My birthday celebrations continued at the weekend when SWMBO treated me to a long weekend at the Turnberry hotel in Ayrshire. Turnberry has two golf courses, the Ailsa and the Kintyre and I was fortunate to play both.
Friday I was scheduled for the Kintyre and Saturday the Ailsa, but on waking on the Friday morning I was greeted by Wallasey like conditions, strong winds and a bit nippy, so I was keen to take on the Open Championship course in close to it's toughest state.
When I arrived on the first tee, I was informed by the starter that there were three clear holes ahead of me and nobody behind for half an hour. Effectively this meant I had one of the top ten courses in the Country all to myself, what a joy....
The anorak in me knows I first played the Ailsa course in May 1989, something I have made reference to in previous blogs. I went round in 26 over par that day. Friday, however, was not about my score, but about the challenge and the conditions. I did manage to par the 6th hole and got a few fives elsewhere, but I came off the course exhilarated and elated by the whole experience.
The next day I took on the Kintyre course and I was keen to play a competition type round to post a reasonable score. I joined a husband and wife to make a three ball, and they made me aware the lady was a novice and the round might be painful. It would not have been my ideal scenario, but off we went none the less.
In May 1989 I played both the Ailsa and the Kintyre on the same day. The Kintrye was, actually called the Arran in those days, and it has changed somewhat during the passing 20 odd years. I was, therefore, keen to see the new design.
Things did not start well, and I was taken aback by the tight nature of the opening holes, however, I kept to my plan to post a score, and after opening 8,5,5,8,7 (33) against a par of 20, I went round the remaining 13 holes in 9 over par, a very satisfying days work.
The hotel improved as our stay went on. The first night we ate in the 1906 restaurant and the food was average at best. We had a bar meal the next night which was excellent, and then had out own private dining room the final night, which did seat ten, but nobody else had booked it. It was the hotel equivalent of a Michelin starred eatery and did not disappoint.
The Friday night and Saturday the hotel was accepting GroupOn voucher guests and it appeared that the staff were somewhat off hand with them, whereas our attention level increased when they realised we were there for longer than the one night deal the other guests had booked.
Its definitely a place we will revisit, with the BMW championships scheduled in late September. So I will have to get to Royal Liverpool and try to qualify for that again.
Showing posts with label arran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arran. Show all posts
Monday, 11 March 2013
Monday, 7 June 2010
Going once, going twice.....
I have just had two fab days up in Scotland playing golf at Turnberry, the 2009 Open Championship course. I played the Ailsa twice, and am pleased to report that the game held up well and I was part of the winning team, and came third individually, with my second round 86 being as good as I have played for a while.
I am a bit of a golf anorak, so on my return home I was able to check my golf logbooks and identify that in 1989 when i last played the Ailsa course I went round in 98. My handicap was 19 in those days, and we had played the Arran ( now Kintyre) course in the morning. Progress is progress, however, and for that I am thankful.
In that week during 1989 we played 36 holes round Prestwick Old Links, Kilmarnock Barassie, and 18 holes round Troon and Largs. These days 18 is enough both from the stamina perspective and for the fact golf seems to take longer to play.
At Turnberry people started batting off at 06:30 and the last crew we saw on the 18th was 22:15, so they probably started about 18:30. That's twelve hours golf with average 20 people per hour paying £125 each. £30,000 per day just from the one course.
I only had one embarrassment. You know when you see somebody you think you know, either from the pub or work or somewhere else social, well that happened to me. When I confronted the innocent chap it turned out to be Philip Searle from The Antiques Road Show, and Bargain Hunt. What a pleasant chap he turned out to be, just there for the craic like the rest of us.
I am a bit of a golf anorak, so on my return home I was able to check my golf logbooks and identify that in 1989 when i last played the Ailsa course I went round in 98. My handicap was 19 in those days, and we had played the Arran ( now Kintyre) course in the morning. Progress is progress, however, and for that I am thankful.
In that week during 1989 we played 36 holes round Prestwick Old Links, Kilmarnock Barassie, and 18 holes round Troon and Largs. These days 18 is enough both from the stamina perspective and for the fact golf seems to take longer to play.
At Turnberry people started batting off at 06:30 and the last crew we saw on the 18th was 22:15, so they probably started about 18:30. That's twelve hours golf with average 20 people per hour paying £125 each. £30,000 per day just from the one course.
I only had one embarrassment. You know when you see somebody you think you know, either from the pub or work or somewhere else social, well that happened to me. When I confronted the innocent chap it turned out to be Philip Searle from The Antiques Road Show, and Bargain Hunt. What a pleasant chap he turned out to be, just there for the craic like the rest of us.
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