Sunshine and stong winds – extremely strong winds. White geese on Moray Firth. The flagsticks are horizontal. The man in the bar looks us in the eye, “Keep out of the rough. The speed of the greens are like a steam train”. We nod in appreciation. The starter swallows a bite of his sardine sandwich and waves us off with a crooked smile. In the knowledge that Great Britain & Ireland beat the USA 10½ to 9½ in the Curtis Cup earlier in the year, we head off into an extremely challenging opening. Links75 class. The 1st to the 3rd are directly into the wind, par 4, par 4 , par 4 and already we feel mentally like we have played 18 holes. We play through the 4-ball in front of us already on the 2nd – thank you very much. The 4th is a par 3 straight out into the sea with shielding sand dunes in front of the green.
4th hole, Nairn
The 5th is a par 4 with the sea directly to the right. We have to use our drivers to reach the fairway. We slice, fade and draw the ball in and out of the wind. The ball moves unmercifully on the green and the flagstick must be held in two hands – breezy. On the 6th – a long one-shotter – the Americans ahead of us wave us through and we thank them with quick and accurate movement – nicely done! Suddenly we are in the leaderball. On the 8th – the first hole with a tailwind – our broken down swing is resurrected and we can breathe out again. On the 10th we start heading for home. The 13th is a challenging par 5 with an uphill slope that takes us up towards the 14th tee and a fairy-tale view over Moray Firth. It is a long par 3 with rough, bunker protection and an undulating green with true links feel.
13th green with 14th hole behind, Nairn
In pure delight we begin to play golf – links golf. Two-shotters and three-shotters are challenged by accuracy beyond the average. We snake past a burn, a bunker and out-of-bounds. Nairn invites us and we dance. Mr L wins 1 up. A white tablecloth and view over a great experience.
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