Traveling through Europe had caused me all sorts of problems. Navigating and driving are two mutually exclusive sets and I often had to back track to find where I was supposed to be going. In one instance I was 5 minutes from Charles de Gualle airport on my way to Les Bordes Golf Club and by missing a turn out on the freeway I managed to morph a 90 minute trip, (my estimation) in to a three hour journey through hell. Most of that was spent lost in the suburbs of Paris.
On the way to Noodwijkse in Holland I was so elated at actually finding my way through a major city I almost phoned home to inform someone, who might care, of my success. Luckily I didn’t, because a few minutes later I was hopelessly ill informed about where I was. My theory - and it eventually turned out to be correct – was to keep going in the general direction I was headed and eventually I felt I was sure to run into Holland. Thankfully I did. I got lucky!
When I finally arrived at Noodwijkse I found an enjoyable links golf experience and a picturesque course to photograph. In terms of playing I managed to have just 9 putts on the back nine. The story though is in the details, 2 chip ins, three 1 putts, three 2 putts and one hole was closed! The saddest part was that the number of putts on the back nine was probably pretty close to the number of balls I lost during the game.
Noordwijkse is a serious golfing challenge and, given my errant ball striking, just as hard to navigate as the rest of Europe.