Derek, John and I have just had a three day caddying job for a lovely family group from Saint Louis.
We finished off on The Old last night in the evening sun and had a beer sitting outside at Ham’s Hame. What an epic way to finish their sojourn here. The guys had already spent a few days on the west coast of Ireland to indulge in local customs which took in sea walks, local hostelries and an appreciation of the cultural significance of Guinness and Jamiesons. In their three days here they have managed four rounds, visited Edinburgh Castle and got to know three pretty low-life caddies.
Mark, the most lovely father, presented all caddies with a miniature of malt and looked a most contented chap as he sat back with his 18 year old Glenlivet, surveying the most iconic view in golf and surrounded by his family. He told how they’d been to Edinburgh the day before to go to dinner at The Tower and visit the Bow Bar on Victoria Street in the heart of the old town, which is my favorite bar. Unfortunately on their way back, three of the young lads managed to miss the stop at Leuchars and so made a brief visit to Dundee. And I suppose this could have been a lot worse as that train could have been bound for Glasgow.
They asked us to sign the souvenir flags they’d bought which I found a bit amusing as it was the second time I’d been asked for a signature that afternoon. One affable and smiling American gent had approached me in front of the R&A with a hard back edition of Oliver Horovitz’s ‘An American Caddie in St Andrews’ and asked if I was in the book. I said ‘no but he’s in mine’ which seemed to elicit a positive enough response to requisition a kilted caddie signature.