Raflewski Performance Academy Launches At PGA National Ireland

So here we are, in November 2020, and golf is about to return to our courses. Apart from golf on TV, for many of us golf ceased to exist over the past six weeks. We had other things to worry about.

But golf in Ireland has continued behind the scenes. The greenkeepers have been busy maintaining courses and preparing them for our return, while for others there were developments that had been planned for a while and couldn’t simply be postponed.

 

One of those is at Slieve Russell… and it’s something pretty spectacular. The

Top Ten Photos of the Year 2020

It is a frequent occurrence that no matter how much you plan, some of the best photographs come about thanks to a bit of luck. There are two photographs below that owe their existence to that luck.

It hasn’t been as busy a year as past years because… well, we all know why.

You can buy prints of many Irish golf courses through my website, including three of the shots listed below.

Here are the Top Ten shots of 2020, in no particular order... because ranking them would be like having to choose your favourite child.

1. Arklow 6th green 

The light was magical and there’s really no other Irish golf club car park – where this shot was taken from – that shows off the beauty and shape of the course you’re about to play.

2. Arklow 8th

This was the first shot I took with a new camera/lens combination (Nikon’s Z series

Sister Courses in Ireland and Oregon to Host Golf Championships in 2021

When Carne Golf Links first told me about their twinning with Gearhart Golf Links, in Oregon, I thought: now that's a brilliant idea. Two courses that help each other, swap ideas, promote the other locally and nationally, field teams against each other, and generally just create a positive channel of communication between them. What's not to like? Joint membership? Yep, that too.

Though separated by thousands of miles, these two courses with a unique connection will celebrate their alliance in the summer of 2021 by hosting national championships: The US

Saudi Arabia, Golf and Sportswashing

An announcement by the Ladies European Tour (LET) last month reignited a controversy about professional golf tournaments taking place in Saudi Arabia.

It may seem that the horse has already bolted following the European Tour’s Saudi International golf tournaments of 2019 and 2020, but the LET is also involved. The original plan was for the Ladies’ event to take place in March 2020, two months after the men, but Covid-19 put a stop to that. Until now.

 

In October, the LET announced not one but two ‘landmark’ tournaments for November (12-19), with prize money of $1.5 million on offer. 

A glossy video hit the airways showing female professionals giving lessons to young Saudi