Leaving Saturday afternoon from Columbus, I took off on a 35 hour journey to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the CIMB Classic. After a double red-eye that included sunrise over London and sunset over Tehran, I landed Monday morning for my first ever trip to Asia. The plan is to attempt to document what it’s like to cover a PGA tournament on the other side of the world at a time when almost no one is watching. With the 2016-2017 season recently wrapped, the MLB Playoffs beginning, NFL season in full swing, and the start of the NHL and NBA seasons, the PGA TOUR could not be further in the back seat. And that’s what was the most appealing thing to me about this swing. Why does the TOUR go to Malaysia? Why do the players come? We’re gonna try to get to the bottom of this.

Some video content will come shortly after the week has wrapped. This has been tough to film without my man DJ here (already lost a tripod in a Starbucks), but we’re going to do our best to tell the story through video. I mean, I could describe to you what the street markets are like just a few minutes walking from the downtown hotel, but that doesn’t really fully set the scene.

You don’t care. You’re not tuning into this post for a weather update. But it honestly needs to be mentioned just how freaking muggy it is here. It turns out that the equator is really humid. I walked out of the airport at like 8:00 AM and was simultaneously drenched. Like, I was impressed that my body was capable of producing that much perspiration. If there’s ever a time to try to get away with naming a tournament the Swamp Ass Invitational, it’s during the fall series.

Also, it rains pretty much every day here around the same time in the afternoon (some time in the 3:00-5:00 range). With that in mind, tee times are already moved up every round, and everyone loves it because play is wrapped by 3:00 PM. It’s kind of beautiful.

The city of Kuala Lumpur is what makes this tournament unique. The TOUR stops in Asia once a year, and most of why I wanted to come was to soak up the vibe of the city itself. Even though the players essentially refuse to venture past the restaurants across the street, Kuala Lumpur is significantly more interesting than almost every other stop on tour. I’ve never been to Malaysia, I had no idea what this city is like.

I spent Monday visiting the various tourist spots, sampling the food in Chinatown and Little India, shopping for trinkets, and marveling at the prices of Uber rides (one ride across town cost me $1.25). Kuala Lumpur is an amazing mix of east and west. The population is obviously overwhelmingly Asian, but even with that Asian population, it’s incredibly diverse. People of all different Asian descents can be seen from the streets all the way to the golf course, and it’s westernized enough that us white guys don’t stick out. It’s fascinating. The city is safe, affordable, and the food is phenomenal. What’s not to like?

Though the players’ hotel is not far from the golf course, KL traffic can be brutal. Motorcades run approximately once an hour, and police officers on motorcycles ride ahead to move people out of the way in standstill traffic, and stop highway traffic at the entrance ramps so we can zoom to and from the course in less than 20 minutes. At first it seemed excessive, but after seeing the traffic, it’s clearly a necessity. It’s honestly a thrill, and some of the gaps these cars squeeze through are pretty tight.

I got to play in the Pro-Am Wednesday with Patrick Rodgers. We had a blast, and he was super cool to play and chat with. I’ve been tracking his progress for several years now, and he’s had a bit of a struggle this year. It was interesting to pick his brain on those struggles, what caused it, and what he’s doing to straighten himself out. I’m still very confident we’re gonna be hearing a lot about him in the near future.

But the real MVP of the group was Ali, aka the Malaysian Aphibarnrat. Ali is a local policeman, and a three handicap to boot. He wasted no time getting over the ball, setting up closed, and firing over the top, hitting low butter cuts through the thick Malaysian atmosphere. It was inspiring. He rattled off at least five birdies to carry our otherwise apathetic team.

I could not have played worse. I think I lost seven balls. I did not hit one single fairway. Made like three birdies in a shamble format, which is shameful on a course full of drivable par-4’s and reachable par-5’s. My time on the Pro-Am circuit may be coming to an end very soon if there are similar repeat performances. And I haven’t even gotten to meet Alfonso Ribeiro yet.

Incredibly narrow fairways, almost no options off tees, and not a dogleg in sight. There’s a lot more significant elevation changes in person than there is on TV, but it’s far from ideal. Very little thought or strategy is needed out here.

That being said, the guys out here seem to love it, mostly for the reasons listed above. I will say, there is a ton of shot value in driving the ball. Lift, clean, and place is in full effect, so if you manage to fit it in these shoestring fairways, you’re rewarded with ball in hand. That’s at least a welcome change from bomb and gouge, but I was totally uninspired by the layout.

Thursday was my first ever walk with Asian fans, and honestly, this is part of the reason why I came. I wanted to know who the people are that attend events here. Is it expats? Locals? I discovered it was almost all locals, and the legitimate excitement/giddiness over Gavin Green was contagious. The applause and the cheers were heartfelt when he made birdie on 17 (his 8th), as a guy near me let out a “YESSS!” that was intended to be much quieter than it ended up being.

I bailed on JT’s group as he made the turn on Thursday so that I could find some sunscreen. His caddie, Jimmy Johnson had had enough by the time they reached the 2nd (his 11th), and was seeing stars. He had to head in, and if I had still been following, JT confirmed I would have gotten the call.

As much as I didn’t care for the course, the tournament itself is pretty fun. With a limited field, the coverage shows a large percentage of the field, and is ideal to fall asleep to back in the states. For some reason this was always an event I used to watch on TV, and it’s fun to actually get to see it in person.

Hopefully will be checking back in over the weekend. Thanks for indulging.

Notes from the Field: CIMB Classic

The very first leg of this extended jaunt around Scotland was four rounds in and around the Inverness area split between Castle Stuart, Brora, and Royal Dornoch. Much to the chagrin of the twitter “Itinerary Guy,” this meant that I had to skip Nairn and live with the fallout. You can’t play ’em all right? Well, enough Itinerary Guys weighed in to make me reconsider my route for week two, and it became clear that I couldn’t miss the chance to play this legendary gem.

I made my way back up to the Highlands from Aberdeen for my 11:30 Friday morning tee time. No, this was not the ideal route, but with a rental car, and a once in a lifetime open schedule in front of me, what’s a few more extra hours in the car?

