Carnoustie - not so Nastie !!

Hi again,

We've just got back in from another wonderful day's golf.Today we were at Carnoustie. Although the sun shone and it was bright and sunny, it was very cold at times and there were stages during the round when we seriously regretted not bringing some of the hot whisky from lastnight in a flask ! I think we got spoiled by the great weather for the past few days and we didn't bring enough layers .. lesson learned. We'll bring everthing tomorrow !!

We had a great round, on a terrific course. The scoring wasn't great today, but Martina did well and was again the leading lady .. Well Done again !! Here's the Leading Lady on the first tee. However, she insists that I tell you what really happened. I'm afraid her nerves got the better of her on the first tee (with the huge crowds - you can't see them here behind me, photographers, announcement from the starter etc.). No - she didn't pass out - just hit a rocket left and into the burn .. and had to come back to the tee and reload. After blessing herself, she hit a brilliant drive down the middle (I'm sure it was longer than Padraig's !).
Our practise in the bunkers paid off and we mostly got out OK, with a few exceptions ! Just to be patriotic, I went over Padraig's bridge and into the Barry Burn on the 17th, and was happy to escape with a 6.

We had 2 good caddies today, and they pointed out all the features .. the bunker on the 1st where Sergio went in and made a bogey in the playoff, when Padraig had a birdie ; Padraig's bridge ; the flag on the 16th that Sergio hit in the playoff .. and of course the burn on the 18th .. Jean Van de Velde country.

Here's Martina & Mick comtemplating the burn on the 18th. And here we are with the 2 caddies when we'd just finished the 18th.


Another fantastic day's golf in a spectacular location, following in the footsteps of many of our heros.


Unfortunately, tomorrow is the last day of the Carnoustie Classic, and we'll be very sad to leave this corner of Bonnie Scotand. We play Monifeith tomorrow and we're looking forward to that. I think we may well have to resort to bringing some of the local tipple in our bags (here's the ones we tasted lastnight), if today's temperatures are set to continue.

Looking forward to another great day tomorrow,

All the best,

Kate & Martina.

Magnificent Montrose !

Hi,

Sorry if you're bored to tears reading of the wonderful weather in Scotland, but I'm afraid I have to report yet another scorcher, today at the Montrose Medal course, and Open Qualifier in 1999 and 2007. Here we are with the starter on the first tee, of a really spectacular round. The sun shone all day and the scenery is just beautiful. Some of the early holes overlook the wonderful beach, a 5 miles stretch of beautiful sand and sparkling water.

We were expertly guided around today by Phyllis, a member of the club who caddied for us today. Phyllis was a great caddy and made our round a lot more relaxing and enjoyable. Here she is with us outside the clubhouse. We both played better today and Martina had a brilliant round of 35 points, off 3/4 handicap, including a terrific 22 points on the back 9, making her the leading lady of the tournament .. Well Done.

After a leisurely lunch, we turned our thoughts to tomorrow's round at Carnoustie. Some of the group that played there yesterday warned us that it is 'Traumatic' ... wonderful prospect for tomorrow. Here we are getting in some much needed practise for tomorrow :














We're off to dinner now and whisky tasting ..(to calm our nerves ) and good night's sleep for the task ahead tomorrow,

All the best,

Kate & Martina.

More Glorious Scottish Sunshine !!

Hi Again,

We've arrived in Scotland for the Carnoustie Country Classic, and were treated to an unbelieveably warm and sunny day today as we took on Panmure Golf Course. We're staying in Montrose and will play Montrose tomorrow, Carnoustie on Wednesday and Monifeith on Thursday.

We had a wonderful day at Panmure today. It's a beautiful course and was shown at it's best today in wonderful weather. We played with Caroline from Hindhead, Surrey and Sue from Australia. Here's our 4 ball on the first, and Martina tee'ing off.


Panmure is a tough course and we had some difficulties early on, but we persevered and played some good golf trading some nice birdies. I had my nearest ever to a hole in one on the 11th .. about 6 inches .. well, maybe tomorrow !! Afterwards, we had lunch in the sunshine and enjoyed wonderful hospitality and friendly service at the Panmure clubhouse. Paul (from Cork) and Liz (from Meath) who expertly manage the service, commented that I haven't lost my accent .. Quote of the day : 'In Caroustie, you don't lose your accent; You lose your mind !'. Here's Liz. Paul had gone off to play golf a this stage.

Another wonderful day on the Scottish links. We're off to play the Montrose medal course, the 5th oldest golf course in the world (est. 1562) tomorrow and a whisky tasting tomorrow evening ! The forecast is good. In fact, it seems it may be a good week here in the heart of Scottish golflands .. Wonderful !

We're off now for a walk on the beach to enjoy the continued Scottish sunshine,

That's it for now,

Kate & Martina.

