Hey oh!
Back in Scotland. Three days to cover. I warned Db that his lips would be tired by the time he got through this one. He didn't actually object. And, for those of you here for it, the food porn will be voluminous. 😀
Let's start with today. Because.
The four OG's played the Muirfield, the course of the Honorable Gentlemen of Edinburgh Golfers (the initials were on all kinds of things, including the caddie vests), which is about 20 miles east of Edinburgh. As you might expect from the title, the club is older than dirt, and this is there third golf home, which rather explains the location.
But anyway. There's some argument whether this is the best golf course in the world. Having just played it, it lived up to that. Might be my favorite course ever. And that means beating some bangers just on this trip.
Here's the thing about the HGEG -- everyone says part of the experience is staying after for their lunch. So, we planned on it. The HGEG has standards, rather strict ones, which include blazers, ties, and "smart shoes" (I sent a picture of what Db was hoping to wear and their golf services person said "no" :)), so we had to drag such gear with us, which none of us would have brought otherwise. Here's the result:
For those of you unfamiliar at home, it's Db on the left, RR, then me, then B.
One of the things about the experience is the service. A guy greeted us in the parking lot and gave us the spiel; he knew we were the Hicks party (everyone all day did; I'm not sure if it was because we were the last visitor tee time of the day, or just their thing); a guy met us next to our parking slot in the garage and drove us down to the clubhouse; another guy picked up our clubs and brought them; another person gave us a spiel about the day and the rules, reminding us that there was no mobile use in the building, but we could use them and take pictures outside. Then another one showed us to the locker room, where we could hang our clothes (and have a locker if we desired), to change.
We played golf. I suspect it will be a memorable round in some part because I did a couple things...
We're standing on the first tee and Db, who plays from tees farther back than the real old guys, had his ball teed and was stepping in to hit. I realized I was standing right behind him -- not good form -- and took a couple steps back. I bumped into his bag and went down on top off it. I was all right except for the embarrassment (😡😡😡) but Db's bag was splayed on the ground like a squished spider. They tried to bend the legs back to straight, but, in the end, ended up get a pull cart to carry it. I owe him a new bag 😢
The second was more positive. On 15 I hit a second shot that just stayed out of a bunker. (My caddie, Craig, told me to play the lottery, because I played at least a half dozen shots in a way that ended up okay, even though they really shouldn't have 😁). We walked up and it was right on the right edge of a deep bunker -- to hit it right handed I would have had to hit it chest high, choked down, etc. Instead, I showed Craig a shot he admitted it he had never seen: I turned with my back to the hole, took my 7 iron in my right hand, and chipped it toward the hole. It went on the green, the best weight I could have hit it, but I failed to make the putt. He said it was a "cracker of a shot."
The course itself is idiosyncratic. Rather the ordinary "in and out", Murifield is a double loop, with the front nine on the outside of the loop clockwise and the back nine the inside of the loop counterclockwise. If you wonder why this is so clever: it means you never have the same wind (assuming it stays the same all round) on very many consecutive holes. We played the first into the wind (which we were told was the prevailing wind), the second with it from the left, and the third down wind. It makes for a bit more of a challenge.
And we had some wind. By the end, it might have been 20 mph steadily -- it was at least one club down extra, sometimes two .
Funny convo: we ate with silver. Db says "I've never eaten with real silver" and I said that we had it from our wedding but had never gotten out of the box. 😂
And that was today.
We are staying in a caravan in Longniddry, which is west of Muirfield about 8 miles along the coast. The coast road to there is beautiful. And we go back there tomorrow, as you can see Muirfield from Gullane, and we could see Gullane today and it was pointed out to us.
But finding it was painful. It would have helped if I'd read the long text from our host better -- there was pinned google maps link there -- but it was Abbot and Costello go to the vacation center on the way. The first attempt, on Google, using the "get directions" link on the Airbnb page, put us in a neighbor with houses. The next, using Apple maps, led to a dead end. The back seat (RR and B), who both own Androids (aka bricks), and were the only ones on the trip with them, were saying we were going wrong, so we listened to what they were getting and it got us to the gate house. ): Db got the directions, which seemed wrong, and even when we got to Gleneagles drive, we couldn't see the numbers on the units. Finally, I looked at the picture she had sent, which had the unit's name on the side, and we identified it that way.
After entering, we went into some shock. Here's the common space and the one bedroom:
If you are wondering why, I had trouble finding housing for us. I told them it was a trip called "from castle to caravan." They thought that was good. :) I said so to Craig and he said it was problem with all the popular golf courses nearby.
This morning (to begin the food porn -- remember, no pictures inside at Muirfield) -- was breakfast. I found a place in Haddington, a cute market town (RR's caddie lived there) called Ozy's (he said it was pronounced like Mr Osbourne's first name), where we had an awesome brekkie. Here you go, #1:
Avocado toast.
Avocado toast with salmon.
French toast with bacon.
Poached eggs on toast.
