Troon, January/February 2018

18 TROON GOLF TRAVEL eMAGAZINE The more you play the more you save Join Troon Rewards And start earning FREE ROUNDS of golf and get STATUS at Troon facilities worldwide 2000 points SILVER Status 10 discount 4000 points GOLD Status 15 discount 8000 points PLATINUM Status 20 discount Discounts apply to your golf merchandise Got a minute Sign up for FREE in the golf shop or online at TroonRewards com More golf More value TROON REWARDS Golfs Premier Rewards Program Status Levels better of the two clubhouses serving the seven St Andrews Links Trust courses MATCH WELL PLAYED Over more decades than I now care to remember St Andrews has been my more or less constant companion and it has been my great pleasure to meet countless visitors to this old town each with a different story to tell but all imbued with the same enthusiasm and excitement when they finally make it to the Home of the Game There are many tales to be recalled over that time of visitors experiences on and off the Old Course For now I will save them for another time and another place but my editor has asked for a taste so I leave you with my favorite recollection of the season gone by Having been lucky enough to secure a local members time on the Old Course to play with an old and valued friend just arrived in from California we were only a two ball and as is the convention when local members have a time and places are available we invited two visitors who had been standing in line since 4 30 a m hoping for a chance to play to join us Inevitably they were American effusively grateful for the invitation to join us and they looked like useful players In that forthright manner that seems to come so easily to citizens of the former colony their leader enquired if since we were Brits we might like to take them on in a replay of the Ryder Cup My index is 4 said the leader rather confidently What would you like to play for There being no request from him or his partner as to what our handicap status was we settled for a 20 four ball better ball match with no shots to be exchanged The visitors were solid players and between them reached the turn credibly under par with my friend and I just managing to hold on In the run for home the battle heated up but with the help of some fine shot making over the final stretch mostly by my good friend we finished off the American challenge with a birdie at No 16 in full view of the visitors friends watching from the balcony of the Old Course Hotel where they were all resident The leader called up to his compatriots informing them that they couldnt believe they had just lost their Ryder Cup match against the Brits despite being under par when the match finished It was only at that point that I had to mention to the leader of the American side that he had not only lost his Ryder Cup but to someone who had actually played in the real Ryder Cup and whose last battle in that event had been against the combination of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf My partner that day was Clive Clark who played on the Great Britain Ireland team in the 1973 Ryder Cup won by the U S 19 13 He was also the first player to have a televised hole in one at The Masters acing No 16 there in 1968 It will be a long time before I forget the looks on the Americans faces or the huge grins when they said it was the best days golf they had ever had in their lives St Andrews will do that to you IT WAS ONLY AT THAT POINT THAT I HAD TO MENTION TO THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN SIDE THAT HE HAD NOT ONLY LOST HIS RYDER CUP BUT TO SOMEONE WHO HAD ACTUALLY PLAYED IN THE REAL RYDER CUP D I S PATCH FROM ST ANDREWS