It’s a dark, overcast day with a light drizzle, and the Moray Firth is angry this morning. The sound of the waves is deafening, and the walk to the first tee alongside the sea is one of the best I’ve seen.

Nairn was founded in 1887, and they preserve their history better than almost any course I’ve seen (more on this at the bottom). A mix of names have been involved in its development over the years, the most famous name being Old Tom Morris. It’s most recent time in the spotlight was the 1999 Walker Cup (

!), where GB&I eviscerated the Yanks in singles in route to a 15-9 victory.

Almost every course played on this trip is set right against the sea, but I continue to be astounded by the variety in styles of the courses. The first seven holes at Nairn play right along the water, and the land is very flat. This is not a knock at all. In fact, in my experience, the flatter the links course, the more interesting and intriguing the design elements are, particularly with the bunkering (with Royal Lytham and St. Annes and Royal Liverpool immediately coming to mind). From the onset, I’m in my yardage book trying to figure out which bunkers I want to take on, and which ones I want to lay back from on the very first tee.

On the second, a 463 yard par-4, a ditch comes in at 285 that defines the hole. I try to lay off a driver, only to catch one flush and end up in the hazard for a foolish one shot penalty. I shook my head but smiled. That tee shot was a test, and though I executed the shot I was trying to with near perfection, and I failed the test. I was too greedy, and Nairn made me pay. Tip of the cap.

With the winds down, the course could not be more gettable. After getting battered by wind for over a week, it’s a welcome change of pace. While I don’t want to say that the back nine underwhelmed, the front nine along the sea is surely the highlight. The third hole doglegs left slightly away from the sea, allowing just enough room to jam a par three in that goes back the other way towards the water. Then, from the back tee on the 5th, you actually have to play directly over the 4th green with your tee shot. No modern course would ever be designed this way, but these small nuances serve as a great reminder of the origins of the game, and how courses were designed before bulldozers. The view from the 5th tee:

I was not far into the round before I shot Andy Johnson (of 

 fame) a text: “Nairn definitely makes bunkers great again.” There’s 108 of them in total, and they’re some of the best and most strategic bunkers I’ve seen in the British Isles. They also have a consistent “raised” look to them, and seemingly pop out of the landscape like gophers. This adds an appealing visual element to both your tee shots and your approaches, and makes them impossible to ignore. For example, here’s the bunker that protects the 4th green:

True hazards in every sense of the word, and to me, the most defining characteristic on the golf course. Well positioned bunkers can make or break the design of a hole, and Nairn executes this to perfection.

You continue out along the sea, move slightly inland on holes 8 and 9, then start your turn back towards the clubhouse. But before you do, you encounter the single most charming halfway house I’ve ever seen.

A converted barn with rolling fairway terrain right up to the door. I wasn’t even hungry or thirsty, but I had to get 

On the 10th green, I get invited to join up with a fivesome. To clarify, this is an 

 fivesome, and I’m now the 6th. Did I mention that Scotland is the best? Scotland is the best.

The age of the members in this group varied greatly, and the banter was flying at a pace I could not keep up with. I don’t mind playing golf by myself, but it’s not even close to the experience of playing alongside someone you enjoy conversing with. But playing with a member takes it to an entirely different level. You inevitably get a history lesson as you play alongside the insight to the types of games they play, their drinks of choice, and of course the accents. On this misty day, I got the full experience.

I get invited to join the guys in the clubhouse for lunch, where they tell me all about “The Archive Room.” The assistant pro, Sean Burgess, had messaged me prior to arriving to make sure I made time to see the room. I was starting to wonder what all of the fuss was about.

I had absolutely no idea what I was in for, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that this room changed me. Like, it is going to be a requirement that I have a room in my house in the future that at least somewhat resembles this place. I know next to nothing about the history of Nairn Golf Club, and I could have spent a week in there going through the artifacts and reading the books. There’s 100 year old meeting minutes talking about the current weaknesses of the routing, the draining, the design, etc. There’s results from literally over a century’s worth of tournaments. There’s pictures, old golf clubs and balls, couches. It was perfectly manicured, and looked like something you would see in a museum. A bottle of scotch and some glasses sat on a nearby table, and books about links golf other golf courses littered the table surrounded by the seating. There were membership booklets from 1912.

If you do make the visit to Nairn (and you most certainly should), it should be required that you request a key to the archive room.

Nairn Golf Club

Back in May of 2017, I was in Greenville, South Carolina, and received a Twitter direct message from a “Kenny Goulet,” inviting me to come out to Greenville Country Club. I told him I’d be there, rain or shine. Little did I know this invitation would change my life forever.

As I often find myself, I showed up to play with three random guys from Twitter, this time in monsoon-like conditions and with an open mind to the Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed course. “Kenny Goulet” turned out to be a true gentleman named G.H. Two of his regular foils, Wes (the club champion) and Chaney (who morphs from a 2 to a +6 when the pressure is on), joined us and introduced me to the glorious madness that is Wolf Hammer. I’d played wolf and I’d played hammer, but never like this. Chaney and Wes made sure to add that neither had been to an ATM in 18 months because of their association with G.H.

My initial experience at GCC was one of the most fun rounds I’d played in years and I left determined to get back as soon as possible with the entire NLU crew. Fast forward to PGA Championship week in 2017, when we were able to knock out 36 rainy, fantastic holes before heading up to Charlotte. Before we go over the rules, I  want to make clear how quickly things can get WILDLY out of hand.

In four-man Wolf Hammer, going blind lone wolf (before anyone has teed off), multiplies every bet (the hole and all the junk, which is spelled out below) by four. Going solo after you hit, multiplies everything by three. Going alone after everyone else hits, multiplies everything by two. If you pick a partner, everything is worth one dot.

Starting on the 16th hole, the individual who is down the most money becomes the wolf and can dictate the value of dots henceforth. This holds true for the remainder of the round (for instance if the person down the most going into 16 comes out way ahead and is no longer behind then the new lowest person is the wolf and dictates dot value on 17). This gives the low man on the totem pole a chance to win their money back… Or find a deeper hole.

