The Golf Shot

Sunday, Jul 27^th – Old Head (#1 in the Ruberg Golf Ranking)

 

It was another beautiful, sunny, mild day with light breezes – just about perfect.
 The harbor at Kinsale.


After Mass at the friary, which has been there since 1334 (now think of this … St. Francis lived in Assisi, Italy in the late 1200’s and founded the Franciscan Brothers and less than 40 years later there was already a Franciscan friary in Kinsale, Ireland!),

  The Friary

we had a spectacular breakfast at Blindgate House (we highly recommend the ham and cheese omelet), we were off to the most spectacular setting for a golf course anywhere in the world – Old Head. It was a short 20 minute drive to this enormous peninsula of rock that juts out into the Irish Sea.

The first thing one notices upon arriving at Old Head and driving back the 1 mile entry drive is that it is lined with literally a million Irish rose bushes of every shade of rose, pink and white as well as a million hydrangeas of every shade of white, blue, rose and purple. It is stunningly gorgeous.
 Stone walls and large gardens line the entire 1 mile drive from the entrance to Old Head to the Clubhouse.

There are flowers and ornamental grasses everywhere (none of which are native to Ireland) as well as some palm trees. The putting green is surrounded with red and purple flowers that grow 3-4 feet high. 

Some fairways are lined with hundreds of the large pampas grasses (the ones that are 10 feet high). The fairways are more Americanized in that they are lush and cut and manicured. There are even ancient ruins of building going back many hundreds of years and even some large rock monoliths from ancient Druid cultures.

The course is a photo op every minutes and almost every hole. Tee boxes and fairways line the edge of the peninsula with 300 foot drops straight down rocky cliffs to crashing surf below.

It was interesting to watch sea gulls soaring above the ocean, BUT BELOW US as we looked out over the cliffs. OK – an important note here. Paul is terrified of heights when there is no protection/railing. He was having some trouble getting near the edge and there are tee boxes that are literally within a few feet of cliffs. Some of the paths from one hole to the next are worn paths along steep hillsides that run into the cliffs.

Just enjoy some of the pictures and the views.

















 Steve didn't get over the cliff and on to the fairway, so he had to stand on the edge of the cliff and hack it out of the deep rough.

Our caddies were good and enjoyable – Micky B and Paul. They hustled to keep pace with carrying two bags. (Side note: while they were good, we were coming to the realization that it is much better to have 4 caddies so that each player has the undivided attention of their caddie. This is strongly recommended for any future travelers, though it may not always be possible due to availability.) After struggling much of the day, on the 18^th fairway, Jack hit a great approach shot onto the 18^th green and exclaimed, “Now that’s a golfer!” to which his caddie replied, “One shot all day and now you’re a golfer ?!?!?!”
 

Chan played lights out even for what might be considered mild playing conditions (winds were probably between 15-20 mph). The rest of us had our moments, but we all enjoyed the day enormously. It was an amazing display of Mother Nature with some additional sculpting by Her greatest creation, Man.

Final scores: Chan 82; Paul 88; Steve 90; Jack 95.

We had drinks on the veranda overlooking the course, the lighthouse and the Irish Sea as we basked in the sun and took in the breeze (yes, a 20 mph wind is a breeze). Jack gave up on beer and took to the Kettel One and cranberry juice with a lime. Chan is a Guinness man and Paul Coors Light. Marty has his Bushmills or Midleton (one ice cube please). I always goes for the REAL MAN’S drink - pineapple orange juice.

  Veranda on the back of the clubhouse.

 View from the veranda with the 18th green in the foreground and the light house in the background (which is 300+ feet above sea level).
 

Note: In the clubhouse, there are pictures on the wall from November, 2004 when the Irish Sea was being whipped into a frenzy by a ferocious winds. There is a picture of a wave crashing into the 300 foot cliff where the light house is and a large part of the crashing wave is hitting half-way up the lighthouse! I suspect you will never see anything like it … it is hard to imagine witnessing a storm so powerful that the waves were over-running the 300 foot rock walls/cliffs of Old Head. I would not have imagined it or believed it if I didn’t see the picture.

We were already looking forward to playing Old Head for a second day on Monday.

That night we went looking for the next best restaurant in Kinsale – Fishy Fishy.




Apparently, it had moved, so we settled for The Crackpot. The food was good, but having had dinner at Man Friday the evening before, there was no comparison. Once again the commoners went out for some local culture while sanity prevailed for others.