Fore Play - Historical Week with Trottie & St Andrews Historian Roger McStravick

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

Still in Scotland, we relive our experiences and look forward to the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews. Trottie joins, again, all for the better. We’ve played Carnoustie, Dundonald, Dumbarnie, Crail, Western Gailes, and traveled to St Andrews. Then we’re joined by author and St Andrews historian Roger McStravick who tells incredible stories about the course and town’s ancient history, Old Tom Morris, witches and much more.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/foreplaypod

Hey, four play listeners, you can find us every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. But it's also why I say, and this sounds a bit strange, but a blind golf shot is almost a pure shot in golf because it's just you, the ball, and your imagination. Wow. You are. You are profound. You're definitely a writer. Profound thing ever said on this podcast right there. Four players ride barstool sports. It is Open Championship Week.

end of our week in terms of Scotland travel, the whole deal. We got a big show. We got Roger McStravec, is his name, who is St. Andrew's Nut. History, nut. He's written, what, 10 books, 7 books, something like that. We talked to him for about an hour. We get amazing stories, amazing stories. It goes through all the background about the old course, about the Open Championship.

So we're going to throw that in at the end, which, again, it's about an hour long, and very different than a lot of the good stuff. But it's a historical week, 150th of the Open Championship. championship so get excited about that you know get all jacked up good for you um we're on the bus back to we're going to edinburgh edinburgh edinburgh we are literally leaving st andrews as we do this podcast there's an air conditioner right on top of us in the bus we have to have it it's hot as fucking scotland i don't know why people told us it was going to be cold windy rainy haven't seen a drop of rain in seven days here in scot trotty what's the deal with the weather we got trotty back on the show

welcome to Chris Trott, the most electric speaker of golf clubs in the game of golf. I think we've ever had on the show. Nobody speaks about golf clubs like you. I don't think so, boys. That and Curry. That and Curry. We've had quite the fucking trip with you. We've got to talk about the crew.

It has been quite a trip with Trotty. He has a different mic on, so if that's a little, like, startling to the listeners. Listen, we're grinding. We're on a fucking bus. Out to go play Hickory Golf at Muscle Burr. Old Mussel Burr. All done, boys. Getting there.

Getting there. We're at the end of the trip. You're getting there. We're going to use hickories. Musclebone? Proper enough. That was good. You just kind of faded off at the end?

Sort of. We established that. We've got to taste it, didn't we? So, Trotty, we've been out of the course. I wanted to ask you real quick. We've been out of the course, old course, conditions, all that. We're kind of, you expect the people to be able to, you expect the guys to use clubs that are going to fly it more? I was watching Rory.

Just roast a two iron on the range today. Is it going to be kind of the firm, fast, open championship people are hoping for? 100% I think, look, jokes aside, weather is, this is the best day Scotland's ever had in the history of history. It just simply is. I mean, it's just unbelievable. And then you've already hit the nail on the head, two iron. You've seen it this morning. And I think that you guys have even experienced, even at the level of golf that I've witnessed, the strike of a long iron off this turf, Carnousty turf as well that we had yesterday. It's just immense. And players want to feel that. They're all like the rest of us. They want to hit the ball, strike it, hit the little holdoff fade, taste the divot in the mouth as.

There's no divvets that taste like Scottish links divots boys. Just not. And if you're an absolute swordsman with gold clubs, then you know that there's nothing to taste like a Scottish link to divot. Not even curry. Oh, curry. Can we talk about Curry or do when we're going to talk more about the Open Championship? When you talk Curry, I want to talk curry.

All right, so when I... Well, we left people, we were still like Dunlis. So no one has heard... I don't remember the last time we recorded... No one has heard no idea. We made our trip to St. Andrews. Our first experience to St. Andrews. All right, we'll talk about that.

There's a lot of snacking, snacking items to talk about then. to M&S. M&S. Holy shit, let's start with Eminus. I mean, Percy Pigs off the charts. Obviously,

that's the signature series there. Trent got into that. So good. What is Eminus? I'm going to go the other way. What is Eminus for the listeners? We're going to go the other way on M&S, just for the controversy.

I know. I think it was average candy. Jesus. Explain what MNS is. So obviously, like, in the UK, we don't do gas stations service stations like you.

We do it proper. You know what I mean? Meaning you pull up, you get your petrol, you pay through the nose for it. We all know that situation at the moment. But then you obviously need to soften the blow a legendary snacking item with it. So it all started that you go into M&S and they take British candy, which, look, boys, I love America, God bless America and that.

But British candy is strong. And then they put a twist on it. And our conversation started with the snap of a jaffer cake. And you know, you boys were just going to walk past the lottery machine. And off you go, you're going to take a piss, get a coffee and leave. And I was like, lads, Belgium chocolate milk, different gravy. Let's get in there. Let's experience this.

We bought the shop out of Belgium chocolate. milk simply although I did offer one to a kid remember Riggs yeah and he declined because his mom had said he's already had one this morning he's got no two no kid can double up on chocolate milk and lemonade so you know then we obviously

went from their experience the other snacks that they had to offer and I don't think anyone ate the walnut whip maybe Avery or Brendan dusted off that I don't know I didn't have a walnut whip didn't see anyone in hail that but you took us down the peanut candy root Frankie which you scoffed that in me yeah your accent makes it

sound better the candy. The chocolate milk was really, really solid. The candy's average besides the Cadbury. I don't know, man. The Percy Pig was an all-time gumming. It was good. All-time would you have the Jaffa cakes? I don't know. I had all of them. Here's the deal. Here's a dairy intolerant guy telling you how good the chocolate milk is. I mean, does that not speak volumes for M&S? I'm sorry, but I mean... Chalker milk is very, very strong. That's an elite item. But then after that, you know, your accent makes it sound great, but the candy's... Shit.

It's shite. It's definitely not shite. I think it's fantastic. And look, from there, obviously, we moved on, didn't we, lads? And we experienced some of the other delights of Scotland. So, yeah, you were hitting us with... There was a lot of talk about the food coming in. Food being bad.

The places we've been, the food's actually been damn good so far. But we've been to, like, country clubs and shit like that. And Russick's Hotel we're staying at. Russick's Hotel, which is... Eat at the top of the hotel. You're overlooking the 18th green and fairway of St. Andrew's Old Course. The accommodations in St. Andrews was exactly what, like, you need to have for your first experience. We're right in the middle of the town.

You're right on the golf course, or when you wake up, you go downstairs. You have tea and coffee looking over the green of 18 of the old course. You're like all the cobblestone and buildings and you walk to your Starbucks trend. And it's just, you're in the middle of the town. Trent had to Americanize himself a little bit with the Starbucks run. They got him here. I'm going to go to them. You have to do them.

I mean, I love coffee and I love Starbucks. Starbucks coffee, so I have to go there. Just felt like we were in the town, which we were, and it was really cool to experience that, as opposed to like, sometimes we go to places and we stay like an hour away. We drive in for the day and then we leave. This was like, we were embedded in the culture. We were talking one of our favorite parts of the shops around the area is that the name of the shop is just what they have.

Yeah. So one of them was great coffee. One of them was burgers. One of them was sandwiches. It's not like McDonald's, R.Bs and all that. It's just very localized. and I really like that about it. We did have McDonald's last night.

We did. Yeah, that was a little off the beaten path. Totally, totally. That was in a weird spot. We were in, we were like just outside of Carnusti, kind of in a shitty place. Yeah, it's just a shite place,

as Trotty would say. A quick question. How long has it been since your last haircut? I haven't, not since I left the States for me. I need to get one when I get back, yeah. Yeah, Lurch got a weird one. Yeah, I got a turk. Went for a Turkish.

I mean, that's the local delicacies of St. Andrews for sure. Actually, UK. Might be time to head to sport clips when you get home. Yeah, I'm going to American eyes. My cloth that they gave me. I was talking to Trent Daddy. He just moved to my town. And I was like, oh, you're going to find yourself like a barber around here or a place to go?

And he says he goes, he already located a sport clips. And that's exactly where he goes. He's gone two or three times already. And now I'm going to start going there. I didn't even know it was right by our house. It's like four minutes from us. I hop in my Honda Civic. Perfect.

And I go there and I get my haircut. Two guard all the way around. People are very nice there. Two guard. I just said a five. You say a two guard? Give me the two guard? Two guard all the way around.

Do you say when distance around the, just a two, or a five? I'll say give me a two on the sides and clip the top. The two guard is like, is that for protection? Oddly specific. Yeah. I don't understand what's happening right now. What is the term guard? How does that help?

That is what it is. Oh, the two guard from the blade. So it's a guard of the blade. I'm quite happy with that. To be honest. Give them all the information they need. I've been saying that my whole life. I say two guard all the way around.

Two guard. It is. It is. Yeah. It's definitely more. more specific than you have to be. You can say too. Well, that's four clips.

They have just formulated. We've been traveling together for so long. They got a signature MVP experience formulated specifically to bring the relaxation of the MVP haircut experience to another level. It's the brand new, super relaxing signature scent on their perfectly steamed hot towel, something you have to smell to believe. Make sure you go in, ask that your stylist for the MVP experience. Not only will you get to try the new scent, but you'll get to try the new scent, but you'll get. get the seven point massaging shampoo as well smell like an mvp sport clips they're the pros in men's hair why would you go anywhere else that's the pros in men's hair trance found his honda civic too right you like

yeah i love my honda civic delivering last far um yeah it's just a nice little car to zip around town in bay shore new york and i just i love it it's a compact car i like little cars i like zip around in a little gas yeah it's funny that you like little cars why you're a bigger guy i am My first car when I turned 16 was a 1985 Chevy Caprice, it was my grandma's car. I bought it from her for a dollar just to move the title over. And that thing is a boat. Ways like 4,000 pounds. Feels like you're floating, the transmission.

Symmix Light. It's a delight. I really love a big car like that. But I also love a small car that you can just zip around in. So I like my Honda Civic. So you've got to enjoy the UK cars. A lot of small cars in the UK. Yeah, I do.

I like something that just feels like a little hot wheels car. You like give a little spoon. What? Snuggle. You prefer to be a little soon. Depends on what I've been through. during that day. It's been a tough day. I'll be a little spoon. Let's talk about Indian food. That's what I want to talk about. So I love Indian food. I get it in the States all the time,

but it's a very basic level of it. It's chicken teak, chicken teeka masala, which is pretty standard. But then we come over here and I was talking to Trotty and he said that apparently in Scotland, Indian food is a big deal. And it's like a hotbed of really good Indian food. So I said to him, we got to go somewhere, find a good spot. And then I kind of forgot about it. And then you came up to me one of the days, Trotty, and said Friday night, I got a reservation for the whole crew. We're going. It's a great spot. It's like a 10 minute walk from the Russix. And we went and we had one of the better nights of my life, I would say. Whoa. I was so good because and Trotty was texting me beforehand being like, do you

want to take the lead? Do you want me to take the lead in terms of ordering for everyone? And I told him, I'm a very basic Indian food consumer. I want to broaden my horizons. I want you to take the lead. And boy, did you ever. Well, here's the crack. I appreciate the teal. But the bottom line is, lads, as great as this trip is, it's been four years since I've been to the UK, and, I mean, it took me, like, I'd sweat withdrawals from Indian food.

It's a different level in the UK. Glasgow, Birmingham is kind of where it all started. It's now branched out. It's everywhere. That particular Indian restaurant, like I told you, if there's water in the restaurant, a couple of goldfish kicking around, you know you're off to a winner. Obviously, we fired it up.

I took the lead. I didn't really want to, but I needed to because it's been a long time. So actually, that trip was very selfish. wish it was for myself. I'm glad that you guys got to experience it. I'm glad you got M&S, even though Lurch is shitting on it. It's still important to me. And I'm glad that you play Carnoustie.

And hopefully you all tasted some long iron dirt. And that basically is you've ticked the boxes now. We can all go home. What are the go-toes are an Indian restaurant? Somebody walks in. What was the name of that place, by the way, for anyone traveling? Jet. Jaha-la-la-la-la-la-la.

Yeah, Jahal. It was four words. Archie's the main man. Archie took good care of her. And then I realized I was ordering with the governor. I thought I'd just pick up one of the lads. Is the governor just the head, the GM? Yeah.

And then all the locals were coming in saying, oh, you've gone back to taking orders. And he's like, no, the Trotmeister's in here. We've got to sweep this off. We also have like 17 people in there. Yeah, we needed to get it rolling. You did a great job, though. What were the two defining characteristics of an Indian food restaurant? Hot meal when they serve it and a fish tank in the place?

Fish tank in the place, hot towel afterwards, remember? And, you know, needless to say, just the, just the, comforts, the cobra beer and the Popper Dom's, you've got to have strong chutney game to kick that thing off, and then everyone's in a good place, right? I mean, it's like starting Birdie at the first. I mean, everyone, a unanimous that was. What was the Indian,

or not the Indian, the onion? Onion bargy. This was a big topic of controversy. I was disappointed. I mean, on the pizza reviews for you guys, this was. It had no depth to it. No, and it's critical. But that pivots nicely

to the following day, was it, when we were having lunch or two days later? Lurch and I hit the under bar we were all heading up for the view girl sent us to the one under bar I guess we looked like one under bar people we went down there to the main restaurant and she goes I don't know if she took one look at us and didn't want us to be up there based on the way we looked the size difference maybe put her off she's like why are you hanging out here she was like you probably want the food from a one under and it was like why you why

don't you want us up here we did look at the menu we're like that's more us yeah yeah we watched you and Ferguson play six holes at five over five it's fantastic 12 off the leader The most worthless content we've ever seen on the golf channel. But we had an onion bar, you had an onion bargy burger, which I was like, Mertie, if they've got this on the menu, this could be strong. And he liked it. He did. He did.

