Getting the vapors from the Swilcan Bridge
How to offend golf snobs everywhere, presented by the St. Andrews Land Trust
For those who maybe aren’t total golf sickos, you might not know what the Swilcan Bridge is. But if you’ve ever seen an Open at St. Andrews, you actually do. It’s on the 18th fairway and it’s legendary - and most notable for when legendary golfers are at the end of their run, they’ll stop on the bridge, wave to the crowd and soak up the adulation.
That’s Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer, if you’re unaware. There were a lot of questions whether Tiger Woods would do this last year, but he walked over the bridge without stopping, suggesting he doesn’t think he’s done.
Of course, every amateur golfer does the same. Caddies are prepared to take photos of all groups going through, which leads to quite a lot of wear and tear. It’s a mess and I don’t know who would possibly do this — oh, wait.
It’s an awesome thing, notable because it’s been there for literally hundreds of years but you can even see behind the bridge in my photo, the ground is ripped up. Here’s an even closer picture from recent days:
The solution? Build a stone area to reduce the wear and tear - and that’s what they’ve done. And my oh my, did folks get the vapors from this. Here’s what is there now:
If you, like me, are wondering why this is such an issue, then you are not quite as easily offended as others, like Geoff Shackleford. Folks think it looks like a patio, but really … we’re upset about this? Who possibly cares? The St. Andrews Land Trust (SALT) had to issue a press release about this! And Shackleford went so far as to suggest they might not have gotten permits so it should be removed. Why do we care? It’s some stones on the ground!
If they’d decided to paint the bridge or something moronic, I’d be lining up to get my torch lit and protest. But they aren’t. I distinctly remember looking at the ground in front of the bridge thinking it was a shame that it looked so shabby. This will stop that - so where’s the harm? I suspect there are more important things to worry about, folks.
Except … the fervor worked. I really, really think we could have taken this energy and solved a bigger problem, folks.
