GOLFING IN SCOTLAND - Paradise discovered !!!
(Article by R.Ramakrishnan, Executive Director, Bajaj Electricals Ltd.)

Scotland, the home of golf has inspired many generation of golfers since the 14th century. I was fortunate to be on a golfing holiday in Scotland for a week in early November 2008 with my regular golf buddies Ashish Kacholia, Sanjay Poddar and Alok Agrawal.It was a dream come true for all of us who have been golfing for about 4 years and are members of the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in Mumbai. We managed to play at 5 Championship courses, which included two rounds at the St. Andrews, Old course, 2 rounds at the Championship course in Carnoustie and one round each at Muirfield, Gleneagles, Kingsbarns and the castle course at St. Andrews. We all discovered what can only be termed a “Golfing Paradise” during this Scottish vacation!

On Nov. 5th, 2008, we were also fortunate to watch the final of the Dunhill Cup being played at the Old Course in St. Andrews. We could walk on the sides of the historic fairways while watching some outstanding golfers of our time. The leading players included Padraig Harington, Robert Karlsson, Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey, Lee Westwood and Jeev Milkha Singh amongst others. What impressed us the most was their pre-shot routine, the smoothness in their golf swing and the easy follow through ending with a classic photo finish. Padraig Harington fresh from his victories in the British open and the US PGA tour was a treat to watch. The Dunhill Cup was won by Robert Karlsson who won it from Martin Kaymer in a sudden death playoff on the first hole. We met Jeev Milkha Singh at the Old course and wished him well on the tour. Our wishes probably worked, since he went on a winning spree immediately thereafter!

The Preparations:

It is necessary to get on to the Internet and book your times slot well in advance at these world-class golf courses. If planned well one can ensure that one is able to play at these historic golf courses and with convenient tee off timings. We preferred to hire a large SUV with GPS facility from Edinborough Airport and drove right through our Scotland holiday. The GPS was invaluable and saved us a lot of time and effort while driving around. We stayed at a conveniently located hotel The Apex City Quay Hotel & Spa, which is perfectly placed to enjoy stunning views of the Quay as well as the Tay River & Bridge in Dundee. The Hotel is about 10 miles from St. Andrews and about 20 miles from Carnoustie. Even the other golf courses were within 25 miles, except for Muirfield.

The weather was a little cold and windy but fortunately the weatherman was proved wrong on all six days because despite warnings of heavy rain, we were blessed with pretty good golfing weather. The best time to play in Scotland would of course be between April and September months.

The Courses played :

King’s Course at Gleneagles, Perthshire :

“ If Heaven is as good as this, I sure hope they have some tee times left .“
- Lee Trevino at Hole No 1 at Gleneagles Kings course.

We started our golfing expedition on November 6th, 2008 with the famous Kings course at Gleneagles. Gleneagles has three great Championship courses namely The Kings, the Queens and the Jack Nicklaus PGA Centenary course where the Ryder cup will be played in 2014. The Kings course (6471 yards) was built in the year 1921 by James Braid and has fascinating fairways, tough greens, a difficult rough and long distances. Gleneagles is fascinating with the springy moorland turf underfoot, the sweeping views from the tees all around, the rock-faced mountains to the north and the green hills to the south. It is easily one of the finest Golf resorts in the world. Hole 1 with it’s elevated and sloping green and Hole 17 with it’s very narrow fairway were particularly memorable and challenging.

Muirfield GC, Gullane, East Lothian :

The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, based at Muirfield was founded in 1744 and holds the distinction of being the oldest golf club in the world. The first recorded 13 rules of Golf were written here. Muirfield has hosted the British Open 15 times since 1892. The course was designed in 1891 by Old Tom Morris.The club house is historic and a very strict in terms of dress course. Even members have to wear a proper suit to have their breakfast in the club house! The Architecture of the course is a marvel. It is designed as two loops, one Clockwise and the other anti-clockwise on elevated land reclaimed from the sea. This ensures that every hole on the course has a different apparent wind direction from the tee. Muirfield boasts of the toughest rough in Scotland and very long fairways. The rough in most places was over 4 feet high and it was impossible to come out if you had the misfortune to land in them. The bunkers were typical Scottish bunkers but not very intimidating. We enjoyed our game here on November 7th, 2008.

St. Andrews Links Old Course, Fife :

“ I fell in love with it the first day I played it. There’s just no other golf course that is even remotely close.”