And he goes to the waitress. He goes, now is it or is it? And then Trotty was like, all right, the big man will have that one. It was good. It was delicious. I didn't try it. I mean, six feet bites in, it was gone and he was happy. I was like, it was probably that minute.

Yeah, it was maybe less. Shocked, really. So we've played a lot of golf since then. since last time we were on the show. I don't know if we want to save it mostly for the travel series. You talk about the courses we've been to. So we played, had we played Dundonald yet? No.

Yeah, we did that like spin around. Did we not? Yeah, we did the nine hole thing there. Maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe not. So Dundonald is relatively new. 10 years old.

New. Hard, just a hard golf course. And that was a proper Scottish day that we actually got where it was raining. It was windy. It was spitting. It was extremely difficult. It was just an awful outside. The back nine made me want to cry.

It got really windy on the back nine. I didn't have as much fun. Only day that it was stereotypical Scottish weather, I thought, where it's like everything's whipping sideways and you're like, man, this is what people experience when they come over here. They say it's a grind. The golf is really hard. You can't even see straight.

Contacts are flying out of your eyes. It feels like you need wipers in front of Trent's fucking glasses. You couldn't see anything at one point. Yeah. That was a tough day. That was the hardest day, for sure, golf-wise, otherwise the whole deal. And then afterwards, we get all peppered up and we go down and we have a whiskey tasting evening. Oh, my God.

And dinner at Dundonald Links in this special whiskey room with our guy Brendan, who is a whiskey connoisseur. Master. Master. Lipsy. Master. The shit flows through his veins, this guy. And he was infectious with his passion for whiskey, taking us through the whole deal. I don't think any of us are huge whiskey guys.

Is that correct? Brendan McCarran, you have to, you almost have to follow this guy on Instagram. He's the master distiller. It is, he was mind-blowing. Passion, the way he described everything. He made you feel like you were drinking something really special, which we were. We were. We were.

Bonahabin. Is that how he's pronounced it? Bono-Haven, yeah, Bono-Haven whiskey. We had a, we had a 12-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 25-year-old, and then there was this barrel in the background. that was specific for Dundonald. Unique, he kept calling it. Truly unique. Americans don't know the term.

He's pissed off about how we use unique. Because it's one of a kind. You can only get it there. Only place you can drink this whiskey, this 37-year-old whiskey. I think it was fucking started in what? Like 1980, I thought he said. Yeah. Yeah, so it was about 30-year whiskey.

Or originally put in there in 1980 or whatever. But he was right. He was talking about, yeah, unique. And he's like, we use unique almost as like. 37 years, he said. Yeah. Yeah, there was a difference between like the, distill and the barreling of it or whatever.

But the part about the unique was hilarious because he's like, you guys, if something's just amazing, you basically would call it unique. Yeah. He's like, no, no,

unique means something unique actually. This is literally the only place you can drink it in this room. So yeah, he got us all jacked up. He also has maybe the best just impressionist I've ever heard in my entire life, doing all these awesome powers jokes, had us laughing our fucking asses off. Everything,

everyone in that room was great. We played that game. Oh. What was that game? There's a huge table. He wanted a name. I think he was looking for a name. They have a huge, how long would you say that table was?

40 feet. 40 foot table. Sure. And they have, they take out three golf balls and they roll them down and whoever can stop the ball. So the table slanted up, maybe like a 16th of an inch, the most minuscule little difference between the front to the back of the table. And you basically just kind of all rotate while drinking as much as you physically can. And you take three balls, you roll them to the edge. and it's up to your discretion

whether you want to roll one ball at a time or all three and basically try to roll them to the edge without them starting to come backwards and so whoever stops a ball closest to the end of the edge of the table wins and it's a really tricky game

with strategy and how you actually want to roll the ball is because maybe you roll one that's kind of your lead pony and you roll two behind it to try to like slightly bump it so it kind of nestles on one of the dimples of the golf ball it was fun it was an epic drinking game. I'd say that if you're making this trip with your buddies and you're trying to

kind of emulate the way that we're doing it, we're going all the stops and all the stuff. And Dun Donald's one of your trips. Yeah. One of your stops. I think you have to try and maybe book the whiskey tasting. Yeah, I think you do. Because I don't. The room alone. The room alone, the experience, if you can get Brendan to do it. Like everything about that experience makes it such a fun, genuine Scottish night. Drinking, cheersing, playing games, making jokes. It was a lot of fun. Makes it unique, you could argue it. Makes it very unique.

Yeah, you gotta try that whiskey. That room is unique. Also, the thing I've learned is unfortunately, more expensive whiskey tastes better. That's an unfortunate fact. Potentially. It's different. Yeah, it is, it is.

But like, you can just tell. Like, Brandon, like, loves the 12. True. You know? Yeah. And you got to. All right. So, unfortunate for my palettes.

I really enjoyed, like, the $500. And I'm like, well, now I'm fucked. Because if I'm ever going to drink whiskey now, I'm just going to lick the floor where you drop three. Yeah. Nice. You had to dip, I mean, I couldn't, I can't explain that one. It was some copper tube and that was a legendary story.

Some copper tube, you got to drop into the barrel. Old whiskey tasters and testers. What was the story behind it? So basically you lose a lot of it, don't you, through evaporation? So he was saying that the testers would walk around and while they shouldn't be trying it, they would have a copper tube in their trousers on a chain. You'd walk up to the barrel. It's blind because it's at a decent height.

You'd drop the copper tube in, let it fall on its. side, then bring it out, and then obviously pour it into the glass. And you went first, and it was a tricky one, wasn't it? Because you was holding the glass and I'm like thinking, I got to watch because I knew I was going to go last. Does he go quick pour or does he go a little dribble? And you basically just, oh, all over the floor. And then put the last drop in the glass. And the guy's passing out. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's like 25% of this fucking whiskey in this barrel. It's 37 years old or whatever it is. He said that if he was to value the liquor in that barrel, It probably started seven figures.

Yeah. The barrel would start at seven figures. And he's lost most of it through evaporation. He's lost most of it through that. And then my, I just dropped, I probably dropped $1,200 worth of whiskey on the floor. TBD, you just don't even know. Plus once it started, it was you're dropping more. Oh, oh, no, it was on my hands.

He's like, you're going to have to look that up. I'm like, fuck. A lot of fun, though. Dund Donald was a good spot. Dundonald's an awesome home base, too, because it's got unbelievable lodging. Modern. Very modern. Just really nice.

Good place. to come back and rest. Trent and I found a sauna in steam over there. We did. We just popped the top. Yeah. The combination was men, boys. A lot of space.

We had a lot of space. If you have a bunch of buddies or other guys are on a golf trip, you know, you have kind of these centralized greens. You can get out chip and have a beer at the end of the day to kind of just settle back in. And then the other big. To proximity, you're great. Your 10, 15 minute drive to Presswick, which we talked about on the first show. And then you're a three-minute drive from Western Gales, which Western Gales.

which Western Gales We had about half the crew made it It was very last minute We got a really early tea time We had to go off the morning after the whiskey taste I did not make the tea time I was shit face So we were

I mean yeah I got hit by a bulldozer We were in a dark places of crew But we made it We had about six of us that jumped out there And played in the morning before we headed over to Santa Andrews And Western Gales is a members club

But anybody can get on So if you go over his tourists You can call them book tea times Highly highly highly Recommend One of the greater hidden gems that gets described as a hidden gems I've ever seen in my life. Stunning views, really cool holes, massive dunes that kind of framed a lot of the greens,

a few blind shots. It was just excellent. It was an excellent, excellent golf experience. Yeah, it's pretty neat. I've never seen anything like it where it's literally two holes wide. Leave the clubhouse. You go about 50 feet in front of you, and then you just aim right for four holes. That's just one hole off the coastline in terms of width. And then you get to 5T, and now you're just on the coastline from 5 to 14, I believe, and then 15 through 18 are like on that same parallel line as 1 through 4. So it's maybe the most unique golf experience you can have. I've never seen anything like it. The place is pure.

Some of the best holes in the world, honestly. So I highly recommend. Highly recommend Western Gales if you go over to the, what were we on there? The western side of the? Yeah, southwestern side of the. Southwestern side. And then we headed over to St. Andrews. Before we get there, we're going to talk about Shopify.

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That's something that you've all sipped. Have you since you've been here? Oh, no. Jesus Christ. I mean, talk about iron brew since we got it. I think you tried it. It was in the lot. You've been talking about a lot.

Is it the orange? You said it tastes like cough syrup. Oh. It's a soda out here. Yeah, the orange soda. Ugh. Big Scottish thing. I mean, look, I haven't tried it since I've been here, but you lads have to.

I have. Good lad. You're on it. He lurch hates everything over here. No, no, no, no. I like the chocolate milk, and I like a lot of things. Just the food chocolate. The dairy intolerant loves the chocolate milk.

So it is good. That was a 10 out of 10. Eminus, it's just, I think there's better gummies. I was gummy heavy, I will say, at M&S. And I think there's better gummy bears in the States. And then I had a, maybe a leftover piece of whatever Frankie had or another thing of it. He went peanuts stuff. Yeah.

I mean, American guys. I'm stopping it. Good. They go there. I'm stopping right now. I was like, that's okay. Oh, my gosh.

So we get to St. Andrews. Nice. I have been there before. Lurch had been there before. Trotty had been there before. Your guy's first time ever seeing in real life. St. Andrews, the town of St. Andrews,

the golf course, the 18th of the first hole right there. What was first impressions walking on site? It's very cool. got very lucky to stay at Russix. Some people say Russax. Rusax, I think. Some Scottish guy called it Russox.

Rouss, which is weird. That seems like an American way to say Russis. Yeah, it seems too much. Let's just stick with Russix. Rusks. I like Russex. We're very lucky to stay there, right on the 18th, right on the first hole. I just, Frankie and I talked a lot about when we walked to

dinner that night when we had Indian food, just did the architecture, how it's just so cool and how places in the state, and all over the world, try to emulate it and make it look like the way St. Andrews actually is. And I just really like that old architecture. I've talked a lot about, during like one of the confessionals for the travel series, how I like old stuff. I don't necessarily love modern architecture.

Something about it makes me uncomfortable. Old Victorian, old Scottish type of architecture. I really, really like. So I really love staying at the Russixt, just walking around the town. on my way to Starbucks, you get to see all these cool buildings and this cool architecture. So I'm just blown away by the whole thing, and that's not even getting into the golf course. We walk the golf course a little bit with Tiger and JT during a practice round. It's awesome. The whole place is awesome. It's a very small town feel. It's a very old feel, and I love that.

Yeah, it sends shivers down your spine, honestly, right, when you drive in. Same feeling I got when I got to Augusta, where you're like, this place can't be real. I can't possibly be here. like it's a sense of like how lucky are we to be like rolling into this town right now you walk around the streets the cobblestone streets all the locals are drinking at two o'clock in the afternoon everyone seems like they're in a good mood people are walking across like the village square at one point me and Trent were finding ourselves like walking down little alleyways and looking at all the little um courtyards that people live in and like there was like do not walk into this courtyard and we were like a little nervous like looking around seeing like the way the

locals live. It's just an amazing, amazing place. I'm a dumb American, so when I just watch what Hollywood shows me, I would just become a big fan, like Harry Potter. So I'm walking around it. I look right to try it. You know, you watch it and you see like a town that in Harry Potter like Hogsmead, right? And you're like, oh, I'm going to know the Harry Potter world in fucking Orlando. And you're like, this place looks amazing. Look at it. Look at all the little buildings. Then you walk around a town like St. Andrews. And that's just what they emulate. It's very clear where the inspiration is like, but it's, it's fucking nuts to actually be there. And And I said at one point to Trent, like, can you imagine that people built these fucking houses in like the 1700s and they're just still living in today?

Like we talk and later on in the show you're going to hear different people. Yeah. But how cool is it that there might be witches there. Now we're really talking about. More sheep out there. It's just really cool that like they just moved here, settled here. And now we're still doing the damn thing in this town. It's just a very cool, just a stark feeling.

Well, you're going to hear in the interview coming up that, like, like, they're just a little bit of. that old Tom Morris's house is still there. And there's just a bunch of college kids living in it. And they don't even know that they're living in it. No. They have no idea, which is insane. They won't even put a sign up saying this is Tom Morris's house. It's nuts.

Charita, what's your belief or what's your feelings on St. Andrews? How do you feel coming back? I think the reason the town feels such a great vibe and you're hitting on it now is because it's a college town at the end of the day. St. Andrews is an amazing university across the UK, like proper. It's in the top three. Scotland is great for education. St. Andrews is a golf town.

