Marvelous, Marvelous And Windy Muirfield

It is a special place.

It is home to The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

It is the world-famous Muirfield Golf Club.

Some of Augusta National’s members belong here and some of these Muirfield members are on the Augusta National member roster.   It’s that exclusive, you get the picture.

All proper proceedure is followed here from the moment you arrive, they’re telling you what to do and where to go and how you’ll get there.

Another windy day greeted us, the tough but honest links were out there, right in front of  you, no trickery.

Better control your golf ball or Muirfield will gobble you alive.

I was its victim two years ago and it was lying in wait to batter me into submission once again.

Pars felt like birdies, bogeys like pars and doubles felt like bogeys.

Most of us had caddies and the caddies are what  you expect from an exclusive club like Muirfield.  St. Andrews caddies can be a  bit  rough  around the edges, these gentlemen were simply great.  My caddie John,  is a member at nearby Gullane, where Rickie Fowler won the Scottish Open a few years  ago.

Our leader, Dave Stewart  started with  five  straight pars  and would  shoot  81,  his  best  effort  so far, had the driver working well.   Fred Bender drove  it great,  made  a couple of birdies on a day that  didn’t  yield  many.

None  of our  lads  broke 80.  Muirfield  is that tough — 18 great holes, no easy holes.  It’s simply  spectacular  and a  great walk, even if  you’re being battered like a small sailboat in a hurricane.

By day’s end, one of us had a glorious finish.  Jan Burger, the  World’s Most Interesting Man and Czech Republic golf  course owner had the distinction of a birdie-birdie finish.

But the  best was yet to come.  We were  on the list to eat lunch in the main dining room.  The sitting room just off the main dining room overflows with history on the walls — former cpatains and influential members from centuries ago.

Dress is coat and tie.  The  gentleman in charge looked  down at my casual Sketchers shoes and wanted  to find me some proper footwear.  I  sure as heck  wasn’t going to  play the “Howie Long wears Sketchers with his suits” card and pleaded that I have bad feet with bunions and leather shoes won’t fit. Offered  to let him have a look at them in the locker room but he nodded  and let me head in — Sketchers it was.

The  buffet was beyond  exquisite,  best I’ve ever seen.   Four  courses with  the  main hot offerings of beef tenderloin, pork tenderloin and leg of lamb among others.

The roasted potatoes were  to die  for.

Tough  to describe this  feast.  Words could not do justiceto what was presented to us for our post-round consumption — the  sour tase of every  double bogey  quickly faded  and  this was a  meal without peer on this trip of a lifetime.

Muirfield is that kind of place.

Beyond  special.

And to the man, we felt darn fortunate to  experience this wonderful day.