Do you think I’m going to make life easy for those of you who have been waiting to read about my experience at The Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews (R & A) and day one of The Open Championship? Think again. Even in my writing at Testudo Times and Terp Talk, I’m somewhat notorious for burying the lede – particularly in feature stories.
So, I’ll start with breakfast where I made acquaintance with Dan and Jeanne some friends of my sister Leslie and brother-in-law John. They had planned a trip to Ireland and decided to come over a day or two early so they could take in the Open. We’d been in touch by email leading up to our mutual trips but had never met.
They came to my hotel where we shared some breakfast and Dan, prepared for my punning reputation by Leslie, came with a small, printed list of “country puns.” We had a cold breakfast and shared a taxi to Waverly Station to catch the Golf Link train. Because only one two lane road leads to and from the R & A and the traffic can become quite intimidating, this combination of rail and bus with return (round trip for the Yanks) for 24.50 pounds (about $41.00) is generally considered the best method of transport.
We found a booth style seat (four seats around a center table) and were soon joined by a chap from the States who’d been out on Wednesday for the practice round. Based on his description, I’d recommend including a practice day because the atmosphere he described sounded significantly more relaxed than on Championship days. The patter was entertaining and made the hour plus ride pass quite quickly.
Getting off the train, a fellow who’d attended Maryland saw my hat (the red and black one) and we started chatting about the Terps as we shuffled from the train to the bus which would take us from the station at Leuchars to the course. We got our first view of the distant course and I managed this sloppy shot through the bus window:
The small bumps in the distance are grandstands. You can’t see the goosebumps on my arms. A few minutes later, the bus pulled into the drop-off point and off we went. As we were approaching security, I remembered that St. Andrews prohibits photos on Championship days and I had toted my camera in the reflex action of a tourist who thinks he should never be without his camera regardless of his lack of photographic skills. At the time I thought, “I might have to keep my camera in my pocket but this is a picture they can’t prevent.”
However, the security guard said the camera wouldn’t be confiscated if I kept it hidden. I discovered later that this statement is the truth but not necessarily the whole truth.
As I was passing through security, I heard a familiar voice call out behind me. It was none other than Bob Johnson, PA announcer extraordinaire and Tuesday lunch companion. Bob was with a chap named Tony and I (politely or rudely depending on your point of view) took my leave from Jeanne and Dan and set off for a day’s adventure with Bob and Tony hoping, but not really expecting that I’d cross paths with Dan and Jeanne again sometime during the day.
The entrance Golf Link riders use leaves you in the center of the Spectator Village and the first thing I did was purchase a program for 10 pounds. However, this is the Open Championship, so your purchase is so much more than a mere program and list of tee times. It also includes a backpack, a bottle of water and, whether delivered with deliberate irony or not, a small tube of sunscreen. Really!
Passing from the Spectator Village, our first look at the Old Course came as we entered just above the 16th green and 17th tee. Bob, Tony and I turned left and immediately headed for the crossing to take us to the grandstand overlooking the fourth green. This may sound odd, but the sod at St. Andrews (correctly pronounced SIN-TAndrews) has a different feel from other courses I’ve walked. It feels softer, fuller, spongier.
As we waited to cross the course and then walked along the red path toward our target grandstand, it fascinated me to listen to the silence and observe the stillness that accompanied the marshal’s display of the “Quiet Please” paddle. The paddle goes up and stillness descends. I perceived neither movement nor audible whispers within the range of my senses.
Arriving at the fourth hole, we had reached one of the Old Course’s famous double greens. Since I always like to leave my readers feeling a bit smarter and a bit more stupid, I’ll tell you that adding the hole numbers for shared greens always totals 18. We were on the fourth green grandstand. You can do the math to calculate the shared hole. Go ahead. You’ll feel smarter. The fifth and 15th tees are also visible from this point.
You can read about the golf in the next post.