HELENSBURGH, SCOTLAND (July 12, 2010) – If the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship, which will be played at St. Andrews this week, inspires you to make the pilgrimage to the Old Course, Colin Dalgleish, the co-founder of PerryGolf, has some advice: Don’t be late.
“Arrive in plenty of time for your starting time. You don’t want to rush a thing,” says Dalgleish, a former Walker Cup player and captain who has played the Old Course numerous times and arranged for thousands of golfers to play the course as part of PerryGolf tours. “This will be a round you will always remember; you want to savour every moment.”
Dalgleish also offers these suggestions:
• Carry your handicap certificate to present to the starter. Check in with the starter about 30 minutes in advance of your starting time. If you have requested a caddie (invaluable for a first timer), also check in with the caddiemaster. Expect your caddie to appear immediately before you walk onto the first tee.
• The tee shot on No. 1 is generally a driver shot, but wind and fairway bounce can sometimes dictate a bit less to stay comfortably short of the Swilcan Burn at the widest part of the landing area. Make sure you pick your line (usually farther left than you might think) and a club to suit the conditions. Be ready when “play away” is announced from the starter’s hut. Although one of the most daunting shots in golf, the first fairway actually offers a very generous target.
• As you move around the golf course, a good rule of thumb is to stay left on the double fairways to avoid the majority of bunkers and the right side rough. Your caddie should pick a line and club to suit your game and the day’s conditions and plot your way around by the safest route.
• There will often be players on the inward nine who are sharing your double fairway. It is proper etiquette to be courteous to those playing in the opposite direction by giving them time and space to play. Generally the inward players have right of way.
• If taking a caddie, make the most of his experience. He will have seen it all and there is little you can do which will impress or dismay him. Don’t be overly dependent on yardages; sometimes firm links conditions and strong breezes make them almost irrelevant. A request from your caddie to hit a 5 iron, for example, should not be followed by a cross examination for an exact yardage to the flagstick.
• If you hit it into one of the Old Course’s many bunkers – a number of which are hidden – you need to recognize your limitations. Simply take your punishment with a sideways or even backwards stroke and move on.
• The Old Course greens are exceptionally large. Consider yourself neither a suddenly improved shotmaker if you hit more greens than normal, nor a poorer putter if you three putt more than normal; both are more likely on the large greens.
• Be aware that on No. 7, there is a crossover point with No. 11. Play changes direction three times in the course of the next five holes, with holes 9 and 10 being two of the more straightforward holes on the course.
• At the 12th, you will skirt the Eden Estuary and make a direct return on the home stretch. The round builds to a crescendo as you approach Nos. 17 and 18, surely the most famous back-to-back holes in golf. However you have played to that point, everyone has the chance to shine on the final hole. Inevitably a holed putt of any length for par or better stands an excellent chance of applause from the gallery that is almost always leaning over the green wicker fence behind the green.
• Custom and practice dictates that after shaking hands with your playing partners, your caddie should be duly rewarded. Remember that, unlike in many countries, your caddie has carried only one bag and has given you his undivided attention for more than four hours. The fee is £40 with an average tip in the £10-£15 range. It is a good idea not to fall short of this amount, and wise to exceed it. Then, sign your card, walk up the steps and head off for a celebratory beer with your foursome, knowing you have just had the experience that millions of golfers dream of.
About PerryGolf
Established in 1984, Wilmington, N.C.-based PerryGolf offers the travel industry’s most prestigious and diverse selection of luxury golf tours and lifestyle experiences to the British Isles, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and China. PerryGolf offers customized golf tour itineraries as well as escorted programs featuring land tours, small-ship charters and luxury train travel. The company’s exclusive online trip calculator — Plan Your Own Tour™ — allows travelers to generate immediate quotations for trips they create entirely online. For more information on PerryGolf, please visit www.perrygolf.com or call a PerryGolf travel specialist at 800-344-5257 or e-mail Information@PerryGolf.com.
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