St Andrews - If you’re trying to lower your golf score, I can reveal to you today an almost foolproof - actually I’d go as far to say completely foolproof - method of taking 10 shots off what you usually shoot for 18 holes.
And it doesn’t involve having to spend endless hours on the practice tee, taking expensive lessons from a swing guru, or buying books and magazines on golf instruction. The secret to low scores was quite by chance leaked to me by an unlikely source - a fireman in Scotland.
The gentleman in question, one Steff Gardner, takes a week off each year during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which I am again covering this year, to ferry Dunhill guests around between St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns - the three great links courses on which the tournament is played.
He is a member at Anstruther Golf Club, the Royal Burgh of Anstruther being an ancient and very lovely little fishing village close to St Andrews in the Kingdom of Fife. It also came out in conversation that he has been a multiple club champion at the nine-hole layout . “You must be quite a golfer, so what’s your best score there?” I asked.
“Oh, 61,” he replied, almost casually. “Sixty-one!” I exclaimed. “You sound like you're in the same class as own Branden Grace (who shot 60 at Kingsbarns on his way to winning the 2012 Alfred dunhill Links Championship).
“Well, no, it’s just that par for 18 holes at Anstruther is 62 and I was one under that day,” was his explanation.
And right there, of course, the secret was out. In South Africa and indeed all around the world most courses are par-72s, but in Scotland many little towns and villages have layouts (not mashie courses, you understand) with par in the 60s. Not surprisingly Anstruther is - at under 5000 yards - a lot shorter than the 7000-yarders many of us are used to.
In any event, I want to play Anstruther. In 50-odd years of playing golf I’ve never broken 70. Now’s my big chance. If I can just get my putts dropping and go seven over for the day, that will mean I'm home in 69. Imagine my bragging rights after that: Of course I’ve shot in the 60s (like Grace and Oosthuizen and Schwartzel), I’ll say nonchalantly. I won’t, of course, reveal that the par was 62. “Yes, it’s possible,” agreed Steff. “But our wee course is not that easy, mind you. We have four par-4s and, unusually, five par-3s, three of them over 200 yards long and No 5 voted back in 2007 the toughest par-3 in the UK.
“It’s a delightful layout, founded in 1890 and stretching along the coastline with spectacular views out to sea. It’s kept in superb condition throughout the year and our restaurant - honestly - is one of the best you’ll find in Fife.”
Steff then started telling me how golf tourists to Scotland, and especially Fife, miss out because they only go for the famous courses like St Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns. “Look, I’m not knocking them, but they are over-crowded and I believe ridiculously over-priced.
“The real gems of Fife, in my opinion, are the lesser-known nine and 18-hole courses in the small towns and villages. I know of 25 within 25 miles of my home, all inexpensive and a joy to play. And because their pars are in the 60s, they give you a chance to shoot low, numbers-wise!”
So thanks, Steff. That’s actually two secrets. How we can knock 10 shots off our scores, and where to play to try and do this - and it won’t cost an arm and a leg - whenever we visit the fabulous Kingdom of Fife and - ideally - in the beautiful autumns in this part of the world when the Alfred Dunhill Links is taking place. All you need now is an air ticket.
Independent Media