But the reason the vibe feels so good is because you've got all these kids growing around, like kids, 17 to 22, go around, studying, partying when they're obviously intern. And they're of a high academic quality. So it has a nice feel, kids that are trying to get it done and find the next step in life. And then you have all these torrets come in, play golf there, a golf course that literally, and you haven't quite touched it, it's in the town. You put out in the town. Right.

You play 17 down the side of the jigger in, the park. pub there and the hotel. I mean, you're right in there. The whole town is about golf. That's what's pretty cool. You see people walking around every little turning with golf equipment. You go into the secondhand stores. There's some legendary stuff in there. Then you've got all the new stealth and whatnot in the main stores. It's pretty pimped. That's a really good point that it's really old and ancient and historic, yet constantly vibrant because it's got a new crop every year. And that's what makes it different for me to a pebble, to a piner. So just it has a feel like that.

It's legendary. But then it has this people that might not even be there for golf. Right. That's a really good point. Yeah. And the playing, those three holes, one, 17, 18. It's been described. People have seen it.

You cannot really understand it until you're there, like you said, of how you are in a town. How often do you play golf in a town? Let alone where that town is as cool as we're describing it now, let alone where it's every five years, they have the open championship for the last 150 years. It's just, it's insanely cool that all these things come together in the same place. And then we got to watch Tiger.

We got the kiltz and we were on the Swilkin Bridge. We went to the Indian joint and then Adam Scott was there. And then afterwards, him and Frankie took maybe the most amazing photograph I've ever seen in life. It's not. Confluence of events that led to this. I was walking down the fairway. We just got back from wherever the fuck we got back from. Was it the Indian day?

It was, yeah. He was at the restaurant. Oh yeah. Adam Scott was in the Indian restaurant, which he was. That's how you know that he took us to a good spot trotty, because all the players are going there right when they get it. And they're there all the time. They've eaten it all of them just like I have.

We leave there. All roads lead to this, Frank. That's right. All roads do lead to this. I'm walking down the 18th green and the fairway, and I'm facething my dad just showing him around the town. He can't believe it's a real place. He feels like I'm on the green screen, he said.

And I'm like showing him, I'm running up to the 18th green. You can literally just walk wherever you want, as long as you don't walk on the green. I'm like, oh, let me show you the bridge. I walk back to the bridge and then as I'm walking back towards the bridge, Adam Scott and this guy go, I'm all like out for a stroll, Frankie. And I look, I'm like, oh, that's Adam Scott, Dad.

Like, I kind of like showed him. He's like, ah, it's up. So then I go to the 17th. I show him the bunker and I walk back towards the bridge and Scott is just kind of standing there by the bridge. And some lady asks him like for a picture. He goes, yeah, no problem. He was taking photos of the sunset. The sunset's out here, by the way, are insane.

I don't know what's going on with Scott. And they're long. They're like two and a half hours long. Because the sun never sets. So she takes a photo with him and he's up there and he kind of just stands on the bridge. I'm like, can I just come up there? He's like, yep. And we take this photo with the most outrageous sunset in the background.

It looks like a prom picture. Yeah, it's just I sent it to the group without you guys even knowing I was on the golf course. I'm like, look who I just met. And you guys are like, what the fuck's happening? Yeah, it was shock. He came across the wire. He's like, what? Yeah.

Adam's got really nice guy. I'm not sure there's a bad Australian though. I mean, I've never. I'm struggling to meet a bad Australian guy. Greg Norman's in the heat these days. Granted. Exclus him. He lives in America.

After him. He's more American these days. He's not going to come to America. He's a dude with the accents. Your guy, Curios is kind of a crazy person. He's a little loose canon, but I mean, he's got a more interesting story. A joke, bitch. Curios won the first set.

And then, uh, anyway, I mean, Joker's got an incredible game. Best Returner in maybe the tennis history. And it was going to be tough for Curios. He would have had to roll on a serve. But then Curio started to lose a. his mind a little bit and he was starting to ask for that's unusual yeah he was starting to ask for this girl to get kicked out he was like kick the girl out she's wearing the dress up there you know and he's kind of like rambling on he doesn't know how to explain her and he's like she's the one who

looks like she's had 700 drinks up there yeah it was a funny clip out there online why do the same five guys win the big tennis tournaments because it's just it's a mono-a-mano it's not like kisner if he was playing in first dj and they were hitting drives at one another like dj's just going to win that match. And these guys are just that much better than everybody else. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Who's the goal? My whole life, my whole life the same five guys, four guys, have won every major tennis tournament. And so. Jokovic. Right. Nadar. That's actually backed that up.

It's insane. Dude, it's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. I mean, yeah, it's just accurate. And why is, why are they still, like, aren't they old now? Why are they still winning?

Nadal's just got the heart of a champion. Just can't touch the man. I mean, he's just, yeah, he's just, yeah, he's just, He's a beast. He just can't get a ball by him. Is Jokovic? He's going to go down as the best tennis player of all time? He could.

You know, he very well good. He's got the most majors, right? Now? I think so now. Is it now? Is that solidified or is it Todd? Yeah. You a tennis fan try out of him?

Yeah. Yeah, enough. But I'd be honest, I got a little bored of it when it's just the same five guys dominate him. And I kind of missed my. It was like Andy Murray was in there for a little bit. Right. No, I mean, the first this agency, he was great.

Yeah, it was a personality. And like, I look at these boys are a little bit like robot. And then Murray comes along. Yeah, broke into it for a little while, but poor bloke gets injured a lot. And it's just like, I want to see a bit of personality. COD2 is obsessive video games, I think. Yeah.

I want to see a bit of charisma, you know? Yeah. And Curios is interesting. Curios is super interesting. I think, like, yeah, it's just, I mean, there's so many just shots back and forth that I think, like, if there's a little bit of difference in skill levels. No randomization to it.

Right. Because there's just, you just play forehand after four and back one another. so many of those shots that if you're just slightly better, over a five-hour match where you're hitting, I don't know, a thousand balls each, five thousand balls each. It's like that just comes out in the long term of five-set match. It's just

so hard to win. If it was two out of three, you'd see more upsets. Three out of five, it's just too much for someone to take it off. It's almost why I think to certain sports, certain team sports have similar characteristics where like in hockey it's a little more random. It's like one deflection can like change

the entire game. Totally. Whereas in like football, you kind of run your offense against their defense dozens of times. And if yours is just better, you're going to win more often. It's less random. There's turnovers, obviously, it's not the same. Who's the young kid? Who's the young, like, 20-year-old? Why, I always see Barstall Hubbs tweeting about it.

Oh, the kid of Al-Qaraz, the Spanish kid. Alcatraz? He lost to a guy named Sinner, who's a good young Italian. So there's a lot, there's a couple good, like, the Americans, you know, have a couple good guys. Brooks B. I think Fritz, I'm a huge Olpelka guy. Why is American tennis? What happened?

Where did everyone go? I mean, we landed a dud with like, so Roddick was kind of interesting, you know, I'm not a huge Isner guy. He's just a, you know, 610 boy that has an unbelievable serve, but like doesn't have a lot of personality there. Marty Fish. We just kind of faded away. Fish was, yeah, he was, yeah, he was in the Roddick era.

Friend of the show? Very much. Yeah, we just lost that personality. And it was like these three guys were, Federer was probably the pretty. tennis player anybody's ever seen McEnroe's got a full stiff on anytime that guy just like shows up in any sort of like public events.

He felt like he was like at a he had the rest he was like the puppet master on the court where he would just kind of stand there and just yeah totally and he was he had all the shots backhand slice top spin with his backhand he could roll it anywhere

but he had just one of the best he's probably got the best feet best forehand and maybe best serve you know of all time But then Nadal, that was when it was exciting, because, like, he was so elite. Nadal and Joker were these guys, like, taking a little bit from him. Nadal had that epic upset of Wimbledon. You're like, oh, this is exciting.

But now it's just been these guys that have really dominated. Wimbledon or Wimbledon? Say it again? Wimbledon or Wimbledon? Wimbledon. Wimbledon. Did you say Wimbledon? Yeah.

Few people do that. He's not the only one. Oh, what are you? What the hell? You're going to get all uppity on me? You've been not. You've been a huge enunciation guy in general. That's why I'm good with Muscleburne.

You just kind of fade away. Yeah, yeah, just go through it. You just drop out halfway through. Exactly. Like when you're trying to sing a song and you know you don't really know the lyrics. Yeah. I'm huge on that. We're going to talk real quick about one of our most important partners, I would say, which is better help.

How well would you take care of your car if you had to keep the same one your entire life? Great question. Great question. You'd have to get checked up a lot, honestly, especially as the miles keep getting. on there, things start falling apart, you got to just keep checking on it. It was the only one you could ever have, ever. And if it went to shite, it was over. Crazy maintenance.

You'd probably be pretty focused on that. You'd probably do a lot of good maintenance. That's how our brains work, ladies gentlemen. It's the only one you got. So why don't we treat them that way? It's very, very important for us to, obviously, keep our minds a good place so that whenever you do get to have awesome experiences, go to Scotland. You want to be able to fully enjoy it.

and you want to keep yourself in a healthy mental state at all times. It's probably the most important thing in your entire life. BetterHelp is online therapy that offers video, phone, and even live chat-only therapy sessions, so you don't have to see anyone on camera if you do not want to. It's much more affordable than in-person therapy. You can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours. BetterHelp's been incredibly important for us.

There's stresses in everybody's life from work to relationships, family, travel, whatever it may be, and BetterHelp has helped all of us get to a much better place. So again, we can try to enjoy the beauties of life as much as possible and also persevere through the tough times. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash 4. That is BetterH-E-L-P.com slash 4. Betterhelp.com slash 4. And then the next part of our trip, we hit up Crail Golfing Society. I believe it's the seventh or eighth oldest golf.

club golf course in the world. A little footnote that they have been calling it Crail Golfing Society since I think 1786. Thoughts on the word golfing? I'm not into it, but I like Crail. I just go to Crail. I mean the golfing

society is just playing on it for the tourism, right? Aren't you? At this point you? Maybe. The term golfing does it drive you crazy though? I went golfing today? See all these old fucking Jeff Shackford to the world? I'm fine with that. That's what I mean? It's like a nothing or nothing for me. I went golfing. Who cares? Yeah.

But what I do want to bring up here now as a club guy and having gone through a fitting with Riggs a while ago, I've noticed on this trip, extreme lack of driver. Like, there's a problem. We have to figure that out. I'm holding myself accountable for that. I'll hold my hands up right now.

I think we have an off-season plan that's forming. If not, we're forming it right now. That needs to be solved. Yeah. So... Because Crail, Golfing Society, I can sense hurt you like left to right, horrific wind on the first, completely towards the ocean up here they'd call it the sea but we'll go with ocean for the

American listeners and I was panicking for you not feeling not sure of how you're feeling it and then let's not give it away but I was upset about what I saw I think everybody was it was hard to watch so yeah I've had the driver yips basically for the last several weeks it felt like and

the other thing is that my for whatever reason my driver's swing in general I just hit the ball high and spinning and it doesn't travel and the three with that I have, the stealth plus, which is fantastic. It's turned down a little bit. It's 13 and a half. It was fitted properly for me.

And the way that my swing, they all were, but I'm saying like properly for me. Well, we're talking to the elite fitters. I did it. The way that I swing. And you also have to recall that I got, not recall, but I'll bring up to you perhaps for the first time, is that about four or five weeks ago. I got a swing lesson. So I would imagine things are a little bit different than they were a year and a half ago.

Well, what I'm going to, I'll get to that. But what I'm going to get to you first is that my three, I have no patience, right? I know. Yeah. Restaurants. You're going to have to you right. Trotty has no patience of restaurants, but it's also the greatest thing to ever have happened to your group.

On your side. Oh, my gosh. You should have seen him work as magic yesterday. We'll get to that. Wow. So, Masterclass. My three wood, which is turned down 13 a half degree, it comes off significantly better, which you even commented on, that, honestly, a good three wood for me, especially in this Scottish wind and with the turf, a good three wood for me out here, with everything it's going on will likely go just as far as a good driver for me and i hit it generally

straighter and in play and i've been hitting it really well so i came in with a lot of confidence with it so i said screw it i'm just going to go with it it's excellent and keep it in play and not even pull the driver out i think two or three times i did pull the driver out probably three out of four of them were horrific and so i just kept it in play um currently we've had some great matches and it's allowed me to stay in play and properly faint but i do agree with you that in the in the long term i need to a driver's strategy where I can do. And I need to get back. We've been on the road so much.

We haven't really had much range time. Even on these trips, we just don't have much range time. It's like a quick warm up, whatever. Whereas if you're going through something worth zero confidence with a driver and a new swing lesson and all this, you want to go to the range for a while and actually be able to try to groove through it and get comfortable with it. Every swing I take, I'm thinking about a couple new things I'm trying to work on, which not that we don't do that a lot.

But point being, I just kept the driver in the bag. And then in terms of the swing lesson, my guy John Costas out in Scottsdale, worked with me for just an hour and it was within a few minutes where it was basically, I feel like I'm bringing my hands back closer to my right hip. So keep those,

and keep, and then hinge earlier. And at the point of the club being parallel to the ground, you know, I should have the club base, obviously trying to get more open because I played pretty close, but keep the club base essentially in front of my hands

or with them and then hinge it up instead of back behind me. That allows me to get the club up in the air. You know, I feel like I'm kind of doing a JT and hinging it up in the air more. And that gives me more room to kind of drop it in, feel like I'm going to hit it from the inside.

