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Day 9 - The End of a Dynasty

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Day 9 – August 26 – Doonbeg (Trump International Golf and Resort) The End of a Dynasty We had a 10AM departure so the morning was leisurely – except for Jay and The Greatest who cannot let 90 seconds go by without some activity and went off to play tennis. The tennis courts were along the seaside and provided an exceptional view, even if the courts were not well-maintained. They didn’t have lines, so Jay and The Greater imagined who was hitting the ball in or out. The day was MUCH calmer and warmer from the start. When we walked outside to load the bus, we were all relieved to have such clement weather. The bus ride took us through the countryside but also on a ferry across the wide Shannon River. It was a beautiful day to go ot the observation deck and see the water an ultra-green landscape on either side of the water. It was also dotted by dozens (hundreds?) of those giant windmills scattered across hilltops. It was so calm that even these monstrosities sat motionless agai...
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Day 8 - The Eagle Has Landed

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Day 8 – August 24 – Tralee The Eagle Has Landed Tralee was redesigned by Arnold Palmer and is now one of the venerable old links courses in Ireland, but also very playable – although once again we were facing even stronger winds and temperatures in the mid-50’s. Our caddies said the wind was a steady 40 mph and the weather reports at the turn said gusts were up to 60 mph. We experience all of this. Just to give you an idea of the playing conditions, we were attired as if we were playing in the Alaskan Open. To give you an idea, here are two experiences that Steve had (witnessed by others in his group). ON the first hole, Steve hit a good drive and a very nice 5-hybrid to 8 feet [a noteworthy sequence of events given the very strong quartering winds]. His ensuing birdie putt had about a 2-3 inch break. As he putted, the gusts kicked up enormously and his ball was blow sideways and backwards away from the hole. It literally broke about 3-4 feet, which left him with a very ...
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Day 7 - The Sound and The Fury

Day 7 – Thursday, August 23 – Ballybunion The Sound and The Fury The weather forecast wasn’t good, and we awoke early to howling winds and a light-to-moderate rain. Everyone suited up and put on our game faces as it was going to be a long, arduous day. Our first tee-time was at 7:20 and the rains and winds were steady (30 mph with gusts into the 40’s). The cold rain (and sometimes tiny pellets of hail) were stinging our checks as we were hitting our balls. The balls were giggling on the tees and on the putting greens, and it was not unusual to get hit with a gust that knocked you a bit off balance. The remarkable part of this story is that Paul went birdie-birdie to start the round and ended with a 38 on the front nine – an amazing achievement for playing a course that he only played once 4 years ago and in the most inclement weather conditions you can imagine. Thankfully, the rain stopped somewhere on the back nine. And we were able to finish with only the 40 mph winds to cont...
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Day 6 - The Ballad of Michael Collins

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Day 6 – Wednesday, August 22 – Waterville The Ballad of Michael Collins After a made-to-order breakfast at the Killarney House, we were off to Waterville … but wait … where is Jack? Steve had to go into the dining room and retrieve Jack who was still eating and slamming down one more cup of coffee. The drive was about 90 minutes through the countryside along roads that aren’t wide enough for two Volkswagen Beetles. Yet, our driver managed to avoid one collision after another although for us passengers it felt as if we were bobbing and weaving like Mohammed Ali. That makes it hard to read or write … hence the delay in he blogging (not to mention that we are active from 7AM to 11PM each day). We arrived at Waterville with a mix of sun and clouds but little chance of rain. The winds were much stronger than anything else we experienced, and the locals said they were in the 25 mph range. This is a traditional links course that plays along the water on many holes. It seemed a b...
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Day 5 - The Haar

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Day 5 – Tuesday, August 21 – Old Head The Haar It was up VERY early for a 7:20 tee time, which meant we had to leave The Blind Gate House (TBGH) by 6:15. The folks at TBGH are exceptionally accommodating and had breakfast for us at that very early hour. I do not know how they do it, but the fruit and juices are exceptionally fresh and rich in sweet flavors. It was an overcast day, but the worst was yet to come. As we approached the ascent to Old head (it is a high bluff peninsula that rises 300+ feet out of the surrounding land and sea), it was enshrouded in clouds. As we rose into the mist, we were still optimistic since the weather forecast called for clearing in the afternoon, and we were scheduled for rounds in the morning and afternoon. Now, Old Head is a new, swanky place – more of an American style plush country club rather than venerable, historic links course. It is more finely manicured and meticulously appointed with flowers and other imported flora. When we tee ...
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Day 4 - Jay Comes Out of the Closet

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Day 4 Jay Comes out of the Closet It was an early morning (meet in the lobby at 6:45) to get off to the European Club for a 9:30 tee-time. The morning drive was quiet and uneventful although Brittas Bay seems to be a bit in the middle of nowhere south of Dublin. The European Club is noted for its deep bunkers that are lined with steep, vertical railroad ties. It is also a highly ranked course in the world rankings, but you would never know it from the “practice field” which was more like a west Texas cattle ranch … or maybe even a remote, aboriginal sheep farm in central Australia. You get the idea. The course was nice … nice and brutally difficult. Fairways were narrow in many places and it didn’t help that they funneled balls into the deep bunkers. Putting wasn’t much easier on poa-annua greens, which were intermittently fast and slow and always a little bit bumpy. [This is no excuse for Steve getting a bad case of the yips (or the ‘yaps’ as they say here) wherein he miss...
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Day 3 - The Theory of Power Euchre

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Day 3 The Theory of Power Euchre Adrian, our bus driver, alerted us that we are on a tight schedule since he is legally limited to the amount of time he is on the job. So, it was imperative that we were ready to go at precisely 9:30 to make the 2-hour drive to Newcastle, Northern Ireland to play the famous Royal County down (#4 in the world ranking of golf courses). So, Jack gave us all a stern lecture on Saturday evening after dinner about being on time. Furthermore, at breakfast, Jack reminded all of us to be on time in the lobby. (You see where this is going, don’t you?). After breakfast in the hotel dining room, we were all dispersing at 9:15 to go back to our rooms and take care of matters before leaving on the bus. We were all on the bus, ready to go at 9:30 except we were looking for Blaze. He came running out to the bus at about 9:35, and we all gave him an appropriately firm chastisement. But when Adrian did the headcount, he noted that we only had 7 people on the ...
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