Royal Portrush & The Bushmills Inn !!

Hi, its' Kate back again and Thank You to Martina for taking over blogging duties for our day out at Royal County Down, and also for the wonderful Pink Champagne which we enjoyed to the full !!

We couldn't finish our Northern Ireland Golf trip without a visit to my favourite golf course in the world, Royal Portrush, and of course the obligatory stay over at The Bushmills Inn.

We drove up on Saturday morning and tee'd off at about 3pm. The weather was kind and apart from a few showers of hailstones (they don't do normal rain on the North Coast !), we got around dry and sunny. We had a fantastic day.
The course is breath-taking and was in brilliant condition. Here's some of the wonderful views ..

And that's Martina on the 4th tee, complete with 4 legged audience!

The 14th at Portrush is called Calamity, for a very good reason .... here it is. I'm afraid I had a bit of a calamity there.

Matina has had such experience in the bunkers at Royal County Down, that any bunker which doesn't have 5 feet of rushes on top is now officially a 'Piece of Cake'. Here she is practising her now perfect bunker skills !

She did attempt a new bunker/rushes shot at RCD .. a snooker shot with the back of the driver, to try and dislodge the ball from the rushes on top of the bunker. It didn't work all that well, and the poor caddy will soon be off the valium ! Here's today's version of this new shot.

There's another new shot that we're both looking forward to trying - a Happy Gilmore drive. Here's a clip of someone a bit more well known trying it :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wguFY0DDoAU


We didn't try it at Portrush !

After a wonderful round in sunshine (most of the time) at Portrush, it was back to the Bushmills Inn for a well deserved dinner. We had a lovely meal and really enjoyed the ambience of this wonderful old hostelry. There was live music afterwards, so that rounded off a brilliant day and we managed to resist the local tipple.

We left Bushmills this morning and Martina has gone back to London.

Next golfing action for the intrepid duo is Carnoustie (Aghhh - the Barrie Burn !) and a few other Open Qualifying courses from Monday 11th May and back to the Old Course on 15/16th. We're both really looking forward to that, and will continue the blog from Bonnie Scotland !

Thanks and all the best,

Kate

Golf is an EXTREME sport!

Hi, Martina here updating current play for Kate's blog.


We arrived early at Royal County Down, to warm up before playing one of the world's top 10 courses. Dark gray skies, driving wind and raindrops like hailstones, we donned the toughest 'wet weather' gear we had and headed into the club house to get coffee and caddies . Mick ,who caddied for me had previously assisted Tiger Woods and Catherine Zeta-Jones ;(He was 6'2" with blue eyes & a good line in blarney) He said we were lucky he was available, as the lady who'd booked him ran out out of petrol & rang from the garage saying she was frightened to fill up on account of Swine flu. He assured her it was in Mexico, not Texico!


They suspended play for an hour & a half ,then the rain stopped, a rainbow appeared on top of the clubhouse and away we went.

Sorry there are no more pictures of Martina-the bunkers were too deep, and there was great danger of landslide due to earlier rain.


Kate's threeball teed off last of the ladies as they were the leaders (like they do it in The Masters). John ,the caddy gave steady reassuring advice ;On the notorious 15th, when asked 'what do I need here?'advised Kate to take a '3 wood &
a black taxi'!
Kate was defending a 4 stroke lead and held onto her lead after a 5 hour round by one stroke to claim The ladies tournament prize -a lovely wet weather Callaway jacket.

It was a superb three days,well organised, excellent value, spectacular courses and a warm & friendly atmosphere throughout;We will definitely be back for more!

Tomorrow we head up to play at Royal Portrush, via Bushmills Inn. Kate will resume the blog tomorrow, at the moment she's enjoying a drop of champagne (pink of course ). I've had a few drops myself, now that I've got out of the bunker.

Bye for now,
Martina.

Spectacular Adrglass !!

Today we played at Ardglass. Ardglass is a stunning links course which literally hangs off the cliffs in the beautiful fishing village of Ardglass in South County Down. The first tee is amazing. The course planner describes the first tee shot : 'It looks scary, but all of Ireland, all 42,000 square miles of it, is on your right' (They don't mention that there is nothing but water in front and to the left) . Actually the Ladies Tee is not quite so scary and is place a few yards further right and safe ! Here's the first tee .. interesting !

The forecast today was not good and we travelled with tons of extra clothes and wet gear etc. However, apart from one hole, we didn't get wet and most of the time had a very dry and sunny round. Shot of the day was Martina's spectacular bunker shot of about 90 yards to pin high about 6 feet right .. brilliant shot. The photo doesn't really capture it but I tried !