The main strategy elements lie in the choosing of your partner and the timing of the hammers and takes. The “junk” (listed out below) plays out on its own. All points for each hole go the team as a whole. If my partner gets a Hogan, that’s a point for each of us. If we each get a Hogan, we each get two points, etc.

Each item below is worth a “Dot.” Print these out and take them with you to the course, because you’re gonna need them.

Lowest score on hole (net or gross to be determined before first tee shot is hit for the day)

 May be thrown at any time by either team, adding a “Dot” to the hole you are playing. The hammer is then held by the other team to be thrown back at will.

 Taking the Hammer adds another “Dot” to the hole you are playing. If you decide not to Take, you lose the dot from the original hammer. (Unless you’re already out of the hole, you should take.)

: Must be declared before moving forward on the course. You cannot improve your position on the course to determine if you want to take or drop. If you move forward then a Take is in effect.

: When a hammer is thrown and accepted and the opposing team immediately throws the hammer back then a boomerang dot is added (in addition to the hammer + take).

: Par 3’s only, closest to pin on the green in regulation and you must make par or better.

: Par or better from any bunker (double sandy is possible if you make par or better).

: Par or better putt holed from outside the length of the flagstick. If a poley is of questionable length, poley MUST be measured and determined before putting.

: Audible fart during your swing on the tee shot only, must make par or better. The signal to allow your playing partners that a fart may be coming is “Quiet please!”

: When you take two shots from the same bunker the 

: When you go from one bunker to another bunker the 

: When you take a penalty stroke from being in the hazard and make par or better. No penalty stroke means no creekie.

: In honor of fellow GCC member, Bill Haas. If you are in a water hazard and make a visible splash while hitting a shot and you make par or better

: Ball bounces off rocks (not cart path) – hence Rocky Balboa – and you make par or better. As approved at the summit, the rock wall on No. 9 at Chanticleer is included as a Yo, Adrian.

: When the ball hits the flagstick and you make par or better. You cannot use putter to make a rattler.

: Any shot that goes in from off the green for par or better without the use of the putter.

: When you hit the fairway and the green in regulation and make par or better. On a par 5, your second shot (if it’s short of the green) must also be in the fairway.

: When you miss the fairway and the green in regulation and make par or better. On a par 5, your second shot must also miss the fairway.

: When you stick your approach in regulation inside the length of the flag stick and you make par or better.

: Stick your second shot on a par 5 or your tee shot on a par 4 inside the flag stick and you make par or better. You earn 2 dots.

: Two feet in the bunker while the ball is outside the bunker (trouble in turn 2) and you make par or better.

: When your ball is in a foreign fairway – ball MUST be in the short grass – and you make par or better.

: When the ball is between two bunkers and you make par or better. You must establish your foot position with your ball between your feet before reaching for the bunkers. If you can reach two separate bunkers with a rake in either hand without moving your feet, the taint is in play.

: First dot of the day gets an extra dot for their team after drawing first blood. For clarification, a Wasabi is not an earned dot until putted and made par or better; same for a Hogan.

: When a team wins 7 OR MORE dots on a hole an extra dot is added because they just got violated.

When a team wins 10 or more dots on a hole, an extra dot is added. Double (digit) murder.

: Two team members make birdie or better on the same hole.

: 3 team members birdie or better on the same hole; 1 dot. Note: Dottie Pepper is also awarded when a menage is won.

: When the ball hits something and bounces further back than the original position the shot was played from and you make par or better.

Wolf Hammer Use Case (And How It Can Get Out of Hand):

Let’s say you’re on the back nine and down a bit but hitting it well. You decide to go blind lone wolf on a par 4 that fits your eye. The other three guys hit the fairway and green, two hit it within the flagstick and make birdie, and the other hits it in the bunker and gets up and down for par by making a putt from outside the flagstick. Meanwhile you miss the fairway, the other team hammers and you take. You end up hitting the green and making a solid two-putt par. Not bad! However, you just lost hole, hammer, take, Hogan, Hogan, wasabi, wasabi, Dottie Pepper, birdie, birdie, sandy, poley, KY, O.J. That’s 14 dots, and lets say their worth $3 apiece. Multiply that by four because you went blind lone. Despite making par, you now have to pay out $168 EACH to your three opponents.

Surgeon General’s Warning: PLAY WOLF HAMMER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The best way to learn the game is to be the scorekeeper, as it makes you think through the hole and the strategy. To score it, keep a running tab of the dollar amount a person is up or down for the day. The total should always net to zero, so if players A and B win two dots on the first hole, they sit at “2” and players C and D sit at “-2.”

All the golf adjacent videos from No Laying Up!

All the other golf and golf adjacent videos from No Laying Up!

The Mixed Bag

Mixed Bag: Golf Adjacent

An Intro to Wolf Hammer: Golf's Most Dangerous Game

If you’re looking for a course to anchor a northern Scotland trip around, Royal Dornoch is the one. While we’ve touched on a few other great places in the area (

I checked into my modest accommodations at the Dornoch Hotel (far from luxurious, but perfect for someone ballin’ on a budget) on the night prior to my scheduled 36 hole day across the street, and quickly discovered that I was essentially out of luck for dinner for the evening. Though there was still plenty of sunlight at 10:00, the town of Dornoch is a bit sleepy and mostly void of dinner options at this hour. It’s small inconveniences like that this that remind me of my location on the planet, and in a country of just 5 million people, I’m likely north of at least 90% of them. But what’s lacking in terms of infrastructure is more than made up for in Scottish charm.

Royal Dornoch is almost always ranked in (at minimum) the top three among golf courses in Scotland, and easily the highest ranked among courses that are not on the Open rota. The reality is that the town and the property itself are not capable of housing a crowd of that size. The course itself doesn’t try to pretend to be a championship test, as it tips out around 6,750 yards, but to me, this only adds to the uniqueness of the experience.

