Gullane Number 1

One week after the Scottish Open was held at Gullane, we were on the tee, albeit a shortened version on the first.  The Scottish Open was played on a composite of Gullane 1 & 2.  The first hole on Gullane 1 was used for hospitality marquees, and they were still being removed.  This meant that the first hole today was played as a par three.

The course was in magnificent condition, as you would expect after hosting the National Open. Golf has been played on this site for over 350 years, and various clubs have been in existence.  Gullane Golf Club has been in operation since 1882.  Gullane Number 1 was built in 1884.

In what is quite unusual for links courses, Gullane moves uphill rapidly on the 2nd.  This shot shows the incline up to the green.  And also shows how narrow the fairway was for the Open.

Not only is the fairway narrow, but green is quite narrow also.

After making the rise, everything opens up beautifully and you get magnificent views across the bottom of the course out to sea.  Christine Acquroff and Jenny Brown are pictured on the 3rd tee.

An example of the pot bunkering mid way down the fairway on the 3rd hole.

Looking up the 6th fairway.  The course has again risen up the hill at this stage.

The magnificent view looking across the 7th tee.

And the view the other way.  As you may be able to tell the weather was closing in.  We are starting to see less and less across the water.  It rained on and off for the remainder of the day, so photos are a bit limited from here on in.

Looking over the 8th green from the 9th tee.  Apologies for the rain spots on the lens.

Peter Lucas is doing his best to escape the deep bunker safely, but as you can see, was not successful on this occasion.

The view from the 12th tee.  Those large concrete blocks on the right are remnants from the 2nd world war.  They are tank blockers.  These were positioned by the allies to prevent movement of tanks from the beach.

Looking up the par three 13th hole.

Looking back over the sea from the par three 13th hole.

Heading for home down the 18th hole.  You can still see some marquees in the distance.

Upon the conclusion of our round, we made our way into the "new clubhouse" (1927) to watch the final round of the Open.  The "old clubhouse" is still located across the road, and is now a restaurant and bar, astonishingly titled the old clubhouse.  It is quite nice, we had dinner there on Friday evening.

We pretty much took over the area housing the TV in the Gullane clubhouse.
We did allow some Dutch in there, provided they barracked for the Aussies.  What an exciting, yet disappointing finish.  Seems to be a bit of a trend with Open Championships, and our visits to them.  We have a much better track record at the Masters.

Our winners today were Peter Lucas, who continued his run of good form, with 38 points, and Pam MacKenzie with 36 points. Congratulations.

A later than planned move occurred after the playoff debacle, and we arrived at Turnberry ready to play the Ailsa course tomorrow.