In Ireland with Gretta and my parents - all of them having come all the way from New Zealand. This is one time of the year I had been looking forward to for a while. We had a great couple of nights in the middle of Dublin seeing the sights and, of course, golfing.
Admittedly my energy levels were at a yearly low after 4 weeks in Ireland had left me running on empty. 6am wake ups to golf, three mechanical issues in 3 days with the car and a steady stream of constant late nights did not help the situation. Gretta thought I??d aged a decade in my 9 months away.
Dublin is a buzzing city and it was cool to stroll the streets looking at the sights. It is a world away from the rest of Ireland and is very much an international city. We had a bus tour around the inner city past the Daniel O??Connell memorial statue and across his bridge, we saw Trinity College and meandered through the cosmopolitan streets south of the river. As we stopped at the Guinness brewery to see how the stuff is made the bus driver proudly exclaimed ?? ??they make 4 million pints a day here ?? 2 million for the world and 2 million for us?. Brilliant.
Golf on our second to last day was at The Island Golf Course. The Island flies a little under the radar and was not on our initial itinerary. This was a mistake. The Island course is one of the top ranked links in Ireland is only 15 minutes from Dublin and in a word, is pure. Old fashioned and real golf this links course sits amongst the dunes across the estuary from Malahide and just north of Portmarnock. In the old days the golfers would jump in their wee boats across from Malahide to play on an out and back layout starting from what is now the 14th hole. The par three 13th is a stunning hole played out to the end of the spit with the township of Malahide as the backdrop.
jamie on the 13th tee. And below looking back down the 14th - which used to be the opening hole towards Malahide.
It was a special round for me as both Mum and Dad were playing and Gretta was driving the golf cart keeping us all entertained. She hit a few iron shots as well, of course when no-one was looking! Mum and Dad aren??t used to this pure links golf as it just doesn??t happen in New Zealand (with the exception of Paraparaumu Beach). The holes require some real thought and you need to embrace the lie of the land. Dad quickly learnt that you should putt from well off the green ?? something he doesn??t do so much in NZ! Mum smoked it all day off the tee which always makes the holes more enjoyable and probably explains why she thought the course was short, whilst the rest of us found it a real test at 6300m (7000 yards). The course has been kept in shape over recent years by the craft of Fred Hawtree, Eddie Hackett and Martin Hawtree ?? the later two guys have really proved themselves as quality designers over the last few weeks.
The short par fours were a feature I??ll briefly share. Three of them on the front nine and the first two (5 and 6) we played it safe with an iron only for there to be a decent size landing area if you take driver. So as we stood on the 8th tee, at 278m driver was going to be the play. That was until the greenstaff rolled on by and we asked them for a quick tip. 4 iron they said. Maybe 5 if you hit it long. Are you sure? The plucky kiwis asked, father Goldstein telling them about our worldwide golfing odyssey. Yeah boys, hit the iron here! And so we did leaving ourselves an easy wedge into one of the most cracking holes going around. Drivable yes, sensible no. Trouble everywhere outside of the green wrapped up amongst the dunes. A hole that made us all gasp with delight.
blind tee shot on the 5th
looking back down the 5th from the 6th tee
the 6th tee shot The green is behind the huge dune on the left. Bunkers right.
8 - class class class. green is over that wee tree.
We finished the round and as we put our sticks in the car we bumped into a familiar face from the start of our Irish leg ?? Mr Cormac MacMullan from Ardglass GC. A few introductions later and Cormac??s droll wit [word of the day ?? Adjective ?? amusing in an odd way; whimsically humorous; waggish] came to the fore for all us kiwis to experience. ?And then we went into the office and thanked Cathy and Louise for having us here, got a quick bite (read the biggest club sandwiches in Ireland) and it was back to Dublin for some more Irish culture.
As I write this 10 days or so after the experience at the Island, it is with much sadness that my folks have had to cut short their trip to the UK and Ireland and go back to Australia where my zada, or grandfather, is very unwell. My thoughts and love are with him, Blanche and the clan at the moment.
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Chisholm Park
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