Barbajoâ€™s Excellent Scottish Golfing Adventure

StrokerAce · August 2, 2018

I have a few questions...

Did you hit a "career long drive" on the baked out fairways where the ball just ran and ran?
How many times and from how far away did you putt in the fairway?
How helpful was the caddie? Could you play the course well without one or is it that important to have someone with experience out there telling you where to aim, etc.?
How different is true links golf compared to some of the links-style courses stateside? Do you need to consider a bunch of different factors (wind, where ball will land, how much it will roll, etc) when playing there?
How much did the wind/weather/elements play a factor?
I've heard that very few - if any - golf carts are used. Did you see any or use any?

GolfSpy Barbajo · August 2, 2018

I have a few questions...

Did you hit a "career long drive" on the baked out fairways where the ball just ran and ran?

How many times and from how far away did you putt in the fairway?

How helpful was the caddie? Could you play the course well without one or is it that important to have someone with experience out there telling you where to aim, etc.?

How different is true links golf compared to some of the links-style courses stateside? Do you need to consider a bunch of different factors (wind, where ball will land, how much it will roll, etc) when playing there?

How much did the wind/weather/elements play a factor?

I've heard that very few - if any - golf carts are used. Did you see any or use any?

Good questions stroker..I'll do the best I can.

Did you hit a "career long drive" on the baked out fairways where the ball just ran and ran? Nope - nothing like that. I was hitting the ball so poorly until the back 9 on Tuesday that career longs were out of the question. We played Carnoustie in the rain, so there wasn't much rolling there. With the wind at St. Andrews New Course had some nice results, but into the wind it was harsh. I actually hit driver to the Par 3 17th, which was playing 211 yards into a 25 mph wind - came up a wee short....
How many times and from how far away did you putt in the fairway? Did this quite often - probably the farthest out was about 10-15 yards or so. Most of the time is was less than 5 yards. I did have an uphill-skirt the lip of the bunker and downhill to the pin putt from off the green - kinda like the one Spieth hit at the Open. I hit mine a little - well a lot - too hard and had another putt from off the green coming back. On the plus side, it just missed the pin on the way by....
How helpful was the caddie? Could you play the course well without one or is it that important to have someone with experience out there telling you where to aim, etc.? We didn't have caddies at Carnoustie - but Gavin had been a member there and Keiran was the assistant pro, so they were able to tell us where to hit it and what to do. Hired a caddie at North Berwick and on the New Course - both were incredibly helpful there - in a lot of cases you'd have no clue where the pin was, which way the fairway went or what evil lurked along the way. They were invaluable and in the case of Chris at the New Course, he was good company as well as I played as a single. 45 to 50 pounds was the standard rate, plus tip - usually around 20 to 30 pounds, depending.
How different is true links golf compared to some of the links-style courses stateside? Do you need to consider a bunch of different factors (wind, where ball will land, how much it will roll, etc) when playing there? We didn't have much wind at Longniddry - which was a mix of parkland and links. It was windy as hell at Prestonfield, but it was a parkland course similar to what we play here. North Berwick was true links, and the bounces were arbitrary - a shot that looked great would hit a mound and bounce into the rough, or leave you with a weird sidehill like. On the plus side, shots that would get you into a world of trouble here would wind up being playable, so it kind of balanced out - that's how I was able to eek out an ESC-aided 87 at Carnoustie (I'm hanging onto that!) while hitting the ball like crap.

Started to get the hang of the pitch and run on the last day -- Chris helped me with an easy half swing with a quiet lower body ("a wee 7-iron," he called it) - keep the ball low and let it roll. Pulled off a couple, but hit a couple a bit too high - he said keep it a few feet off the ground and let it run....it does, when you hit it right.
How much did the wind/weather/elements play a factor? First day not at all. Second round was windy - but at a parkland course it wasn't much different from playing in the wind here. North Berwick was a little drizzly, but not bad at all - the rain gear came off by the end of the front 9, and the wind was playable.

Wind wasn't bad at Carnoustie, but it rained pretty steadily - had the umbrellas out for the middle part of the round, and broke out the rain gloves. The wind wasn't terrible, but enough to matter. The rain played a role in my worst shot of the trip - teeing off on 11 after saving a nice par on 10 - rain really started to pick up so I rushed the tee shot and duck hooked it into a bunker on another fairway - actually saved a DB out of it, but it made Gavin go "Oh, dear..."

Was very windy at St. Andrews - the final 6 holes were very tough into the wind. I had a nice run of pars going before the wind started becoming a problem...made use of my Cobra utility iron on a couple of occasions...
I've heard that very few - if any - golf carts are used. Did you see any or use any? You heard correctly - very few carts there. Longniddry had a few for its older members, didn't see any at Prestonfield or North Berwick. I believe you can get one at Carnoustie and St. Andrews, but only if you have a certified disability - and even then a caddie has to drive.

We walked every day -- carried my clubs at Longniddry, Presonfield and Carnoustie and had a caddie the other two rounds. There were an awful lot of push carts and quite a few electric push carts. Played with two guys that had them -- one was in his 20's, the other in his mid-40's. I want one!

I'm also seeing the benefit of an ultra-light weight Sunday bag for walkable courses. Want one of those too...