Dear Harvey,
Check, check!
First, we took in the traditions of the All-England club. The village of Wimbledon is one away from our home in Richmond, so we commute by bus. We watched eventual winner Novak Djokovic on Centre Court in an early round match, sat on iconic Henman Hill for lunch, and ventured out to smaller courts for doubles and mixed doubles matches.
By the way, the grassy bank is more formally known as Aorangi Terrace. The name Henman Hill emerged in the late 1990s when British supporters would congregate to watch the matches of local favorite Tim Henman at the site. Did you know the club allows every ticket holder to bring a bottle of wine (or a few beers) through the gates and food? You would not find that option at significant sporting events in many other places.
Last week, we headed north to Scotland for the 150th playing of The Open. We stayed in Edinburgh in a section of town known as Leith. “Leith is significant in the historical development of the rules of golf, as the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers played there before moving to Musselburgh Links and later Muirfield.” [Wikipedia] From Leith, we trained to St. Andrews for the opening round on Thursday.
How the British Open’s affordable tent city became ‘the largest hotel in Scotland’
On Friday, Taylor and I played the championship course at Gullane Golf Club. With three courses, Gullane is down the road from North Berwick (where we played last August) and many other excellent links courses. It is easy to see why my colleague, Grant McLeod, who grew up in the area, likes to say, “When God wanted somewhere to play golf, he created East Lothian! From Dunbar to the Old Course at Musselburgh are 16 of the best golf courses in the world.”
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| This view awaits after cresting the hill after the 2nd green! |
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| No prob’ from this bunker. (-; |
Toss in a business trip to Wales at the beginning of the month; it has been pretty remarkable. With meetings at GE Aviation in Cardiff, Cathy and I first celebrated America’s Independence Day on another great links course, Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club in Bridgend. Everything about sand-based golf remains super fun. The colors of the grasses, the quirkiness of the bounces, the wind, the sea, the sky . . .
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| Emily’s college teammate, Grace Rokela now head of marketing at Tara Iti Golf Club in New Zealand |
*** More letters to Harvey at balls bats & boondoggles here. ***
“Millions of people were charmed by the homespun golf advice dispensed in Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, a sports classic that became the best-selling sports book of all time. Yet, beyond the Texas golf courses where Penick happily toiled for the better part of eight decades, few people knew the self-made golf pro who coaxed the best out of countless greats — Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Betsy Rawls, Mickey Wright — all champions who considered Penick their coach and lifelong friend.” – Kevin Robbins, author of Harvey Penick: The Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf.
