Well, we made it back across the pond safe and sound. That was by far the best trip I've ever been on in my entire life and absolutely a dream come true. Everything about it was 10 times better than I thought it would be. Scotland, to me, was a perfect example as to why golf is the greatest sport in the world. It was like a completely different game over there and in no other sport does the game change that drastically from one venue to the next. In fact, it was so different, it was almost like playing a whole new game.....golf 2.0.
We started our trip in Turnberry where we stayed at the hotel there for the first three nights. For our first round we played Turnberry (the Ailsa course) which is the one they use for the British Open. Talk about being thrown into the fire. This course had it all, from blind shots, to elevation changes, all the gorse and thick rough, plus a little rain and wind coming off the sea. It was incredible. The next day we played Royal Troon, which for me, felt like the hardest course of them all. Maybe it's because I wasn't hitting my driver all that straight which made it nearly impossible to score well. I think I shot 80, but unlike shooting 80 over here in the states, my 80 at Troon didn't really feel so bad. On Tuesday morning, we packed up our stuff and drove to Prestwick. For me, this was the most unique and intriguing golf course of them all. Everyone over in Scotland says you're either going to hate it or love it and I definitely fell in the "loved it" category. As one of the oldest courses in the world, it gives you a true idea of how golf was originally played. It gave me such a greater respect for the game, I could have played that course a million times and never gotten tired of it.
After finishing Prestwick, we drove 3 hours across Scotland to St. Andrews where we stayed for the remainder of our trip. On Wednesday, we played Carnoustie. We were fortunate to get our round in the week before they began playing the Women's British Open there so the course was in excellent condition. Holes 16, 17 & 18 might be the toughest three finishing holes on any golf course. It was another round for me where I shot 80 and felt like I played pretty well. It's just that there was such a greater penalty for missing a shot that it didn't take much to make bogey......or worse. Our next round, we opted to go a little off the traditional map of links golf, and played Rosemount (The Blairgowrie Course). It was set about an 1hr and a half inland and when we walked up to the first tee it no longer looked like we were in Scotland. Every hole was lined with trees and there was actually one hole that had a lake on it.....definitely something you'd never see along the coast. It was still a great course and I think everyone enjoyed switching things up for a day.
And finally, on our last day of golf, we played two incredible courses....St. Andrew's in the morning and Kingsbarns in the afternoon. Without a doubt, St. Andrew's was my favorite course out of the whole trip. And maybe that had a lot to do with the fact that St. Andrew's had all the history, but it was still just an amazing place. It was hard a lot of the time to focus on playing golf because the whole time I kept saying to myself, "am I really playing St. Andrew's right now?"
I had to keep pinching myself just so I could focus on hitting a good shot. I'll never forget the birdie I made on the 18th hole to shoot 72, my best round of the trip. For our second round of the day, we drove about 5 miles north and played Kingsbarns. It was not apart of our original itinerary, but once we all saw the course, we knew we had to play it before we left. So, at 4:00pm, we teed off and didn't walk off the 18th green until 9:15pm. The locals call it the Pebble Beach of Scotland and let me tell you......it's probably better. I've never been to Pebble Beach, but I can't imagine it being better than this. It was easily the most scenic and had the most beauty out of all the courses we played and that alone made it as enjoyable as anything I've ever played in my life. I think I broke my camera I was taking so many pictures.
So, that was our trip. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I'll never forget it. If anything, it makes me want to work even harder for the chance to go back again someday. Now that I've been back for a week, things have started to return to normal and I've pretty much come back down to earth. I've been trying to practice like usual and started to plan out my schedule the rest of this year. I do have some exciting news to pass along to those that haven't already heard......Erika and I are expecting our first child on Feb. 5th of next year. We've passed the first danger zone (the first trimester) so hopefully things will continue to go smoothly from here on out. Although I know that's rarely the case. Erika's feeling much better now that a lot of the sickness has passed, so we just keep praying for a healthy pregnancy.
Having a baby obviously changes things going forward. I don't really know how much more golf I will be playing since it becomes imperative now that we can support ourselves and a baby financially. I have signed up for one more Hooter's Tour event next week, but after that, I'm really not sure what will follow. There have been some new project developments on the side that I could be involved in, so we'll see if anything happens there. It looks like the month of August will be a good determining factor as to which direction my career heads going forward. All we can do is pray about it and see where the good Lord takes us. Hope everyone is doing and I'll have some updates next week from my tournament.
