Castle Stuart

Nothing perhaps captures the yin and yang of a Simpson-orchestrated itinerary than the thought that crossed my mind as were packing up our clubs at Askernish that our next round of golf would be at the newly-created Castle Stuart Golf Links in Inverness.  I can't imagine that any other traveler might have those two on the same itinerary... As to whether that's actually a good thing or not, that's not for me to decide.

Castle Stuart is the creation of Mark Parsinen, an American that cut his teeth this side of the pond with highly-regarded Kingsbarns just outside St. Andrews.  In a brush with greatness scenario, I played Cypress Point with Mark back in the 1980's, though he hasn't called or written since.  

He found quite the spectacular piece of property, on the southern side of the Moray Firth.  The most unique feature being that it's two distinct tiers all along the frontage, so that it boasts water views from every single hole.  I know, things that don't suck... It's more than just water views, actually, as most of the holes feel like they're right on the water.  

Also not sucking was our weather for the day, which ranged from the exceptional (when we suffered through a wee bit of cloud cover) to the merely perfect, the other 99% of the day.  Weather so good that you will see your heroes in shorts, a first for me in Scotland.

My day started with a quick trip upstairs to the men's locker room, as John had mentioned that it was worth a peek.  No sooner had I snapped a quick photo than a gentleman smiled at me and suggested that I keep my powder dry, instructing me to follow him as we climbed to the third floor and exited onto a terrace that wraps around the building.  From there I got the panoramic views below:

The top looks left to the front nine, and the bottom towards the back.

The clubhouse has an art deco 1930's feel to it, but I think it works perhaps because it's modestly-sized.  Here it is from the range:

The day started in amusing fashion, as my opening drive would have led my caddie (a nice lad named Ben) to logically conclude that it might not be such a painful day after all, a low bullet into the wind down the center stripe of the fairway.  However, what came next would have required a complete reassessment...it wasn't a shank, as quite candidly it would have had to be a far better shot for that.  But it did marginally raise the sea level of the Moray Firth...

But after that opening double I settled in and shot a tidy 38 on the front side, helped by a birdie at the short Par-4 third, the infinity green of which is pictured below:

As well as at the Par-5 sixth, the infinity green of which is pictured below.

The bride gamely attacked this bunker shot on the ninth, taking the aggressive line out:

For me, one revetted face is quite enough, thank you very much.  And I promised my man Ben that I'd show him on the blog, so his tenner was well-spent:

I won the front three-up and appeared to be comfortably in control of the proceedings, until I wasn't...T unfortunately woke up and made herself a birdie on No. ten and proceeded to have herself quite the nine.  She took time out from her play to capture our hero lofting his tee shot on the short, Par-3 11th:

We had quite the oh-so-match-play exchange on the 13th, an upwind Par-4 with the green protected on the right by a rather hard-to-miss dune.  I foolishly defied the bosses orders to play safely left and was lucky to have hit my 4-wood well enough to clear the worst of it and found the pellet in rather better of a lie than I deserved.  Golf being golf, i of course proceeded to chip it in for my third bird of the day.  Theresa, who prior to my jarring it had chipped to fifteen feet, proceeded to put hers in on top of mine.  Somehow we were both elated and yet somehow indignant...

The view back towards the 14th tee is pictured below:

Each shot came with quite the spectacular backdrop, such as this one of Theresa rolling her rock:

And its eighteenth green provides a suitable spot on which to kiss the bride at the conclusion of the round.

Despite a couple of hiccups, Madame torched the back nine for a 40 and an easy three-up win, resulting in that day's match being halved.  But it was a glorious day from start to finish, and that halve felt very much the proper result.

I can't overemphasize the extent to which Castle Stuart is an exhilarating walk from start to finish, with nary a moment when one is not enjoying the picturesque views of the Moray Firth, the Black Isle, etc.  And while I'd be the first to stress that we shouldn't judge a golf course just based upon it's physical beauty, we shouldn't ignore that either...

And Gil Hanse and Mark Parsinen have done a first class job of using this natural terrain, creating a first-class links.  There's been some criticism that it's playing corridors are too wide (Glenn Emanuel, call your office), though one should get around in a gale perhaps before being too certain of that opinion.  They have allowed some of the outskirts to grow in, as Ben explained, and I can confirm that when I missed, a price was extracted.

Elsie and John greatly enjoy Castle Stuart, which is available to local citizens at an appropriate cost, and John was quite curious as to whether I would enjoy it.  That's no doubt partially a result of my dominant insufferable purist gene, which you've no doubt noticed yourselves.  And while I'll always lean towards the old historic links in my affections, the Dornochs and Cruden Bays of the world, the important thing is that they've pulled it off quite well.

It's a very good links, demanding of the player that which the best of them do.  It is a bit more forgiving than some, off the tee most notably, but it's there to be played by the widest range of abilities.  There are easy bogeys to be found, but higher scores as well...and even the width off the tee I find somewhat misunderstood, as the primary hazard is the fairway bunkers.  The test therefore is more distance control than line...and when that test is failed, punishment ensues.

Perfect Scottish weather (not necessarily an oxymoron), a first class links and some good play by the both of us...you would naturally assume that our day peaked in the afternoon and was a letdown thereafter.  You'd be wrong of course, as we're enjoying the world-class hospitality of the famed Scottish Housewife and her consort.  When we arrived "home" we found that John was firing up the barbie with sausage and steaks (and, spoiler alert, the leftover sausage was to be our treat at the turn at Tain the following day) and I realized a major error in my trip planning.  Our mutual friends Glenn and Jewelle finished their trip in Elsie and John's warm embrace, and I now recognize that the Scottish hospitality industry will be incapable of maintaining these standards...

But the pièce de résistance was still in front of us, as for pudding Elsie had prepared my favorite, her delectable banoffee pie, a wondrous combination of bananas, toffee and cream that proves the existence of a merciful God.  And there were leftovers!