And when I do that properly, I was picking up significant distance. My nine iron went from like a 141 or 142 carry to like 153. My ball speed picked up like eight or nine miles an hour, and it was going straighter. And so when I can groove that and feel good with that, I was hitting the ball much better. So here's the thing why I just want to stick on this for a minute

because obviously I'm a club guy. I hate seeing people struggle, especially I've worked with them before. and it's like the My Taylor-May Plus thing that Lurch is seeing from this, gaining significant yardage off the tee. Strokes gained off the tee due to distance. It all comes back. Can't you?

Yeah. It all comes back to CG location, ball, and in relation to how you're delivering that club. And the reason you hit the three wood so great is because you're trapping it out and you're squeezing it out. Drive is a different deal. You've got to peg that thing up. You're going to get where you need to be for your boy, J.T. Get it a little bit shallow and then full Sendsman high.

launch. That's very tough for you to do. Then when you lose the confidence, you're bringing it left and right misses. But it can be solved. There are things that you could do. Believe it or not, when Martin Kimer was world number one, he would be steep on it. He would launch it very low, like almost under 10 degrees and he would spin it very high. They're the traits as to what Riggs has right now. But Kimer would play with butter cuts. That's what he did. Now, when he came over to Taylor Made, I was in Madrid when I did that driver for him. It was an R9 super try. Big corporate play. America didn't want some kid from Liverpool screwing around with that. And I was like, you know what?

He's using a very firm tip golf shaft. He needs a softer tip golf shaft. Riggs, you can learn from this. This is where you need to be in anyone else out there who struggles with driver. Get a softer tip. Still like low on the torque, which is the twist, but softer tip. It helps you with the launch. We then put a little bit of weight in the heel of that golf club, whipped it together in Madrid on the Mizzuno truck

because our truck wasn't even there. And went out to him and I was like, hey, Martin, Chris Trott and Taylor Made. There's some things I'm not liking here. I think I can help you thinking this could go I could be out of Taylor-May. Two ways, yeah. I need a lot.

Promotion or fired, right? All roads lead to this, frankly. You know what I mean? It is what it is. So I'm like, right, dude, I went a little bit shorter on the length. It was old ruler. They changed the USGA ruler.

I think I went like quarter-in shorter. Again, lesson for you. Let's go a little bit shorter. You like your three wood with baby steps here. You've got a good connection at Taylor-made. You know the right people. He doesn't need to go excessively long and panic about it.

Let's just go a little shorter and we'll work back up. T height, he went mid-tee, and then he just started hitting these little butter cuts, but they weren't cutting as much because the way of set the face angle and the weight in the heel. Before you know it, he goes off, walks into the sunset, 24 years old, wins the USPGA championships, puts trotty on the map for the old club fit in. I mean, yeah. Is that the story, really?

Pretty much, yeah. Wow. I think we almost skipped over that. I almost like to hear more. That's what we need to do, because all roads lead to this for risk. And because of that experience, I now know. you can't just continue just hitting three wood I know you hit three wood great

you're a master three wood's meant but we need high launch even if it's got to be a cut we got to get that thing controlled and we got to work with what we got and gain you some yardage because it's going to help on the stats couldn't agree more

and we'll get there but I just thought out on the trip wouldn't be the right time to try to find it when it's fucking blowing so I was like I got a competent shot which I appreciate because we haven't even really talked about it till now trip's basically over because we got hickories coming up

anything could happen at that point But yeah, I mean, the tailor-made stealth plus three wood that I have has been just so excellent. I can move some out there, and especially with this turf that it's been great. I got that two iron, which is the UDI that I hit as well. So I figured with those two. Same characteristics, trappy, great two-arms. And it can run. Even if I hit it a little clanky, it'll still chase out there a little bit, which is fantastic.

So that's kind of what I've been going with. But the P-770s I've been rocking for a year and a half now. I hit them high. I hit them with a little cut. I've been hitting those extremely well, which I love. Because you add spin, those irons don't give loads of spin. So you individually, the way you swing it, add the spin. The iron works for you because it's knocking the spin off.

You come like somewhere like this. Your delivery patterns are going to make you great iron players, great long iron players, and great three-wood player. And it's everything we've seen. Where are you going to struggle, left to right breeze, get the big dog out, and that's stressful. Which brings us back to Crail, which I thought, beautiful golf course, to be fair. I played it before. I played it in the winter when it was wet and cold.

You had us nervous going in. Yeah, I was not pumped. And then I played sort of 11 holes. And I had to cross, we passed probably several times. I'm like, boys, I got this wrong. It's a good track. Some of those holes where you have to drive the ball just over the turn, where the sea just comes right up.

First five holes are pretty nuts. They're insanely beautiful. There are golf shots that you've never really had the hit before, and they're so much fun. And you had all this pressure on the right and not much room in the left. But you know, there's a lesson there, Frankie. So all these golf courses are amazing. made, what, did the geyser who made them just miss left?

Like, do you not think these hickories are going to go left? That's what has to happen, right? Surely, we're going to be hitting a bunch of snap hooks today, is what I do. I hit the ball left already. Why are they making a golf course? St. Andrews is the same. All these old courses were playing, you can all, you can miss way left. That's a good point.

So now we're going to use their old clubs. They clearly go out. I'm a great. Plus, this is going to be your wheelhouse today. Yeah. Unless for the lefty, though, you're going to miss right. Then you're royally screwed because the golf. course going to suit us.

Unless I just feed it out there, or you don't think he can. That's what I'm saying. I think they're going to be hook machines. Oh, man. How many clubs are we breaking today? From what I've heard, you have to, like, turn the rhythm on a little bit from the top. So for me and Riggs, because I actually have some of the similar characteristics of his golf swing, that's going to be difficult. We're going to have to really wait at the top. Otherwise, we're just going to be like, snappy.

It's going to be five. Me and him might be in for a tough day. You, I don't know, because, I mean, you're coming in. You're different. You've got it like that. And you hold it like an axe murder and you hit this tree. It's like, I mean, it's strong, but it's killing people. So I don't know.

You hold it like an ice murderer. I mean, come on, coach. Help me out there. If I hold it like an axe murder. I'll be yelling out there. I'll be rooting for you. But yeah, you might need, the touch of a mason might not be what we need today. And then our last track that we experienced was Cotonousie.

No, we went to, um. Oh. Dumbarney. Sorry, I forgot about Dumbarney. Dumbarney. Dunbarney, I think if you put that in the United States, is like a top three golf destination you can possibly go to. It's spectacular.

It's like Chambers Bay, whistling straits with the fucking water in the background and oil. I put a lot of TLC in that place, for sure. Damn, is that place beautiful? It was stunning. Absolutely beautiful. We had a sunny afternoon, very minimal wind for Scotland. One side you see the Renaissance. Yep.

And then the other side you see like rolling farmland hills that I put up a picture of the background and people just didn't believe it was real it's like a it's like a it's like a you can't believe this place is real golf golf course it was it's new it's only two years old 2020 dumb barney opened and um you know they took kind of the the modern uh abilities technology capabilities to build this spectacular spot on a on a old Scottish coastal kind of near links property and um and it's visually spectacular we kept saying it kind of reminded us at whistling Straits meets banden and cabot and it was a little bit of everything Bayonne giant rolling dunes and mounds and and then all set where every hole has a view of the sea and there was this massive oil rig out there

Aquaman getting customers on that that was so that was actually kind of framed everything too where it was like this man-made massive like man-made struck that you can't believe is out there among all this natural beauty. It was breathtaking. The entire thing was breathtaking. So we had a knockdown, dragout match there, which I think from the drone and all that, it's probably going to be the most spectacular. For sure.

It was. The views there were nuts. It was off the charts. The clubhouse overlooking sea. The sun was just glistening off it. We played late in the afternoon around three or so. So we had kind of a, the sun was setting as we were finishing up and playing. And it was just, it was visually off the charts.

good sticky toffee pudding in the clubhouse. Food was good. Food was very good. It was amazing. Another very new place. We got a shift in the service. These guys had never experienced chicken fried steak before. Which is bizarre.

Still haven't. That is, that seems like a very popular thing in the state. You guys never even heard of it, right? These East Coast elites, they just don't eat. They don't fry everything. It's elitism.

It is. You just got to fry everything. I'm right there with you. I just never had it. It's good steak. you know what's good deep fried everything let's combine them and they put a gravy on it little mashed potatoes i enjoyed my steak right next to you my regular fry it though no i had the fish and chips that were a love one deep fried yeah they were yeah it was chill out think about that

just think about that as a steak i mean that's what they're known for it's world class up here to have the beef battered chips and uh fish and chips oh again that we've already done the fish and chips and in the nice places like we haven't done the down and dirty you get out of the bag fish and chips like to be fair boys we might have to do this on this bill on this stop here i might actually go and get me some real fishing chips well i'm with you i'll do it in the paper bag barrel fucking fish and chips you get him yeah but that's that's that's real fish and chips and then i want to hear what your view is of country club fishing chips versus the people fishing chips they're like gregg's the baker's we can do that uh and then we got to get to carnoose d first uh i have to say

don't have my bag yet uh full week that is amazing Full weekend and British Airways who fucking suck have absolutely no clue where it is. Just no real up there. My son lost his bag as well. He's like 10, 11 days, 12 days. It doesn't make any sense. I don't get how you can't track it down. You just scan a tag. It just has a tag. You scan the tag.

That goes into the system. The system tells you where it is. They can't seem to figure that out. A whole week in now. But the beauty of it is I love my Tommy John underwear so much. I have to have them so much that in my carry-on I had all of my Tommy John underwear. So I see. So I sit here before you quite comfortable because my private area down there has been cozy, comfy,

comfy, fresh, and clean. And Tommy John underwear the entire time, Jami John's Apollo underwear has ultra-breatheable technology, keeps your skin up to 7 degrees cooler than regular cotton. We've had hot days. We talked about that. It's a lesson, too, when you're traveling, to keep the essentials in a carry-on. because I I that's it's eye opening for me that I need to start doing like underwear t-shirts and like all of your nighttime stuff just in your carry-on just in case what's your

nighttime stuff what's your night time what's your little lotion there buddy well you know like my I was just thinking like my contact solution my toothpaste like all that but you can't sometimes they sometimes they bang you for it they got out away you got a little bag I don't know why I call it I call it dopp kid what doopkin I call it ditty bag top kid top kid or ditty bag yeah I never heard these phrases. What is this? It's like the little... It's a toiletry bag.

Why are you getting those names from? Diddy bag? I don't know. My dad always called it a Doppler. Yeah, we call it a Diddy bag, too. I don't know. Maybe it's Midwestern. Diddy bag.

Well, maybe... Dobby, like, from Higher Pied. What do you call the... Like, you put all your... Toiletry bag. Oh, okay. Dopit. You guys are very...

I've got a toiletry bag I've had for years. It's just like, it's snack it. It's one of those things. It's a tough thing to change, I actually agree with you. I look at that thing, and I think to myself, I think it's been all over the world with me. Wow.

It's been all over. I'm in the same. I got one. Kitt acquired its name from a German leather goods maker named Charles Doplin. Okay. He did a good job. Nailed that. Did a good job?

And Markly invented the toilet your case. I bought one when we were down to the Bahamas. It's like this cool teal one. I'll probably never see it again, but it's great. Shop tommyjohn.com slash four right now for 20% off your first order. The entire point of this is that I've had my Tommy Johns with me the whole time. I still have a handful of air clean because I have. have so many because I like them so much that I have to have them.

That's right. Get 20% off right now at Tommyjohn.com slash 4. That's Tommyjohn.com slash 4. See site for details. Tommyjohn.com slash 4. 20% off. Okay. Carnusti was our last stop.

We got to see a little bit beforehand. We got to see a one Eldrick, Tiger Woods, and Justin Thomas. Play a little practice round. Watch to play the first four or five holes. I think all the media reports a lot of people are seeing is what we saw, which is a Tiger's golf game looked pretty good. Tiger looked like he was a little, I don't know if it was under the weather.

I don't know if it was just trying to conserve energy. I don't know what it was. He didn't look like he was overly chit-chattie with anyone. He was kind of just going through the process, head down for the most part. And so we didn't want to be bothersome. I watched him this morning. I'm live from the Range on the Sky Sports Network

because we're in the UK. They do a great job. And they also just gargle Roy McRoy's balls the whole time, which I don't mind. I love Roy McRoy. But they were doing a little tiger live from on the coverage and then going through his first couple holes and he looked much better out there.

He looked a little more spry, hitting the ball great. On the range, he was piping his driver, a little baby cut, hitting it like flying at 285, 290, and then they were like, ooh, these guys are really, I could tell, they know, because when he would step on one, they could tell and they would call it, and they'd be like, that one might get out near 300. It would carry like 301.

So he was moving out there pretty good. They had the tracker on the right-hand side, which was really nice to see as they were hitting balls. It's like, Trotty, you've obviously, you know, you understand clubs and fitting and carry and all that from any of the stats, anything you've looked at from Tiger, you know, what do you think? I love it. And I'm trying not to get sucked into the media stuff because you're right, Sky Sports Boys do a good job. They're all ex-players and they know what they're looking at. They are.

