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A Zen Approach To
Playing Golf In
Scotland

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James C. Plowden-Wardlaw

James Campbell Plowden-Wardlaw hit his first golf ball into the gorse bushes at Old Prestwick -- the cradle of championship golf and site of the first British Open -- at the age of nine, during a family visit to a great aunt in Ayr, Scotland. He returned home to America impressed by the game, but waited more than fifty years to play again in Scotland...(More...)

Alex B. Pagel

Alex B. Pagel dubbed his first shot at the Maidstone Club course on Long Island in the 1940s under the Scottish eye of the club professional Jack Ross. This legendary man endeavored to teach him how to hit a ball, never a total success, and how to enjoy the game, by contrast a long and continuing success story. Old Jack also frequently implied that the true object of the game was to play in Scotland on a links course in the wind...(More...)

 
 
 

 

Hole # 11 – Nairn (Better Putting With Zen and Why Caddies Are Always Right)

This championship course winds along the beautiful but always windy Moray Firth several miles east of Inverness and not far from the site of the infamous Battle of Culloden that crushed the Highland tribes as a military force and set off the “clearings” that sent many Scots to the U.S.A. Founded in 1887, the course was originally designed by Archie Simpson, and then modified by Old Tom Morris in 1890 and again later by James Braid. You can play here most of the year.

Nairn Golf Club – Seabank Road, Nairn, IV12 4HB. Further details in our book 'A Birdie For Buddha.'

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You will not need a range finder on Nairn, you will need an experienced caddy. This well-known, classical seaside links course is famous (now we know) for the fastest and best-kept greens in Scotland. It's proximity to the sea produces fairly strong winds at all times. Going 'out' on the front nine the wind is mostly in your face, and coming home the opposite. The winds dramatically affect distance, often one or two clubs more than it looks to be on the way out, and one or more less on the way home. The wind also pushes and/or slows down and distorts the line of putts, as well as influencing the length of the rolls along the fairway.


Nairn is known for "wind in your face out" and "wind at your back in". One learns quickly that the wind is much stronger about 20 feet up than it is close to the ground. For this reason Nairn is a wonderful course to practice the "St. Andrews Roll" on almost every shot on the way out. Punching the ball, sometimes with a longer iron than usual, both keeps you out of trouble and gets you more distance than any high shot into the wind. Your Zen attitude saves you whenever a bunker or unseen hazard in the fairway crops up. Of course higher altitude helps when you have the wind at your back going in - keeps 'em straighter too.

You can read the entire chapter in our book "A Birdie for Buddha"
  

 
The Fastest Greens in Scotland
Our Indispensable Caddy

Putting on the huge Scottish greens is a fantastic experience. We found that they are extraordinarily "true" everywhere. They are also a collection of gentle hills and valleys and generally very fast, which makes every green a separate chapter in your life. Relaxed breathing and restricting your follow through to the edge of your front foot helps reduce tension and increase focus and "feel" more than you can imagine. We borrowed this putting technique from watching the greatest golfer of our era, Tiger Woods.

Remember that putting with a Zen Attitude makes this part of the "pastime" one of the highpoints of every round. Not really caring about your ultimate score and concentrating on "being in the moment" as your whole body effortlessly strokes the ball somehow leads to better shots on every occasion, but it can turn you into a "star" on the greens - even the huge Scottish ones.
     

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