The club was founded in 1877, when Rutherford B. Hayes was the president of the United States. The U.S. was barely a hundred years old when this place opened up! It might get a bit repetitive to hear about the ancient dates of some of these clubs, but it will never cease to amaze me how long places like Dornoch have stood the test of time through wars, depressions, storms, erosion, and extreme advancements in technology. Before venturing across the pond to the British Isles, I had always imagined that these old courses would lack modern conditioning, and that that was simply part of the charm. I was surprised to find that this is rarely the case, and certainly not here. Royal Dornoch is as pure as pure gets.

Paired up with three American visitors, we’re off at 10:20 with overcast skies above. The first hole immediately puts your mind to work. At just 331 yards, and a modest 12 on the stroke index, it appears to be a breezy start. But the two bunkers on the left about 200 yards from the tee are situated perfectly. If you want to blow past them, feel free, but just know that the fairway narrows there and the deep shit is waiting for you. If you lay back with iron, you’re likely taking these two bunkers on, so you better be accurate with that one too.

While I’m not going to break down the strategic elements of each of the next 17 holes, the first one paints a perfect picture for how many decisions you’re going to have to commit to over the next four hours. It’s fantastic. And the more I pour over my yardage book some two months after playing it, the more I realize how many great holes Dornoch has that are worthy of discussion.

The second is a par three measuring 184 yards, and home to what Tom Watson calls “the hardest shot in golf.” No, it’s not the long iron off the tee into the prevailing wind. It’s the second shot. When you inevitably miss this green, you’ll see why. The surface is narrow, and sits perched well above the two bunkers that frame the front. If you’re wayward, it might take you a few back and forths across the width of the green before it finally finds the surface.

Going out towards the third hole, the course really begins to open up. After a short walk down a tight path through the gorse, you emerge onto the piece of the property that you see in all of the pictures. The 413 yard par-4 bends to the left, but of course there are four perfect little pot bunkers lining the right side of the fairway, waiting to collect anything that runs out too far. The wind helps you move the ball away from these traps, but the gorse comes in tight on the left waiting on any shot that cuts the corner too closely. The green is huge, and I kind of lost focus on the golf as I wandered around the surface imagining all of the possibilities.

The view of the third green from the fairway, with the 4th in the distance:

The fourth is another strong two shotter (like, a really strong hole, but I’m on pace for about 4,000 words so I’m sliding past it), followed by a 353 yard par 4 that really tickled my senses. It’s wide open and inviting off the tee. There’s doesn’t appear to be a reason to keep the driver holstered, so I let one rip way down the fairway. I arrive at my ball, and quickly realize they got me. Three small bunkers guard the front of the green, and the pin sits on the front. I’m way too close. This place is like a crossword puzzle, and just when you think you nailed one, you realize the word you just inked in pen doesn’t fit the answer you need for 27 down.

The sixth is another great little par-3 that seems to be clinging for dear life on the side of a hill. You then walk up a steep path to a near isolated part of the property for the 7th, a screaming 479 yard par-4 back into the teeth of the wind. From there, you get perhaps the best view of the day:

A blind tee shot on the 8th brings you back down the hill and out to the furthest point, and the walk back to the 9th tee brings you seaside for the first time.

The shadow cuts in the fairway are perfectly appealing to the lusting eye, and with the sound of the waves crashing on the beach behind you, before you’re nine holes in you already understand what everyone has been talking about. While the course is scenic, it doesn’t 

 the scenery. The golf course itself stands on its own from a design, conditioning, and fairness standpoint.

The fairways are wide in general, yet there are great benefits to playing from your approach from the proper angle. On more than one occasion, I was thankful that I was going to get a second go around later that afternoon because by the time I had reached my ball, I realized I was out of position due to the pin placement.

Holes 9-16 all run along the coastline, and after a quick stop at the charming halfway house, the back nine greets you with a gentle gem of a par three. Right to left shots are preferred on the difficult par-4 11th as well as the par-5 12th. One final par-3 at the 13th, then five straight two shotters to finish.

The course peaks at at the par-4 14th. Tom Doak calls it “one of the greatest holes in the game.” It’s 445 yards from the tips and ranks as the most difficult hole on the course. While the fairway doesn’t dogleg, a right to left shot is again preferred as the tee box sits a bit at angle left of the center cut line. There are no bunkers, but the right half of this green is protected by deep rough. Therefore, your long iron approach is perhaps better played left of the green rather than at the center, yet your instincts don’t allow you to get comfortable aiming so far away from the flag.

The 15th is another fun par-4, then the 16th takes you back up the hill towards the clubhouse. This climb is “skipped” on the front nine as you climb a hill between the 6th green and the 7th tee, but there’s no avoiding the climb on this side. It’s not the best hole out there, but two more nice par-4’s bring you back to the clubhouse for lunch.

16 tee (foreground), 15, and 14 in the distance:

I sit in the grill room with a beer, my scorecard, and my notes and just reflect on the masterpiece I just traversed. With 54 holes down in less than 24 hours, I’m still chomping at the bit to get back out there for another go at it. I make the classic mistake of visualizing a game plan for a links course and to respond to the strategic mistakes I made in the first round, only to discover that the wind had changed directions. I’m now playing a different golf course.

For some reason, afternoon/evening golf in Scotland seems to be a relatively unpopular thing. This is my favorite time of the day to play, and I zoom around solo for the first 11 or so holes before hitting a wall of singles. For some reason, no one was joining up for the walk in. Two members (Iain and Martin) stroll up behind me as I wait on the 16th tee. I’m not sure if it’s against custom to ask members to play with me, but I do, and they’re appreciative.

The banter between Iain and Martin was fascinating to watch. To this point, the only thing missing from my day was this local flavor, and though we only joined up for three holes, the Scottish welcome came pouring out. They argued about their match, laughed, and though they see it plenty, marveled at the ridiculous evening we were blessed with.

The wind picks up big time down the finishing stretch, and when I make a comment on it, Iain replies: “You don’t think this is strong do you?”