They're good. A lot of them are one on tour who call that stuff. And they're good. Euros obviously, so they know what to look for in these conditions. But I think he's looking great. I think that you've sensed on this trip the potting and the greens. It just doesn't break much. Like Carnoustic was a good sign of that.

You don't get much break and then I've run really quick because of the wind. So if he can get the feel, I think he's a great shout. We all know ball flight control, these greens, when you've got to hit it into quadrants. He can do all of that, jazz, holding it up against the wind, turning it into the breeze. He's got every shot. I think he's a good shout. And then Rory, I think he's also another good. good shout just because he can overpower this place.

I think the mojo of majors, let's, you know, he's creating that and the media creates it, but he's a fan favorite when you're on the British shores for sure. Yeah, we gargle Tigers balls, you gargle Lori's. It's kind of the way it goes. I guess.

Any Scottish golfers? Bobby Mac, the Lefty. Your guy. Lovely guy. Lovely guy. Lovely guy. Good player. And look, that could sneak you up there because, look, again, Like we're hitting shots out here And I'm just getting a feel for it now

And the trip's coming to an end But you're running out 25, 30 yards I mean Carnusty had that real grid I was hit 9-9s that were landing 1.45 Run into 1, 75, 180 You need that. Bobby Max got that in the back pocket He's played it his whole life

So he wouldn't be surprised if he sneaks up there Into the top 10 great one for anyone looking to You can have a nice hometown A crowd, you think? Oh, he will for sure, yeah Very passionate Definitely 100% Wow

That's exciting Yeah, it's amazing Does that more? Scottish golfers. But you've seen, you have to hit it like big high. I mean, so how's that suit you if we're going to go and play in the US? True. On a PJ tour, where everyone hits it forever.

It's not like that here. It's more of a shapes game and holding it and feeling. Which is why Tiger again, guess what? Here we are again. That's the full package. And he dials it back into the situation. So, I mean, gargling his balls is fair. Yeah, I like to gargling his balls.

I'm excited. I couldn't be more excited for the Open Championship this week. course, St. Andrews, the weather looks pretty good. I think maybe some rain on Friday I saw a little bit, but overall it's going to be pretty warm, which again... It's a heat wave coming now to the UK? That's what I've seen. That's huge for us for Tiger because, you know... The heat is good for the body. Yeah, he's a little bit of a machine now. We need them loose out there. Get on those vitamins that you boys were selling.

Get him sweating. And then the last thing we hit was Carnusty last night. Did Tial to about about about 6 p.m., which I know we talked about a lot of people, we're probably sick of it, but the whole, the darkness here and how it doesn't really get dark, we played till 1020, 1030 last night. I think it was 1050. 1050. We walked up at 1050.

We played the last hole from probably 1030 to 1050 at Carnusti. And only, I would say the only shots we really couldn't see were our T shots and maybe our approach shots on 18. Yeah. Other than that, we could see everything. Yeah. Yeah, I think sunset is officially 9.56, but you still have like an hour of daylight. left, which is it's something I'm just not used to, but it's pretty cool. Took a picture yesterday as we were finishing up, 1047.

So, yeah, 10.50. And the sun rises again at 3 a.m. So it's like never down. It doesn't really get dark. It never gets fully dark. And Carnusti is widely, you know, heralded. Carnasty, hardest golf courses in the world. We got it in pretty benign conditions, luckily.

But still, not easy. It's tight. There's huge bunkers. that line each fairway and there's not a ton of room in between them. So you got to be smart. You got to be strategic. I remember when Tiger almost won there in 2018 that he was hitting irons off all day to stay short of those and then hitting long mid-irons into greens instead of taking.

I think DJ, they had that graphic one time where DJ out drove Tiger about like 150 yards on one hole because Tiger was just laying back. So that's kind of what you have to do out there. Or, you know, if you feel confident, just blast it over them or through those bunkers and hope you get lucky. But it was, it's a really hard golf course. We're not that good at golf.

We got it in pretty benign conditions. Big thanks to Stewart and the whole crew there that kind of set that up. That was a relatively last minute deal too. But it was great, pure, proper golf course, as you call it, Trotty. I mean, it's my favorite. And it confirmed it again last night. I played it twice now. Played it once in tough rain.

And then just to get to do it last night, playing golf in the UK at Twilight like that is something special. It reminds me in my childhood. just to be out there doing that and those last few holes are tough. I mean, real tough. And I had a great time. The boys, like you say, looked after us there. I mean, I don't buy swag from anywhere.

And I bought myself a little bit of swag from that place. Just because, I mean, that's what it means. You got an awesome hat. I made them open the damn shop afterwards. I was like, boys, you got to open this. I need to get in. Guys looking at me going, no, this is not a good idea. I was like, well, you know, Nathan said you just get the shop.

I went, no lad, I have nothing ships from here. We're not doing that. And leaving with that, cap. We did that in the restaurant too. We went up there, needed to get something to eat right before. We asked them for takeaway. Apparently here in the UK, getting takeaways, like, the biggest deal of all time because they just can't handle it.

They're like, there's a separate menu for takeaway. I want to call it takeout. I want to call it to go. They refuse to call it to go. So I'm like, can I just get a sandwich? Like, I need to eat something. I'm about to go play Carnasty. I'm going to faint out there.

I haven't eaten anything all day. She said no. That's just no, you can't eat today. And then I actually went to Trotty. I was like, Trotty, you need to help me. I was the time in the trip. He turned his screw. We need your service.

I was like, all right, I got you. Yeah, he goes, I'll be right back. And he's just working his magic up there, being like, listen, I got my boys here and the whole thing. 10 seconds later, we're sitting down with menus and we're about to order two of notes. So great. It was so great. God in hand. Greg, boy, I trust you.

That's right. Gosh. And I think that's pretty much it. We're arriving here. It appears in Edinburgh. We got all these old old old school United Kingdom city right here. This is fucking awesome. Look at this.

What is that, Hogwarts? It feels like it. Dude, look at this fucking place. So this is going to be really cool, I think. I'm getting the boner. This is beautiful. We got a few hours here at Edinburgh. So we're going to shut this puppy down so we can enjoy it.

We're going to throw it to Roger McStraveck, who we, We call Mr. St. Andrews who actually just, apparently that's not his name, but we call him that, which is great. This guy is legit, by the way. When you walk through the Rusex, all of his books are just like on the coffee tables and like everyone's reading his history of Scotland and St. Andrews. It's insane. And then he's just on our show for the next hour. It was a long show. So buckle up.

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Well, right before that, we got to say by the trotty. We're not going to see him on this podcast before we leave. So thank you for joining the show. Great trip, boys. Enjoyed it. Always. Anytime I'm required, I'm here. Oh, I think you're going to be a mainstay on this thing.

I've had a great trip, boys. It's been a really fun trip. Yeah, it's been a really fun trip. It's been an excellent trip. Thank you to Ryan, the whole team Taylor Made. Taylor made set up one of the most iconic weeks of our lives. It's fucking nuts, dude. Put this thing together.

Ryan Lodder nailed it. We got Essie, Barbudy, Lauren, Dane, everybody. out of holidays out there taking amazing photos whole crew it's just been incredible shout out to Jake Bass Brendan Jones Avery those guys fucking hustled their carrieing their ass on I don't even know if they have cocks anymore that's how hard they

work it's crazy they are cockless we have a cockless crew behind the mic they have worked so hard dude I like this is supposed to be yeah compliment they are no they are I mean they're on the ground it's like a lizard that grows their tailback Jake's a cockles crew Jake's actually on 17 at Carnusie just fell off

I think it's at like six. He looked at me and was like, you know what the worst thing is? We still like, we're still out here. Dude, Dave, think about how tired we are. Just golfing and traveling. We just got to look like assholes on camera for six hours. They're carrying maybe a 45 pound, 50 pound camera over their shoulder, walking to every single shot. I try and has a hundred of them.

I've got 90 of them. I mean, think about how many fucking swings and putts and all the fucking, like the little, the nuance stuff about it. where it's like, oh, like, Brendan's in the fucking weeds, taking drone shots, and, and it's, it's, it's mind-blowing. And it's every day. Yesterday was supposed to be an off day, and we added Carnucy. Think about that walk. No, no. Yesterday was an off day for these guys, so it's fucking crazy.

They deserve all the fucking shout-outs in the world. It's nuts what they did out here. Enormous thanks to all behind the scenes, behind-the-scenes, folks. We very much appreciate it. And all of you listeners out there and viewers on YouTube are going to appreciate it because these videos are going to be awesome. All right. Enjoy the open. We'll be back on Thursday for our second show of the week. And then it's go time for the final major of the year. Here's our friend Roger. All right, folks. We're joined by a very special guest today. We are at the one under bar at the Russix. Are we saying that correctly?

Russex. A hotel just off the 18th fairway at the old course of St. Andrews. We're with Roger, Mr. St. Andrews. Did I say that correctly? How does one earn the name Mr. St. Andrews? That's the first time I've heard it. Is that right? It was on our itinerary as Mr. St. Andrews. No, I've changed my name. No, I just, I think, I honestly have such a passion for this place, you know. I'm Irish, Northern Irish, but I moved here in 2008, and slowly but surely got just

absorbed by this fantastic history, you know, so I do love it with an absolute passion, and that's why, you know, I've written seven books now, and seven of those books mention St. Andrews. What is your official title? Do you know, I just say writer, but that encompasses historian and everything else, you know, but it's the writing of the books and the researching of the books that I find the most fun.

Okay. Who do you technically work? Do you work for the, the Sanders-Links trust or for, you know? No, myself. Okay. Yeah, you know, it's great. I have such a personality disorder that I couldn't really work in an office.

Same. So I just found writing and all throughout my career and even school, writing was the one thing that kind of made me happy and also kind of I did well in, you know. So, and that's just a pattern that filters all the way through, really. Yeah. So the 150th Open Championships coming this week as folks are listening to the old course, St. Andrews. How old would you say the golf course actually is? Because we see a lot of different dates and there's different history. How old do you think this golf course actually? Do you know what? So there was two laws that were passed. One in 1424 and one in 1457. 1424 banned football. The Scottish people were not allowed to play football. And then they banned football and golf in 1457. So somewhere between those two, golf become so popular that has taken people away from their archery practice, you know, and because they needed their armies to fight against the English or, you know, wherever the inveter was.

Right. So, and golf was obviously distracting enough to, you know, but obviously not realizing that have you ever seen somebody after a three, they're pretty angry bunch. Oh yeah. So how different do you think the game was then in 14, I mean, 1400? That's crazy to talk about them playing golf. How different do you think the game was then from now? Do you know what?

Bizarrely not very different. The only thing different really, if you could imagine a bag of hybrids, but they're made of wood, you know, that was what they were playing with. these beautiful goose-necked clubs and they hit the ball about 200 yards so on Lynxlan where the ball runs and runs and runs it's perfect but essentially a man

or lady standing over a ball and that moment of silence when you're utterly alone and you're about to hit the ball hasn't changed really in about near 600 years how cool is that that's just spectacular that same moment, all your thoughts, you're alone, you're standing over the ball, it's not moving. Absolutely.

You're trying to put a good move on it. They were doing that six. Yeah, coughing on the back swing of someone else has been going for 500 years. For just a really long time. To describe it as utterly alone when you're over the ball might ruin my whole game today. That's what I'm going to be thinking about when I'm over the ball. I'm utterly alone, right now. It's true, but it's terrifying.

Yeah, it is. you know, but it's also why I say, and this sounds a bit strange, but a blind golf shot is almost a pure shot in golf because it's just you, the ball, and your imagination. You know, when people criticize Tom Morris because he had some blind holes, there's a blind hole, blind par three at Royal County Down. But it's just you, the ball, and your imagination. And I think it's the most perfect thing for golf, really. Wow. You are. You are profound. You're definitely a writer. You're definitely are a profound thing ever said

for sure podcast right there but it's like but it's but it's you know you are utterly alone you know you know

which I do well at but you know right as a writer I dominate that your wheelhouse so this golf course the old course

at St. Andrews how different is this golf course now from you know the 1400s so they originally played a 22 whole course and

So none of these buildings are here, you know, up this road. And their closing green was about 50 yards to the right of where the green is now. And they pled the back nine, you know, the back nine, that was the width of their course. So they pled to the same greens. The only, you know, they went out and came back on our back nine. So it was a very narrow course. the land for the first hole didn't exist that was beach so it was a very narrow

strip they played down so they played 22 holes they effectively realized that the first opening holes were too short because the first would have been a drive from say approximately the 18th green down to where we are now at Rusex that would have been the first hole

the second hole would have been to the 17th green today the third hole would have gone up to cheap's bunker just at the corner you know you drive over the sheds on the 17th and then the fourth hole would have been a short part three again and they got rid of those short holes and that brought 22 down to 18 so that's why we play 18 holes

it's not because of whiskey shots you know um so like that yeah no absolutely and I have put in the research myself being Irish it's not it's not it's not the it's not whiskey shots it's literally all the land would allow

you know and in st. Andrews and then when people were looking to San Andreas for guidance about the rules when they're setting up their clubs like well San Andrews has 18 holes you know so and that's why that's why we play 18 holes it's literally all the land would allow I can't get over the the 1400s year I never had heard that golf started that early you always hear like old time war 1700s like the rules of golf were what like 1740s or something like that so yeah yeah so So who is credited with inventing the game of golf then? Is there a specific person that? David Hamilton is a fantastic historian, and he lives in St. Andrews.

