Global Golf Post: UK and Ireland

Especially Nos. 12 and 13, where a twisting burn
comes into play. And also the par- 4 14th, which
runs along the North Sea and requires a blind
approach to a funky green, tucked in the dunes
and as narrow as it is long.
I cannot help but ponder what a classic links
Cruden Bay is as I walk to the 15th tee there. And
I start ticking off in my head the many things I like
about these types of courses. I enjoy how they force
you to adjust your swing from shot to shot, depend-
ing upon the wind and ways the holes are routed.
I move from punching low shots to lofting high
balls, from swinging free and easy downwind to be
a bit tighter when going into a gale. I also have to
think harder on a links because there are so many
nuances to each play, and to remember to take
what the course gives me, shrugging off the bad
bounces and bum luck that are so much a part of
this type of game.

It is tortuous at times, but also titillating, and
I decide that much of the pleasure I derive from
links golf stems from the way it compels me to play
the game in its most basic form, and to experience

w I flew in and out of Edinburgh on my way north and
was lucky enough to be in the Scottish capital for its
International Festival, which takes place for three
weeks each August. It’s a wonderful and very well
attended celebration of music, theater, opera and
dance. My advice is to set aside a couple of days to
check that out if you happen to be in the country
then. It’s big fun, and there’s no better way to get to
know the city once called the “Athens of the North”
for being one of the centers of the Enlightenment.

w While in Edinburgh, I stayed at the Malmaison
Hotel on the harbor in the Port of Leith, just 15
minutes from the city center. It’s a well-appointed
Nairn par- 3 5th

had to play them, too. Such as Cruden Bay, which
was also designed in part by Old Tom Morris. It is
a way of stepping back in time and paying homage
to the pioneers of the game, as it is also a mode of
getting to know this historic land better.
Nairn is another classic course. Located due
west of Cruden Bay and laid out on the Moray
Firth outside Inverness, it is a flattish links with
an impressive architectural pedigree, having been
tweaked at different times by Old Tom and five-
time Open champion James Braid. Nairn is also
as strong a championship venue as it is a pleasing
place for members to play every day. Local golfers
heartily sing its praises, and Monty likes it so much
that he named a house of his after it.

retreat in an old seamen’s mission and located
in a gentrified part of town. The inn’s Brasserie
restaurant serves up excellent food, especially
the uber-flavorful Aberdeen beef, and its bar is
a popular watering hole among the city’s more
upwardly mobile denizens.
w Aberdeen also has a Malmaison Hotel, and I found
it to be just a pleasurable a place to stay – and
dine. It also boasts an impressive whisky store
with some 300 selections. Set in the west side
of town in an imposing granite building that was
once a private residence, the hotel is only about a
15-minute drive from Royal Aberdeen.

Nairn par- 4 16th

The opening seven holes there run right along
the Firth, and the first thing a golfer realizes
is that this course is a lot about the bunkering.
Drives must be accurate to stay out of those stra-
tegically placed fairway hazards, and greenside
bunkers must be avoided on approaches. Alas,
there is not much in the way of reprieves for those
who get onto the putting surfaces at Nairn, for
their testy undulations give even the best golf-
ers fits. I fell especially hard for the par 3s there,
among them the shortish fourth, which plays to
a well-bunkered, kidney-shaped green, and the
downhill 14th, some 220 yards from the tips to a
putting surface guarded by four bunkers in front
and a mess of gorse left and back. A

w The golf club at Aberdeen is also fairly close to
Scotland’s most easterly whisky distillery, Glen
Garioch, which means “valley of the granary,” and
is situated in the humble burg of Oldmeldrum amid
some of the finest barley growing regions in the
land. Open for more than 200 years, Glen Garioch
produces some very impressive single malts, and a
tour there is a nice way to break up a golf trek.

w Speaking of Royal Aberdeen, 2006 U.S. Amateur
winner Richie Ramsay is a much celebrated
member there, and also an honored golfer, having
won the Junior Club Championship three times.

to shepherd 11 of your
best golf buddies on a
much-anticipated Scottish Highlands
adventure, including a castle tour,
a distillery pilgrimage and making good
on a long-standing dare for everyone
to sample haggis?
As if getting your herd of scotch-loving
cronies from Aberdeen to Castle
Stuart then up to Dornoch and back wasn’t
enough, you need to set up the
pairings, create the tee sheets and
ensure each guy plays with every other guy
at least once. There’s 4-ball, 2-ball and
singles matches and, of course, the
traditional Skins game to organize. Not
to mention collecting all the photos,
wisecracks and scorecards into a Trip Book
because every guy will want a
keepsake of the golf, the camaraderie and
the green faces on the first tee the
morning after the haggis feast.