The members invited me inside for a beer, which quickly turned into four. We talked about the area, golf courses, life, and anything else that came up over the course of the hour and a half. For some reason, Scottish and English golf clubs can get a reputation as being stuffy, and while there are certainly elements of that in some places, I find that reputation to be mostly inaccurate. It’s actually the complete opposite here at Royal Dornoch, where I felt welcome as a guest by the club at the start of the day, and even more welcome as a guest by two members at the end of it. 

 is Scotland, and these 19th hole experiences are more memorable than any shot you play.

I got on the grounds at 9:30 AM. It’s now 9:30 PM and I’m leaving. I’m far from an expert on golf architecture, but I do know golf experiences. From a golf course perspective, it does not get any better than Royal Dornoch. And from a golf experience standpoint, Royal Dornoch shoots straight up near the top of places that I would want to play every single day.

I can’t picture a better place to spend a day of golf.

Royal Dornoch

I try the best I can in these posts to limit the personal stories, and try to maintain the theme of providing information that helps you plan your golf trip, rather than bore you with inane details from what is ultimately an insignificant round of golf. But for this writeup on Brora, that’s not going to be possible, because what unfolded on the evening of June 20, 2017 was one of the wildest and most unlikely four hour stretches I’ll ever experience on a golf course. But let’s start with the golf course.

I met up with two members of the club, Campbell Ross and Calum Stewart, around 6 PM on the longest day of the year. The night was 

. Coming off two hours of sleep, four+ hours of driving, and 18 holes at Castle Stuart previously that afternoon, I was feeding off the energy of the sunshine and the rave reviews this course has received.

Brora is about as far north as people are reasonably willing to venture to play golf in Scotland. It’s not a championship level golf course, but that’s hardly a pre-req to being an enjoyable walk. I had heard stories of how sheep and cows roam freely through the grounds, and I just had to see it for myself. Sure enough, tiny electric fences surround the green complexes to keep the sheep off of them. But this is only one small element of the charm that is Brora Golf Club.


The club opened in 1891 (originally nine holes) and was lengthened to 18 holes around 1900. Five time Open champion James Braid redesigned the course in 1924, and the course remains mostly unchanged from that era.

The sea breeze was cool, and noticeably cooler than the 70 degrees I had at Castle Stuart just two hours earlier. It’s old school in the sense that, the tees seem to be in their original places (the course tips out at 6,100 yards), and they’ve not ruined the course with desperate attempts to keep up with the rapid advancements of technology. While it may seem like the game has overgrown the course’s shortish par fours, if you’re expectations are managed coming into it, you’ll enjoy this aspect. And for 35 pounds for a twilight round (after 5 PM), you can’t beat the price point.

The sheep are hilarious. They are everywhere, and it honestly never stopped being funny when one would let out a gigantic “BAHHHHHHHH” seemingly right as we were about to hit a shot. The locals kind of laugh at the Americans overly keen interest in the sheep, but I’ve played golf in a lot of places and I’ve never seen anything like this. And it’s etched in my memory of this place.

I was expecting the turf and terrain to be a lot more raw. The conditioning was beautiful, and while the greens were on the slower side, they were lush and well maintained. Tom Watson paid a visit here in July:

Brora is not going to be at the top of a lot of people’s bucket lists. Top 100 seekers aren’t likely to venture this far north, but to me, this only adds to the mystique of this place. Gone are the busloads of American tourists at the Open rota courses, and the only guests that make it up here are the hardcore ones. To me, it’s absolutely vital to fill your golf trips with journeys to places like Brora. The opportunity to play with locals no doubt enhanced the experience (more on that in a bit here), and the pride the members take in their club always fascinates me, and you inevitably end up getting a history lesson along with a pleasant walk.

I’m separating this section out because it has very little to do with Brora the course, and more to do with my experience, which remains one of the weirdest and wildest golf experiences I’ve ever had.

Shortly before arriving on the grounds, I hear word through the grapevine that Bones and Phil were divorcing, and that the announcement was going to come later that evening. It was a shock, and it honestly rattled me a bit. There was nothing going on that would lead me to think this was a possibility, and my mind was racing trying to figure out what was going on. I wasn’t allowed to share the news publicly, which wasn’t that big of a deal at the time.

Aside from taking pictures, I try to keep my phone in my pocket as much as physically possible during a special round of golf. I manage to make it about four holes in before checking, only to see that I had a missed call from Bones. I was beyond confused. I call him back and act like I don’t know anything. He sounds totally normal, and just asks for my email address.

I spent the next hour refreshing my email every chance that I got, knowing what was coming. I was close to just giving up on it ever coming. Finally the statement comes in, and I get it out to twitter as fast as I can, and just watched golf twitter melt down. I remember us all holing out on one hole, and remaining on the green each on our phones just watching the overwhelming reaction to the news.

At this point, I’m apologetic to Calum and Campbell for being on the phone the entire round, now that I’ve decided to call this my job, this is the reality, and they’re more than understanding.

Trying to calm down, we’re all still talking about the Bones thing. I’m not doing a good job of soaking up this experience and I know it. Nearing the end of a 36 hole day on no sleep, and my mind racing on the divorce, and my focus just isn’t really there.

“You can probably have a go at it,” says Calum as we approach the tee on the 334 yard par-4. Legitimately two holes earlier, I told the group “You guys have no clue how many strokes this twitter account has cost me” as I reached for the driver on a somewhat drivable par-4. I’m bound by duty to reach for the driver whenever reaching the green is even a remote possibility.

Fighting the hooks all day, I let loose and one and finally flushed one. It had just enough draw spin to hold up against the down and off the left wind. The ball disappears into the distance, as the green is a bit blind.

“That’s probably just short,” Calum says.

In my head, I’m thinking, “man, that’s not short of ANYTHING.” This ball was crushed.

I don’t think much of the fact that I couldn’t see my ball as we walked up. We looked short of the green, nothing there. Looked slightly right of it, nothing there. Nothing in the bunker. It’s clearly not on the grass, so we start perusing around the heather that frames the green. Could it have gone long!? A casual search begins over the green. I’m a million over par and hardly playing super official golf at this point, so I’m close to just dropping one.

