Arklow to host 2018 Mellon Educate Charity Event

The Mellon Educate 3rd Annual Golf Classic will be played at Arklow Golf Club on Friday 31st August. Tee times are available between 11.50am and 3.20pm.

I've played in this the past two years and the four person Scramble format makes it huge amounts of fun. The team I was in last year won the event with a ridiculous score of 13 under, but it was never less than a blast playing with a group of friends for a good cause.

The event is run by Darren Murray who volunteers for Mellon Educate and all funds raised go towards the charity. A team of 4 costs €120. The details, with some additional images, are below.

Arklow is an under-appreciated links course with some particularly good par threes and that naturally chaotic, bumpy terrain... so visible in the pic below of the 5th below. It also has some excellent bunkering... as seen in the image below that.

It's a great day out, there are plenty of prizes and you're helping a good cause. What more could you ask for!

The Grateful Eight... Golf Open Weeks Ireland 2016: Batch 2

The green on Castlemartyr's par three 12th.

So who got out there over the last two days and got baked? I was at Rathsallagh to take photographs and I left the club at 9.30am as a man walked down the 1st hole, an umbrella over his head. It was 25 degrees.

The weather over the next couple of weeks looks to be interchangeable but that shouldn’t stop you from getting out and

Arklow... Just Golf... A No Brainer

Rhythmic Fairways on the 5th hole

Yes, as if the offer of €19 for a 2 ball at Corballis wasn't good enough... now Just Golf is offering a 2 ball with 2 steak dinners for €50 at Arklow Golf Club.

Having been there only a week ago, this is a no brainer. It's a gem of a links course with superb and devious greens, magnetic bunkering and wonderfully rhythmic fairways.

It'll be €50 very well spent! A few photos below.

Views down the 1st

Over the 3rd green and back to the clubhouse

The glorious bunkering on the 2nd

Arklow Golf Links - September Sunshine

Views over the 7th, 6th and on to the distant 8th
at Arklow Golf Club.

Yesterday was the last day of September, and the sun was out to show us what a late burst of Indian Summer sunshine feels like... once again proving the beauty of Irish weather late in the golfing season.

I was at Arklow Golf Club, playing with Dermot Synnott, of Destination Golf and Top Golfer acclaim, and at 3.10pm we had the course pretty much to ourselves. This is a sweet links course and one of only three on the east coast, south of Dublin (The European and Rosslare being the other two).  It is well worth the trip down from Dublin, as it now takes little more than 30 minutes following the opening of the new section of the M11.

As you can see from yesterday's photos, it is well worth a visit and the course was in wonderful condition. Over-seeding has been completed so the greens (with all their big swings and interesting shapes) are a touch slower than you might expect on a links - although they are not slow and the roll is perfect.

I'll let the pics do the talking but if you're interested in joining a club, Arklow have an annual membership offer of €599, and, if you're prepared to commit for three years, they may even give it to you for less than that.

As for the golf, well, nothing says commitment like this image. All square on the 18th, €2 on the line...

Bunker shot from one of the notorious bunkers on Arklow's 18th.

And here's a video of how you play a bunker shot... watch where it ends up... and, yes, he still made par.

Tee shot on the par four 8th at Arklow Golf Club

Late sun on the 8th green, Irish Sea beyond.

The opening hole at Arklow Golf Links, hitting towards the sea
and the Arklow Bank of wind turbines. 

Views from the 12th fairway towards the 17th green and the clubhouse.

Golf Photography - Arklow Links

The 2nd green

There's nothing quite like playing golf on a perfect sun-drenched evening. The spill of gold light, the shadows racing ahead of you, the knowledge that others are sitting in traffic jams... what more could you ask for?

I left the golf clubs behind and picked up the camera to visit Arklow Golf Links in Co. Wicklow, earlier this week... and found one such sublime evening.

Here are a few photos to demonstrate the sweet rhythm of the early holes and this under-appreciated club.