Had this really interesting thought about score. Golf Course Owner Guy makes that once in a lifetime trip to Scotland. I somehow secure a round on the Old Course, not that easy from what I’m told. My grizzled old half drunk caddie greets me, and we make small talk. By my swing off the first, he can tell I’m a decent player and he hopes today is a walk in the park, and then I tell him: “I don’t want to shoot a good score today, I want you to show me everything that is cool about St. Andrews.
The Opposite of Score
If there is an impossible chip from the left of the green, I want to hit it there. If you think I should hit from the Spectacles, try to get a stance on the Principal’s Nose, or extricate from the Road Hole Bunker than I want to go there too. I want to see the coolest slopes, I want to use the backstops. If you think the wind is right to bite off too much, let’s try to bite it off. I want to finish by certainly playing from the Valley of Sin. I would imagine that 95% of the people who play St. Andrews one time in their life, stand on the first tee and want to shoot some kind of “score”. By doing that, you have completely missed the point. In an attempt to shoot a score, the caddie will most certainly take you on a “scoring” journey. This journey is void of the pitfalls and problems, or as I like to say: the whole point of the design.
Most will leave thinking, that was kind of weird course. Kind of boring. If I had one time to play the Auld Grey Toon herself, I want to go on the “features” tour. Show me what makes St. Andrews so special. Take me to all her most interesting places. Show me the shots, and the problems that have dumbfounded golfers for 150 years. Golf is often about score, but there are certainly times when score obsession deprives enjoyment. As I fly home, I want to be thinking about all those cool shots. To fly home, and have my only lasting memory being that I shot 77, I mean seriously…who cares?
Neat article. Love the way you think!