And he's a retired surgeon, but he wrote the book, Golf Scotland's game. And he says that golf is 100% Scottish, you know, because there's rumors that it came across from, you know, Holland, etc. but he said no it's definitely Scottish the long form of the game where you're hitting a ball to a long distance into a hole

is Scottish what it's also compared to is you know Kolf which is COLF you know in Holland but if you see those pictures they're playing on ice to a pole

you know and they're just hitting a ball over a distance so but the Scottish game is into a hole, you know, and it's very distinctive. And things like bunkers were naturally occurring. So it's where the cows and the cattle bunked, slept down. So that's where bunker comes from, you know, in the 1800s. Nope.

Great fact. Amazing. That was a good one. One that every person listening to this podcast will say the next time they're on a golf course. You know where bunker came from? Cow's slept in there. Cow's bunk there. Yep.

Bingo. So they had advertiseriesments in the citizen, the local paper in the 1800s for a bunk wife, which was like a landlady who was renting rooms. It sounds but dodgy now. But it was just a landlady, you know, renting our rooms was called a bunk wife. So, yeah, the earliest take of golf is really when it started to become a problem because of popularity. Absolutely. Is there any discussion of it prior to, you know, 14, what was it, 1452 to 1458?

There isn't, you know, in San Andrews, I think there's writings in the 1500s. There was an archbishop here, and he, isn't a charter, but he basically said, you know, because this is all common land. Yeah. This has been common land for, I think about, since about the 8th century. Which, honestly, we all think is the coolest thing in the world. I mean, in the States, you can't go walk, Augusta, you know, walk down the fairways. I just, I just walked all 18 holes this morning and had one of the nicest mornings of my life.

They don't even let you see it. No. You can't get near it. There's so many trees. They do that on purpose. They built a tree walls basically. Right. With cameras in the trees.

I saw a dog pee and poop like you're like right in the fescue today. And I was like, that's the best. It's the coolest thing. It is. It is just, it's, because it's the people's land. Yeah. So on Sunday, you know, the course is closed, so people get to walk across the course, take their dogs out, you know.

But that's the sort of spirit of San Andreas. San Andreas was always open and golf for everybody. You think of those early open champions, they're all working class. You know, it's not an elite game. Right. It's the working class could play, you know. So San Andreas is fantastic for that. I love that, that people can just go walk on the course, you know.

And most people are respectful. People don't walk on the greens. Yeah. You know, people stay up there. greens and stuff. Is that common with all golf courses in Skyland or is it just St. Andrews or kind of what's the what's normal? And normal is a private members club. You know, um, I'm sure they probably wouldn't mind you walk in the dog but there would be raised eyebrows. Okay. We're here. Nobody bats an eyelid. You know, on Sunday there's a queue for people waiting to have their photograph taken on the

Wilkins Bridge, you know. So, yeah, I love it about St. Andrews. You know, my son is encouraged to play golf at school and just they did a golf history project, you know, and I sometimes go in and read to the schools, you know, so it really is the home of golf. Everything's geared towards golf. Teacher probably feels nervous, creating those papers. Like, that's not accurate.

And I was like, that's what my dad says. Mr. St. Andrews, so you might want to check your floor by that one. The poor kid, he's, I've dragged him around the cathedral and all the headstones there, you know, because it's all like Tom Morris and Tommy Morris and Jimmy Anderson and all these greats. You know, and yeah, but bless me, he's a very patient little soul, so he puts up with it, you know. What's the thing you love most about this place? You know, we talk about, you know, just being public land and you walk and, you know, you've gotten the memo that you're Mr. St. Andrews, whether you like it or not. That's what we know you at. It's over now. Yeah. What is your most favorite thing about this place?

I love the fact that it does feel like you're walking onto a movie set because you go onto the first tee, you know, and then it's sort of intimidating because all these memories are flashing through your head, you know, the photographs of Old Tom are standing in the same place. you know, Sevi Ballasturis, Holiness put just behind you, you know, Bobby Jones, Duxanders, Jack Nicholas, you know, it's just walked into this fantastic movie set with the R&A behind you, you know. You know, I grew up in the 80s watching these opens, and I love it about that sort of the theatre about it, you know. Yeah. It is terrifying to you know off on the first.

You know, because even if you go there at 6 in the morning, it is, isn't it really? He's the only one that's done it and had one of the most epic T-box calls of all time. Yeah, I had a, the starter was a lady, and they were, because it's the common area for all the folks, the people's land. There were a woman and her child were walking across, you know, the little walkway here in the middle of the fairway. And I had my buddy filming, so I'm getting ready to tee off. And as I'm trying to go through my routine, she just screams, FAA! unbelievably loud and the people are looking up.

They don't really know what's going on. So they finally clear and get out of the way. And so then I tee off and a tenth of a second after I strike my golf shot. Apparently she had noticed more intruder. So I'm like trying to look and then just instantly, far. And that's all Dior as loud as the floor. We'll show you the video once we're done here.

It's amazing. Oh, man. It's amazing. It is terrifying. You know, and it's almost like, there's nobody around and think, okay, you know, at least nobody's watching me.

And then as you go to the, it just feels like a busload always arrives. And then everybody's just watching you, you know. I used to say there used to be a webcam, and I said, I always told people, react as if you've hit the best shot you've hit in your life. Because they don't see where the ball goes. Right.

Just make sure that you do get it out of shot. Just trundles off the tea. Chunk at two feet and just still do the twirl. Do they still have the webcam? No, I'm not sure, actually. I don't think they do because they had that new building as well, you know, the little pavilion. Yeah. But yeah, it would be fantastic for people, you know, whose families could watch.

You describe it so well out here walking around like it's a movie set. And it's there's such a cool feeling when you are, you know, when you see all this for the first time that you get in very few places in the world where you've seen it so many times. You know it in and out, yet now you're there. And it's almost an out-of-body experience where you feel like you've envisioned yourself in this moment, thousands and thousands of times. But now that you're actually there. You're trying to take it in. You're trying to capture it with your phone a little bit, but not too much.

And you're trying to remember what it's like so you can tell people about it. And it's kind of this overwhelming feeling when you walk into this whole little theater for the first time. And it's hard to create. I don't think you can create. These things have to happen naturally over time and with history and events and accomplishments all happening in the same spot. It's just a really, really rare location in any sport or event that something like this makes you feel that way when you walk out there. Yeah.

And it's, you know, you have, you don't have one forever. You've got two fairways. Right. And still you're thinking, I'm not going to make this. So it's looking pretty tight out there. Yeah. Exactly. The fairways seem to shrug.

drink as you know as you're the closer you get to your t-shot you know but the the the the tip is there's a little bush which is right in the middle and that's what you aim for you know and see if you slice it or hook it then should be okay you should be okay where does uh sorry where does um golf etiquette come from is that just being a proper scotsman is that the term for it scotsman no no i i think tucking in the shirt not saying anything before a shot you know all the all the rules that we've come to know now and some people take very seriously where did that originate from? I think just um I think that just by playing at the sport you have to realize that it kind of helps if everybody's quiet it kind of helps if I have some golfers with me who will tell me

no many times how much my ball is heading towards trouble you might be okay you know that's what you need you need support in the groups you know and even if you know um you've seen it going into the deepest bunker, you know, that you'll have a partner who goes, you might have jumped it, you know, so that's what you need. This necessity has created these rules, you know. And there's very few sports where you call a penalty on yourself. Right. So it's, I think it's just evolved, really, you know, just purely by necessity, really. Yeah, because it always blew my mind that, you know, earlier days when they were probably playing rugby and football and they're screaming and yelling and all the guys drinking and stuff. All of a sudden they came and played this sport

and everyone was very reserved and just being quiet and tucked in. But in the 19th century, matches between Tom Morris and Willie Park were that. Oh, wow. So there were boisterous. And there was lots of drinking involved. There was lots of, by the crowds, there was lots of kicking your opponent's ball. There was lots of betting and bets within shots. So it wasn't just kicking your opponent's ball.

all in what way? So you wouldn't kick it, but the crowds would kick it. Oh, my God. How fun is this? So you'd have St. Andrews and Musselberg was the great rivals. I think they won between them the first 24 opens. So the matches between Willie Park and Tom Morris were really aggressive in terms of crowds. And it got so aggressive in Musselboro that, O Tom walked off the course, walked into Mrs. Foreman.

pub and refused to come out because it just was impossible to play. And the match was abandoned, although Willie Park tried to claim the match. I was treated like a hero by the locals. But there was so much betting money that people were just livid that he would dare to do this. But it was just impossible because he would hit a shot down the middle and find his ball in the rough, and stood on. And also the crowds as well. If you imagine the crowds, you could see there.

bootstraps. So if you're looking down at the ball, you can see the crowd shoes. You know, as long as, you know, you can get a swing. They're right there, you know. I kind of would love to see that, not the drunken debauchery, but the, the, the, a match where the crowds are quite close. I managed to walk with some of the Walker Cup players. and there were just fantastic strikers of the ball, you know, and being able to almost hear them breathe and see them how well struck the ball was really fantastic. So I'd love to see a match like that

where the crowds can get close, you know, because it's really, really exciting, you know, and literally people would shout out odds, you know. So you know, like, you know... Just make a market right there. Five to one, he can't hit the fairway. Yeah. And as you're looking over the ball, you're going...

It's this one, man. This is what they did. It's incredible. Restoring golf courses. Let's restore the fanhood. So then the working class heroes, the professional golfers, were able to make a living out of matches.

You know, like in one match, there was a 400-pound purse, but they would only get 10% of that. But 40 pounds is, split between two, so 20 pounds, sorry, is four years annual. real salary. Wow. In one game. So they can make, you know, that's why, you know, Tom Morris had a

house and, you know, the golfers, even though they're working class, are able to buy their own houses, you know. Did they have caddies? Did Tom Morris have a caddy or did he carry his on bag? Yeah, that's a really good question. I think Bob Martin, who was also became a two times open champion, caddied for Tom. But yeah, they always had caddies. Okay. You know, people had their favorite caddies. And went back then time and time again. But caddies are fantastic in some. There's a brilliant sense of humor.

You know, so I just, just. Where did that originate from? We heard a story of caddies the other day, but like, did that originate? You talk about like support. Like, you know, your friend tells you like, oh, it might have hopped out of that bunker. Is that like you needed support when the fans are just kicking your ball across the course? Like, somebody on your team? Yeah, exactly.

That's where a four caddy came from. They had to go out there. was fucking knocking on. No way. I don't know. That's a great, do you know? Or they just didn't want to carry the clubs. Like when they would send a caddy out front, is that because they would stop guys from

messing around with the ball? So the four caddy is why we shout four. Oh. You know, your four caddy, you shout to him four. So he looks out for as it's coming. So I think it's part of the traditions of the game, you know, and you wouldn't have gentlemen golfers carrying their own clubs. you know right

were as and also the caddies would be able to advise it's same today the caddies would be able to advise them about the about the course right

you know Arnold Palmer famously took Tip Anderson a local caddy every time you know because they just know the course

far better than anybody with a notepad could ever do you know right because they've been born and bred like Tom Morrisong you know on the course and the links.

In terms like birdie, par, bogey, double boge, where did all that originate from? Was that just? Yeah, because they didn't have those things. It was just literally put a little tick this, you know, per shot. So just a plus one or whatever?

Yeah, absolutely. So if you see the early open cards, they're just a series of ticks and then like three ticks and then put a three beside it. So there was no like par. No, no such thing as par. That just has evolved,

as the games have been evolving. So they would almost just write tally marks down, basically. Yeah. This is how many shots? Delicia. Which then goes to our debate of like, it's just natural to say what you shot that day, like an 82 or whatever, instead of calling it to over par. It's just how the game originated.

Remember when you were debating on what's your best round ever? 71. It just is. No. Right. I give up. You had a debate one day. I give up.

What was it? You played on a par 70 course? So I played a par 70 course and I shot one over. And then I, so I shot a 71. And then I shot even par on a par 73 course. So I say my best round is even par. Yeah. But now it really sounds like my best round is 71 based on what you're saying.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a lot of five. 71 ticks. I was wrong. Yeah, 71 ticks. Yeah. That's my love. Yeah.

Yeah. Or no. Or no. It's tricky. It's tricky. Yeah, because the par of that course is 73. Right. You know, and par is the best.

Yeah. No, it puts your brain around. You could go to a pitching putt course and come back with a 29. Right. I've shot 29. So therefore, 73, I think, is your best score because you're parted. My God. Oh, my God.

It's good shooting as well. Thank you very much. That is good shooting. So we played at Presswick a few days ago. And we drove by the, you know, we got the whole tour about the inside and a lot of history. We drove by the Red Lion. Yeah. Which is where it sounds.

like the Open Championship essentially was conceived. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that correct? I don't know it was in the red line, but it was Earl of Aglinton and Ogilby Farley, James Oakley-Farley. And so what he was, what David from the club was telling us,

was that basically after Alan Robertson passed away in 1859, I believe, that then eight different golfers still got together because they had all agreed that he was essentially the best golfer in the world. Yeah. And they got together and we're like, we have to figure out who's the new best golfer, and that's where the Open Championship came from. So absolutely.

