When I heard that Severiano Ballesteros had been taken poorly again I had forebodings and it was only a day later that the news of his death came. At the age of 54 this seems cruelly early.

He was one of those sporstmen whose fame transcended his sport. The evident joy with which he carried out his work stood out against the majority of professional sportsmen, and even more so in retrospect. His fist pump at the Road Hole in the final round when he won the Open at St Andrews epitomised this (though admittedly it is easy to be joyful when you’re winning.)

His greatest contribution to the game of golf was to boost the standing of the game in Europe. It is possible that without him the European Tour would not have garnered such success and also that the Ryder Cup might have fallen into abeyance as the US used to win it more or less all the time (certainly retained it) until the conversion of the contest into the US vs Europe rather than US vs the UK and Ireland.

When his game declined – possibly as a result of the onset of the illness which has now claimed him – it was a disappointment even to non-golfers.

His apparent recovery in 2009 from a brain tumour was good news. Sadly it wasn’t to last.

Severiano Ballesteros Sota, 9/4/11 – 7/5/11. So it goes.

On the road leading west out of St Andrews (the B939) there lies this house.

It is flat roofed and shows signs of having had nice deco windows once but they have now been double glazed and look weird.

Further west, at the next junction, the road forks. The B939 goes on to the lovely wee village of Ceres but the other fork – called Strathkiness High Road – has 6 (count them, 6) flat roofed 1930s semi-detached bungalows.

The photos are presented in order west to east. Click on any to enlarge them.

They’re kind of sitting out on a limb as they are a few hundred metres from the rest of the town.

I suppose these could be described as modernist rather than Art Deco since they are quite stark but they do have all those horizontals and verticals which are like a signature. The glazing is of course not original.

Largo Road is just on the eastern edge of Leven; on the A915, leading out towards Lundin Links (and later, Lower – and Upper – Largo, then St Andrews.)

In a similar way to Kirkcaldy’s Lady Nairn Avenue it has a fine row of 1930s houses, mostly semi-detacheds but in this case with some villas. Some of them have been reroofed but a few flat roofs remain. All these have replacement windows.

The pillars on the balconies here show the deco origins though the windows are now a fright.

This one still has trianguloid windows but they have been replaced (as have all the others) to the detriment of the overall appearance, I would say. The porch extension on the right hand semi is a bit odd looking too.

Here’s a detached villa with a deco-ish arch – still with eyes poked out, though.

Another detached villa, trianguloid windows above the door but the fenestration just isn’t right with plastic framed double glazing, and the roof overhang is odd. The garage can’t be original either, surely.

This has a very 30s chimney and a suspiciously new looking roof.

Plus a nice rounded corner. Untypically for Scotland, it’s finished in brick.

When in the old town last week I took a few pictures of deco influenced buildings. This one, in South Street, was once John Menzies and is now a Smith’s.

This close-up shows more detail of the Saltire below the roof line and the coat of arms.

Rollo, Davidson, McFarlane’s lawyers is in Bell Street.

The street known as The Links runs right by the Old Course’s 18th fairway and green. You may have spotted this house in the TV coverage of the Open. It’s a strange mixture of deco and Scottish vernacular.

This is from The Links itself. The roof steps are very deco.

I’m not a golfer, but it’s impossible to live in Scotland and not be aware of the sport. Even more so in Fife where every wee town seems to have its own course. Lundin Links – barely a blink as you drive through it – has two; one which is usually used for Open qualifying and the other, Lundin Ladies’.

St Andrews, of course, is littered with them, demand for the Old Course being so great as to be unsatisfiable. So, in addition there are the New Course, the Eden Course, the Jubilee Course, the Castle Course, the Strathtyrum Course and the Balgove Course – and those are only the ones run by the St Andrews Links Trust.

The Open Championship – if you’re being parochial you’d call it the British Open – is underway at the moment and so the place is transformed. You can’t move in the town normally for golf shops etc. so goodness knows what it is like at the moment. So much of a distraction is the tournament that St Andrews’s other modern attraction – the University – shuts down for the duration.

Myself and the good lady caught the preparations last week. A small army of mowers was shaving the first fairway.

On the sand just where the Swilken Burn finally flows into the North Sea there was a spectacular piece of driftwood. It almost looked like it had been sculpted.

From the links it looked like a sculpture of a cow but closer in more resembled a dinosaur.

You can see bits of the tented village in the second photo. It wasn’t quite in readiness but there were signs for banks and “Fish and Chips” and other stuff which I forget. It must be a huge money spinner – not all of it going to the town, sadly.

When the open is at Muirfield you can see the tented village from Kirkcaldy, gleaming whitely across miles of Forth estuary. The proprietors there call themselves “the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers” but I believe they don’t allow women to be members – which may not be quite so honourable in this day and age.

Of course in central Scotland you are never far away from a course on the Open rota. Carnoustie is only across the Tay estuary from Fife and both Troon and Turnberry are on the Ayrshire coast, no more than a couple of hours drive away. (You just can’t avoid golfing puns in a piece like this.)

St Andrews is a favourite place for myself and the good lady but we’ll be giving it a miss this week. I’m sure you see more of the action on the TV anyway. I’ve caught some of yesterday’s and today’s play and I’ll be watching the climax on Sunday. At least I’ll be out of any wind and rain.

I’ve already featured the former Woolies buildings in Kirkcaldy, Dumbarton, Morecambe and Dundee.

Here’s a couple more Art Deco former Woolies premises located in Fife.

The first is in St Andrews, photographed still in its Woolies livery. Nice detailing above the windows and on the roof line. (It has been converted to a Nisa shop since the photo was taken.)

The second is in Cowdenbeath. Not so much ornamentation on this one; just the roof detail really. As you can see, it’s a Poundstretcher now. (I took the picture before Saturday’s game.)