Maybe 30 seconds more of searching. I’m resigned. Calum walks by the hole just to have a peek. A semi-shocked look comes over his face as he utters:

Ahhhh the old “hole in one trick” on the foreign guest. Not gonna fall for that one. I laughed it off and tried to draw the joke out of him before the demoralizing self gander into the cup, only to find out I was pranked. This show went on for a good 20-30 seconds. He was steadfast. His hands were on his head. “I’m not joking you, the ball is in the hole.”

“If I come over there, and my ball is not in the hole, I’m going to actually punch you in the face. You do realize that right?”

This is beginning to become a reality for me, but his excitement level still does not match what I would expect for apar four ace. I don’t even remember actually walking up to the hole. But I remember looking in the cup, and the legitimate state of shock that I entered. There it was, aCallaway Chrome Soft-X. And fittingly, a number one. My jaw dropped.

I’m yelling at him like he’s Jack Nicholson and I’m Tom Cruise, just waiting for him to fess up to the truth.

We do an awkward white guy high five, and suddenly all of Tiger and Stevie’s failed celebrations make sense. I’m not running around and screaming mostly because I’m actually in a state of shock. I’ve never had an ace before! And it comes on a par 4!? On a perfect night in northern Scotland!?

I made a few frantic phone calls to my Dad, my best friend Frank, and to Tron. I don’t have a single clue as to what happened the rest of that round, other than the fact that Calum shot like 66. I played so unbelievably bad that I didn’t even break 80 on a par 70 WITH AN ACE ON A PAR FOUR. I didn’t even have a birdie on the card.

By the time we had finished, word had gotten back to the clubhouse about the ace, and they were awesome enough to present me with a framed photo from the course. I went inside, nervous about the bar tab, only to find that the clubhouse was nearly empty. I offered a round to everyone there, but it was so sparse that my final tab only ended up being 15 pounds.

I drove the thirty minutes back to my hotel in Dornoch, music on full blast to try to stay awake. It’s 10:30 and it’s still light out, and the greatest golf trip ever could not be off to a better start.

Brora Golf Club

Way overdue, as always. Let’s get caught up on some correspondence. Apologies in advance, this is a long one. Thanks for all of the questions.

Odds Rickie's career ends up like Kuch: Top-10 machine but no majors?



— JJ Gottschalk (@jjgottschalk) 

I maintain that Rickie’s gonna get one. He’s around the top enough to conclude that he’s bound to run into one at some point. Rick has been around for awhile and had quite a few chances, so it may 

 like he’s running out of chances to win one way more than the actual reality. He can go 0 for his next 11 majors and still be younger at the 12th than DJ was when he won his first major. He can go 0 for his next 16 majors and still be younger at the 17th than Phil was when he won his first major. While I wouldn’t say he’s on the trajectory of either of those players in terms of career achievements, perspective on age in these things is always important.

One thing I can’t stand is when a player is winless in majors, it seems like their high finishes in majors get held over their head as a bad thing. Seven top-5 finishes in majors for Rickie before the age of 30 is a 

 thing. He’s proven over and over that he has the talent to contend in majors, and though many will disagree with this, the line between contending in majors and winning them is actually pretty thin. Patience, my friends.

How good is Alex Noren?? ????



— Steve worley (@FakeSteveWorley) 

He’s very good! That’s never been the issue. I’ll take the bait here.

I feel like I’m at the end of a crooked game of telephone listening to what my take has somehow “become” vs. what I actually said from the start. My whole point was that, to get into the top 10 in the world rankings, you should have had to do at least 

 on the world stage. Winning five times on the European Tour is absolutely remarkable, and should not be dismissed under any circumstance. The point was that the Official World Golf Rankings way overrate winning events, when it should be measured more as a performance in relation to your peers.

Often times, a 5th place finish on the PGA TOUR is more impressive than a win on the European Tour in the same week given the difference in the strength of field. Noren climbed to the top ten in the world without ever playing a weekend in a major (during the the OWGR measurement time). The beef isn’t and never was with Noren. He’s just the latest subject in a 

mathematically proven bias in the rankings

This is not to say that winning events shouldn’t matter. Noren’s wins were not against exceptionally weak fields, but here’s a quick example. He got 64 ranking points for winning the BMW PGA Championship, which had a field strength of 329. This week’s Dell Technologies Championship has a field strength of 728, and the winner will get 74 points, and the runner up will get around 45 points (by my count). The Dell Technologies has one of the strongest fields in golf, and you can beat a boat load of top 50 world players and get less points than beating less than a boat load of top 50 players at the BMW PGA. The system just gives you a lot of credit for winning.

Alex Noren is a fantastic player. That’s never been up for the debate. But he’s not scaring me if I see him on a European Ryder Cup team the way that the other top ranked European players do, and that’s the whole point. He’s a top 10 player in the world in ranking only.

Detail the specifics on the changes at headquarters. Was it an amicable split at KPMG? How many credentials will NLU get next year?



— Colton Davis (@Colton45) 

The split was very amicable. My contract in Amsterdam was up as of June 30, and I gave notice to my office in Chicago back in April that I would not be coming back. Despite my best attempts to separate church and state, a lot of my colleagues in Chicago caught wind of NLU and follow the site relatively closely. It was going to be next to impossible to do both jobs once I returned. They were supportive of the move, and not surprised at all.

In Holland, I managed to keep the site a secret for my entire three years there. It really didn’t matter to them what I did after my contract expired, but they were in complete shock when I told them I wasn’t going back to Chicago. They struggled to understand that I was running a golf website, and seemed to think that I was quitting to play golf professionally. They looked at me like I was an idiot, and while I very well might be, I was pretty proud that I was able to keep the “secret” for basically three years.

With the time available, I’m definitely planning to attend events that make sense logistically. I’ve already been to seven between the PGA and Euro Tour this year, and hopefully will be at several more throughout the fall. The rest of the gang will attend when their schedules allow for it, but the vacation days are dwindling quickly!

