There are words, and proper nouns in particular, that are a pleasure to verbalise. They roll off your tongue, and even draw a smirk. Metedeconk (prounced ??meh-Tee-da-conk?) ?? the name of today??s stop ?? falls this category. The club also falls in a category, among very good golf clubs, of excellence. We loved it; and are surprised at how low a profile it keeps given its pedigree. If I was a betting man I??d say it??ll hold a major tournament in the coming decade or two. Aside from having a solid 27 holes (granted, only 18 of which we played), it has very good facilities and a world class practice ground.
Mike??s putting together a wee video of our day there ?? in large part because the place was so photogenic and we took so many dam photos ?? but I decided a few accompanying words were more than justified.
Scott Kirkwood (of Muirfield / Gullane pedigree) is the Pro at Metedeconk, and was our kind host on the day. A charming man (although a Rangers supporter...). His Uncle David is a well known character in the world of hickory shafted golf, and keeps a shop in East Lothian that we??ll make a point of visiting in a few weeks?? time. Scott and his colleagues made us feel very welcome, and even allowed us into the members?? bar to watch New Zealand draw with Paraguay (a simultaneously triumphant and heart breaking result, ruling Us out of the next round). On occasions this year we??ve found our reception to be (marginally) less all embracing at private clubs when we haven??t been accompanied by a member. I make that as a fine point because really we have been welcomed with open arms everywhere. Anyway today we were guests of the club rather than a particular member, but found the hospitality to be as warm as anywhere we??ve been. A humbling experience.
Stevie a wee 16 year old kid from Jersey was our caddy. He??s a baseball player, not a golfer, but he??s spending his 2nd summer out here making a few bucks while his schoolmates are flipping burgers at McDonalds for minimum wage. He??ll go far. He??s also hanging out with a bunch of old guys that might give him a job in a few years when he gets spat out of adolescence. We enjoyed his youthful enthusiasm and couldn??t help but laugh when we saw him tearing down the fairways each hole before we teed off. Like Moses Kiptanui or Gabriel Salassi. Stevie would just disappear when we walked off the green; and re-appear 250 yards away. Brilliant.
The course itself is fantastic. Of the three 9s, we played #1 and #2. For tournaments they play #1 and #3. Had a storm not rolled in; and had we not had a traumatically sweaty sleep last night in Dodgy in the Caves Valley car park ?? we would??ve played 27. Because it was just awesome. Hard but fair. It??s a Robert Trent Jones Senior design, and rewards accuracy over length. Even from the tips we could??ve got away with hitting 2 iron off most tees, save for one or two genuinely long holes. The key really is to keep it on the (quite immaculate) carpet, because the rough is proper rough. As with yesterday, it??s Member Guest week, so the course was in Tip Top Shape. Fairly stiff breeze added another dimension, making for a stern test of golf indeed.
On some of the tees you stand there and can acutely feel your adams apple panicking in your throat. A sea of fescue and pine and sand ?? and not much bent grass, visibly at least. I haven??t been to Pine Valley yet (this Wednesday!) but I guess it must look pretty similar. Because they have 800 acres of land here, you don??t tend to see other holes often. Personally I don??t regard this feature as an intrinsically good one ?? in the sense that it makes the golf course a well designed one ?? but it does make for a serene atmosphere. Therapeutic, almost. Were it less humid we would??ve walked.
Check out Mike??s video later today: the images will really tell you most of what you need to know. A pure place.
JP
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