DORNOCH We arrived in Dornoch, I think about 5:00 or so. I was over my jet lag, the weather looked fine though very cloudy and windy - pretty much what I pictured a 'Good Day in Scotland' would be like - and I had been in Scotland for over a day and hadn't played golf yet!! So, not being that hungry - or, rather, hungrier for golf than for food, I thought about the Struie course at Dornoch that David had mentioned. I didn't really think any would go with me, maybe Joe or Mike who had also come a day early, but six of us ended up playing. I was golfing in Scotland!! And I found out - yes, golf is very different on a true links course. In fact, as Sir Plow (as we call Mike) said: everything has a different texture in Scotland - the food (as we discovered eating black pudding and haggis and strange sausages in Glasgow), the weather, the rough, the fairway, the gorse. The gorse! I found the gorse very beautiful - it was in bloom. I gather that it blooms in May and early June and I am so glad I was able to see that! Now, gorse is a nasty bush, with tough prickly spines, and if you hit your ball in there, you usually can't even look for it. 'Unsearchable', we started to call it if you hit one astray in the middle of the gorse. I liked it so much, I wondered if it would grow in Ohio. On return, I was disappointed to find that it was planted in the 30s or 40s in Bandon, Oregon, and is classified as a noxious weed and is very hard to control. Is there any gorse on Bandon Dunes? I guess there are insects in Scotland that eat the seeds and permit excessive spreading - but of course those insects are not in Bandon, or British Columbia, which also has the gorse problem. The fairways are hard, in that your ball will bounce and run a long long way, even when wet (it rained quite hard at the Struie - and with a very strong wind it was raining sideways). But the fairways are so soft - spongy almost, the turf somehow has a give to it, but not enough to stop your ball from bouncing. Very hard to describe - but it is absolutely perfect for the game of golf! Tight lies - very tight, in the fairway - yet an iron will cut through the turf on a good shot. I don't know its composition, but the turf everywhere we played was like this. I have never seen anything like it. In the morning, we were introduced to Royal Dornoch. Again some rain, but periodic, and not too hard - in the Gore-Tex rain gear, and with a caddie, a mere annoyance. But I was not annoyed - I was in a special place. Joe and I shared a caddie for this round - his name was Grant, which he pronounced Grahnt. When he introduced himself to Joe, Joe did not understand and asked him to repeat his name. Grahnt. What? GRAANT - he 'Americanized' his name, Joe understood, and we had a laugh for the whole trip about GRAANT. At Royal Dornoch, you tee off from next the clubhouse on a short par 4. Well, short depending on the wind. They never invented the concept of par in Scotland - we found out why. Depending on the wind, a short hole may be unreachable in two, and a long hole easily reachable. Instead, they wanted to go round in 'level 4s'. Following that a par 3 uphill that played very long into the wind. Then we walked into the heart of Royal Dornoch and something stirred within me. Golf courses have personalities all their own - at least in Scotland, I think moreso than most courses I have played in the US. Each one is different, each one sings a different song, each one interacts with you in a different way. And just like people with different personalites affect you in different ways - some will annoy you, some will become friends quickly, some will understand your humor (well, yours maybe, but probably not mine :-), and some will just 'click'. And there is love at first sight... or so I have heard. I know with golf courses it is true anyway. As I walked onto the third tee at Dornoch, she gathered me in her arms, held me to her bosom, and dizzily swept my golfing heart away. I couldn't stop smiling the next 70 holes I got to play her. The view from the next several holes is dominated by a 40-50 foot hill completely covered with blooming gorse that arcs along for a vast distance. The next four holes are played along the bottom of this hill before walking a path made in the gorse to the top to get to the seventh. The north sea crashes in the distance. And all about - you see Scottish people playing golf. The latter is significant - they are playing golf. They aren't talking, riding, digging in the golf bag. Everywhere you look they are either hitting a ball or moving toward one. I kept watching them, fascinated to see the game being played by all in this way. One of the UK guys was talking about slow play in the US being partially caused, at least according to one study, by the demand for fast greens. I said I thought that was rubbish, and someone asked me what I thought the biggest reason was. I didn't really have a short answer, but I do now on further reflection - it is the culture. In Scotland, even beginners we saw were being taught to MOVE. Three of us played the very short and open Strathtyrum course at St. Andrews with only four clubs, and we followed a group of 3 girls, probably high school age, two of which were golfers and the third that may have been playing her first round. The two high school girls made sure that the third (very cute - Mark G. thought she was so cute he tried to bean her with a golf ball) kept pace with them. Finally, when she lost her ball and they went to look for it, we were immediately waved through. I only had one round the entire trip over 4 hours - 4:10 at the Old Course. Back to Dornoch... another thing about golf in Scotland is you can putt from anywhere. You can, I still prefer a run-up 8-iron. Mark G., however LOVES to putt from far off the green. I think it is his favorite shot. On a short par 3 with a high crowned green on the back 9, Joe short-sided himself below the green. I think it took him 5 putts to finally get onto the green. Later, he had a similar shot, though not as severe, that I noticed he chipped. I asked him if he and GRAANT had considered a putter - "Already discussed." The afternoon was better weather, and really the last significant rain at all we saw the entire trip. Very windy, though, and we played Royal Dornoch again. I was in my golfing home, drinking in the North Sea, the great golf holes - every one, and the hills of gorse. You can see the view here: http://rsgohio.com/scotland/pics/dornoch.jpg http://rsgohio.com/scotland/pics/dornoch_georg.jpg Note the wind blowing Mark's pants so he looks like a parade float. The next day was a match between Sir Plow and myself as one team in a 4BBB match with Mark Koenig and David Sneddon. This is significant because it turned into a series of matches. I think this was my best round of golf in Scotland, as it was very windy, I think Dornoch is one of the toughest courses we played, I putted very well and shot 82. So we won the pints, but were challenged to a rematch at the afternoon round at Crail in a couple of days. During the match, Mike's caddie was a big help to me. He was reading my putts and telling me the line of course. But he was fantastic at getting me to see the shot. He just had a great way of describing (quickly) what the ball would do - then I would make it do so. On the 8th hole I pulled my ball into a bad lie. This hole is a blind tee shot that is supposed to go over the hill and way down a very steep slope. I didn't make it to the hill, so had 220 or so to the green. Very iffy lie, I planned a pitch over the hill to where my drive would be. Alan (the caddie), would na let me do it. He said to take my Raylor (19 degrees I recently got), and hit a little draw at the bunker in the distance and it might run up on the green (which was invisible behind the hill). Seeing I was worried, he admonished me - "If you pull it off, it will be the shot of your dreams! That is why we play GOLF!". Well, I pulled it off perfectly, the ball drew around the corner just like he said and upon cresting the hill I found I had a 20 foot birdie putt! Woohoo - the shot of my dreams! Later I found out he had told Mike the same previously, but Mike had not pulled off the shot. Alan said - ya, did you have nightmares about that one?? LOL! Mike and I Ham-n-egged our way to a victory. Mark and Dave described their partnership as more 'neeps and tatties'. The afternoon round was a good bye (for now) to my golf love, Royal Dornoch. I had tears in my eyes as I walked up the hill to the 18th tee and looked out over the course for the last time. I'll never forget it. We also said good-bye to our friends at the Eagle Hotel, the bartenders/waitresses who served us well and stayed later then they were used to. They had all kinds of stuff hanging on the wall, we collected a parting 'tip' for them and we gave them a signed dollar bill as part of it. They hung that on the wall and there is a picture here: http://rsgohio.com/scotland/pics/dollar.jpg. Next stop, Cruden Bay.