The views from every hole in Ardglass are amazing and it's hard to focus on the golf sometimes when you want to just gaze out to the sea and the fishing boats !

I had quite a good round today - 36 points, and somehow have found myself as the leading lady going into the final round tomorrow at the Championship Course at Royal County Down. We're both really looking forward to the game tomorrow and hoping that once again the weather folks may have got it wrong and that we'll have a dry day tomorrow. (The forecast is for heavy rain !). Royal County Down is probably Ireland's premier golf course (very scary !) and it will be great fun to try to plot our way around. Can't wait !! Will check in tomorrow to let you know how we get one.

Best Wishes,
Kate

Armagh & Down

Back to good old Northern Ireland for the 3 day Armagh & Down tournament. Martina has come over from London and we headed off to Donaghadee Golf Club yesterday for Day 1. Here's Martina having been announced on the first tee.

We were paired up with 2 members from Donaghadee, Linda and Jackie, so that was great - to get some local knowledge ! We managed to stay dry all the way around and had a really enjoyable round. We also got very well fed afterwards - so that was very welcome after a long and windy round.

The Grand Finale !

Last night we had our end of week dinner and presentation of prizes. It was held in the St. Andrews Links Clubhouse. Here's the clubhouse and the piper !

We had a visit from Old Tom Morris ! and some points on how the game was played in the 1800's.


You don't see too many French men in kilts ! - but Dominique had a go and definitely looked the part ! It wouldn't be a Scottish celebration without the Haggis and it was expertly piper in by the piper and paraded by the chef.

We had a Champagne reception, followed by an excellent meal. Haggis, neeps and tatties (naturally) , to start and main course of roast beef. Then down to business and presentation of the prizes for the week.

I was very happy that my Longest Drive on the 18th on the Old Course yesterday stood up and I won the prize for that. It wasn't actually the best drive I've ever hit, but it was quite windy and tough enough to drive into. Here's the Longest Drive presentation. That's Ken (on the left) and Ian, the 2 pro's who looked after us for the week in the photos.

My 2 over, Net 78 on the Old Course was good enough for 3rd place, so I had another prize for that.

I was also thrilled that our team, GB & I were second in the 4 Ball Better Ball competition. Here's the team, Steve on the left, then Roger, then Neil.

So a good haul of prizes ! as well as an excellent week's golf. Our GB & I team mate (bandit !) Neil won the Men's competition with a magic 66 !


A wonderful week's golf in the most magic golf location in the world. I've had a magnificent time. The organisation of the week was abolutely brilliant and the folks from Links Golf could not do enough for us. There was always someone waiting to take you where ever you wanted to go at any time of the day ! and great advice on golf and the courses, the town, the bars ! etc. etc.

I even got some expert advice from the concierge at the hotel on how to get out of a bunker. Here he is showing me the secret. You imagine the ball sitting on a dollar note (we used a real dollar note !) and you take out the whole dollar note - not just the ball. So that's one more thing to pack in my golf bag - a few dollar notes for the bunkers.

All the best for now and Thank You for reading my blog. Next golfing action is Martina and me at the Armagh and Down tournament in Ireland. We play Donaghadee on Wednesday 29th, Adrglass on Thursday 30th and Royal County Down on Friday 1st May. Then a nice relaxed game at Royal Portrush on Saturday, taking in Bushmills and the Giants Causeway.

Best Regards,

Kate.

Golfing Mecca - A Sunny Day on the Old Course

We're just back in from the golf day of my life ! We had a magnificent day on the Old Course today. Here's our 4 ball for today on the first tee : Susan and Bob again, and Alex from Germany, a great group. We had a brilliant time.

It's almost intoxicating to stand on the first tee and drive down towards the Swilkin Burn. Thankfully I managed a good one down the middle and stayed away from the trouble (but I was shaking on the tee !). Layed up to about 3 feet short of the burn (by design of course !) and escaped with a 5 - the relief !

Here's the first tee shot, over Granny Clarke's Wynd (where the car is going across !).

The course is absolutely stunning with tons of extra bunkers that you never see on TV. You also get no idea of the slopes and steps on the greens. Some of the greens are 100 feet wide. One, the 11th is just one big slope from left to right. The caddies call it the shortest Par 5 in the world !

And the bunkers .. I only found one (really silly shot. I underhit a chip to the green on the 13th and of course it wound it's way into a very interesting bunker ! (Just being friendly really - there were already 2 balls in there !). It took me 2 to get out sideways .. but you can't play the Old Course without visiting a bunker - would be rude !

There's a brilliant bunker in front of the double green for the 7th and the 11th. It's called Shell Bunker. Bob found it on 7 and Susan did on 11th. Susan called it the Grand Canyon. Here it is ... It really is a day's work to get out of it, great fun though.

