The 340 yard 7th at Crail Balcomie Links plays even shorter than that downhill and downwind, but the blind tee shot, out of bounds on the right and rough on the left makes the conservative play the best option.   

    We are on the train from Edinburgh to London after a week of golf in the Kingdom of Fife.  We bracketed our week with rounds at the Crail Golfing Society's Balcomie Links; otherwise, we played a different course every day.
    My son Tim and I are comparing notes and can't recall even a mediocre hole we played.  I suppose a couple of short par 3s came closest, those that lacked bunkering or any other visible hazards from the tees, but invariably when we arrived at the green on those, the contours in front and on the surface seemed hazards in their own right.
    We agree that the Old Course at St. Andrews was the best for all the clichéd reasons related to history and classic course design - some might say "ancient" course design.  I wrote about our round at the Old Course a few days ago and won't belabor again the emotional delight of the experience.  Suffice to say it lived up to all expectations.
    Sometimes, though, the most memorable courses are those for which you have no expectations whatsoever.  Count Scotscraig Golf Club, 20 minutes north of St. Andrews, in that category.  Our hosts for the week, George and Dorothy Horsfield of Crail (and Glasgow) invited us for a round at Scotscraig Tuesday after George learned there were no tee times at the fabled Kingsbarns.  Any disappointment was more than assuaged by our round at Scotscraig, the only inland, non-links course we played during the week.  Somewhere between a heathland and parkland layout, Scotscraig's charms were fully on view from the tee boxes and fairways; no hidden bunkers here, although plenty of nasty ones.  In a few days, Tim will contribute more elaborated thoughts about Scotscraig in this space.
    I would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite from among the rest.   After the Old Course Saturday, I may have lowered my expectations a bit, but Lundin Links on Sunday was no major comedown, perched as it is above the Firth of Forth, with plenty of sea views and excellent links turf.  If anything, the greens could have been faster.  All the courses on the Fife coast are short, at under 6,200 yards, and with a little discipline, you should score low when friction, especially on the greens, works some magic on the ball.
    Elie Links, our Monday choice, provided dramatic views from a little bit inland of the sea cliffs.  Elie Links appears to have been shaped by some significant volcanic activity.  The 10th green, for example, is framed by a severely vertical rock mountain, and a sheer rock cliff behind the 13th green dominates many of the views on the course.  Views aside, I found Elie to be one of the sterner tests of the week and, as well, the toughest walk for this sexagenarian.
    Balcomie Links featured the best combination of views and stellar golf holes of our entire week, better even than the Old Course (because of the more dramatic views at Crail).  From the first hole to the last, the sea is always in view at Balcomie.  The first day we played the course, the renowned Scottish wind was rather tame, but on the sunny day that wound up our week of golf, the strong breezes caused a typical two- or three-club change on most shots.  Many of Balcomie's greens are pitched forward, elevated enough to require shots that must negotiate the false fronts and still stop within, say, 20 feet of the hole, by no means a given on such firm greens.  Again, Tim the golf architecture maven will hold forth in the coming days with more detail here about Balcomie Links.
    More later.

The views at Elie Links feature not only water, but also some impressive hard rock formations -- like this one behind the 10th green -- the most dramatic backdrops of the week (except for the city of St. Andrews at the Old Course). 

The drive over the Old Course Hotel at #17 is a knee-knocker, but the sense of achievement once you clear the shed is worth the sweat.

    One visitor to this space from Denmark wrote me the following the other day about his own experience playing the St. Andrews Old Course for the first time:
    On the back nine I had developed a so severe case of the shanks that I did not dare aim for the 18th green in fright of hitting one of the expensive cars parked alongside the fairway. It took almost a year to get rid of the shanks and lots of hours on the range.  I will never forget the embarrassment.  I cannot say that I enjoyed the round...
    My own first-round intimidation at the Old Course last Saturday was at the very beginning of the round. From watching the televised Open Championship (what we Yanks refer to as The British Open) and from reports of those who had played it, I knew the fairway on the first hole was wide.  But nothing can prepare you for just how much room you have -- two enormous fairways with no rough to speak of between them, and a fence so far right as to make it superfluous.  If you aim down the left side of the first fairway, it is impossible to hit the ball out of play on the first at the Old Course.
    Well, almost impossible.  I ripped my initial drive hard left off the tee yesterday and watched it roll and roll on the hard turf toward the famous Swilken Bridge in front of the 18th tee.  Friction finally took hold and the ball

 You don't want your round to end as you stand on the 18th tee at the Old Course.

Road hole:  It isn't the famous one, but a road runs diagonally across the par 4 8th at Elile Links.

