“Honesty and Honestly” is a personal golfing reminisce, turning back the clock to over 40 summers ago, to a week in time that whatever the question, golf was the answer.
Itinerary
I was about 16 or 17 years of age when my late father and I went on a week’s golfing holiday.
Brilliant, as in those salad days I could actually play golf to a very reasonable standard and I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to test myself on a variety of courses. I will park the story of my golfing ability decline ever since for another day/article!!
The proposed itinerary was really simple:
- Sunday – Travel to Edinburgh from our home near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
- Monday – Play golf
- Tuesday – As per Monday
- Wednesday – As per Monday
- Thursday – As per Monday
- Friday – Travel back home
- Saturday – Recover
Modern-day corporate world terms and concepts such as “baseline plan”, “change management” and “agile” were probably not around in the mid-1970s. Even if they were, as a golf-mad teenager all I saw was a diet of playing golf on 4 consecutive days.
Looking back, the proposed itinerary was actually our baseline plan, the changes that emanated from this plan were certainly agile and my eventual golfing diet for the week bordered on gluttony!!
Newcastle to Edinburgh
I have no recollection that my father worried about such matters as “autonomous geo-spatial positioning” in deciding the route to drive from our home near Newcastle Racecourse to Edinburgh City Centre.
Even if Satellite Navigation had been available in the 1970’s I am sure he would have still opted to drive on the most popular inland scenic tourist route between Newcastle and Edinburgh, namely the A68 via the A696. The A68 skirts the boundary of the stunning Northumbria National Park before crossing the Anglo-Scottish border at Carter Bar. From there, the A68 passes through the historic Scottish Borders town of Jedburgh, with a further 40 miles or so to Edinburgh.
To this day, I honestly have no idea why weeks in advance he announced we must set off at 04:30 for a journey of about 120 miles!! Then again…
Sunday Morning (Part 1)
The first day of the golfing week finally arrived, albeit at the unearthly start time, certainly for a teenager, of 04:30. Daylight had just about broken. In the car, clubs and luggage safely packed in the boot, when my father said in a “this will wake you up sort of way”, that the plan was changing. Rather than drive, very slowly, to Edinburgh as per the inland scenic route, let’s instead drive to Edinburgh via the Northumberland coastline and break the journey up by playing 18 holes at Bamburgh Castle Golf Club!! Not surprisingly I immediately woke up…change is good!!
Sunday Morning (Part 2)
So rather than setting off in a North Westerly direction, the compass setting was altered to head due North to Bamburgh, a Northumbrian coastal village dominated by the stunning Castle.
We arrived at Bamburgh Castle Golf Club at about 05:45 and unsurprisingly the car park and course were both deserted. On such a beautiful summer’s morning, against a backdrop of the castle, it felt like golfing nirvana. This view is supported by a quote from the magazine Golf World: “This is quite possibly the most beautiful and beautifully situated golf course in all England”.
Bamburgh Castle Golf Club also featured in the article Scorecard Semiotics, so I have refrained from repeating information about the actual course and associated Scorecard.
In those days, visiting golfers to Bamburgh Castle paid their green fees by putting cash in an envelope, writing their name on the outside (of the envelope) and then placing the envelope in an Honesty Box.
Green fees duly paid, we teed off. I honestly can’t remember anything about the round other than we finished in just under 3 hours and then teed off again at about 09:00 without a break, following a suggestion from my father that we had time “for another round” which I immediately seconded!!
Sunday Afternoon
Thus, just after midday, we had completed 2 bonus rounds of golf. We retired to Bamburgh village to put our “spikes up” and enjoy a well-deserved packed lunch.
After lunch, I naively thought we would start to “tack across” Northumberland to the Scottish Borders and then onwards to Edinburgh to arrive at the Hotel later that afternoon. Whether it was sleep deprivation or mild sunstroke from the morning summer sun or both, we decided to drive a further 15 miles or so up the Northumbria coastline to see if we could play 18 holes at Goswick Golf Club!! Honestly.
