The best we had

About 20 years ago, I took a golf buddies trip to Scotland en route to a British Open in England. Our foursome went "North to the Links at Dornoch," which also happened to be the name of a 1964 New Yorker piece written by Herbert Warren Wind that has since led generations of American golfers to discover the origins of the game on the Old sod. I had an overseas membership at Royal Dornoch at the time ($150), which entitled my buddies to play for $2.20 a day and me for free. It was summertime, gorse in bloom, and light never ended. We played our third round of the day teeing off after dinner, about 9 o'clock. We stayed in a 400-year-old castle turned bed-and-breakfast. But the most memorable moment of the trip came when our Mercedes station wagon collided head-on with a full-size tour bus. No one was injured except for the vehicles (our car was eligible for the Ben Hogan Award).

Bing Crosby and Phil Harris were once pulled over by a cop on 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach after a night of merrymaking, with 14-year-old Nathaniel Crosby at the wheel. When asked why a kid was driving, Bing memorably replied: "He was the best we had."

Our man at the wheel in Scotland was a young, Teetotaling photographer who was the best we had back then and still is. Stephen Szurlej has survived a lot of buddies trips over the years, covering more than 100 major championships, and the range of work in this issue demonstrates his versatility. The same guy who shot the Ernie Els instruction opener (on page 150) also brought us the landscapes of Ireland (page 108) for this year's Buddies Issue.

Szurlej didn't build the TV scaffolding at Loch Lomond pictured above, but it's the kind of construction he routinely does to give us the best swing images. Steve asked Els to hit the railing underneath him with the bunker shot, which our playing editor proceeded to do six times in a row. "That's what I like about you, Ernie," said szurlej. "you take direction well."

steve spent more than a year making three trips to Ireland and shooting in all four quadrants of the country, from the ground and from the air. At one point, in White Rocks Beach, near Portrush, he ran into some local surfers. Being a runner and a biker (motorcycles), steve also is a surfer, and naturally the others invited him to join them in the water. He was offered a wet suit and a board, and a beer when they were done. Buddies are where you find them.

Of course, Steve passed on the beer. He had to drive home.

Jerry Tarde, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

My Top 5

1. Rent the largest car possible

2. Insist on automatic transmission. (And don't wait until you get there to ask for it)

3. Take the insurance option

4. Do not even think about drinking and driving--the penalties are appropriately stiff

5. Forget it. Hire a professional driver and enjoy your vacation

Best Tip

"Before you address the ball, lay your clubshaft across your shoulder line. It should be parallel to the target line."

Rick Smith, page 105

Birdie of the Month

To Hoylake, site of the "brown is beautiful" British Open, proving the game can be fun and exciting without overconditioning

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