In our time in Scotland, Friday the 20th of September was filled with golf. After Josh completed the course at St. Michaels Golf Club, he and Laura came back to the Lodge to get ready for our afternoon in St. Andrews. We found a parking spot at the St. Andrews Links ~ The Old Course and made our way to the Tom Morris Bar and Grill.

Another bowl of Cullen and Skink for me!

We all shared some Sticky Toffee Pudding and were ready for our tour of the Old Course which would begin at 2pm.

The World Famous Old Course. You can find some history of the Old Course here.

If we would have known about the Himalayas we would have tried to get on this course for fun. Here is a link for the history of the St. Andrews Ladies Putting Club (The Himalayas).

This day was a full day with clouds. The clouds did not produce rain this day and for that we were thankful.

St Andrews Links is one of the hosts to the first major professional golf tournament, the Open Championship. The first playing of the Open at the Old Course was in 1873, the winner was Tom Kidd. St Andrews Links has hosted the Open Championship more than any other course. It typically hosts the Open every five years. St Andrews Links provides unique challenges with its infamous bunkers, including the Old Course’s “Hell Bunker” on 14 and the Road Hole on 17. Many of the greatest Open Champions have crossed the famous 700-year-old Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole of the Old Course.

And we crossed the bridge, too.

After our tour we decided to walk into St. Andrews to visit the Castle ruins, the cathedral, and other historical sites connecting our trip again to the John Knox and many other Reformers. On the way into town we stopped at the Martyrs’ Monument.

Martyrs’ Monument in St Andrews, Scotland, enjoys a high-profile location adjacent to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, overlooking the world-famous Old Course and the spectacular West Sands. It was built to commemorate a number of Protestant figures who were martyred in St Andrews between 1520 and 1560, and highlights the important role that the town played in the Reformation.

Martyrs’ Monument was built to commemorate four men executed in St Andrews during the 16th Century for their Protestant beliefs. St Andrews, which at that time had the largest cathedral in Scotland and one of the most celebrated in Europe, was, somewhat inevitably, drawn into the events leading up to the Protestant Reformation.

Patrick Hamilton was first to be burnt at the stake, in 1527, after he promoted the doctrines of Martin Luther. Henry Forest was executed in 1533 for owning a copy of the New Testament in English. George Wishart was burnt at the stake for defying the Catholic Church and Walter Myln followed in 1558, having advocated married clergy.

I’ll wrap this post up here and continue our St. Andrews adventures on another day.

Happy Birthday, dear Laura, enjoy your day!