I probably played my best golf today, but missed a few short putts on the back 9. Ended up with 34 points, net 78 ; 2 over the Ladies Par of 76. I drove well and hit some great long woods. My caddy Ian, was terrific. He found the right line for me every time and apart from one silly chip, I avoided all the bunkers, which is the really the key of playing the Old Course.

We took some time to enjoy our game today. It was the first time on the old course for all of us .. so lots of photos. Here we are on the Swlikin Bridge.

Today was a great combination of history, golfing magic, definitely a sense of occasion and some good golf.. what more could you ask for !


Here I am on the 18th playing up towards the Valley of Sin. It was quite windy. I didn't make it in 2 and had a long putt from off the green. The marker beside me is the Longest drive, which I passed .. but there were a lot behind us , so I very much doubt that mine will stay longest for long .. but it was nice to get there - even if only temporarily !


And here I am again putting out for a 5 on 18. It felt really good to walk over the bridge and up the 18th .. just like Jack, Tiger, Padraig etc. etc.

What a magnificent day .. I can't say enough positives about it. Brilliant - highly recommended. !

Off to the closing dinner tonight and home tomorrow morning. I can't believe the week is over - it seems like no time since I got my first glimpse of the Old Course.

Slan agus beannacht,

Kate

The New Course

We played the New Course today. Here's our 4 ball. Back to the United Nations today ! John and Erica from Tokyo on the left (I'm sure they're called something different in Tokyo !) and Jim from Melbourne Australia on the right.

We were very lucky with the weather again. Rain had been forecast and it did rain overnight, but we got through the whole round without a drop. It was individual competition today. I have to say I missed the comraderie and the craic of the team games - really enjoyed those.

The New Course is lovely. I think the best we've played yet. It felt really Scottish and links like today. Lot of interesting bunkers. I got caught a few times - mostly got out OK, but they definitely cost you at least a shot. I didn't feel the wind as strong as yesterday, but it was tough enough in the last few holes which were all into the wind.

Today we had 4 players, 4 caddies and a trainee caddy, so 9 people in our group. I found it quite a struggle to focus on my game today with what felt like crowds of people standing about on the green while you put. Definitely a lesson for me for tomorrow. Nevertheless, another great day and I really enjoyed the course. I played OK - drove well most of the time, but the putts that dropped yesterday didn't do today ! and I left at least 3 hanging on the edge without going in. I had a great birdie 3 on the 11th. Great drive, a good 5 wood into the wind left of the flag to the back of the green, about 12 feet, and the put of the day .. downhill, a little right to left .. and it dropped ! Also had a great par on the last into the wind - so enough to bring me back tomorrow.

Tomorrow we play the Old Course. I can't wait. I've been looking over it at breakfast and dinner and walking around it all week - so I'm really looking forward to getting out on it tomorrow. The forecast is OK. I'm out early and I think we'll get the best of the weather.

Another fantastic day on the St. Andrews links and terrific anticipation for tomorrow ..

Cheers for now,

Kate

Team GB & I

Another fantastic warm sunny day at St. Andrews ! Unbelieveable weather

The game today was on the Jubilee Course and it was a team 4 Ball Better Ball where the best net score counted on every hole. I played with 3 English guys, so it was a real GB & I team. Here's the team, Steve (left) and Roger at the back and Neil (Neil is originally from Iraq, but settled in the UK) and me in the front. We had a great day. The sun shone all day - no rain, but the wind on the back 9 was something else. Thank God for my caddy Ian. There was a par 5 where my 3rd shot had about 90 yards into the wind. He told me to hit 155 ! I did, and left it pin high for a birdie ! I had 2 birdies today on par 5's and some cracking putts. (The policy of spending the time before the games on the putting green rather than the range seems to be paying off !). I drove quite well today too. It's very tricky into such a strong wind. We worked really well as a team today and we all had our moments. Some great puts, particularly on the back 9 saw us in at Net 60. Not sure how that stands, but we thought we did well ! (We thought that yesterday - we had Net 56, but there were 48 and 49 in ! Obviously some serious bandits at work !).

The Jubilee course is really good. I definitely prefer it to the Eden yeterday. It's more interesting, with some great views. We were treated today too, to some displays from the fighter jets across the estuary. The noise from them as they loop and circle upside down, is phenominal, much worse than Corcord ; not great in the middle of your backswing !

Here's the view from the 18th Tee. You can see all the way up the 18th on the Old Course to the R&A. It feels a bit like walking through Golfing History (Can't wait to play the Old Course on Friday). So far the weather has played it's part admirably, so hopefully the wather gods are on our side for another 2 days. It's the New Course tomorow and the Old Course on Friday.

Dinner in the 'toon' tonight.

That's it from another brilliant day at Sunny St. Andrews,

Kate