Scotland Trip - Wrap-up

For a little more than a week I've been meaning to write and post a brief wrap-up of the Blue Elephants trip to Royal Troon and other spots nearby. Here it is, divided into three simple topic areas.

PHOTOS
I'm certainly not a professional; I tend to use my digital camera to capture reference photos, and most of the shots I use on my blogs aren't much better than that. You can review all the shots I took by going to my Flickr site.

GAMES
I've already reported how the match went, the Blues squeaking out a victory over the Pinkies. But in addition we had a cumulative game going throughout the week, a modified stableford that Brother Blair won overall, one that featured - at one time or another - everyone winning something.

The game I put together I learned on the golf trips I take with my brother Brad. We subtract one's handicap (no "abouts") from 36, and that becomes the target score he must make. We award one point for bogey, two for par, four for birdie, six for eagle. Therefore, "par" turns out to be the player's target score. For instance, Blair Leburn, a 4 handicap, needs to make 32 points.

It turns out that Blair was the week's winner, falling 8 points short of his cumulative goal for the week. In other words, in every 18 hole round Blair needed to make 32 points. For the week - over a total of six rounds - Blair was -8.

Here's the final tally:
Blair Leburn -8
Mark Burris -17 (obviously a distant second)
Rick Hall -27
Nick Green -30
Michael Scott -31
Tony Orfanos -32
Peter Joos -35
Neil MacKenzie -42

Neil's finish doesn't quite capture his valiant, remarkable 76 during the match at Royal Troon. Unfortunately for him, his best round didn't count in our cumulative match. But it was on his birthday (!), in the native land of his grandfather - what a day! Here's Neil posing in front of the starter's shack at Turnberry Ailsa.



GOLF COURSES
We played relatively few, but some wonderful golf courses. We opened on Western Gailes, a short, delightful test of true links golf. We played Royal Troon twice, on Saturday at noon and again on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday morning we played a new Loch Lomond course called "Dundonald."

All of these were within minutes of our hotel, a marvelous concept.

On Monday we made the 30-minute drive to Turnberry. In the morning on Kintyre - at Nick's suggestion, I think - we played an alternate shot format. Great fun, and a wonderful way to play what's really an average resort course. Playing Kintyre in the morning in "Foursomes" allowed us to look forward and enjoy much more the treat that is Ailsa in the afternoon.

It was a great trip, full of laughs, pints, warm weather and all the chemistry you hope from a group traveling together for the first time.

Speaking of laughs, I'll remember one scene for the rest of my life. It's Saturday morning, about 10a, and we're gathering in the Trophy Room at Royal Troon. Two of our group are late getting there: Rick and Tony stayed up a bit later than the rest of us, and they took a bit more time to get ready and make the 200-yard walk from the Marine Hotel to the Troon clubhouse. When they arrive, we're meeting the club's Secretary, a paid staffer, but in private club circles over there, the Secretary is a powerful influence.

Tony comes into the room, bedecked in his jacket and Blue Elephants tie, a bit of sweat on the forehead and upper lip (it's warm, and, besides, there's all that vodka from the night before trying to find a way out). He comes up behind the Secretary, mistaking him for one of our group (we all just met the day before), slaps him on the back, and says, "Hey, buddy! How you doin' this morning?"

The look on the Secretary's face was priceless. Surely no one - certainly not a club visitor - had ever draped an arm over his shoulder and called him "buddy." But, hey, that's Tony.

Here's a shot of Tony and Rick that evening. A long, but successful day for both.