There are two things I am sure of about Scotland. The bad weather is a lie. I’ve been twice for a total of 16 days and have never reached for the Gore-Tex. The first time was in July and the average daily high was 80 which made the average daily low in the non air conditioned hotel 84..
The other thing I’m positive of is the beer tastes better than here…a lot better.
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This go ’round, for the first three days, we were in The Land of Black Faced Sheep and Single Malt Whiskey, north of Juno and Moscow in the Highlands region of this great golf country.
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The “we” this time were eight members of the Blue Elephant Golfing Society (B.E.G.S.) headed to Scotland to play golf and drink lager until we a) ran out of money or b) fell over from exhaustion.
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Our primary purpose was to play a match with the soon to be 50 year-old organization which holds our charter, The Pink Elephant Golfing Society (P.E.G.S.). That didn’t work out so well for our side due to several questionable handicaps on the other side…most notably John Morrison’s 8…but I digress..
Days 1 & 2
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Two golf courses that should be on your Things To Do Before You’re a Loose Impediment list are within an hour of each other. They are Nairn GC and Royal Dornoch. Our first day was spent at Nairn in weather that felt more like Florida in March than Scotland in May…sunny with just a slight breeze.
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Nairn sits hard by the Moray Firth, a lovely little water hazard connected to the North Sea. It’s generally gray and kicked up but this day it was blue and calm. The gorse, normally a Titleist swallower and the quick death of every golfer, blooms bright yellow every spring and we hit it at its peak…a little like the azaleas at Augusta in early April.
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We started the day at Nairn Dunbar which might be termed the muni in town but that’s no dig…it was really good and very difficult. We met some really nice people…like these two ladies who asked “if they could pick up a man” from our group..
We were afraid they would hold us up…the reality was we saw them on the first tee and not again until the bar…where they were already eating lunch. Women are slow…right.
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We had dinner with our hosts at Nairn GC and it just happened to be the night of the Chelsea/Manchester United soccer final. This is kind of like stumbling into a bar in Boston during game 6 of the World Series…only louder.
A pool was going around the room. We all threw in our 2 quid for a chance to win 50. Of course the winner came from our group which the members thought was hilarious…since most of our guys thought football was played on Saturday in Athens and Clemson…here’s Leon with his take..
The next day we rode up to Dornoch where we got our only real taste of Scottish weather all week. The boys were scrambling to the pro shop for a stocking cap or two but the day turned out perfect.
Dornoch is a magic golf course laid out by Old Tom himself. This place would be on the British Open rota in a heartbeat if it wasn’t driver driver from the middle of nowhere. The fun part, other than all the doubles, is being where Donald Ross grew up and seeing the inspiration for Seminole, Oakland Hills, and Pinehurst #2…just great and the consensus favorite for the week.
Dinner that night at our usual 9:00, a cocktail or three, and nighty-night.
Next Up : Doon The Coost To Troon and The Match With The Pinks