    The small coastal towns of Scotland are a grand buffet of great golf holes, but don't expect to find many internet connections.  I write this from the Bean Scene, a coffee house in St. Andrews that asks only that you purchase a drink (or food) every hour to have access.  So with lemonade in hand, here come some observations on the last few days in the Kingdom of Fife, whose epicenter is St. Andrews, along with a few photos (many more golf photos to follow soon).  More extensive reviews will come along in later days as well, internet access permitting, including some thoughts about finally achieving a lifelong dream, playing the Old Course.

    First comment:  Just south of St. Andrews, you could have yourself a grand week of great links golf without

    Add to those the other course at Crail, the Craighead, a Gil Hanse design closed for aeration this week; Charleton Golf Club, a well-regarded layout just inland from Elie with a parkland feel to it; and the nine hole classic at Anstruther, a bustling fishing village with the best seafood restaurants in the area, and you almost wouldn't miss the St. Andrews courses.

    Well, almost.  To be in the St. Andrews area and miss the Old Course, especially if you have never played it before, would be a tragedy.  It is the quintessential combination of history and great design all rolled into one,  a place to worship as well as play.  It is expensive, yes -- about $500 for my son and me --  but the experience is undeniably rich and memorable and worth the cost (once every decade, say).  I'll have more to say about the  Old and New Courses soon.

    Since this site aims largely at those contemplating life in a golf community -- I use the broad sense of the term community, meaning living in a community, planned or otherwise, with excellent access to golf -- let me make a few comments here about what may be the best place on the planet for golf, at least part of the year.   We are staying in the tiny town of Crail, a fishing village of about 1,700 residents, a friendly place but not exactly a hotbed of activity for those who crave the nightlife. That said, my son Tim and I enjoyed the company of fellow golf fans at Crail's Golf Hotel last night.  The hotel was the only place in town that had the Skyport Channel on cable television, and Skyport was carrying the U.S. Open.  I found myself rooting along with the locals for the lone Brit in the chase, Lee Westwood, but the interest in the crowd for Tiger Woods made me feel at home, literally.  That same air of inevitably that Tiger would win, despite the reconditioned and obviously painful knee, pervaded the small but boisterous crowd.  As I write this, Tiger is down to Rocco Mediate in the 18 hole playoff.  Maybe not so inevitable.

    I made some informal checks of real estate in St. Andrews, and it appears possible to purchase a two-bedroom, one bath flat for under 200,000 pounds sterling, or about $400,000 at the current usurious exchange rate.  Local residents have an entire range of options for membership in the area's collection of courses, from those at St. Andrews -- the Old Course excepted, but discounted for members -- to a membership card for all the courses in the Kingdom of Fife.  As a vacation home, say May through September, it is hard to think of a better place for a golfer to plop himself or herself down (and there are many "her" golfers on the course we have played, excellent ball strikers and they play faster than I do).

    Speaking of May to September, the weather so far this week has been spectacular, nothing like the warnings.  At the Old Course, we did go from summer to winter and back to summer in the space of four holes, just what you expect along either coast of Scotland.  We could see the huge dark cloud and streaks of rain cresting over the hills to the west, and we knew we were in for it.  The temperature dropped at least 15 degrees and umbrellas were useless (and dangerous).  We had the experience of the brutal Scottish weather and the great good fortune of having it for the briefest of times.

    Well, that does it for now.  Much more later.  Wish you were here.

Local folks and tourists alike queue up for an hour or more -- we did -- at the famous Anstruther Fish Bar on the waterfront.  The restaurant does a non-stop takeaway business for its famed fish and chips, which most people eat on benches along the waterfront.  The bustling, charming fishing village of Anstruther is home to a good 9 hole links, but is also just a few minutes drive from the outstanding Crail, Elie and Lundin links courses.

St. Andrews city views are everpresent from the New Course.

    I came to Scotland with my son Tim with all but one day of our weeklong visit pre-booked for golf.  I left one day open on the chance that we might get lucky and be picked from all the many ballots submitted for a round at the Old Course Saturday (today).  Yesterday, we filled out the form at the caddie station by the 2 p.m. deadline, handed it in and then trotted off to play the St. Andrews New Course, which at 122 years is not exactly new - just not as old as the Old Course.  St. Andrews Links pulls the ballots after 2 p.m. and announces the results at 4 p.m.
    After our round on the New, we stopped in the clubhouse and, after a nail biting search by the lady behind the counter, we found our names down for a two-ball - we will likely be joined by two walk-ons - at 2:10 p.m. today. I