- Jack Nicklaus
St Andrews Links is the Home of Golf, where the game has evolved over time and where the spirit and traditions of golf have been safeguarded for over six centuries. The Old course has hosted the British Open a record of 27 times since 1873. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club is housed here and is the governing body of golf throughout the world outside the USA. All the rules of golf are framed by the R&A.
We could not book a time slot at the old course for either love or money! All my attempts at getting a time slot through my large circle of friends in UK and India had also failed. You need to book about an year in advance, if you want to play the old course with a confirmed time slot. There is also a process of daily balloting a day prior to the day you wish to play.The names of the lucky winners in the ballot, along with their time slots is displayed on the website or the results can be queried over telephone. We failed to get though the ballot for three days consecutively. Finally, I tried out the last possible option. I reached the Starter’s hut alone at the old course at 6.00 A.M. on a cold morning only to find that 7 people had reached there even before me. The Starter opened his office at 7.30 A.M. and I was lucky enough to get a tee off time at 8.00 A.M. with three other golfers who were playing that morning! The icing on the cake was getting a 1.30 P.M. tee off time with my four ball, the same afternoon. So, I was lucky to play 36 holes back to back at the St. Andrews Old Course on November 8th. My golf buddies thanked me for my foolhardy perseverance, which finally paid off! The Scotland Golfing holiday would certainly have been incomplete without playing at the Old course.

The Old Course (7279 yards) has to be experienced at least once in a life time by any serious golfer. The Club house façade is magnificent and the Golf course has a great sense of history. The course was initially designed by Allan Robertson and later by Old Tom Morris in early 1860’s. The Old Course got it’s name only after the New Course was built in 1895! The fairways are sprawling and undulating. Many of the greens are double greens and tend to be very large and with significant sloping. There were occasions when one had to putt about 80 yards on the green! The bunkers are waiting to catch any wayward shot and provide a great challenge. From certain holes, one could see the Scottish swamps and also the sea in the distant horizon. The fairways are deceptive and a person playing for the first time has no clue as to where he should aim. A good caddie is necessary for you to enjoy the Old course. Hole number 14 a 618 yard par 5, aptly named “Long”, with it’s famous 25 Yards wide “Hell Bunker” was another memorable hole.

The most memorable moment for me was the 15 foot putt that I sank for a Birdie on the signature 18th hole at St. Andrews. My friend Ashish followed suit with a 3 foot birdie putt! We took a memorable picture on the 18th green celebrating this “Double Birdie”!

“ Without a doubt,I like it the best of all the open venues. It is my favourite course in the World.”
- Tiger Woods

Carnoustie Golf Links, Angus,Carnoustie :
"One of the toughest and best links courses that we have in the world."

- Colin Montgomerie, The Open 2007
The next day on November 9th we played 36 holes back to back at the Carnoustie Championship course ( 7412 yards ). Golfers from across the World are often tempted to rechristen it as “CAR NASTY” ! It was easily the toughest course that we played in Scotland and perhaps anywhere in the world. The course under very windy conditions and along with rains, had hosted the penultimate day of the Dunhill Cup. The course was in a great condition and was a huge challenge. The course has the toughest bunkers in the world and many of them are over 6 to 8 feet in height. Although Ashish and I visited many of the bunkers, our caddies complimented us on never having to hit a second shot from the same bunker! In fact, my caddy Paul mentioned that I need not be scared of any bunker anywhere in the world ever again! Hole No.14 nickname “Spectacles” for the two large spectacle-like bunkers that guard the green was the memorable 483 yards par 5 hole with stroke index 1. It was a pleasure managing to par it. The other holes have great names like “Hogan’s Alley”, “Lucky Slap”, “Jackies Burn”, etc.

Kingsbarns Golf Links , Kingsbarns, St Andrews

On November 10th, we played at probably the most beautiful golf course in Scotland and probably in the world – Kingsbarns (7150 yards). This golf course has been voted No.5 in Golf World’s Top 100 Courses You must play list. It has been designed by Mark Parsinen and Kyle Philips. This Club started in 1998 and has an amazing view of the sea from many of it’s picture perfect fairways. Kingsbarns is situated on a hill side and has beautiful fairways with undulating ridges and hollows which undulate way below from where you tee off. The rough and the bunkers are beautifully laid out and the course combines golfing challenge with unbelievable natural beauty. The conditions were so windy that I had to use my 3 Wood driver for the 132 yards par 3 8th hole ! If we were to choose just one course to play in Scotland once again, we all concluded that it would be Kingsbarns.