Does Phil make the Prez Cup team no matter what? Or do current form guys force Stricker's hand? related: I miss Ryder Cup years…



— Grant Miller (@grantdmiller1) 

I remember being legitimately surprised when it was rumored that he was in contention for a captain’s pick in 2015. He was nowhere near the top 10 in the standings, and had shown almost no signs of life over the course of the season. Then I remember watching him in Korea, and especially after watching his press conferences, and realizing that, 

 Phil is on this team. So it’s that line of thinking that makes me think he’s going to be on the team no matter what.

The thing we all (myself included) need to realize is that the points standings mean very little to the players and the brass in charge. Around the time that Ryder Cup selections were being made last year, I was talking to a player about a candidate for the team. I mentioned where this player sat in the standings, and said something about their strokes gained stats for the year. The response I got was something along the lines of “Fuck the stats man, we just need to get the players together that give us the best chance of winning.”

This kinda hit home with me about the differences in the reality between how we view things as fans, and how the guys actually in the arena see it. A couple shots here and there throughout the season doesn’t necessarily mean that player is the best fit for a team event. Phil is a different player in these team events, takes them very, very seriously, and has been a presence in these team rooms for two decades. He’ll be there.

Favorite course you have ever played and why



— Ben Nelson (@bennycnelson) 

I’ve gotten this one enough that my answer is pretty well rehearsed at this point. It’s the Old Course at St. Andrews. And I most definitely would not have said this prior to my return visit this past June.

There’s a quote from Alister MacKenzie’s 

(hat tip from reader Kyle Gans on nailing down the location of this quote) from Bobby Jones, where he said something along the lines of, that if you say you love the Old Course and you’ve played it less than ten times, you’re lying. While I’ve not played it ten times, I can certainly understand the spirit behind this quote because it took until my third time playing the famed links before I really “got it.” It was no doubt aided by the fact that I played it well, but I think I drove the rest of the group nuts by looking around on almost every single hole and just saying out loud, “this is the best.”

It’s challenging off the tee, yet it’s friendly. On most holes, you can bail as far left as you want and still find your ball, probably in an adjacent fairway. But you know that the further left you bail, the worse your angle is into the green. You’re going to be bringing in a series of humps and bumps that you may not have to negotiate from a more daring line off the tee.

The greens are fantastic. Pretty fast for a links course, but very smooth surfaces with subtle contours and highly unusual shapes. Most importantly, they marry the design of the course from tee to green perfectly.

We caught it in the perfect prevailing wind, and I felt like we got to see the course exactly as it was designed to be played. The first hole played dead into it, and 2-7 played into and off the left. Just the worst possible wind for a right hander. I was doing all I could just to keep the ball in play, as all of the trouble sits to the right. Having to try to hold up six irons into that wind to get to some of these pins was such a thrill that’s just hard to explain.

A brief downwind respite on holes 8 and 9, back out into it on 10 and 11, then you’re coasting home for the final seven. With the wind at our backs and off the right, the fear of the right OB miss was minimized, and we could swing freely. My caddie Brett was on point all day, walking me through shots and putting clubs in my hands I would have never even considered hitting. One instance, I remember being 156 out to the flag, but it was only 112 to cover the swale in the front. He said let’s hit a max 120 shot. I hit a little gap wedge right around in that area and watched it funnel back to the hole. This is the way golf was meant to be played.

Then once you add in the setting, the town that frames the course, the patio full of drinkers at the Jigger Inn along 17 fairway, the crowd gathered around the 18th green, the small towers in the town that you use for your lines coming in…. you can’t beat it.

I realize I spent more time answering this in a way that described the experience rather than the golf course, but it was all of those elements (the wind, the proper guidance, the setting) that added so much to the enjoyment of the actual golf course. I feel like I totally “get” the Old Course in a way that I did not in my first two times around it. It’s just the best.

In this era of so many great players/potential major winners, will we one day look back at Martin Kaymer's two majors as the oddest stat?



— Sarah Endacott (@sendacott) 

One thing that Big Randy once said in one of his many anti-Rickie takes has always stuck with me:

“Rickie’s got WORK to do to get to Martin Kaymer’s career.”

While I would certainly say that Kaymer’s career is odd, I’m not sure that I would say that his two majors is an odd stat. I think it’s easy to forget just how good Kaymer was pre-attempt to change his ball flight for Augusta. Putting aside the absurdity of that notion, Kaymer was on a torrid run leading up to the 2010 PGA Championship, his first major win. He already had five European Tour wins, plus top 10’s at the 2009 PGA, the 2010 US Open, and the 2010 Open Championship before breaking through at Whistling Straits. He followed that by winning three more times in the next five months, ascending to number one in the world. 

 he changed his swing. Age 26 and the number one player in the world, and he changed it all! I still can’t believe that this is a real thing. Yes he was aided by the lack of true identity of a top player in the weird 2010-2011 phase, but the dude was nails and a deserving number one.

The 2014 re-emergence at the Wells Fargo, followed by the win at The Players the next week at least gave us a glimpse into the fact that his game was still there. Kaymer winning the 2014 US Open wasn’t shocking, just the way that he did it really surprised people. He eviscerated the field and put the viewers to sleep in an eight shot romp.

Somehow he is kind of the forgotten man when it comes to major champions in this era, kind of in the way that we don’t rattle off Padraig Harrington’s name frequently off the top of our heads. And I’m not really sure why. The best comp for him is probably Louis Oosthuizen? Both have run away with major championships, and while Louis still only has the one title, he’s been painstakingly close to so many other majors that essentially it’s fair to lump them in the same category.

Kaymer deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame simply because without him, Bubba is a three time major winner and that’s just not a world I want to live in.

You are given a membership at one course/resort that you've played for each of: Ireland, Scotland, England, Sandhills. Which 4?



— Tucker Blankinship (@TuckerBlanc) 

Man, a tough one to answer because of the judgement that comes with it. One of my biggest takeaways from the summer is that, no matter where you are playing, someone always has a suggestion for a better place you should be playing.

