Scotland - St. Andrews (Old Course)

If you know my husband at all, you know he loves his game of golf. While over here we just had to take the opportunity to see St. Andrews, where the game began, for ourselves.

He researched the course and found that he could possibly walk on as a single player if there were available tee times when he arrived. There was no booking ahead unless you wanted to pay a few thousand pounds to stay at their hotel as well...no thanks!

We decided the 'walk on' thing was worth a shot, so we awoke at 4:30 Thursday morning, left after 5 and arrived at the course shortly after 6:30. The first tee time was at 7:00. We didn't know what to expect. He had warned me that the kids and I might have to hang around the city of St. Andrews for 12 -14 hours if it took all day for him to make it on to the course. I was prepared mentally for the worst (you know, dealing with crabby kids) so my hubby could have the opportunity of a lifetime.

There were 4 others in front of him vying for a treasured lucky spot of walking on to play the Old Course. Meanwhile, the kids and I were hanging out in the car for a few hours waiting for anything besides the course to awake in the small town. I have to say they have become quite flexible with their traveling skills! They are such great little travelers now. (The volcano chaos didn't even phase them as late Friday night we discovered our flight back home was canceled for Saturday and we'd need to seek alternative ways of departing Edinburgh which ended up being a 12 hour ordeal of riding various trains Sunday.)

Great news - he called and he could start around 8 AM to be done by noon. Perfect!

He rented a caddy to carry his clubs so his bad hip wouldn't stiffen on him, which ended up being a great decision since the caddy had the course memorized and could easily report yardage to the pin for club choices.

After a few hours of hanging in the car, the kids and I headed to breakfast and then took a short walk along the beach where we found sea glass. Afterwards we walked just down the road a little to a cheesy aquarium occupying the time until noon when he would be finished.

I'm so thankful we came here. He was giddy the rest of the trip, constantly talking about the day and how much fun he had playing this course since it had far exceeded his expectations.

Here he is posing as Jack Nicklaus.

While hoping for an even par of a day, I'd say we scored a double eagle! It ended even better than we could have possibly hoped with the kids' great moods, the bright sunny weather, and the golfer in the family hitting a 79 at his dream course. It just doesn't get any better than that!