Kingsbarns Links
Today took us about a 4 mile drive north of St Andrews to Kingsbarns Links. We have heard a lot about it from other players that we have encountered and it did not disappoint. Another beautiful seaside course with stellar views of the coast. Two more great young caddies in Graham and Paul who were very fun and knowledgeable and we jelled with them immediately. Standard conversation ensues and invariably they ask where we have played and Jimmy is quick to whip out the printed Itinerary. No one can believe we are walking 36 a day and today took its toll for sure. Kingsbarns is a seaside course but carved out of the hills above. There are long walks between tees and lots and lots of uphill walking. It’s an upscale place with fancy golf tour busses pulling in taking groups of guys on golf packages. This is one everyone wants to play and so it’s booked into the rotation. From the looks of some of the players I saw today, they are going to be damn tired tonight. Even one of the guys in our group could not walk the second half and had to get a cart. Beautiful place, but Scotland has so many beautiful places and courses. Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally first class all the way, but does not have the old club vibe like North Berwick west links, and others we have played. After feeling like we walked the Appalachian Trail with golf clubs we packed up and headed up the road to Crail Balcomie Links. It’s the 7th oldest golf club in the world. Old Tom Morris laid out the links in the current configuration. He also must have enjoyed walking up and down hills. We were expecting a nice flat links style course and instead we got a massively hilly open style terrain with elevated tee boxes and PLENTY of uphill walking. We played the championship tees today as an added bonus.
That equates into just more steps…. Near 30, 0000…..
mostly uphill. We both played well despite having wobbly legs and panting like black labs from climbing. Member caddies this afternoon were sure helpful but not the professionals like those in St Andrews. The first tee shot at Crail plays over the edge of an ancient stone lifeboat house. This course has some Buster par 3s and it’s share of long par 4s. I actually had to hit cut driver into one of the par 3s and Jimmy smoked a 3 wood….and Of course it’s straight uphill into the wind.
Quite a challenge and tomorrow we are hoping for some flat land. We came back tonight dead tired but it’s early by our usual standard and after a quick meal we are hoping for a good nights rest.
Tomorrow Leven Links and London Links….good stuff!
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