Having played Goswick a couple of times the previous year, I spent most of the short drive from Bamburgh with my fingers crossed (ala Harry Vardon), in the hope that we could “sneak in another 18” as Goswick is such a fantastic championship links golf course. Today, it is ranked #1 in Northumberland and in 2018 was one of the venues for the Open Championship qualifying.
Upon arrival, Goswick made us very welcome, as was the case with all the Golf Clubs we visited during the week. We did not have to wait long to play what was by now our 3rd round of a supposed travelling only day.
The one shot from that round that I clearly remember to this day was my opening tee shot. For the third consecutive time playing at Goswick, I went way right into the Out of Bounds to chalk up a triple bogey 7…and yet the next 17 holes were possibly the best golf I have ever played.
Message to current-day self: must warm up before playing golf, though maybe not the equivalent of 36 holes!!
We arrived at our hotel in Edinburgh early evening and I just crashed out and slept.
Monday
I don’t know how many golf courses there are within a 20/30-mile radius of Edinburgh but just like today, we were absolutely spoilt for choice. We had agreed to try and play a different course on each of the 4 days. This was possibly the only facet of the original plan that remained unchanged throughout the week.
Refreshed from the supposed travelling day, we headed to Longniddry Golf Club, situated on the East Lothian Golf Coast, about 15 miles to the east of Edinburgh. From what I remember a number of the holes had stunning views over the Firth of Forth and the course was a composite configuration of links and parkland.
First impression all those years ago was simply “WOW”. I had never experienced playing golf on a course in such superb condition. I can still remember the greens to this day, which were like very subtle, undulating snooker tables. To me just perfection…if only I could putt!!
I must be mistaken (old age an all that), but I honestly sort of remember one of the Greenkeepers manually watering and tendering to a single green all morning!!
As for the golf, we played in the morning and the afternoon. We would have played in the evening as Longniddry was that good but the travelling day had caught up with the driver, and maybe even the navigator, so we returned to Edinburgh with 90 holes already tucked away under our golfing belts.
Tuesday
I honestly have no idea how we selected Glencorse Golf Club as our destination for a golfing Tuesday. Whatever the criteria, we struck really lucky and some. Of all the Golf Clubs we visited that week I can actually recall most about this absolute gem of a course, which is situated a few miles to the south of Edinburgh close to the Pentland Hills Regional Park.
We paid our green fees upon arrival at the club shop. The printing of the receipt for the green fees seemed to take forever. For those of you old enough to remember, the receipt was printed in a style very much like the old-fashioned tickets that were dispensed by Bus Conductors.
As for the golf, what I remember most about Glencorse was how the emphasis was very much on Course Management. A burn seemed to come into play on most holes so every shot had to be carefully plotted and executed.
All these years since playing at Glencorse, I had convinced myself that the course was comprised of 9 Par 3’s and 9 Par 4’s, but looking at the club’s website today there are only 8 Par 3’s. Putting (no pun intended) my memory to one side, the Par 3’s are long and tough, none more so than the signature hole.
As you can see from the image, this hole has a burn just short of the green and a natural amphitheatre created by the trees and the terrain. In the morning round I “went for it” but ended up in the burn but with a good up and down rescued a Bogey 4. In the afternoon, having learnt my lesson, I played short of the burn (not a term normally associated with a Par 3!!). Again, I managed to get up and down but this time for a Par 3. Just a great golf hole, even more so I would imagine from the White Tees.
So by the halfway house we had played on 4 different courses and completed 126 holes.
Wednesday
Another glorious, still, summers morning welcomed us as we arrived at Dalmahoy Golf Club, situated a few miles to the southwest of Edinburgh.
