From the Prestwick website (http://www.prestwickgc.co.uk/index.html): Prestwick Golf Club was founded in 1851 by a group of 57 members who met at the Red Lion Inn, Prestwick. The first Open Championship was held at Prestwick on October 17, 1860 and played according to the Rules of Prestwick Golf Club. Today was a great day of golf. Our tee time on one of the older courses in the world was at 11:07am, the sun was shining and [...]
Another great day in Scotland with sunshine, blue skies and an expected high of about 13 degrees Celsius (about 56 degrees Fahrenheit). Today course is Kilmarnock Barassie (http://www.kbgc.co.uk/) which was founded in 1887 and is celebrating it’s 125 anniversary this year. As one of the Open Championship Final Qualifying courses, Barassie is supposed to be a challenging layout with excellent greens. Our tee time was set for 11:30am, and we ended up a bit early [...]
After a great 12 hours of much needed sleep, followed by a great breakfast prepared by our host William (at the Miller Guest House in Ayr - http://www.millerhouseayr.co.uk/home.html), we headed off to play the Turnberry Ailsa course. Following the coastal road, we decided to stop in at Culzean Castle for a little Scottish culture of the non-drinking kind (http://www.culzeanexperience.org/). This is a fantastic working castle built on the cliffs over looking the ocean. We didn’t elect [...]
After a couple of hours of sleep, and a bit of a steep learning curve driving a big van on narrow roads on the other side of the road from what I am used to, we made it to the Irvine Golf Club in Bogside, Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland - http://www.theirvinegolfclub.co.uk/. Celebrating their 125th year (the club opened in 1887), it seemed like a good choice for our opening round in Scotland. Looking at the scorecard, we [...]
Another great day for golf (aren’t they almost always are?!?), and today’s venue is The Club at Bond Head – North Course (http://bondhead.clublink.ca/). Another course that I have never played (which is the theme this week as I have not played any of the 11 courses on our schedule), I’ve always wanted to play here as I have heard that it is a great track. The first hole starts on a big downhill and the [...]
Driving down to Toronto from Ottawa, we had a bit of a detour as there was a large accident on the 401 which closed both lanes Westbound. With a detour across Ottawa in rush hour, we reached Glen Abbey around 1:30 for our 2:12 tee time. Starting out on the back nine, the 10th hole was the warm-up for the 11th which is a spectacular downhill par-4 with the green over water. I had a [...]
Day 3 of the forum outing is unfortunately my last. I have to miss Cape Fear tomorrow, however the day dawned bright and clear (although a bit brisk), and after a final breakfast at the Caravelle (which was great to stay at again), we checked out and headed for Arcadian Shores, which I had never played before. #2 is a great par 3 with lots of tee boxes of to the right which really change [...]
Tiger’s Eye is a great course. I played it for the first time a few years back during the forum outing, and once again, it did not disappoint. Today I played with Jeff C, Mike S and Steve. It was a very enjoyable round of golf and the best of my week so far, shooting 40-41 with no doubles, and lots of opportunity to score much lower. I was hitting almost all of my clubs [...]
The 2011 Forum Outing started officially at the TPC of Myrtle Beach. 32 golfers met under cool, but sunny conditions. I was partnered with Bob, Andre and Martin, who were great to play with. Playing from the white tees, I struggled on the front, but managed to shoot a 41 on the back for an 86. Some of the pin positions were very difficult, and putting was mostly a defensive action rather than aggressively chasing [...]
On the way out to the range, I caught the words that send a shiver down a Myrtle Beach golfer’s spine “Cart Path Only”. With the front that blew through Myrtle Beach over night dropping several inches of rain, the fairways at the Barefoot Resort were water laden, making it a very sloppy day with a lot of walking. That said, it was a great day for golf, as I was paired up with Charlie [...]
