Where's Richard This Week.........

Richard Peate's journey through Scotland continues.....

We have played 5 further courses in the north of Scotland since my last email. In between spent a great weekend with our two daughters who live in Aberdeen and Inverness. We are still on the search for a good coffee-we don't know how lucky we are in NZ! I digress.

First and best course we have played was Elgin. Beautifully presented parkland course on rolling hill country. Like many courses in Scotland there is a combination of demanding long par 4's and tight short 4's. I was so impressed with this course and the group of members that we met that I would like to propose reciprocal rights with us. From here we moved to an attractive but very tight links course at Fortrose&Rosemarkie. Short but very demanding in the stiff breeze we encountered.

From here we travelled to Lossiemouth to play the prestigious Old Moray course. Its a good test in the strong wind we encountered but has flatter fairways and greens. Also much wider and open. Sir Bob Charles is going to play this course in July (also Brora and Tain) and I suspect he will burn it up if the wind is a light breeze or better. Next stop was Tain. An unexpected delight with the best features of Brora and Old Moray. And lastly Muir of Ord yesterday. The first 4 holes are short 4's and tight but then you climb into the hills and the full beauty of the heather and James Braid design (also the architect for Brora, Tain, Fortrose and Elgin) is on display.

The weather has slowly improved but we are now looking forward to the heat in Spain and Southern France. No golf is planned but we will start to drink real coffee again and the food and wine will offer a change from beer and haggis with tatties. Best wishes to all at Shirley. Richard