We came in here by plane yesterday from Belfast, landing in Edinburgh. We worked with the Enterprise rep and switched cars, ending up in a VW supervan, smaller than the one we had in Inverness. And it's bright orange. Easily found in a parking lot. :)
From the airport, we went to central Edinburgh. RR had never been here, so I headed him toward the castle. B and Db said how awesome it was from 10 years ago (there's a blog); RR bought tickets for 3 o'clock (the earliest he could get). The funny thing is Google took Db (who drives until drinks are involved, then I drive and they all fear for their lives -- Db kept saying "move to your right, dude" on the way to Longniddry 😂 ) right up to the base of the castle, though it led us into a dead end, with pillars in the way. I said "we'll get out here" and he cussed at me (😂) and had to back down the hill. There was a bit with the car behind, who didn't know how to do a 3-point u-turn.
We killed the hour till 3 on the Royal Mile. RR found a food truck with fish and chips and got an order. It claimed the haddock was fresh from here on the Firth of Forth. He said it was the best fish and chips of the trip. 😁
Meanwhile, the bros went to Rose Street to pub crawl. We ended up joining them, and I got this picture of the Abbotsford, which is where we ended the pub crawl 10 years ago.
When we got back to the castle ticket stand at 3, a security person stopped us and said there was no more entrance. I asked if something happened and she kinda nodded. Bomb threat? We don't know.
Disappointed, RR suggested we walk down the Royal Mile and see the palace, which wasns't open to visitors.
As we walked up to the gate, an attendant asked if we were there for the 4 o'clock tour. I said, I thought you weren't open. Only for private tours. Can we get in? He asked another staffer nearby and she said check with the ticket office (it was 5 till 4) and we hurried over and she said she had two tickets and said the price and I passed out, but then paid for them. You see this is the fourth time I've been in Edinburgh and wanted to see the palace and something has happened. In 2016, some minor royal was there, so no visitors. The one year the Queen was there having a garden party. So we went.
It is quite the place. Started by James IV in around 1550, it was finished by Charles II around 1670 (he was a profligate spender) and it is some pile, as they say here. RR took lots of pictures (he said 200+ for the day) but there were no pics there. I got busted for trying to, but I just forgot. 😁
We met them and headed east.
Tuesday was still in Ulster (we learned the locals don't call it Northern Ireland; ponder that).
In one of the minor f**K ups of the trip, I got the tee time wrong. I thought we had 320 and we had 220. Fortunately, we got there about 140, so people could shop. (the amount of pounds dropped in golf shops across this trip would float a yacht) So there was little warm up, not that there was much warming up on a 58 degree day with a mist. ):
We were playing Royal Portrush. It is now the Ulster represntative in the British Open rota (Muirfield is also in that rotation), which is a BFD.
There was an argument about how good the course was over dinner. KG wasn't a big fan; others argued it was maybe the best course we played.
I have this shot, as it sits above the Irish Sea on this kind of cliff (not as awesome as the day before at Portstewart, but impressive) --
You can see how nice it was. Not.
My caddie's name was Duran, which I found hard to understand till I saw his name tag, named after the boxer, who won a world championship the year he was born. I had some trouble understanding him. For I don't know how many holes he said "it is 135 pound" and I had no idea what he meant. I finally figured out he was saying "pin" and it suddenly made sense. We had a good time. We kidded a lot. On the one hole he was pointing out a trap on the right side of the fairway and I said "can I get there" and he said "maybe with your third shot" 😂
I was playing with RR, trying to win him the money.
Not to bore you, but we finished last for the day, but Z, who had to win with him last to TIE for the win, ended up only tied for 2nd. Db and G-man won the day, and scooted into 2nd and 3rd for the 8 rounds, winning money. I was the banker.
In the other contest, there were five birdies, all in the group I wasn't in ):, for a total of 38 for the week. KG made a birdie on the 14th hole to win that pot, which was 38*8 pounds. Nice rake.
Neither RR nor I had a good day, shooting our highest scores of week. It was pretty miserable. RR never put his rain pants on, so was very soaked. My shoes aren't totally waterproof, so my feet were wet, but hte rest okay, but my bag, towels, etc, were soaked. We all had to work hard to get things dry, and I still found wet things (like a toboggan) today.
The others were in before us -- they claimed 3 holes ahead. Maybe. They played in 4:10 and we played in just under 5 hours. WE were the last group on the course (rather like today).
In the bar, for our last drinks together as an eightsome, we were quick. I collected the money, and KG collected his, and then Db says "how upset were you about the tee gift?" I shrugged. He tried to egg me on. See, we get a tee gift on every course (today's was a metal bag tag with our names and the date engraved on it), and today a girl in the shop told one of us that there was one. The starter, John, told us they were out for the season. I only asked him because we were told there was one.
So, they tried to lure me into saying something grumpy. It didn't work In the end, it turned out G-man had said something to a staffer and they got us the tee gift, which turned out to be a bit lame -- a drawstring bag with some tees, a scorecard and a rubber bag tag.
We had dinner at the purportedly best place in town, which was on the sea. Here's the porn:
Brownie sundae.
Brownie with ice cream (yes, different thing)
Lemon posset (not as good as Monday at Dornoch)
Strawberry sundae.
Butterscotch sundae.
I don't know.
Sea bass.
Prawns.
Steak.
Rigatoni.
Hamburger (smash version)
Last night we had pizza at a place near the car, ad lib. It was excellent wood-fired pizza.
The golf part of our trip has one more day. 😢
We get into London late tomorrow so there'll be no blog till Saturday.
