The Matches: The Imp Strikes Back

Our combat theater moved to the Old Links on Sunday morning, on an absolutely delightful day with as little wind as is likely in these parts.  The cool early temperatures, 13 degrees centigrade on the car thermometer, led me to some unfortunate wardrobe choices, notably long pants and a long-sleeved golf shirt.  

Looking back towards the village from the first tee, top.  Continued pursuit of my current great white whale, i.e., the perfect photo capturing the humps and hollows of the Old Links fairways, bottom.

 In a sense, my day turned out to mirror Theresa's Saturday round, as a bad start was overcome with some timely strong play.  In this case my opening drive, tugged slightly some ten yards left of the optimal line, dove into the maram grass siding the fairway, never to be found.  Fortunately I settled down and played my best golf of the trip.  

A girl and her trolley, top.  Bottom, the obligatory shot of Theresa on the third tee.  I realize that each time we've played the Old I've capture this view with Glashedy Rock Island as background.

I dropped an 8 footer for birdie on the Par 5 fourth, needed to salvage a halve, and immediately proved my thesis that my first birdie would open the floodgates by hitting a six iron to two feet on the one-shot fifth.  I later birdied the Par 5 14th, and gave myself several other opportunities.

These guys are good, at least sometimes:  My swing with the 6 iron on No3, top.  The green is significantly raised so you've no idea where, or in fact whether, the ball has come to rest.  It's a nice feeling indeed to ascend to the green surface and find your tee ball safely within your gag range, bottom.

I shot an other-worldly 37 on the inbound nine and finished with a 78.  I belive that to be only the second time I've broken 80 in Scotland, Ireland or England, though of course the light winds made it a day for scoring.

It's of some measurable comfort to see the members walking the dunes in search of stray shots, as there's a tendency to think that it's only the visitors who suffer the slings and arrows of crooked tee balls.  One big surprise is how few balls we've found out in the hay, whether because they hit them straighter or instinctively know where to look.

Of continued importance, the opening tee shot was my only lost ball of the day.  I still believe I'll be purchasing ammo before we're through, it's a relief to see an ebbing of the rate of attrition.  This is likely a result of knowing the lines off the tee a little better and where one can survive a miss.

A sweep panorama image of the 5th green, perched dramatically between two dunes, top, including the inadvertent shadow of the photographer and his putter.. This is the spot where we memorably hunker down in the 2008 hailstorm.  Tessie shares the seventh tee with her beloved sheep, bottom.  It's no Brora, where the sheep roam the course and the greens are protected by low voltage electric fences, but we love seeing the livestock from the course.

And who needs Michael Breed, here is our instructional video of the day:

First, please forgive the rather inept last few seconds of the video, as auteur Tessie did not know how to stop the filming and we've not burdened ourselves with the knowledge of how to edit the video.  Second, the camera inevitably flattens the image, as the hump that I putt over is actually quite a bit more severe than it looks here.

Current Standings:

T. Simpson   2.5

S. Simpson   3.0