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Hitting the links

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Posted: Tuesday July 20, 1999 11:59 AM

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland -- One of the perks of covering the British Open is getting to play some links golf yourself. Rest assured, many American golf writers who converged on Carnoustie got in some serious links hacking. With St. Andrews just a 30-minute drive down the coast from Carnoustie, it was a no-brainer; in fact, at least one golf magazine rented a house in that area for the week.

The fact that it stays light until almost 10:30 at night in the summer and barely ever gets really dark makes Scotland a golfer's dream. I only got out to play twice -- bummer, man.

THE SHORT GAME Yet another reason why the British Open at Carnoustie was unique -- a sign in the concession area near the clubhouse with an arrow pointing, "To Hovercraft." You don't see that at the U.S. Open. ... Wagering is legal, if not the national pastime, in Great Britain. Betting on golf is like throwing away money, but Sunday morning you could still get 80-1 odds on Paul Lawrie to win the Open. He was 10 shots behind Jean Van de Velde at the time. ... Friday, after he missed the cut, Gary Player said Carnoustie was so hard that a player could actually come back from 12 strokes behind the last day and win, something he said he wouldn't say about any other course in the world. Hope he got a quid down on Lawrie. ... I've played Carnoustie three times over the years, and even with much wider fairways and much shorter, thinner rough, I don't think it's much fun. It's a very awkward course. How about a second opinion, you say? O.K. -- it's ugly, too.

The first time was at Letham Grange -- a would-be resort with an impressive, castle-like clubhouse/hotel a few miles north and west of Carnoustie. I drove there late one evening and teed off after 8 p.m. The best part was that the golf shop had closed at 7 or 7:30, so I wasn't able to pay. Letham Grange has two 18-hole courses. The Glens Course is called the Augusta National of Scotland -- by the people who built it, not anyone else. I saw a few of the greens on that course and they were big and mounded and had severe, sweeping undulations, à la Augusta National. Of course, it was no more like Augusta National than almost any American course that claims to be an authentic Scottish links.

I sneaked out on the front nine of Letham Grange's Old Course. It was a disappointment. It was very American, with tiered greens, and had a few too many short par-4's. It also came perilously close to Florida condo-ball. Houses infringed much too close on at least three holes. One par-3 was almost an island green. Yuck. I played two balls around nine holes and got my money's worth. Later in the week, another writer who'd booked a tee time there said the greens fees were £35 -- over $50. I steered him away, assuring him that he didn't come 3,000 miles to play what would qualify as a mediocre muni course back home.

I also played Montrose, one of the courses that held British Open qualifying the Sunday and Monday before the tournament. It was a terrific links. Like Carnoustie, it featured narrow fairways and substantial rough. A forecaddie would've been helpful to speed up play. Not knowing the course made it difficult to tell where exactly in the featureless heather our errant drives landed. We found most of our bad shots, but having a smaller area to search would've helped.

The fairways were narrow enough that I was actually glad we did have to play the tourist tees, which were way up. I was able to knock a three-wood just over the green on one short, uphill, blind par-4, and nearly drive another with a weak toe-hook drive. From the championship tees, this track was plenty of golf course -- not long enough for the tour pros but way too much for us amateurs. Greens fees were £25 -- about $40 -- and you're allowed to go out as early in the morning as you want. The shop doesn't open until 8 a.m., so you just pay when you get in. Given a choice, I'd rather play Montrose than Carnoustie, which is simply too difficult to enjoy. Of course, you've got to experience Carnoustie at least once -- but after last week's Open, I'd wait a while for the fairways to get widened back to normal and the rough to thin out.

NASTY BOYS

More comments from the British Open and fallout over Car-nasty: