Christmas Day Walk... Definitely Not Spoiled

This is really just an excuse to try out a new camera I’ve had for a couple of months now but don’t have a clue how to operate properly. I thought I’d bought the cheapest and simplest in the range but when the User Manual came on a CD to incorporate all 153 pages of camera functionality, it’s then you realise that this is not exactly an Instamatic with the big square flash bulbs on top. Currently, I’m up to page 97 – “Troubleshooting how your Canon can crack NORAD’s missile launch codes”.

What better way to try it out then than to take a few photos on Christmas Day for the benefit of my golfing brothers, neither of whom managed the trek ‘home’ this Christmas to visit their loving parents. Sure… they’ll cite the usual excuses of “living 100s of miles away” or “living on an entirely different continent altogether” or even that old chestnut of “having a wife/small children/extended family obligations”. So it was left to me to make the arduous 50 mile drive to St. Andrews in the Kingdom of Fife to be showered with parental love and copious amounts of rolls and sausage. And wine. And beer. I think that’s called “taking one for the team”.

Anyway, for Stuart and Keith (and anyone else who’s interested in seeing what is going to be the most talked about new golf course in 2008) here are some photos of the latest addition to the landscape of St. Andrews - The Castle Course (opening June ’08) – sitting high on a cliff top overlooking the town and just across the road from my mummy and daddy’s house.

This first one is the fifth green, the nearest hole to the house, looking eastwards back down the fairway. If you think it looks a little hazy, that’s because the mist came rolling in from the sea at this point and my Dad and I stumbled around the next three holes narrowly avoiding falling off the cliff or singing ‘Mull of Kintyre’.

After a while the mist started to disappear to reveal the ninth fairway and green, shared with the 18th.

And this one is looking westwards back up the ninth fairway with the town in the distance.

At this point it got a little colder and we’d neglected to pack a hip flask in our sporrans so we didn’t bother walking the entire course. Here’s the view from the 15th tee…

And here’s the 18th fairway and green…

And here’s the view from the 18th tee (the green is a sharp dog-leg to the right and an awful long way away) where you stand dumbstruck and intimidated by the degree of difficulty and think to yourself… “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”… or some such thing.

And finally, here is the “signature” hole of The Castle Course – a 200+ yard par 3 with the green in the foreground and the tee way back up at the top of the hill. This is a scary tee shot, not only because of the distance and the prevailing wind in your face, but also because you have to carry the ball over the bay where far below sharks circle constantly with frickin’ laser beams on their heads, poised and ready to strike if you go a-lookin’ for any stray balls.

Don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world I’d rather go for a stroll on Christmas Day. Happy New Year…

or, if you’re in the States…

Happy NEW YearS (So why do you say ‘math’ instead of ‘maths’?)