening, eh?

The waterproofs stayed in the bag, as skies were pretty much like that all day.  A good thing for your humble blogger, as my sunglasses are much preferable in heavy winds, as it's hard enough playing the required shots, now give it a go with your eyes teared up from the wind :

 

The whitecaps still in evidence on the Firth:

The theme of the day was the wind.  Projected to be in the mid-20's with gusts up into the mid 30's, I can only say that it felt like a gale.  On my second shot on the first hole, a gust at the top of my backswing rocked me back on my heels, whereas on a subsequent tee box the billowing of my pants created a little strobe-like effect.   

I try not to bore you with too many details of my own golf, but this was a fun day as long as expectations remained reasonable.  I've long said that on each links the pro should post a sign with that day's par based upon conditions, on this day bogeys were very much pars.  And that's exactly how I got around on the first nine, all well-earned bogeys with the exception of two pars on the three-shotters.  The first of these was downwind, so no issue, but the par on No. 8, which was directly into the fan, was quite satisfyingly.

That worked quite well right up until when it didn't, but fortunately comedy ensued....  Well, fortunate for my readers, in any event.  We make our way to the 13th, a nice little Par-3 tucked in against the cliff overlook the Firth of Forth (though it's essentially the North Sea here).  Here's what it looked like:

You can see the effects of the wind on my pants, but it's howling directly right-to-left.  Those of you that are familiar with my game know that I typically draw the ball, and I'll even add for Bobby D.'s amusement that this tee box is no more level than our own 15th tee, box, in this case the ball being above my feet.  If you can pick out the ball in the photo, it appears to be on a perfect line right of the bunker, yet ended up in the Firth (and it wasn't particularly close).  As did the next one....

After we stopped laughing, I tried to discern how I could play the hole in a medal competition, and didn't come up with much.  I think I'd have to play a nine-iron (I hit seven) out towards that ball washer on the 14th hole tee box, though the second shot would be one of those terrifying links shots, a soft pitch off the rock hard turf (though conditions are softer than usual) over the bunker and good luck holding the green straight downwind.... 

The 14th wasn't a whole lot easier... This is an unlinksy shot, where Hanse tries to suck the player into a forced carry.  One can use the contours, but straight into that wind it's a tough slog:

Pace of play wasn't great (in that wind its' to be expected), though we enjoyed the twosome in front of us, a father with his young son that had a swing to die for.  When I complimented the father on his son's game, he responded that the youngster had never been out in anything like that day's wind..... We were pretty knackered by that point, Theresa had been struggling all day and, since I had just obviously hit the wall, we walked in.... partly because it allowed us to catch the last three sets of the Wimbledon final.

I took some short videos to try to show you the wind:

The pins here are far wider and more substantial than at home, for the obvious reason....

Monday we headed to the Balcomie Links, again with an uncertain weather forecast.  It was pretty clear that we would get wet at some point, that point being on the first tee:

The bucket hats have gotten more use already this trip than in our five prior trips combined.....By way of contrast, notice how much greener it is than last year, which looked like this:

Quite the dramatic difference in how it plays....

The young man in the golf shop thought we'd stay dry, though the starter correctly intuited that we'd be dealing with squalls all day, one strategically timed as we'll see below.  But Theresa wasn't the only one digging out her rain hat:

That's a bunker guarding the first green, where I unfortunately dumped my wedge.  A good effort from the bunker, though I missed the ensuing twelve-footer.

The Balcomie is funky little track, it tops out under 6,000 yards and plays to a men's par of 67-69.  It's one of the weirdest scorecards I've dealt with, as let me use the second hole as an example.  In general, the white tees are usually the back tees, and there are yellow tees for the men and green tees, used for the ladies but also men who want a shorter course.  The second, called Over the Knowe (which I think is a hill), features the North Sea on the right side, is a 493-yard Par-five from those back white tees, but a 451/440 yard Par-4 from the yellow and green tees.  

Very confusing, to me at least, because it obviously plays easier in relation to par from those back tees, though that back tee box has quite awkward angle to the fairway.  Just quite the muddle scorecard to me, but I'll also add that some of those back tee boxes are awkward to get to, given how jammed in everything is.  On the short Par-4 4th, I'd have had to allow the group behind to play to the Par-3 third, then gone to other side of the green to find the white tees.  I took the path of least resistance and played from the yellows, put my wedge in to 5-feet and made the birdie, only to have the bride express her profound sadness that said birdie would be disallowed by the Committee.  Yup, tough crowd....

Things I like about the Balcomie include its similarity to a more famous track just up the road.  It features similar narrow corridors in places, and I also love these marvelously rumpled fairways:

It's just a very beautiful spot overlooking the North Sea:

That's the third green, and here's Theresa hitting off that fourth tee:

On the right you can see a portion of the third green... The white tees are on the side closest to the North Sea, so hopefully you can appreciate how hard it would be to actually play from there.

More eye candy:

One challenge for me this year is how to keep this interesting, given that I blogged so extensively on last year's trip.  You'd be well with your rights to ask, why start now?, though that would be hurtful....  I thought might be fun to explore individual hole, several of which are quite curious, especially on the notoriously quirky Balcomie.

Alas, we're now approaching 9:00 a.m. here, so I'm going to ask you to hold this thought here, and I'll pick up the thread of our day on the Balcomie tomorrow.

I'll just leave you with some additional imagery.  First, from over the weekend, a morning dove we met on the Fife Coastal Path:

Obviously he didn't want to hang with the foreigners....and really, who can blame him?

Lastly, the evening light is still a thing:

Have a great day and I'll hope to pick up our coverage tomorrow from the 5th hole of the Balcomie.