St. Andrews

Ever since Jordan started golfing a few years ago, he has wanted to golf at the famous Old Course in St. Andrews. Not only is this course said to be Tiger Woods' favorite course, it is also the first golf course EVER... literally, where golf started! 

My Mom drew Jordan's name for our family Christmas drawing this year, and she helped make this dream come true for him by getting us an amazing bed & breakfast right by the course and covering his club rentals and green fee for the course. The only tricky part was that Jordan had to get up really early in the morning (he was out the door by 4:45am!) to try and get his name on the list to be added to a group of golfers, and there were no guarantees that he'd even get to golf at all. It was Easter weekend, and we were told the chances were slim...

He was so anxious to get to golf the course, but we were both pretty nervous he wouldn't make it on. Can you imagine...? That would be like staring at the best chocolate cake in the world and not getting to eat it!

I wandered down to the course around 8:15 that morning to keep him company in case he was still waiting in line. I thought I saw him sitting on one of the benches, and my heart sank as I prepared my encouraging speech to convince him he'd get to play the next day. The closer I got, I realized it wasn't him... I finally reached the booth where the golfers check in, and I asked the guy behind the counter if he knew whether or not Jordan got on. He gave me the great news and told me he had teed off with a group about a half hour earlier!!! I don't know where the reaction came from, but I immediately got all choked up and could hardly talk. I'm not the most emotional person, but when I am it is usually in awkward, unexpected situations. You can only imagine the look I got from the guy behind the counter, followed by a confused, "Uh... are you okay?" I was just so excited for Jordan that he was getting to fulfill one of his biggest dreams...

HE GOT TO PLAY THE OLD COURSE AT ST. ANDREWS!!!

The course runs right between the ocean and the city of St. Andrews, so I was able to meet up with Jord at the 17th hole and get some pictures. Here are the guys he played with, one of whom happened to be an ex-caddy of the course!

One of the most recognizable and famous parts of the Old Course is this bridge leading to the 18th hole, called the Swilcan Bridge. It is completely authentic from when the golf course was created hundreds of years ago!

It was so neat to be able to watch Jordan golf the last couple holes of the course. He actually shot one of the best games of his life!

Like I said, the course runs through the city, and there is even a pedestrian crossing right in the middle of the fairway of the 18th hole! Okay, I'm not quite sure if "fairway" is the right term, but you know what I mean... I haven't brushed up on my golf glossary lately! :)

Shaking hands with his fellow golfers after the game...

Jordan posing at the famous 18th hole -- look for Tiger Woods here at the British Open in 2010!

One of the caddies was nice enough to take our picture in front of the club house right by the 18th hole. This was the first club house in golf's history, and is still very authentic and traditional -- case and point, they still only allow men inside! Don't even get me started...

Since Jordan was able to play the course so early, we had the rest of the weekend to RELAX and enjoy St. Andrews, which was so wonderful. St. Andrews is a mix between three things: 1) a ritzy golf town, 2) a cute beach town, and 3) a total college town (Prince William actually went to college in St. Andrews!) 

We did a lot of wandering, which didn't take too long because the town really isn't that big. :) There were some really neat cathedral and castle ruins right near the water in St. Andrews.

I love this picture of Jordan looking out over the water.

The castle ruins are right on the point next to the water. For some reason, Jordan and I both felt like this castle seemed more historical than the ones we've seen that are completely refurbished. It's as if the history was simply left intact rather than all cleaned up for the public.

Like I said, one identity of St. Andrews: cute beach town!

Even though it was still a little chilly, we had gorgeous, sunny weather all weekend. The beach at St. Andrews kind of reminded me of the Oregon coast.

Every Sunday the Old Course is closed for golf but open to the public to walk the course. Yep, you guessed it, that's exactly what we did! :) It was fun to get the play-by-play of Jordan's golf round and to see the course in its entirety. 

Here is Jord on the Swilcan Bridge with the 18th hole and the club house in the background.

Last but not least, here is Jordan in "the bunker of death," as he likes to call it. :) There are bunkers like this all throughout the course, but this was the one that gave him a little trouble on the 17th hole.

St. Andrews is definitely a place we could see ourselves returning to in the future -- they actually have packages where you can golf all seven of the courses in the city (yes, I did say seven!) And I also heard they have some great spas... :)

To see all of our pictures from St. Andrews, click here. 

Thanks again, Mom, for making this dream a reality for Jordan, and for giving us a fun and relaxing weekend in beautiful St. Andrews!

P.S. Most of you might not know this about my Dad, but he is a walking Encyclopedia. In my last post about Edinburgh, I mentioned how all the buildings looked charred and blackened, but I wasn't sure why... well, he sent me an email this morning with the answer! This is what it said: 

"Hi Whit, Just was reading your blog and you made a comment about some of the older buildings being black. When we were in London 20 years ago, there was a massive clean up effort on the older buildings that were black as you described. They got that way from the days when everyone used coal for heat and the soot turned the buildings black. Shades of Mary Poppins." 

This is only one of the many reasons I love my Dad -- he knows the answers to everything! :)