simon's reflections

A 4am start out of Gatwick was my self-imposed punishment for arriving late on the tour. In only a few hours I was bombing down the appalling roads from Cork airport to Waterville in my crappy little Peugeot. And by 11am I had met up with my golfing companions – a motley crew of varying age, golfing handicap and facial hair. The course at Waterville destroyed me, but it was just fantastic to be out there playing on such a great course.
In order that Christian and I didn’t feel out of place as the younger members of the tour, Steve E had thoughtfully booked us into Castlerosse Hotel For Children for the next few nights! Embarassingly, the kids (who seemed to outnumber the adults by about 4:1) seemed capable of staying up much later then us; I’m sure many of them were better golfers too!
Further famous courses were to follow over the proceeding days: Tralee (a beautiful course designed by Arnold Palmer), Ballybunion Old (the course oozed history and nobility, although the clubhouse looked like social housing project from the outside) and Lahinch (without doubt the wettest game of golf I have ever played).
The craic was tremendous throughout the tour. In Killarney, every evening began with a pint or two of the ‘black stuff’ before heading into town to the Smoke House – a fantastic little grill with lovely waitresses and a fantastic arrangement with the next-door pub allowing us to bring our pints through when our table was ready. A shiraz-merlot usually followed the pint - exquisite with steak, and excellent value. Our hotel in Lahinch on my final night served excellent fare, and thus there was no need to leave the premises (fortunate, as the entire town seemed to have closed down for the winter!). On Ken’s suggestion we rounded the meal off with Grand Marniers, a classy end to a classy holiday.
I flew out of Shannon airport on Friday afternoon (a day earlier than the others due to baby daughter duties!). My golf bag was soaking, as were my clothes. As the flight took off, a stream of water poured onto my lap from the door seal (I was in row 1) and I was kindly asked by the stewardess: “well what do you expect me to do about it?!”. My cabbie from Heathrow to my house attempted to rip me off by claiming we had agreed on a price £10 higher than was the case. As I entered my driveway – still soaked, dragging my torn golf bag and suitcase behind me - I longed for the warm honesty of the Munster folk, the ease of their hospitality and the excellent companionship of my five golfing compadres. Then I opened my front door and little Amelia charged towards me and jumped into my arms. And everything in the world was right again.

Photo: Simon briefing the boys at Ballybunion!

tour pics....

I’ve posted a batch of tour photographs in a facebook album. Just in case you’re not on facebook, you can view them by clicking here. They’re not particularly elegant, but they do give a flavour of what we were up to!

Photo: early morning at the Castleross Hotel, Killarney.

friday: lahinch

It was a depressingly early start to the day. We could hear rain falling and had an early tee time booked (Simon needed to fly home this afternoon). We arranged to have breakfast in the hotel at 7.15am before driving the very short distance to Lahinch Golf Club – arriving in the car park before anyone else and in utter darkness. It proved to be a VERY wet round of golf - we all agreed that we’d never got quite as wet before on a golf course! The one positive note was that the wind had subsided a little (which probably meant that the rain wasn’t blown away!). Overall some of us were a little disappointed by the course (but perhaps it was the fact that we played under leaden skies, heavy rain and no sunshine?). Much to my surprise, I ended up winning the day again, with Ken coming second, Barry third and Simon fourth.
We all went straight back to the hotel to have baths and warm up. Simon had to depart soon after lunch (big hugs all round!). The rest of us played pool in a local bar before enjoying another great meal at the hotel before getting an early night – Ken, Christian+Barry departing very early the following morning to catch a flight home.
Photo: SteveE in Lahinch GC car park at “dawn” (in the pouring rain!).

thursday: old ballybunion

Woke up to pouring rain and high winds. One weather forecast we saw talked of two inches of rain and winds gusting at 60mph. It was all very depressing as, for most of us, Ballybunion was the key day of the tour. Amazingly, the rain had stopped by the time we teed off – then resumed after four holes but only lasted for 45 minutes or so and we were able to complete our rounds in the dry! Fantastic golf course – everything that we’d anticipated (and more!).
Ken won the day, with me coming second, Simon third and SteveE fourth – leaving Ken just two points ahead of SteveE as far as the overall leadership was concerned.
We drove north, caught the ferry across the River Shannon and ended up at Lahinch by nightfall – staying at the Atlantic Hotel. The rooms were far more basic than Castle Ross but we enjoyed a really beautiful meal in the hotel (and the odd glass of Guinness) before bedtime.

