Trip Preview

As noted above, the bride left yesterday and has arrived without incident in London.  I'll be leaving Sunday night and will meet her at Glasgow Airport Monday morning, the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise...

Between now and departure you should expect blogging to be light.  Maybe I'll surprise you, but I wouldn't get your hopes too high.  But once we're on the ground it's my intention, as per last year's Ireland trip, to blog our golf and other travel experiences.  That intention of course is subject to travel arrangements and internet access all being as planned, and time being available.  In particular, the first day can be quite hectic, but I'll try to at least post a note that we've arrived safely.

I do hope you've kept up with the required reading.  Elsie has confessed that she's already fallen behind, but she's the world renown Scottish Housewife, you folks can't hold yourselves to those standards.  Plus, they're are picking us up at Benbecula, so the reading list was more a suggestion for them.

One last item is posted below, and I hope you're able to read it.  It's the review of Askernish from Tom Doak's updated The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses.  The original version was published in samizdat form some twenty-five years ago, and the later published version is out of print and selling for a pretty penny when it can be found.  Doak is in the process of rolling out and updated version in five volumes, the first fortunately covering Great Britain and Ireland.

Here's Travellin' Joe's take on the original:

What made the original Guide so special? Two things. First, it was splendidly written. His critiques were concise, intelligent and at times highly controversial. Doak took shots not only at courses but also at their designers. Humor washed over many of his critiques. So did candor. Never had anyone in the design business so harshly criticized his peers and predecessors, certainly not publicly. Second, Doak had visited so many courses worldwide that it was hard to question his credibility, even if you took exception to his conclusions.

Translation:  Tom said amusingly mean things about icons of the design world, and no one had ever had the cujones to do that before, at least in writing.  

Now I've previously linked you to pieces covering the history of Askernish, the discovery of Askernish Old by John Garrity and the process of rebuilding it, including the litigation with the crofters.

But this short piece speaks highly of the experience of playing Askernish, and that is the point after all.  Doak and his collaborators (Ran Morrissett, the founder and proprietor of Golf Club Atlas, actual wrote this review) have included Askernish as one of their eighteen "Gourmet Choice" courses in GB&I, along side icons such as Royal Dornoch, Royal County Down and Lahinch.  Heady company, indeed...  I don't think for a minute it would be there if not for the back story, but it sounds like we might manage to enjoy it...