Unless you’ve been hiding away under a massive boulder recently – and let’s face it, life under a solid mass of minerals would be quite a pleasant escape from the modern-day tumult – then you’ll know that President Donald Trump opened his second course at Balmedie last week.
In his typically modest way, the two layouts at Trump International Golf Links are now championed as ‘The Greatest 36 Holes in Golf.’
His original 18 is the host venue for this week’s Nexo Championship on the DP World Tour. “It’s spectacular but it’s flippin’ hard,” gasped Martin Laird with a statement that could be a new advertising slogan for The Donald’s domain.
Laird has not played competitively in his homeland since the Scottish Open of 2018 and the 42-year-old is delighted to be back in the auld haunts. “Being back here has energised me,” added the Glasgow exile.
Laird was actually a member of the guest party at the grand opening of Trump’s first course back in 2012 when he was the standard bearer for Scottish golf on the PGA Tour.
“I played with Eric and Don Jnr (Trump’s sons) and Monty (Colin Montgomerie) played in front of us with the main man,” added Laird with a smile. “It was soft back then as it had just opened.
"Everything around here is about keeping the ball in play. You’ve got to drive it straight. If you don’t you may as well pack up and go.”
A few of the game’s golden oldies probably felt like packing up golf completely after a punishing PGA Seniors’ Championship here at Trump’s wind-ravaged joint last week.
Only two players finished under-par while the halfway cut fell at an extraordinary 14-over.
“That shows you what this place is capable of as I have never seen a 14-over cut in my life,” noted Laird. “I was saying to my caddie that they need to get the tees right (this week).
“Even today, when the wind is less than yesterday, they really have to move some of those tees up just purely for pace of play.
“On some holes, even if you hit a good drive, you are hitting long irons into small targets with 25-30mph crosswinds. It almost gets a bit unplayable.”
The forecast for the next few days is certainly not as boisterous as last week with official Met Office updates suggesting “fresh” and “moderate” breezes. That probably means it’ll be blowing an absolute hoolie.
As of the eve of the championship, tournament officials were planning on moving the tees forward on seven holes to combat any meteorological menace.
That could make it some 270-yards or so shorter than its full 7439-yard stretch. It’ll still be flippin’ hard as Laird would say.
“I just love a tough golf course,” he added. “Someone even asked me yesterday if I was here playing in the seniors last week. I was like ‘steady on, I’m eight years away from that’.”
Time flies, though. Laird has been in the good ole US of A now for 25 years. A four-time winner on the PGA Tour during a terrific career, he is now juggling competition on three fronts having lost his full status on the US-based circuit at the end of last season.
He still gets a few starts on the main PGA Tour while he bolsters his schedule with outings on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour and the odd DP World Tour event.
“The hardest part was at the start of the year, when I’d get in a tournament one month then have to wait another month to get in another one,” said Laird of the scheduling guddle that’s par for the course when you don’t have full playing rights.
“It’s just simple stuff. My wife, for instance, would say ‘are you going to be around this week?’ and I said, ‘I don’t know’. Whereas in the past I could say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”
Despite the professional plooters of his reduced status, there have been plenty of personal pleasures to savour.
“It’s actually been kind of nice this year both from a family point of view and a me point of view, too,” he reflected. “Last year was the first year that I would admit that at times I didn’t want to be out there.
"I had full status and was playing in great tournaments, but my game wasn’t great and the grind of 20 years of travelling finally just hit me.
“The kids are older now and I was missing stuff with them. If you are not playing great and it’s a battle every week, it is tough to keep going all the time.
"At the end of last year, I was annoyed to lose my card. But, at the same time, I pretty much had December, January, February and half of March off.
“I’d never been at home for three months prior to that in 20 years. It was brilliant. I needed it. It was like a reset.”
Laird, it seems, is good to go.