Photo: Barry on the 18th tee.

wednesday: tralee

Despite another day of very miserable weather forecasts, we were incredibly fortunate with the conditions at Tralee. We arrived in brilliant sunshine which showed the beautiful green course off to perfection. Although we did have our fair share of lashing rain, it was far better than we’d anticipated. It was another simply stunning golf course - everyone was really impressed and it now seems to becoming increasingly difficult for people to name their “best course ever played”!
Simon had a great day and won by three points, with me coming second, Ken third and Barry fourth.
We spent the evening revisiting our local bar and the “Smoke House” in Killarney. Guinness and red wine seem to go together very well indeed!
Photo: Christian hitting a tee shot at Tralee GC.

tuesday: waterville

Drove to Waterville under threatening skies. The empty clubhouse was in sharp contrast to the opulence of Old Head – but we were given a very warm welcome. It was very good to have a full complement - with Simon having flown into Cork first thing. The links course was impressively set between the sea and the estuary. Incredibly windy(!) and, somewhat predictably, we played half the round in driving rain. I actually won the day (in sharp contrast to the previous day) with Barry second (again) and SteveE+Ken coming in joint third (I think).
One of the highlights of the day was Ken trying to put up his brand new umbrella and watching it disintegrate within two seconds (literally) in the high winds.
We again finished off the day in Killarney. Enjoyed a good meal at the Smoke House restaurant (and even managed to find a bar with rather better musical accompaniment) before returning for a nightcap in the hotel bar.

Photo: Christian, Ken+Steve in the clubhouse before the round (the ocean's beyond the green stuff!).

monday: old head

We were all really looking forward to playing this course – and we weren’t disappointed. A stunning location, laid out on a narrow headland with many of the holes teetering beside vertical cliff faces, dropping down to wild seas (very scary for me!). We were incredibly lucky because, despite a poor weather forecast, we actually managed to complete our rounds in dry (but very windy) conditions – and it started raining immediately we got back to the clubhouse!
We all decided it was the best golf course we’d ever played (and SteveE, Barry+Ken have played quite a few in their time!). SteveE played really well and won the day, Barry came second, Ken third and Christian fourth (sadly, I played very poorly and brought up the rear).
We finished off the day at an Italian restaurant in Killarney before ending up in a bar – where we’d been told we’d be able to enjoy some traditional Irish music. The bar and the Guinness were good but, in truth, the music was pretty dire!
Photo: SteveE on the 2nd tee.

golf practice for ireland… in sunshine?

Thought it would make sense to add a short piece about the pre-tour practice undertaken by four members of the illustrious tour party (previously referred to in my “normal” blog). We played at Ogbourne Downs Golf Club, near Swindon, a fortnight ago and, in theory, there seemed to be a strong likelihood that we’d play the exposed downland course in high winds and heavy rain (it was practice for Ireland after all) but we ended up playing in beautiful October sunshine.
Barry and I are currently trying to find some sort of obscure family connection (long lost brothers perhaps?) to try to keep up with SteveE and brother Simon and with Ken and son Christian….
Nothing so far!
Photo: still smiling at the end of the round – me, Steve, Barry+Ken.

you are here....

Somewhat pathetically, even though Moira is a quarter Irish, I’ve never been to Ireland and I’m really looking forward to my “first time”. I’ve just been having a look at our itinerary and realising just how many amazing golf courses there are in this comparatively tiny corner of the country. We certainly won’t have to be covering many miles travelling between our selected five courses (see map!): Old Head, Waterville, Tralee, Ballybunion and Lahinch – unlike our previous glorious golf tours in New York State and Scotland (well, for Ken+Steve+me).
Click on the links to discover a little more about the courses!

it could be wet....

These disparate characters were selected from a shortlist of six to go on a golf tour to south-west Ireland in October (when it doesn’t get much wetter or windier). The tour itinerary includes playing (in a manner of means) the following courses: Old Head (Monday), Waterville (Tuesday), Tralee (Wednesday), Ballybunion Old (Thursday) and Lahinch Old (Friday) – just five out of the top eight courses in Ireland according to Google!
From left to right in the photographs:
StevieE (tour planner and boy racer); Simon (StevieE’s brother, who described himself as “bald and even worse at golf than his brother” – he says he’s really only on the trip for the Guinness); Ken (The Rev: “please see the attached photo from my high school yearbook. As you can see I once had a text book golf swing. Of course I also had a text book physique. Unfortunately, my current game resembles my current body shape - wide and out of control!”); Christian (Ken’s son and the best golfer on the Norwegian music scene); Barry (who simply describes himself as “very worldly” – we’ll soon put an end to that!) and StevieB (red wine drinker and former golfer - now considered to be “every golfer’s dream opponent”).
The tour takes place 23-30 October 2010… approximately.
It’ll be interesting!