The Castle Course at St. Andrews , Fife

This is the 7th and the newest course at St. Andrews designed by the course Architect David Mclay Kidd and was opened in June 2008. The Castle course (7200 yards) is a “ must play “ for anyone visiting St Andrews since the beautiful North Sea is part of the Landscaping on each hole and the view of St Andrews village is also stunning. Despite not being a links course a great deal of attention has been given to Scottish traditions and the tall grass in the rough also appears ancient! The bunkers have been designed almost embedded in the fairways so that they look absolutely natural. The greens in particular were shockingly unpredictable and putting on their undulations was like a game of Russian Roulette! Probably putting on the open deck of a fishing vessel caught in choppy waters, would have been easier.

Other Observations

Golf carts are just not available except for the physically handicapped in most of these courses. It is prudent to hire the services of a caddy while playing at these great courses. The caddies carry your bags and also guide you in your stroke making and keep you out of harms way. The caddy fees are around 40 pounds per round and they expect a tip of around 20 pounds. The green fees range from 120 pounds to 160 pounds in these courses. There are numerous other courses that dot the Scottish landscape ranging from 30 pounds to 100 pounds per round. You will also need about 4 to 5 layers of clothing to keep away the wind and the Scottish rains, which are quite fickle.

Our hotel in Dundee had an excellent Spa with a Sauna, Steam bath , Chilled showers and a Hot Tub Jacuzzi along with a lovely swimming pool. We soaked ourselves in the Jacuzzi in the evenings after battling the golf courses and readied ourselves for the next day’s battle. Of course, the fantastic array of Single Malts, which are an integral part of any Scottish holiday helped in the recovery process. The choice of food in Dundee was also fairly decent despite our being Vegetarian.

The Castle in Edinborough is also very interesting with the Scottish Crown Jewels on permanent display there. A Whiskey tour to a famous Scottish distillery is also highly recommended along with the Golfing. The two do go hand in hand.

The people of Scotland whom we met were very warm, friendly and communicative. They were genuinely interested in India and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. They hold Indians in high esteem for our Culture, Education and recent Economic success.

In conclusion :

This entire Scottish Golfing vacation was fantastic from the pleasure of planning it, coordinating the various decisions and enjoying the pleasures of golfing with great golf buddies. I have been fortunate to have played golf in over 20 countries in these four years of my golfing life. But, the Scottish golfing experience for Ashish, Sanjay, Alok and me was unique, unparalleled and unbeatable. It was truly …… Paradise on Earth that we discovered! We are looking forward to our next vacation there already!

(The writer Mr R. Ramakrishnan is Executive Director of Bajaj Electricals Ltd. He has 2 Hole-in-Ones to his credit within a span of 22 days in his 16th month as a Golfer! You may reach him at ramakrishnan_ram@hotmail.com . He welcomes your comments on this article.)

Nikhil Dhodapkar
General Manager Marketing,
Air Sahara
He is an avid golfer based out of Delhi
and he hits the ball a mile !

Q: what has been your best round of golf?

I played to a 16 at DLF, Gurgaon a few days ago  

Q: how do we get corporates to get more involved in golf?

By customising the clients / corporates need and using Golf as a vehicle to meet the desired objectives. Golf is a great way to meet potential prospects and use the opportunity to one's advantage.

Q: what makes golf exciting?

Either way you look at it - no two rounds of golf are alike. Some days you are on top of the world and the next you wish you never played the game. 

Q: what are the similarities between running a business and playing a round of golf?

In both you cannot cheat your own self  

Q:  what is the secret of success in life?

Take the highs with the lows 

Deepak Tandon
President,
Birla Tyres.

Mr Tandon, is a die hard golfer, who has come down to a handicap of 13 in just 18 months of starting. He is seen at the Tolly and Royal, 3 to 4 times a week working on his game and playing on the course(early mornings of course). He is a strong supporter and a very keen student of the game, and is a perfect ambassador to the game of golf.

Q: what has been your best round ever?

Ans: It was a 10 over par at the Tolly

Q: What needs to be done to involve the corporates in a big way with this game?

Ans: Firstly get the CEOs to start playing golf. That will get the corporates involved almost automatically. Basically the corporates are looking at getting exposure and they will support the game when they get more exposure. What will help also is that there is a shift away from celebrity endorsements to events targeting specific customers. There is no doubt that golf is the fastest growing game in the country.

Q: What is so special about this game?

Ans: This game itself is a challenge. It is different every time and you do not know what to expect on a given day. You could have had a great round and the very next day could be a disaster. What is most important is that you are trying to best yourself every time you play golf. You are challenging yourself. There is no one to blame but yourself. No excuses.

Q: Running a business and playing golf, similar?

Ans: Without a doubt. The ups and downs, the challenges and to stay cool in adversity are a part of both. The pressures are very similar. The key in both is to take life as it comes. In business every step is a challenge and in golf every shot.

Q: The formula to success?

Ans: Believe in yourself.Lead by example.Carry the team with you.