Scotland Day 6: In which golf course architecture confuses your protagonist

On Monday morning I drove back up north about 90 minutes to play Golspie and Brora. I played Golspie first. It has some excellent par 3's, a few of the oddest features I've ever seen, and a several holes in the trees and heather away from the water. This is not the best golf course in the Highlands by any means, but it has enough to keep me interested and also generally perplexed, especially upon encountering the "randomizer," as my host called it—a field of small moguls occupying the fairway short of the green on the blind, drivable 7th hole.

Then I drove up to Brora and spent about an hour in my car, the pro shop, and the clubhouse hemming and hawing about playing because the rain was quite bad at this point. I finally decided that the flight and drive to get back there another time was even worse than the weather and I might as well have a go. Brora is most noted for the sheep that roam the course and for the electric wires circling every green that keep them out—you'll see them in many of the pictures below. I would enjoy the opportunity to try Brora again when it's firm and at least decent weather, but it was still a memorable afternoon.

This is probably the best picture I took in Scotland, of 13 and surrounds and I wanted to give it the spotlight:

I guess my biggest takeaway from the day was that, like most other offerings from the 1800's, we generally have better ideas and more understanding these days—but that doesn't mean that everything about today's offerings is superior. Many things, but not all.