Sunday morning we said goodbye to St. Andrews and headed north into the Scottish Highlands. We had spent some time there in 2019 and really loved all that the Highlands offers.
Tiny villages, great scenery, friendly Scots and plenty of distilleries beckon us to the north country and yes, there are some really fun golf courses.
We elected to stay at the same rental house we had last year as it was tops in every category and located in Aberlour, a very central spot for our highland adventures.
George insisted on driving of course because he abhors the fact I refuse to speed on these Scottish “alleys” they dare to call highways. Coffee at the ready we flew up to our next tee time.
The northern coast of Scotland which borders the Moray Forth is packed with golf courses. We had to comeback here to get some more Highland Links Golf in. Our first foray in the Moray Forth coast this year was a little gem of a course, Strathlene Buckie Golf Club.
No American golfer would ever put Buckie, as it’s called, on their must play list as you won’t find in it the top one hundred lists. But this is the kind of course George and I seek out.
It’s links golf on the sea with views that go on forever. And it’s more of a working mans local club and we enjoy that vibe more than the big golf factories that herd the tourists in and out like cattle.
We stopped in the clubhouse for a quick lunch, love those ham and cheese toasties and found just that welcoming atmosphere. A few members knew some Americans were booked and came over to welcome us.
Obviously they are proud of their course and appreciated our interest in it. Of course when they hear I am from New York they think of NYC but I assure them I live in a place more like Buckie than NYC. Oh, and they hate Trump…cheers to them.
The links were calling us and they made us promise to stop in after our round for a wee nip. We promised we would.
George got off to a great start as these cliff top links really get his blood flowing. Few things in golf get us as jazzed as seaside golf. Links golf with the sea in view is as good as it gets.
George opened up can of Scottish whoop ass, or whoop arse over here, on me and I was down three after just five holes.
I needed to start something and I did on the sixth hole, Black Craig. It’s a dogleg right par four and the toughest on the course. You tee off into a fairway that just blends into the sea giving you the impression a long drive could be sleeping with the fishes. I got lucky, the hole was made for a slice and I obliged. George pulled his drive and had no choice but to pitch back to the fairway. My par started my comeback.
I won the next two holes, par, birdie and we took a moment to enjoy the view from the green on the eighth which is named Memorial.
A war memorial stands behind the green with a path cut near the green for access. We took a moment to walk over and see the memorial and the amazing view down onto the village of Buckie. It’s special scenes like this that make us seek out these kind of courses where there is more a sense of community unlike those big tourist trap courses. We soaked in the atmosphere and the view for a bit.
The comeback continued on the back nine as I carved out a two up lead. But George does not go down easily.
I found the lovely pot bunkers on sixteen and lost to his par and after hitting what I thought was an excellent run up approach seventeen. I was flummoxed when I found my ball had rolled into another bunker. Ah, the bounces of links golf and another lost hole. All square into the last.
Their eighteenth here is a par three and George was still feeling the juice from his ace at Kingsbarns and stuck his shot to five feet. After leaving my shot short of the green I would need to chip it in. I opted to go all links golf style and putted it from fifteen yards out.
I saw George start to quiver as my ball was on a bee line to the flagstick. I was mid fist pump when it ricocheted off the pin and sat on the lip of the cup. A good shot but a disappointing par.
George, being the clutch player that he is stepped up and drained his birdie. Another win for big brother.
We honored our promise and had a dram with the members and we recounted some of our round but mostly expressed appreciation for their course and their kindness. The Scots are a great group.
We rolled into Aberlour for our rental around dinner time and the owner Stan was waiting for us. We had met Stan last year and he was thrilled to have us back in his place. Last year he gave us the lowdown on all things in the village and we took his advice. We even ran into him at one of the local hangouts, The Mash Tun, a really great pub loaded with more whisky than you can count. We ate there every night in Aberlour last year.
Guess where we went to dinner.
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