Well, I didn't just walk up to St. Andrews. I took a 1 hour and 20 minute cab ride from Edinburgh @ 5:30 AM, after playing 49 holes of golf the day before and tipping pints in the clubhouse until the wee hours.
When I checked at the starters shack at 7:00 AM he told my threesome that there was no chance we'd all get to play in the same group. He signed us up as singles, albeit with 10 names ahead of us. He instructed us to go grab breakfast, and then lunch, and check back around 12:30!!! We settled in for a long wait. After breakfast, around 9:30, we decided to go back to the first tee and just stand there until he let us play.
At 10:00 he told us we were the next names on the list. At 10:15 a two-some showed up for their tee time. The problem, at The Old Course a two-some is completely acceptable. If they wanted to remain as two they had every right. Luckily they had no problem sharing the round of a lifetime with two complete strangers. The problem we had was our third player. He was our host, had already played St. Andrews and is also an exceedingly nice person. He stored his bag in the caddie shack and carried my friend's bag for eighteen holes so we could all experience the course together. We already have a "thank you" gift in the works, have no fear.
Anyway, I pared the first hole and was ready to bring the course to it's knees. On the front nine the wind was at our backs and I used it to my advantage. I avoided all the trouble the Old Course could throw my way and carded a 41, not bad. Then came the back side where the wind was in our face from 13 through the 18th. I found my first bunker on the par-3 eleventh. I had to go for the green........once, twice, then on the third shot I succumbed and blasted out of the bunker backwards. That netted me a quadruple-bogey 7 but it was worth ever stroke. I found two more bunkers on the 12th hole, saving strokes each time by blasting out backwards.
Once the wind was in my face all bets were off. It was a constant 30 mph. with higher gusts thrown in for good measure. By the time I reached 18 all hopes of a sub-80 round had been dashed. My caddie mentioned that if this wind were behind me I could easily reach the 18th green with my drive. Today, though, I should play it as a par-5 and try to reach it in three. OUCH!! I hit driver, three iron and I was still 40 yards from the green when I lined up my third shot. I hit my best of the day, a punch wedge that bounced once and stuck three feet from the hole. I calmly drained my par putt in front of roughly 100 tourists. I couldn't have ended such an experience any better. I carded a 92 (41 front, 51 back). I truly appreciated every single stroke that I had the opportunity to make. I only hit three bunkers all day but they added 5 strokes to my round.
The pro shop depleted my bank account like an armed gunman. Hey, I'll probably never make it back there again so I needed to make this trip count.
My advice for anyone traveling there to play, take the guess work out of it and book your tee-time 6 months in advance.
Sorry for the ramblings on the board. Can we start up a golf category in the near future...........?