Oh My Goodness, the Old Course is AMAZING!!!

We just got in from roaming around the Old Course in St. Andrews at dusk, and IT IS MAGICAL! It was one long and crazy day (actually 2 days merged into 1). We flew out of Dulles airport at 8:45pm on Sunday, had a 6 1/2 hour trip to London where they fed us every 3 hours or so, and when we arrived in London it was 8:15 on Monday morning. Sunday night disappeared. So after going through customs we had a wait of about 7 hours in Heathrow airport for our connecting flight to Edinburgh, which left about 4:20pm and got in about 5:30pm. After a hair-raising bus ride from Edinburgh airport to Waverly train station in Edinburgh we caught a train to Luechers station (5 miles outside of St. Andrews) and arrived there about 8:30pm. There we met a very nice young couple who shared a cab ride into St. Andrews and showed us exactly where we were staying (the St. Andrews Hostel). I am pleasantly surprised at how nice it is but Kim is a little apprehensive as we are in a 7 bed, mixed gender, dorm type room and we both have top bunks. But it seems well kept up and well run and it also seems quite secure. So after grabbing supper at the Grill House right below the hostel we headed to the Old Course. It was about a 3 block walk and it was unbelivable. I'm not even going to try to describe what it felt like but I am going to let a few pictures tell a bit of the story.






This is the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse, sort of the original birthplace of organized golf. This picture doesn't even start to capture how imposing and incredible it is.









This is me with original signed Jack Nicklaus wall hangings from the 2005 Open Championship at St. Andrews, which was the last one he played. He signed the picture of him waving farewell on the bridge at the 18th hole and then he signed the 18th hole flag and a scorecard. This is in The Score's Hotel, right across the street from the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse, where we will be the guests of the St. Andrews Rotary Club at their dinner on Tuesday evening.

This is the 18th green and some of the shops that literally line the fairway. The picture was taken from the 18th green grandstand where it will all culminate next Sunday afternoon.

We had a brief encounter with Tom Weiskopf and Mike Tirico, as well as a couple of other on course announcers for ABC and ESPN as they came off the course after inspecting parts of it. We got to say hi and got a picture as they headed to their hotel right along the 18th fairway.

And here is me in front of the big scoreboard behind the 18th hole grandstand where the story of the Open is continually told and updated throughout the tournament before announcing the winner on Sunday afternoon. I am in the top row of the Grandstand, where I won't be able to get anywhere near once the competition starts. A tournament ticket for that grandstand costs around $5000. But I got to feel what it was like tonight.

And that is just a taste of what it is like around here. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be nothing but picture taking and trying to get a glimpse of the players as they prepare for competition starting Thursday. If it just keeps getting better from here, I don't know if I will be able to take it..............................

George