There are six of us on holiday in Scotland this week, on the wild and (relatively) inaccessible Applecross peninsula and even though five of us are golfers of one level or another, we haven’t hit a shot between us. We did try to watch the Walker Cup from Los Angeles but the time difference and the walloping – not to mention our windswept tramping of hills and rocky shores – sent us to bed early. We might keep an eye on the Evian Masters – though it seems to be as wet and wild in France as it is here and I’m not so sure an event calling itself a major should be reduced to 54 holes at the earliest opportunity – and the PGA Cup boys are at Foxhills in Surrey. That’s the club professionals of GB and I, who are the holders, against the United States. Good luck to them all. You don’t nip anywhere from Applecross so we’ll be cheering from afar.
The GB and I PGA Cup team 2017.
I brought my cherished Peter Broadbent persimmon driver to Scotland, thinking that we could find a beach somewhere and have a bit of fun trying to hit a titchy-headed club that we all used to wield with a certain amount of proficiency. There aren’t many flat bits round by here and the tide always seems to be in, so that experiment is something for a later date. This blog might be too, given the well-nigh non-existent internet connection at speeds of 0.something if you’re lucky. Kayaking photographs may have to be added at a later date….
No doubt there are technical whizzes in this neck of the Highlands who have super fast everything because how else could you run a business or take payments or update your website or fiddle around with photographs and film or whatever? Answers on a postcard please because time is no longer of the essence.
So, what have we been doing here in the absence of golf? Lots of walking – no problem clocking up 10,000 steps and more; some sea kayaking with Tom, originally from Yorkshire now from one of the Shieldaigs, spotting seals and sea eagles (some great pics but you’ll have to take my word for it); feeding Henry the pig, our neighbour across the way; hopping out of the way of cars and bikers pursuing the North Coast 500; eating delicious sea food and wonderful cakes; encountering tubby gardeners; photographing Highland cows of every colour; cooing over views unequalled anywhere; enjoying ice cream in the pouring rain; and chatting with people from all over the world. It was bliss before turning into blog hell! Ah well.
Last but not least, congrats to the wonderful women of Whittington Heath who reached the final of the Taskers for the second time, beating Charnwood Forest at Erewash Valley but fell to Kibworth in the 5th round of the Annodata UK Golf Club Classic. The best of luck to Kibworth who now head off to Spain for the final stages at Montecastillo, Cadiz and from what I remember of the Volvo Masters there, they’ll need their climbing boots. It’s pretty up and down and we intrepid spectators were glared at by Colin Montgomerie for breathing too heavily as he contemplated his options at a short hole with a tee at Corbett-ish height. If he’d had any concept of empathy, he’d have congratulated us on our climb, complimented us on our fortitude and taken his time so we could get our breath back.
Monty being Monty, he swung away, missed the green, glared at us again and stomped off, muttering.
Happy days.
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