Greetings Golfers,

Just finished hitting some balls off a Power Tee driving range. Not our newly installed Power Tees … but at St. Andrews. Seriously. The Holy Grail of golf also has Power Tee range mats – exactly like the ones at Deer Run GC.

Speaking of the Holy Grail of Golf … played yesterday at the Crail Golfing Society – just south of the town of St. Andrews. Crail GS is supposedly the course that Michael Murphy wrote about in Golf in the Kingdom. I didn’t meet Shivas Irons, but the Head Pro Graeme Lennie is a great guy. And the golf course is as good as you’d hope … and is surrounded by the North Sea – it’s on a peninsula. We played the last few holes as the sun was setting and the fog was rolling in. I’m not trying to sound like a jerk … but how do I not talk about it? It was amazing!

We’ve been lucky and had no rain and a lot of sun. We were expecting cold and rainy … this nice weather is a bonus. But we didn’t come for warm weather … we came for Scotland. If you like dogs, scotch whisky, cashmere sweaters and plaid clothing, unpretentious people, and of course GOLF … you would love Scotland.

We stayed a few days just outside of Glasgow … then went to St. Andrews for a few days, and now we’re in Edinburgh. All during our travels we see golf courses everywhere! And everyone over here is talking about Jordan Speith … and next year’s Ryder Cup.

Golf is very healthy over here in Scotland. And the PGA Tour is very healthy with the rise of these young superstars. The doom and gloom about golf the last 10 years has been overblown. Golf is an ancient game with a fascinating history. But it also adapts with the times … for example St. Andrews using Power Tees. The secret is to combine the best of the old with the best of the new.

Maybe that’s why St. Andrews and the Crail Golfing Society are the Holy Grails of Golf.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com