A trip to Mecca

What trip to Scotland would be complete without a trip to Mecca.  St. Andrews is the centre of the Universe for all golfers, so we had to work that in to our trip.  St. Andrews is less than 2 hours from Edinburgh, so it was a perfect spot to lay over for the night.

We stayed at the Fairmont St. Andrews, a first class resort, highly recommended.

We arrived just in time for a dinner at the resort.

The net morning Ron and I had a tee time booked at Balcomie Links, a 15 minute drive south along the coast.  Balcomie Links is the 7th oldest course in the world.  It was founded in 1786, and the current layout was updated by Old Tom Morris in 1895.  Old Tom Morris also updated the Old Course at St. Andrews a few years earlier.  The 14th hole is a particularly difficult par 3.

Unfortunately for me, the green slopes from the front to the back, so my shot funnelled back into a pot bunker behind the green.  I'm too embarrassed to tell how many strokes it took to get out...

Here is a shot of Ron's fine form off the tee at the par 4 15th.

And here is my bunker shot at the par 4 17th.  No trouble getting out of this one, after the many practice strokes on the 14th!

After our round, we met Mary Ann and Ricki in St. Andrews for lunch at the Old Course.  After lunch we walked out to the Swilkin Bridge for photos.  It is a tradition there, that the players will wait until the photos are finished before playing through.  A wedding party was waiting their turn after our group stopped for photos.  Here is one of Ron on the bridge.  I'm sure he has one of me.

Along the way, we had to stop for those iconic photos...

And finally, the 18th green and the clubhouse behind.

After lunch and the photos we were off to Edinburgh for the final leg of the trip. :(

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Mark