Since realism has already been suspended for this question, I’m going to eliminate the cost element. I can’t afford many of the elite clubs of the US, but don’t want to eliminate a course from consideration because of cost.

The membership part makes the question very different from the question above, which is “what is your favorite golf course?” A strong golf course is obviously a prerequisite, but it also has to be a course that you would want to play every day. The Old Course, Pinehurst, Kingsbarns, etc. all get ruled out because you don’t want your everyday course to be flooded with tourists on a daily basis, and you get left scrambling for tee times. Five hour rounds are tolerated on a one-time walk on these courses, but every day? No thanks.

The makeup of the membership is also absolutely vital. There’s courses I’ve played where I think I would have a hard time fitting in with the members. I would want to have a group of young, solid players that enjoy competing, yet don’t take things 

After careful consideration, I’m choosing Royal Dornoch. They do get a lot of visitor traffic there, but it’s a championship level golf course that has not been super lengthened or toughened like many of the Open rota courses. The contours of the greens allow for so many different pin positions that I would imagine it feels like you’re playing a different golf course everyday. Yet the course tee to green is one of the most interesting and fun challenges I’ve seen. The setting is second to none. The vibe was phenomenal. The members I played with were a blast. You can easily play until 10:30 in the summer up there, it’s got a great 19th hole, and a storied history. Just take me back now.

? Ex: Arnie’s pants hitching, steel spikes, early Tiger tucking under the shoulder of his baggy shirts…



— J.P. G.T. (@J_P_G_T) 

I swear I would buy extra long sleeves in the early 2000’s just to be able to pull them up like Big Cat used to.

Apparel related #TourSauce moves, ranked:

The hat tip – The classic. Standard placement of the index finger and thumb tightly around the bill. No tug, just a tap. Needs to be paired with a sheepish movement of the lips, yet no need to fully mouth the “thank you.”

The shoe tap after a bunker shot – No one takes this more seriously than Phil. The toes of his wedges have wear marks from how hard he bangs the club off the bottom of his spikes, spraying sand all over the grass just outside the trap.

The Watch Grab – High profile interview about to happen on tv? Seemingly at always the last second, a player’s manager reminds them to put their watch on for the interview, and the camera always catches them in the process of putting it on. Gotta keep those sponsors happy.

Sunglasses anywhere but the eyes – It’s required keep them close by in case the sun comes out of nowhere from behind a cloud. Common resting places are on top of the hat, or around the back (to make sure you don’t cover the sponsor logo).

Is there anyone not from the 2016 RC team that you're looking forward to watching at Liberty National?



— Eric Buenning (@ericbuenning) 

Bad answer here, but all of them. I don’t care a lot about the actual result of the Presidents Cup like I do the Ryder Cup, but I’m still super intrigued with the team aspect. The reason I pushed so hard for Koepka in 2015 (aside from the fact that it was abundantly clear that he was already one of the best players in the world) was that I’ve always felt that the Presidents Cup should be used as a breeding ground for the Ryder Cup. It won’t ever be for a few obvious reasons. One being that the two events are run by two different organizations that aren’t necessarily working under a common vision (PGA TOUR runs the Presidents Cup, the PGA of America runs the Ryder Cup). Another being that individual captains are trying their best to win the actual event, rather than groom next year’s Ryder Cup team that they’re not in charge of captaining.

So you’re always going to see some safe Captain’s picks at the Presidents Cup, with Phil of course being one of them. And for some reason at the Ryder Cup, experience in the actual cup is a huge prerequisite to being selected by the captain.

I hope the team falls out the way it currently stands, because I’m pumped to see Berger in team play, and some older (relatively speaking) guys like Kisner and Hoffman get their first shot. Obviously will be pumped to see JT get in the mix, mostly because he’s going to likely be on these teams for the next decade plus. This also gives Furyk four new guys with the “necessary” aforementioned team experience that may go into consideration when captain’s picks are made next fall for France.

Amid the chaos and scandal, let's get down to the truth. Is Schneiderjans a legitimate threat to Robert Rock's legacy?



— Pete Zarole (@TyrelMoliliswan) 

Absolutely. In fact, I would even venture to say that the young heartthrob’s wavy locks have already captured our hearts, and are on the verge of capturing our spirits. The traj-y 341 yard driving iron on Protracer at Sedgefield was what helped seal the deal, though we’ve been on Ollie for quite some time (

for Ollie’s NLU Podcast episode, click here

Funny enough, I saw Robert Rock at the PGA Championship… as a coach!? I was aware of the 

No Laying Up

Writing

Notes from the Field: CIMB Classic

Nairn Golf Club

An Intro to Wolf Hammer: Golf's Most Dangerous Game

Royal Dornoch

Brora Golf Club

August Mailbag

England Golf Trip Part VI: Royal Lytham & St Annes

Castle Stuart

Playing Through the Midnight Sun at Lofoten Links

Why I can't stop cheering for Jordan Spieth

Rahm is on the Loose at the Irish Open

Notes from the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

Quicken Loans National: What to watch for at TPC Potomac

Opinion: Should the USGA return to Erin Hills?

U.S. Open: Three stories to (probably not) watch

2017 US Open Preview

Royal Portrush

Royal County Down

Writing

Notes from the Field: CIMB Classic

Nairn Golf Club

An Intro to Wolf Hammer: Golf's Most Dangerous Game

Royal Dornoch

Brora Golf Club

August Mailbag

England Golf Trip Part VI: Royal Lytham &#038; St Annes

Castle Stuart

Playing Through the Midnight Sun at Lofoten Links

Why I can't stop cheering for Jordan Spieth

Rahm is on the Loose at the Irish Open

Notes from the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

Quicken Loans National: What to watch for at TPC Potomac

Opinion: Should the USGA return to Erin Hills?

U.S. Open: Three stories to (probably not) watch

2017 US Open Preview

Royal Portrush

Royal County Down

England Golf Trip Part VI: Royal Lytham & St Annes