Somewhere on a heavenly practice green my Dear Old Dad is bestowing unasked for advice on a major champion.. me, I’m Hilton Head of the pack at the golf in Troon.
The famous golfer was Aussie David Graham, the ‘expert coach’Glasgow Hilton Park’s very own James G Murty and the year 1982.
When club hacker Jimmy G tut-tutted at the US Open and USPGA champ’s missed putt and opined: ‘Never up, never in.’
The good doctor had decamped from Glasgow to Ayrshire with his youngest son for practice day at the Open Golf Championship.
And a sit-down meal in a hospitality tent courtesy of a drug company,
For a 16-year-old sports mad lad this was luxury and my Dad was the most important man in the world, which, of course, he was.
Troon with the cool kids
But, in truth, the hospitality was nothing like what we have today in Troon… we didn’t have to put up the tentpoles or anything!
We are at The Engravers suite (£1,175pp) today by the 15th fairway of the famous old course.
Where we are perusing the tee-off times while imbibing of something a little stronger than tea at the complimentary bar.
And as a 16-year-old back in 1982 my Dad insured that I got nothing stronger than a Coca-Cola.
Written in stars at Engravers
You can, of course, salve your thirst at the Engravers with the leaf and fill your bellies with a hearty breakfast.
Because you’ll be needing a full tank to negotiate those undulating bumps and gorges of this coastal course.
As you follow the game’s best players around the Championship course.
And see them tackle and, in the cases of superstars like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, fail at the iconic Postage Stamp and Railway Holes.
Back here at base at the Engravers you can hear too from a selected golfer first-hand.
How to play the course, in an exclusive Q&A slot… in this case six-time major winner and a Hilton Head Island winner too, Nick Faldo.
S0uth Carolina on my mind
Of course, all of us who sit (did I say we also have reserved seats in the 18th greenside grandstand?) are masters of the game.
Only we’re not, but the men draining the 40ft putts are.
Days like today and past evenings in Dublin are the closest I have come to visiting this corner of America in South Carolina.
But, of course, they merely heighten my longing to visit.
When I do I know I will be in the best of hands with my friends at Hilton Head.
All through the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport which itself is in Georgia.
Home and dry
I feel the hand of my Dear Old Dad beckoning me that it is time to leave ‘to beat the traffic’ his constant fear.
I feel though that he has extra super powers where he is now.
And he has sent dry weather down for our day at the Open, after the rainstorms that taunted the players the previous day.
An Open invitation
We will be back, both here, and another old stomping ground and family connection, Ireland.
Where the Open returns next year to Royal Portrush.
Where we are guaranteed a party at least on par with the Antrim course’s reunion with the Open after nearly 60 years.
When not even the legendary Ulster rain could dampen the spirits of the raucous golf fans cheering Irishman Shane Lowry to victory.
Even if for many that was from the apron of the Guinness Bar.
Me? I’ll figure out the waterproofs then.
For today, I’m with the cool crowd at The Engravers.
Dry, well catered for, and in the best company… Hilton Head of the pack at the golf in Troon.