Notice the vacant seats above, these were for Michael Merrett and Sharon Marks who were delayed a little in Edinburgh waiting at a luggage carousel in vain. Michael was not fazed though as the important luggage (golf clubs) came through, just not anything else, and they both joined us for dinner.
Located in Dirleton, North Berwick, The Renaissance Club is a very private little sanctuary in the Archerfield estate. More on this magnificent facility will be explained when we play here on Saturday.
A big thanks go to our friends at Taylor Made / Adidas who helped me provide the members with some tour paraphernalia. Some tour shirts (very handy for Michael and Sharon), balls, towel, pitch fork (all with the Thistle Be Scotland logo) and a Taylor Made cap were delivered to the Renaissance Club, ready for distribution.
All the goodies being prepared ready for the tooth fairies to deliver to everybody's room.
We now move on to the commencement of the golf, which was at Archerfield.
Out the driveway to the left, and 5 minutes later we enter the carpark at Archerfield, having passed the Nike performance centre.
Another magnificent private facility, Archerfield has two courses designed by DJ Russell. We played the Fidra, which is the older of the two.
Mike McCann opened proceedings with the first drive of the tour.
As you can see, the skies early were quite grey, with a wee Scottish mist that soaked us for the first 6 or 7 holes.
The mist was "nae bother" (thanks Michael Robb for the lingo lessons pre departure) as it was not joined by any wind.
The Fidra links winds it's way along the coast, however you do not notice the water unless you are in the pine trees in the above picture. The first 11 holes are lined by pines, creating a very different feel to most coastal courses.
Deep pot bunkering is a prominent feature, as shown here at the ninth green. Yes that is my ball 3 feet from the pin!
Many of the fairway bunkers make it difficult to advance more than 30 or 40 metres. This one on 10 is not too bad, but.....
This one on 11, means reaching the green in two is "nae possible".
Janet MacDougall Guppy is pictured here under the close watch of caddie Alan.
Thankfully the mist stopped, clearing into a beautiful benign afternoon.
Reg Hanson attempting to negotiate one of the fairway bunkers on hole 12. No he did not play it one handed (but maybe on this occasion he should have!!)
This is where the course turns more linksy, breaking away from the trees as it heads for home.
Once we get out here, we also see the inclusion of some large sandy waste areas. These are not hazards, and there are no rakes in this section.
Not quite the Swilcan bridge, but a very nice feature on the par three 13th.
A view from the green of the par three 17th, looking back to the tee.
This massive bunker sits in the middle of the 18th fairways, yes fairways. The hole gives you two options, either left where the fairway continues all the way down the hole, or a hidden fairway that you can see peeking over the right. This section of fairway is available over the fairway bunkers, but then runs out, requiring a carry over the wispy rough to the green.
All in all a very enjoyable, and playable way to start, followed by a magnificent meal in the impressive clubhouse.
This tour sees us having a Men's and Women's winner on each of the non "member match" days.
The players that opened the account today were Michael Merrett (in borrowed shoes and new clothes) with 36 points, and Katryna Economou with 34 points.
Not sure whether there was some collusion going on as they did play in the same group. Well done Michael and Katryna. Clearly Michael was worried that his luggage would not arrive, and wanted to win his shirt early so that he had another ready to go.
took advantage of the "member's lounge" in our lodge, playing billiards on the full sized table.
Tomorrow we head 10 minutes down the road to the historic and quirky links, North Berwick. Thistle be fun!!!
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