The key phrase is Alan Robertson, and he has actually whom my next book will be on, but Alan Robertson was the champion golfer. And that was a title that, you know, that he guarded. And he was like a boxer. He would choose his fights, you know. But so he would never play Willie Park because Willie Park's fantastic. And he's a young guy, you know, and he's, um, So, but he guards the title, but he still is, he is the best golfer and he is the champion golfer.

But when he dies, it leaves the question, who is the new champion golfer? And that's why Preswick created the event. And the, the professionals had a reputation for being a, you know, they would, if they've won some money that spend it all in the bar within an hour sort of thing, you know. So the letter went out. calling for their most respectable caddies, you know. And so eight players turned up for that first open. Yeah, so, yeah, Presswick is special. I love it.

It was magical for us to be there and to understand all that history. So then how did it go from Presswick and then kind of setting up this event to determine who's going to be the new champion golfer to the Rhoda and St. Andrews getting involved? So it was with Presswick for first sort of 12 years. Okay.

And then eventually the Honourable Company in Edinburgh, who were based in Musselberg at the time, and St. Andrews came in. And basically it all happened because Tommy Morris had won the champion's belt. it was like a boxer's belt again, but he'd won the open three times in a row as a teenager and got to keep the belt. So they didn't have an event in 72, I think.

No, sorry, they did have an event in 72. It was 71 they didn't have an event. And then Tommy won it a fourth time. So what they did was that they came together, those clubs, and commissioned the class. So the reason why we play for the card jug is because of Tommy Morris. And then he won it the first time. But it wasn't ready for the Open Championship.

So the first time it was presented was in 73 here in San Andrews. So but the first name on that jug, if you get to look at it, it's Tommy Morris. Wow. Look at that. Now here we are. There's a face on that jug. Do you know on the top handle, like kind of if you were to carry it right by where your thumb might be? Do you know what that image is or that face is?

I'd have to look at it to be sure, but it might be as a bacchus, you know, the god of wine or something like that, but I'd need to check. That makes sense. It's a caveat. It looked like a god with the leaves across the head a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. We did a show before the Masters a couple years ago of people giving us their craziest stories at Augusta National.

And we had a couple where people would sneak onto the golf court. and fall asleep on 12 and look up at the stars or whatever it was. Is there anything that you have come across that is like the craziest thing that had happened on this property? Like maybe someone did something and ruined the golf course or has there ever been any like moment that stands out that was like a wild? Yeah. Yeah, there's there's lots. From Tom Morris. the story is there's a bunker

there used to be a bunker called Tam's Kai because Tom Morris was found to sleep in the bunker with a cow so that's one yeah absolutely and then I think Gary Player also said that he slept on the beach in his first opens as well

because you couldn't afford the digs you know so there's lots of little stories yeah you know like that wow slept with a cow. People just sleep in all over the place. It's something.

I want to look too far to that maybe. So do you know about the burial pit under the 18th green? No. No. So the green was little green

and was pretty much in the position after they moved it across. It was in the same position as the green is today. But Tom wanted a massive green, a big expansive sort of plateau green.

And so the workmen started digging up the ground to sort of tried to level it off. But they started finding bones. And then they found more bones and more bones. And they realized this is a colour of it. Now you have to remember that 120 years previously, they were throwing witches off the cliff

on the scores to test if there were witches. And maybe we can come back to that. but so they're superstitious bunch and I think oh this is cursed but Tom said to them you know you have to finish this job or else you know you won't get paid so you know they picked up their tools and finished a job and it's beautiful green you know and it's a fantastic optical illusion because if you walking towards a green it looks fairly flat but if you stand on the steps of the RNA by the RNA you can see the massive swale and the the

pit is still there today it's so when the green and if you were playing the hole the back right hand corner where it rises that's where the color of pit is wow whoa let's go back to these witches so the bones of the witches still beneath

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Book your tea time with the Barstall Golf Time app available right now in the app store. That is the Barstool Golf Time app. The bones are from cholera victims, you know, a pandemic, you know, there was lots of plagues and, you know, but was cholera. So the witches, yeah. Snanders had witchcraft issues, you know, pretty much like Salem or, you know, but in Scotland, you know, it was gone through a pretty religious, superstitious period. And it's just farceful, really.

it is Monty Python, you know, it is. So the theory was this, was that God's water would repel them a suspected witch, you know, or a non-Christian person because that was seen on a par of, you know, so God's water would repel them. So if they'd drop them into the water, they would float. And if they floated, they were a witch. the only problem being is that they dropped them over the edge of the cliff

so therefore they were likely to die because of the fall so either the fall and they die or they float and they get dragged up and burnt as a witch so it's kind of like... It's just a no win. It's a no win for them and I said burn it was actually they used damp damp wood so whenever you see you know hammer house horror and it's all burn the witch and stuff like that they really should be saying smoke the witch

because it's the the smoke inhalation that kills the people but but sometimes they use the wrong wood and they literally burn to death but mostly it was they used damp wood like that and people will die pretty short like after that wow um so tough tough go there you don't want to be a witch So no win situation. You get accused to be a witch. Yeah, you can't win. Yeah, absolutely. And also people who ran up big debts in the pub could say, oh, the innkeeper, yeah, he's definitely a witch.

Right. Because you'd be male or female. And so people, how they got out of their debts. You know, there was one pair lady. There was an Archbishop of St. Andrews who was unwell. And this lady, and there's two ladies, created this sort of mixture of herbs and flowers. And he got well again. And after he got well again, they said, well,

can we get paid? At which point he yells, witch. And the working class one was executed. The second one, who was called Melville, I think, came from a sort of well-to-do family. And she was tortured, but not executed.

But the stain hung around her for the rest of her life. And then she was actually accused to being a witch 10 years later or so and was executed. But yeah, if you just wanted to get rid of your bills, it was brilliant, you know. Yeah, that's a witch, definitely, you know. Right. I saw them transform into a cat.

You know, you just mix stuff up, you know. Wow. There was one, because I'm writing the book for Creole, their anniversary is about 15 years or so. And they have witchcraft as well, and there was one man who was terrified in his workshop because there was a wasp there, and he was convinced the wasp was a shape-shifting. the old lady who lived at the end of the street who was always preceded as a witch just because she liked cats or something

you know and the literature and the poor woman was you know because this man was convinced that the wasp in his shed was this woman just reading books just enjoy the last days of her life it's just a whole body which yeah who likes cats do we know where that started witchcraft

just that whole superstition thing is just in Scotland. Somebody sold the communities of it. Just like, yep, no, that's a witch behind the bar. I'm not paying my yearly bill. Yeah. But so there's a movement at the minute to try to get all which is exonerated and pardoned.

Yeah. Because it's just ridiculous. Yeah, that's a good move. I know it's kind of hard to go back looking time and try to judge it with our eyes. But at the same time, I think there's definitely a movement here. Yeah. That seems like a right thing to do.

Right. Yeah. Exonerate those. witches. So for this open, how excited to you? What do you look forward to most for Open Championship Week, 150th, old

course? What do you look forward to the most? Do you know, I'm looking forward to Monday. Bizarrely. The Champions Day, you know, and just to see, you know, the player chat there. And it is actually Gary Player. I'm hopefully going to

cross paths with. Because Gary Player at the Centenary dinner in 1860 I might have been 62 but the centenary dinner there's pictures of him shaking hands with Willie Octorlone and Willie Octorlone

was friends with old Tom Morris you know played with him shook his hand so so I want to shake the hand I want to get this right I want to shake the hand of the person who's shaking the hand with somebody who's shaking hands with old Tom Morris I thought you

that's just cool I don't play you But it just brings it all to life You know He met somebody He knew old Tom Right You know

Instead of being a sepia photograph That seems like It's hundreds and hundreds years ago Actually it's not really that far back at all Yeah So I'm looking forward to that A lot And then

And then hopefully On Sunday It'll be Rory McElroy Picking up the trophy You know Yeah, yeah Absolutely But this

You know he has connection back to where I'm from and you know um and I just I just it just feels like with Rory when he's uh when he's every voice in his head has switched off and he's just playing golf as if he was alone he is just unbelievably brilliant you know um he just faces a lot of pressure you know in fact you when he's back in Ireland you know when the open was was there you know but I do hope, I really do hope he does well next week. Yeah, I mean, that would probably be one of the better storylines going, him getting the monkey off his back after all these years and coming here,

and he's been the champion for the PGA tour over the last several months. So does part of you find it amazing with this golf course, as old as it is, a lot of the features have remained pretty similar, can still stand up against the best players? Yeah, absolutely. you know, and I keep getting asking about the Bryson question, you know, is you going to destroy the coercion? Absolutely not, because once he misses one and he'll miss one by a mile, it's going to be in the deepest, darkest rough, you know, he will be in trouble. And to win here, you know, you really have the short game of like Littrevino, you know, you have to be able to bounce the ball and know where to bounce it, you know.

And that takes years. you know I did a bit of filming just last week you know and I was standing about 70 yards from the green and I hit the ball right towards you know bouncing it onto the green but

and I was like where is it and I just swailed on it you know so if you don't know those swales and hollows and bumps you're going to be in trouble you know so I don't think it's something you can come here and blag and there's always been big hitter you know daily as well but I think the course itself

just so intricate, especially the back nine, because the back nine is the same course that's been played there for, you know, almost the same for hundreds of years, you know, so, and that's why it's tougher. The whole front nine, the first green, the 18th green, and the front nine is pretty much Tom Morris's creation. There was lots of wind and gorse, and they burnt it all away, and that opened up the fairways for the front nine. And the greens, they couldn't expand the greens that direction because you're going to cut down in the hole. So they had to come sideways. So all the grains are like lociens shape, the double greens.

And they all bizarrely add to 18, so, you know, three and 15, that sort of thing. Yeah. You know, so yeah. So the front nine is easier. But the back nine is really tough. How many times do you think you've played this golf course? oh, 50. You know, maybe more.

I just, you just love it. Yeah, no, no, absolutely. But I still think I'm a student. There's so much you need to know and learn. I hope it's hard and far. I love the opens in the 70s and the 80s, where the course was burnt and the ball was running a mile. And, you know, I love that, the purity of that,

because it's not target golf you know you don't hit the ball it lands in a spot and then that's where it ends up you know you have to know every inch of the course and where it's going to go and that takes a lifetime and that's why local caddies are

fantastic I would say have they moved on from having it be like that dried out brown look just because of aesthetics and the way golf is going now or I'm honestly not sure but I would love to see a return to

links like that, you know. It just feels more true to the original, you know, game, you know, just a hard running. And that's, that's, we, as locals, we play most of our golf in the winter because the course is quiet.

You know, everybody thinks it's like, you know, you've gone to Iceland or something, you know. It's just, you know, and it's not, you know, it's just, like, it's just, like, it's just, like, it's a mile still, you know, because it's sandy soil. and when it rains, it rarely does the water. It has to rain a lot for the water to remain on the surface.

Mostly it drains away within an hour. So it's fantastic, fantastic place, and it's quiet. I just walked it this morning and actually ran into a caddy that was, I guess, caddied here for several years and then moved on, and we just walked a few of the last holes together. And he was telling me, he was like, yeah, I think the most impressive statistic. Ooh. You got it.

Carry on. was that Tiger Woods in 05 never hit it into one bunker during his championship. That's it. That's insane to me. Controlling distances, roll, pitch, how the ball rolls. I mean, there's bunkers everywhere out there. Honestly, that is key. I played, and I was having one of the day, I was having a day like the Priest and Caddyshack.

I was on a really good day, you know. Everything was going in. I could kick the ball and it would have. went in. So I'd reached the turn in five under. Oh. Yeah. And then got to the 11th and walked off level. Because I got into the bunker and I hit it. And the thing is, I didn't know what I know now. The thing is, if you're up the face and you think, I'm never going to get this out, just take a drop

backwards in the bunker and come out sideways. And so I was there, you know, like the old cigar rather just whacking it against the, you know, the wall. You know, like some insane guy. And then some, some lovely old man came out, said, oh, come out to the side, son. So went out to the side, not realizing there was a bunker over there, I'll have chased him down the fur away. Oh, thanks very much, you know.

So, yes, so stay out of the bunkers, you know. And some of the bunkers that, you might think, oh, that makes no sense why is a bunker there. It's because of the change of directions and stuff. Yeah, I was looking and I was like, what is the point of this bunker? And then there was, he was telling me about another story, what was off the 11th green where Hogan just left the course. He was just in the bunker over there.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with that story. Jones. Yeah, sorry, Jones, yeah. Absolutely. So the myth is Jones, got in trouble in the bunker and walked off the course. but the true story and I'm the editor of Through the Green which is like a golf history magazine and Sid Matthew who's the Jones expert

in the recent edition wrote what the truth is so Jones did get in trouble in the bunker and may go out of the bunker he did rip his card up but he played the rest of the round and then asked could he play the next day which he was allowed to so he continued to play Jones always said it was his most shameful moment on a golf course

but he did play It's good another truth of that. Yeah. It just had a hot-headed moment, you know, but instantly regretted it. Right. And I love Jones because he has that sort of gentleman aura about him, you know. So you really, you know, and Speath has that as well. I really like that about Jordan Speath has this lovely aura about him, you know.

