Tales From Afar
Edinburgh
Starting this holiday in Dunedin, the Edinburgh of the south, it provides a sense of completion that we are visiting Edinburgh, the Edin of the north. During this trip when we have had conversations with Scots people about Dunedin, I can advise one man said that "Dun" in Gaelic means new so that Dunedin means New Edin. Duncan and Derek might be able to help here but I don't think that's true. Google suggests Dun in Gaelic means fort or castle or fortified hill. Which I think seems to make a lot more sense when you consider the topography of Dunedin. There might not be a Scottish fort in town but there are certainly the hills ! So Dunedin, the fortified hilly city once called Edin.
If truth be told I'm not that big on Edinburgh. There are too many tourists - says David the tourist. Give me the Scottish Highlands any day of the week. But there is a familiarity about it. The train came in through Musselburgh and driving through we noticed Rosslyn with 2 of the letter s and Helensburgh. There's also Corstophine, Portobello, and a river Leith. There's also Bruntsfield after which our club medal is so named. But I didn't find a Maori Hill or an Opoho.
The Genesis Scottish Open Golf Championship
The main reason we're in town this week is to visit the Genesis Scottish Open Golf Championship at The Renaissance Club between Gullane and North Berwick on the coast. Today was practice day though we did get up close to some of the big names here.
As you can see gorgeous day with views north across the Firth of Forth. This was a small grandstand overlooking the 3rd green on the left and the 5th green on the right, both par 3s. Good spot to sit and take the weight off your feet and watch the golf go by.
Then we walked to the back of the 11th green in time to see Paul Hubbard's favourite golfer Tyrell Hatton play through. Tyrell's approach shot landed on the green but ran off the back right corner. The picture doesn't quite show it but in front of Tyrell there was a big hump. So all the collective wisdom around where we were standing announced "I'd putt that". "So would I" we all said. Sure enough, Tyrell walked up, grabbed a wedge, opened the face of the club with a lot of loft, pitched it over the hump and onto the green, the ball checked and finished three feet from the cup. One putt later it was a par 4. We all looked at each other and smiled - what do we know !
Then it was over to the practice fairway to see what was what.
For 20 minutes we watched Rory bomb drive after drive into the next suburb. Some flew high, some flew low, I assume all quite deliberately. Besides Rory's caddie there was his brain's trust looking at what was going on giving Rory feedback. What a job. Just quietly next to Rory was Harris English hitting iron shots with the laziest most fluid swing I've seen for a long time. Even more fluid than Senaka, I know hard to believe.
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After watching Rory bomb drives, Harris English hit beautiful iron shots, Tyrell Hatton give a chipping master-class and seeing putt after putt drained I was left with two thoughts. Thought number 1 - they all make it all look so easy and straightforward. Thought number 2 and the more important one - that's how I'm going to play golf when I get back to Dunedin. So look out everybody !!
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Tomorrow is competition day number one and the weather is set fair once again. Daniel Hillier and Foxy are off early but so are a bunch of the superstars. We'll see how busy it is and go from there.
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One last story. We were watching Jon Rahm play this par 4, about the 7th I think and this guy in T-shirt and shorts and a big floppy hat jumped through the ropes, walked across the fairway towards where the Spaniard was about to play. Rahm being a golfing superstar has on-course security. You can tell these guys; they're big beefy blokes and they all carry a rucksack. So the security guy did his job and made his way over to stop the guy in the T-shirt and floppy hat. Then Rahm's caddie went over to the guy in the T-shirt, said hello and started chatting. So there was then a bit of a commotion between the three of them. Turns out the guy in the T-shirt was commentator Wayne ' Radar" Riley. After it all died down Rahm's caddie and security were standing close to us and sorting it out.
Caddie: Sorry, that was Radar, he's OK
Security: He was wearing no accreditation, jumped through the ropes, was wearing a T-shirt and started walking towards my man, I was just doing my job.
Caddie: You did absolutely the right thing ....
Finally .....
Two quick observations from playing golf over here ....
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1: Went into a golf shop to buy some golf balls, I've lost a few. Now in Australia when you play golf you have to be a bit careful. As we know, hit the ball into the long grass and slippery sliders can be lurking.
Some may remember this example from Maroochy River last year. So In Australia, if a ball goes into the long stuff, it can stay there. Well it's a bit the same over here. If you go wandering around in long grass close to where deer are known to live, you have to be careful with ticks. Get bitten by a tick and you can get Lyme's Disease, and you don't want that. So Australia : Scotland same same. If I knock a ball in the long grass, I'll have a quick look, but that's about it.
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2: When buying golf balls I also decided I needed some more tees; the short ones for use on par 3s. So said to the guy in the shop, "have you got any short plastic tees please." To which he said "you can't buy plastic tees any more, they don't make them. Everything now is made from bamboo."
I clarified why and as thought it's to reduce the use of plastics and do more to protect the environment. I think I'm right in saying that's a UK thing and not a New Zealand thing but I could be wrong. Interesting anyway.
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Finally played last weekend at Alness Golf Club north of Inverness. For 14 holes it was good fun and very interesting but I thought the last 4 holes fell away in quality. Glad I went though.