The Old Course Lottery: We Win, We Lose, We Win

We survived those crushing, furious winds at Kingsbarns then we conquered Carnoustie — well, at least one of our eight did so.

On to St. Andrews — The Home Of Golf.

We entered the advanced lottery for a round on the Old Course six month ago but did not get in.   Fortunately, we  played it two years ago so all was not  lost.  We still had  the daily lotteries and our fearless group leader — Tampa PGA Professional Dave Stewart had both our foursomes entered when we arrived —  hoping to land spots for Monday or Tuesday.

We all played and enjoyed the Jubilee Course on Monday.  It was built in 1858 and is a gem all its own.   Great day, better weather,  a bit warmer and the winds were only around 10-15 miles per hour.

We also got some good  news — sort of.

One of our foursomes had won the daily lottery for the Old Course.  Bad news — it was the wrong foursome.  The  winning foursome had all played the Old  Course.  Our other four had not.

We agonized over various  strategies but in the end decided to throw ourselves on the mercy of the good folks who direct operations at St. Andrews.

They are  pretty strict in their policies.  People have won lotteries then turned around and tried to sell starting times online at a whopping premium and that does not sit well with the good folks who run this publicly-owned masterpiece.

All eight of us went to the  clubhouse at the Eden Course, the operations center for all the St. Andrews complex of courses.   Dave politely explained our dilemma to a nice  lady  — Izzy.  Izzy told us the director was in a meeting but would discuss our case with him and let us  know.

At least we didn’t get a flat “no.”

While we made our way around the Jubilee course,  the call came.  Great news!  Our four who had not played the  Old Course could have our tee time.

Our honest, straight-forward approach  paid off and Fred Bender,  Shawn (The Conqueror of Carnoustie) Wandler, Kevin Bahr and Jan Burger would get the treat of a lifetime.

It was not a friendly day on Tuesday,  winds were back up  in the  20-25 miles  per hour range and three  of  us struggled on the  Eden  Course.   Bill Burgess, director of the east Pasco  building department back home,  decided  to follow his buddy Kevin and spectate on the Old Course.

Can’t argue with that strategy when the winds are blowing.

We finished our round in time to cross over to the Old  Course, only  about 100 yards  from the Eden Course, to watch  our  guys play 16, 17  and 18.

I  was giving Fred a  bunch  of grief earlier when he told  me he wanted  to birdie the Road Hole.  Told him you want to PAR the Road Hole and you’d  beat a bunch of great  players, including Rory McIlroy.  Rory bogeyed it the final day of  the recent Dunhill Links and that cost him and dad Gerry the team title.

Fred made one of the best  up-and-downs for par there that I’ve seen.  After a fine drive,  his second into the wind came up  short,  just to the right  of  the Road Hole Bunker with the pin cut left.  He  putts side-saddle and had a narrow path to par.  His third  snuggled within three feet and he made that great par.

It was  the only par  in the  group.  Kevin and Jan’s tee  shots  decided to stop Jigger Inn for  a cold one and Shawn  couldn’t get up and down from 90 feet right of the hole.

Eighteen was playing downwind and the guys finished in fading daylight.

It was a pleasant drive back to Edinburgh,  where we will finish our adventure.

After four days of  walking and playing, a welcomed day off on Wednesday then Muirfield on Thursday with our final stop — North Berwick on Friday.