We had the pleasure of playing on the famous East Course, scene of many major tournaments such as the Solheim Cup, the Scottish Seniors Open and the Scottish PGA Championship. And for those of you of a certain golfing vintage, who can ever forget Brian Barnes winning the TPC Europe in 1981, beating Brian Waites in a playoff following a final round of 62!!
The day we played Dalmahoy, the course was almost deserted (belated apologies if some of our wayward shots deterred members and visitors alike!!). Really hard to capture in words how beautiful the course was all those years ago. The course was so well presented and manicured and an absolute joy to play…helped of course by the fact that by some miracle I managed to actually Eagle one of the Par 5’s.
My other lasting memory was lunch. In the mid-seventies, pub grub was literally not on the menu. In Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Chicken in the Basket was considered a delicacy!! However, Dalmahoy was able to serve the most wonderous lunch of Steak Sandwich and Chips, washed down with a Bitter Shandy (we were playing again in the afternoon!!). Thankfully we have left those culinary dark ages well behind, but that Sandwich and Chip combo still takes some beating.
So, as we metaphorically waved goodbye to Dalmahoy with another 2 rounds completed, the overall tally of holes played stood at 162.
Thursday
Oh-No was the cry. Not because this was our final day but because the weather, which had been so glorious, took a drastic turn for the worse. As we drove east from Edinburgh along the coastal road the fog became thicker and thicker. By the time we reached the historic West Links at North Berwick, visibility was down to about 50 yards, so we had no option but to be patient and wait for the fog to clear.
David Huish, who led the 1975 Open Championship after 36 holes, was the Professional at North Berwick at that time. David and others made us feel really welcome whilst we waited. I am sure that visitors today will receive an equally warm welcome from his son Martyn, who succeeded his father as Head PGA Professional in 2009.
We finally teed off, even though visibility was far from ideal. This was confirmed when we came across a wall in the middle of a fairway and another wall in front of a green!!
Just as we completed the 18th hole, the fog miraculously lifted. After a quick turnaround for lunch, we headed back out again, but this time we had the pleasure and privilege to play the West Links in all its historic glory. At times in the afternoon round, I could honestly sense and feel the history. Just a magical place to play the great game that is golf.
As we drove back to Edinburgh one last time, we declared our golfing innings at 198 holes over 5 days…or so we thought!!
Back at the hotel, I mooted the idea of playing one of the Scottish courses again on Friday morning and then take our time returning to our home in Newcastle. The idea itself was not even debated, but which course to play? The agony of choice.
Friday
We discounted North Berwick only because playing there would have added too many miles to the overall journey home. Glencorse and Dalmahoy were discounted as I think they were running competitions or maybe had societies visiting.
Thus, we arrived back at Longniddry on a most glorious summer morning and the intervening 4 days had not diminished that first impression. Still WOW.
To cut a long story short, and you won’t be in the least surprised, we ended up playing 2 rounds at Longniddry, as Friday morning just happened to morph into morning and afternoon. Thus, we finally arrived back home very late and very exhausted with a final total of 234 holes.
Saturday
My original plan was to do absolutely nothing on Saturday. No sleep for the golfing wicked though as when we got home late on Friday, I answered a telephone call (no mobiles or instant messaging in those distant days) from one of my golfing mates who apologised for the late notice and asked whether I could caddy for him on Saturday at a prestigious 36-hole Junior Tournament…honestly!!
Luckily it was held at a course near to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and so I warmed down from the golfing week with a further 2 rounds, albeit caddying.
I don’t think I surfaced again until Monday morning.
Thanks
A huge thanks to Bamburgh Castle, Goswick, Longniddry, Glencorse, Dalmahoy and North Berwick Golf Clubs for such a wonderful golfing holiday. Without their respective warm welcomes and an array of golf courses of such history, quality and contrast, this article would never have been conceived and after four decades lying dormant finally written and published.
Over to You
It would be great to hear from Golfing Herald readers on golfing breaks and holidays that went so much better than the original plan/itinerary?
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