Turf to Huntsville.

A hive of activity down by the golf courses. A dozen workmen are already hard at work laying turf around the old Swilcan bridge on the 18th tee. The crazy paving that caused such outrage was removed yesterday leaving a large circular scar on the grass. A small crowd of bobble hatted foreign golfers and a man from an American monthly golf magazine are clustered around watching them. The journalist is interviewing the visiting golfers who have surprisingly strong views on the matter. A man says ' I've flown all the way from Idaho and never expected to see anything like this '. Four men from Alabama have found some foot square pieces of turf that are surplus to requirement. They intend to take them back home to Huntsville. The men are as happy as three year olds with their great good fortune. As I leave they're deciding whether to give the turf a revitalising soak in their hotel bathtubs before  heading home with it. The man from Idaho tells the journalist that a round on the Old Course cost him $350 which he thinks is reasonable.

Angus is surprised with the speed with which the 'remedial' works are taking place.  Things rarely happen that quickly around here. The great and the good of the Royal and Ancient clearly want this episode to be forgotten as quickly as possible. The word hubris comes to mind.

Sophie observes this activity with barely concealed disinterest. She wants to get on to the beach. There are oystercatchers to chase, runners to glare at and dogs to meet.

It's taken six months but we are now being greeted by the regular dog owners. The owner of a brown cocker spaniel and the owner of two hyperactive mutts introduce themselves. The cocker spaniels owner is married to a caddy at the Jubilee course. The mutts owner is a reader in the physics department . I don't know their names but I now know the names of their dogs. Such is the camaraderie of the seven am dog walking crowd on the beach.

Archie the arthritic labrador is greeted. His tail wags slightly. There's life in the old fellow yet. Then it's time to head up over the dunes, along the path by the golf course and into town for a restorative bowl of water. More groundsmen are working scarifying the greens. They have a large tractor with a special device on the front to do this. A smaller tractor follows on behind.  Sophie finds this interesting so we stop and watch until she's satisfied that nothing more exciting is going to happen.