On The Road to Schytherbolle

Fore more info on the above visit golfweb.com

Here's a wee bit about Old Tom from the golfweb page.

"Old Tom was truly an early master of golf course "routing" -- the task whereby the general layout and direction of the golf holes are first determined. He established the technique of "double loop routing," in which each nine holes returns to the clubhouse."

Now why did I think the 9th green routing was an American country club idea for those who can't wait to have a cocktail?

Alas Old Tom didn't manage it at Royal Dornoch
- To quote the club's web site

"The great Tom Morris came up from St Andrews and laid out 9 proper golf holes. Three years later another 9 holes were added and the fame of the Dornoch course started to spread, even across the Atlantic to America."

Aye it's lang walk back tae the clubhouse if you've forgotten your hip flask and in desperate need of a wee dram.

David Joy the golf historian, and many other talents, has produced a video about Old Tom
KEEPER OF THE GREENS and is a must add to anyone's collection.

So what's the above got to do with going down to Mach?

Well unless you've got rocks in your head or had too many Scotches on the rocks, you'll want to spend a few days, way down there. And just so you don't leave the locals thinking you're a newbie from the New World. Or a Sassenach wi' nae sense of golfing history. You'd better start doing some 101 homework. Starting with knowing something about Old Tom.

PS
One of my very favourite golf writers John Huggan - of course he's a (fighting) Scotsman,has just posted "Was Lehman really the best PGA could do?"

WARNING The content in Huggan's article is HEAVY stuff especially if you like Lehman.

And just in case you're not a Scotsman and have difficulty with Huggan's "heid the ba's" phraseology. John's suggesting their thought processes were about as lucid as a Scotsman who's had way too many wee drams.