The word on the media grapevine was that, at around 7,200 yards, Castle Stuart is “edible” for the world’s best golfers and “negotiable” for those with mid-range handicaps, like me. So I put this theory to the test when invited to play this glorious venue, the site of this week’s Barclays Scottish Open, in the pro-am event yesterday.
It proved a nerve-jangling occasion from the start. “How do I calm my nerves — my hands are shaking?” I asked Gary Woodland, my professional playing partner for the day.
“Take some deep breaths,” he replied, before I sent a faintly half-volleyed five wood in the approximate direction of the green at our opening hole.
A good drive for me is around 225 yards. A really poor drive from Woodland will trundle to around 285 yards. This, over our five hours on the course, proved a sobering experience. There is nothing quite like witnessing the gun-crack of a professional golfer on the tee as he leathers his ball into space. It is all the more humbling when, after watching you give your all to land it around 220 yards, Woodland says: “Great ball. Great blow.”
As I spattered from hole to hole, Woodland was moved to offer me solace. “Listen, I played the [US] Open at Pebble Beach and I shot an eight on one hole. So keep going.” This was fine empathy as, without being disastrous, I racked up bogey after bogey.
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The perverse thing is, Castle Stuart, just like Augusta National, offers many wide and generous fairways, not to mention some short par-4s.
My one moment of near glory came when I struck an eight iron off the tee to four feet at the 130-yard 11th. “Great ball,” Woodland said. It might have won me the “nearest-the-pin” competition had it not been my provisional. My first ball will rest forever in the Moray Firth.