But he definitely instantly regretted it. I wanted to come back straight away. Was there anyone in the old Tom Morris era that was known as like the hothead that would like snap all his hickory clubs over his knee or anything? Was there like a John Rom type like lunatic going around? Not that John Rom's a lunatic, I'm just saying. No. You're coached by the same guy.

Yeah, Dr. Brett McCabe. I'm sorry to say that there wasn't, but there was a lot of eccentric caddies and stuff. Tommy was known for wrecking his club because of how fiercely he waggle the club. Because if you play with hickory clubs, you have to swing slowly. you know and Tommy was supposed to be able to break a shop because he'd waggle it so hard you know but yes sorry I've never yeah but I'm sure there there was you know yeah you know the reason why we have the ladies putting club over there was because Tom Marsh created a few holes outside the shop so so for the caddies to do something while they're waiting for a bag

our clubs I should say and but the ladies started putting her and using them and so you had you had these gentle ladies and these really rough caddies

and the caddies wouldn't have minded their language they would have spoken you know so the idea was okay let's move the ladies to somewhere where they can have their own putting club and you know because the caddies

were yeah they're, you know, working class, fierce, brilliant sense of humor. But you have, you see photographs, you know, that some of them don't have shoes, you know. So, you know, even in old Tom's era, and the biggest problem for the time was that the kids, instead of going to madras school, which was the new school, they'd come down to the links because they could earn money for their family, you know, so you have these little boy caddies. You see, there's a portrait of Freddie Tate, the amateur champion, and his family live here today in St. Andrews. And it's a boy caddy, you know, and that was always the problem about getting them to stay in school to get some sort of education.

Rather than being down in the links where they would have earned money for the family, you know. So it was a really hard thing. It was like a vicious circle, really, you know, because you didn't get the education. you really couldn't get out of this circle. We were amazed because we never really thought about it when we learned kind of at Presswick 2 that golf was invented and for the longest time was a winter game.

Of course, yeah. Yeah, because the harvest's done. You know, they've cut all their crops. So, yeah. And then also, you know, these barren courses, because this was barren. grow anything on it. So then just go out and play in the winter months. It was definitely a more popular for the winter sports. You know, you would have your seasons, whether it be the harvesting,

the growing and the applying, etc. And then a lot of activity on the links, you know. Amazing. Wearing all that heavy, you know, material and the wool and whatever they're, you know, their outfits and then adding in the cold, wet temperatures, that's insane to us. Like when we were hearing some of the scores that they were making and some of the shots that they were hitting, the distances, especially at Presswick, that eagle that was made. It's like how to even accomplish that with all that on and that cold weather. But also added to that. So the hole is 578 yards.

You know, so Tommy, but Tommy is at the point of winning his third in a row. So you think, well, you know, I'm going to win the belt. I'd write if I do this. And you think, well, there's a lot of nerves. It must be a lot of nerves. But it gives you a measure of the man that on the first hole, you had what we would think of as an eagle. Someone would maybe call it an albatross, you know, if there only, you know.

So it was sublime, but it speaks volumes about Tommy, Tommy Morris being the sort of confident youth. You know, because he's still a teenager. He's 19, you know, which is incredible. And it's also, it's all the more tragic that he died at 24, you know, and he died. you know, just a few doors up here. Really? Yeah, yeah. How did he pass away?

So, so his wife had died in September. And so he had moved back in with his mom and dad, and he was obviously brief-stricken. And on Christmas Eve, he'd been out with some friends and came home and spoke to his dad, Tom Morris, and then say good night to his mum

and just went to bed. And then a Christmas morning, which you would have seen a fairly big morning, Tommy didn't, you know, didn't surface. So Tom went to get him and found him dead. He had died in his sleep. And what happened, it had an aneurysm in his left lung. So effectively he bled to death.

and there's various theories about that he was on tour with somebody whose family had TB and maybe something's gone on there but yeah it was just tragic really and a couple heavy moments in the show yeah yeah I know I know what could he have won what would he have done you know Tom Marsh went on and created

over 100 courses designed over 100 courses but what would Tommy have done you know how many more opens would he have won would he have one 7 and therefore still be the you know, the record holder for the most wins. So it is tragic thinking what was lost. And there was genuine shock, and that's why 60 golfing societies came together to create the statue, which is at the cemetery.

And I'm delighted to say they've opened up the cemetery and they've opened up a path now because it was closed for the last couple of years and they've opened it up this week so people can go to Tom Morris's great down. It's right down the road right here. Absolutely. We got to go see that.

Yeah, we do. We've run by it on our way. Yeah. Trotties all about it. Yeah. It is. Yeah, honestly, it's brilliant. And there's a photograph of Tom and Tommy together.

And they've taken the likeness of Tommy and used that for the photograph. So it is fantastic. Wow. You know, and his Greaker granddaughter, still lives here and still lives in Tom's house above the shop. And she tends to the grave and keeps it looking pretty. No way. Tommy Morris's great-great-granddaughter?

Tom Morris. Or Tom Morris, okay. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it's still, the family's still, you know, well, she's still here, you know. And looking after the grave. And she's a wonderful ambassador for everything to do with Tom Morris, you know. Wow. incredible yeah it's insane it's all by the 18th green you know it's it's just there

Alan Robertson lived beside the 18th green you know and that's why we have the open Tom created the press record course for the open you know and then his son won the open four times but but is the reason we play for the claret jug and also just to throw it into the mix their next door neighbor won the open was the first to win the open three times um on three different courses you know um so yeah so so around the 18th green, it's just, it is fundamental to open history. Was this whole town built because of the golf course? No, no, this was a place of religious pilgrimage.

So the reason why it's called St. Andrews is after the bone of the apostle. So they were brought here in the 8th century. Wow. And so people were coming here for pilgrimages, you know, and they thought the waters were blessed. not realizing that the waters, you know, you would get pretty close to God if you go into the waters today. It's just ice cold.

So. Arcaddy said something funny that it's the difference between like where we are with beaches and where at Kral was that children would actually be sent to the sea if they were misbehaving. Like, oh, if you don't, if you don't like, shut up. I'm going to put you in the water

and you have to go for a swim, which is totally different than in New York where it's like, can we please go to the beach. I want to go for a swim in the ocean. Because it's so cold here. It must be like I've no idea. I was at the beach yesterday. I've got two young kids and we were at the beach. And that's a joy of Sinanager. We can just go out of the beach and hang out. And there was a really

big guy, really butch. And his very tiny, slim girlfriend. And he was like, yeah, I'm going to go into the water. And she was like, yeah, I'll go to you and stuff. And they went into the water and he put one toe in the water. I'm not going there. just complete role reversal. Oh, yeah.

Now she was happily going in there and stuff. The guy obviously had no pain threshold. But so, yeah, so, so from about the 8th century, people were coming here to be near the bones of the apostle. Wow. And it was so big, you know, that St. Andrews had three cathedrals, not three, they had one massive cathedral, the biggest in Scotland. and then to Grafair our monasteries.

And all the revenues from all the churches in Scotland came to St Andrews, so it became a very wealthy place. 30% of people employed were employed in the church. And the cathedral and the running under or providing accommodation or clothing, etc. But then the Reformation in 1552, No, no, the summer of 1559. I always try to remember the Brown Adam song because he just made a clue.

It was the summer of 1550 now. And John Knox give a speech about the cleansing of the temple and basically against Romanism and removing all the sort of symbols of idolatry from the church. And the locals went and they pulled down the cathedral. well, they pulled down all the artifacts.

All these really historic artifacts were all destroyed. And we don't know what happened to the bones of San Andrew, but then disappeared. So either they were destroyed or, you know, are taken away. Wow. So but from that point, San Andrews just falls into decay. So for two or three hundred years, it's just falling into a hovel. Andrew Lang, the Great Rider, called it a starvling village. You know, 2,000 people lived in the town.

And they lived off like the fishing trade and, you know, just whatever they could to make ends meet. So, yeah, so it just, so the reason why we're called San Andrew, used to be called St. Andrew apostrophe S. And then it just became, they just lost the apostrophe, you know. I noticed that it wasn't the apostrophe. Even when you tag it on Instagram, there's no apostrophe.

And there's no full stop either. You know, it's just St. And then, you know, Andrews. But it was like the home of God and then the home of golf. You know, because the decline stopped in the sort of the 1800s when there was a man called Sir Hugh Lime Pleifer and he basically created this revolution of St. Andrew. bringing in beautiful housing, clearing away old slums,

creating wide boulevards you see on South Street, and brought San Andrews back to its former glory, really. And the whole area around the 18th is Pleist Bear as well. So that's all deliberate. You know, there didn't used to be a path behind the 18th Green, didn't used to be a road here, etc. So, yeah, so over the years, it's been lots of people who have made San Andrews what it is,

what Tom Marsh was to the Lynx's playfair was to the town. But yeah, but there was a period where it was just desolate, really. Wow. It's really fascinating. It's just such a cool spot to be. You can feel it too when you walk around the streets. You just feel the history. And we love that stuff. You get too modern sometimes with everything.

And then it's nice to just come here where we were saying a lot of the architecture is now like copied in certain areas. in the United States and stuff. And you get to see it here. It's like you feel like you're walking in a movie. I said even just don't want to get coffee. So it's pretty cool. Absolutely.

They've kept it like that. The pier, the East Sands pier, just by the cathedral, you'll notice that they used the bricks from the original cathedral. So all those bricks are, you know, from. And the cathedral, I think, was made around 1158. So that's how far that sort of stonework goes back to, you know. We were saying like, yeah, we were walking. at dinner last night and it's just like crazy that like we're still as a human as

humans living in a lot of the structures that people built even 300 years ago like some of the bars were like 1700 it's just like we're still just doing it like we're just they built it it's so solid it's so good and we're still living in them that's insane to me you know what i'm amazing there's quite a lot of um houses your walk past and and i'm a trustee of the st andrews Pilgrim Foundation but the uh you won't realize you've just walked past an open champion's house you know right working on that to maybe get some plaques done yeah i want to get a plaque done for tommy because his his house you know it's about about 200 yards from here and there's nothing for sure no black no yeah and it's just like someone living in it right now oh yeah absolutely and then

some students are living in i think they've divided the house and some students are there but i don't I'm not sure. Oh, you have any idea? Do they have any idea? No, no, no. No, and it's Tommy Morris's house, and there's the stairs, he ran upstairs, and there's, you know, whereas his wife would have been, you know. Oh, right. You know, so.

Wow. But that's an answer. There's literally history everywhere. You go down North Street alone, and, you know, it's like Tommy Morris's house, Tom Morris's house, witch burned here. Yeah, yeah. It's just. The witches. You can never do whatever than the witches.

No. A lot of witches. There is, you know, literally Market Street witch history, burned witches there. Roger, this was incredible. We really appreciate this. Like, pump up right now that you have any of your books that are on sale right now that you'd like to plug? The two books, the one for San Andrews, is San Andreas in the footsteps of all Tom Morris. And that basically guides all around town because Tom Morris is almost linked to everything in town, you know.

So that one, that won the first Herbert Warren Wind Award. And then the one that won it last year was called San Andreas the Road War Papers, which is just about this road exactly here. But during my research, I found in university a load of papers. And the papers was like statements by Tom Morris. Tom Morris in his speaking himself saying, this is my earliest memories of San Andrews, you know. And yeah, absolutely. So instead of somebody said, oh, Tom Marsh did this, it's actually Tom

Morris talking about his life. So the book was originally going to be called the Road War Statements, because these were all statements about whether they thought the road should be there or not, because it was Jimmy Anderson, Open Champion, Bob Martin, Open Champion, etc. So I, but then I was advised, you know, people are not really going to understand why it's important. So then it got bigger and bigger and stuff like that. And that's called San Andrews, the road war papers. So those two books will hopefully give you a good insight. And I wrote a children's book called Little Tommy Morris, which is based on the life of Tommy Morris. But I was fed up a reading my son, the Gruffalo. So I wrote this. I sent to a pal in the RNA, Peter Crabtree,

who wrote the really brilliant Tom Morris, the Colossus of Golf. And he replied back to I mean, he's so much more positive than anything I'd ever written. And he's saying, you have to get this published. You have to do this. So, luckily we found an artist from New York. She was based in St. Andrews, Maria Randall, brilliant artist, and she did the artwork for it. But it's fantastic, and it brings me so much fun.

I get to go and speak to schools. Awesome. So it's good fun. So I knew one of those three. Great. Amazing. Roger, we appreciate it. Is that pronounce right for you?

Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Roger, we appreciate it. This was awesome. People were going to be obviously really excited. about the open this week and having this background, this context will help and we'll mean a lot to a lot of people. I'm sure they're going to chase down a few of your pieces of work and probably dive deeper into it, which we were able to do luckily on this show. So you obviously know taught about this. You're very passionate about it. So it's very nice of you to share with us. We appreciate it.

Happy to be here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate it. Cheers.