Golf, by TourMiss

We were each wearing four layers of clothing standing on the first tee at the Old Course at St. Andrews. The morning was overcast and dry but with an Artic wind biting at us as we prepared to tackle this year’s Open Championship venue. The R & A had very kindly arranged for a number of the golf media attending the now annual ‘sit down’ with officials to play the famed course. Also given it was still February it meant carrying a small section of artificial turf to play all shots ...

One of the most unusual buildings in Abu Dhabi is ‘The Blue Pill’ – the 360 foot high Aldar headquarters building. The design is the first of its kind in the Middle East and the building was voted the “Best Futuristic Design” by The Building Exchange (BEX) Conference held in Spain. I visited the building during the course of the recent Abu Dhabi Invitational at nearby Yas Links Golf Course. The shape of this building is achieved through the use of structural diagrid, a diagonal ...

It was cold but glorious sunny afternoon today when I drove up to the Crail Golfing Society for the first time in 2015. There to greet me was Crail’s very affable assistant professional, David Snodgrass. However before taking to the Balcomie Course there was a matter of being financial and that meant a trip to the office to pay my annual subs. And with a 2015 Member’s circular tag to add to 14 others on my bag tag it was straight to the first tee and a much-awaited first game of the New ...

It was a superb morning the day after World No. 1 Rory McIlroy captured a second Omega Dubai Desert Classic title. While workmen began pulling down and packing up infrastructure for another year four of us found our way to the opening tee of the Faldo Course, and the second course at the Emirates Club. The four – Stuart Adams, Belgian-bomber Frank, local Dubai radio host and myself – teed off at 11.45am. And to make the day interested Stuart and myself took on Frank and PJ – 1o ...

It was a stunning sunset over the Yas Links and the final day of the 2015 Abu Dhabi Invitational. Here is a couple of shots, including one of a statue of Old Tom Morris, and located at the entrance to the Kyle Phillips designed course, taken at the course before taking the short drive to Dubai and this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

It was the next best thing to celebrating Australia Day in Australia and that was sharing Australia’s national day in catching up with Australian cricketing great Shane Warne. Warne was in Abu Dhabi competing in the Abu Dhabi Invitational first on Sunday with Simon Dyson as his pro partner and then teeing up again on Monday in the amateur only event. Warne is widely regarded as one of the best bowlers in the history of cricket. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1994 ...

It has been a year since I flew Fly Dubai from Dubai to Doha for the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. And stepping on board for the short flight to Doha I was immediately reminded me of the ‘crazy’ in-flight safety video. Check it out for yourself.