Day 8 (Old Course)

Mmmmmmmm, sleep. It’s a beautiful thing. You don’t realize how important it is to get a good night of sleep until you spend an evening trying to get some shut eye on concrete. We got about 7 cherished hours of sleep and woke up to our customary complimentary breakfast – Dave, Ryan, and I got a toned down version while Juvy still went for the full boat tasting order. Refreshed and rejuvenated, we made our way down to the shuttle for our ride to the course.

We rolled in like we were on the Tour. Our personal driver drops us off right at the tee box, we stroll right past the people in line to the front, and we set our bags next to the first tee box like we own the place. We’d paid our dues the night before and had made the ballot. There’s a certain level of respect and sympathy for the current group of people in the line who are desperate for a tee time and worried with fatigue and anticipation of the day’s round. We know the feeling. But having your own tee time that you worked so hard to get makes it better. It’s a cool feeling when the starter of the Old Course says “Welcome back gentlemen” and the caddies come over and say hi before heading to get their daily assignments. You feel part of the whole experience on the most famous golf course in the world. Nothing matches this in golf.

The round was great. First of all, it was great to get back on that course with everyone in the same tee time. We had a great time the day before but comparing notes after the fact with the foursome isn’t the same as talking about shots that you saw a guy hit. Second, playing the course a second time was so much better than the first time. We had a much better idea of the trouble on the course and had much better goals set for ourselves. Dave and I had personal goals of redemption at the 11th hole, which we had both doubled the day before. Third, our caddies were awesome. Dave and I had the same guys from yesterday (they requested to get us again) and both were the best caddies we had the entire trip. Great guys with funny personalities and a level of golf intelligence that was top notch. Everything was set up for a great round, we could only get in the way of ourselves.

I’ll let the fellas go into the details about their rounds and add the color commentary since there was a lot of it. We had some great shots and some amazing plays early. Jeff and I birdied the 7th hole and Dave barely missed his birdie putt. I finished the front nine even with a birdie, a bogey, and seven pars. Time to get some course management on the back nine. It was a constant battle with my caddies to keep the driver out of my hands. I didn’t need it most of the time and was having a tough time hitting it straight. I scored a birdie on 11 and Dave made a ridiculous two putt for par from like 100 feet that almost went in – redemption accomplished – to go one under. I had two bad shots – both shots were missed drivers off the tee – and putted really well for the first time on the trip. I took a double and a triple on the two holes. I grinded out a 77 (two birdies, twelve pars, two bogeys, a double bogey, and a triple bogey) on the most famous course in the world and felt ecstatic. My nerves were so raw by the end I had a slight headache and my hands were shaking. Nothing a celebratory whisky wouldn’t cure however.

After taking pictures and exchanging contact information with our caddies, we headed back to the hotel in the shuttle to watch the Walker Cup players play #2 and #3 from our balcony. Sightseeing, shopping, spa, dinner and a little crib to end the night. Trip of a lifetime.