Hooked: Ireland's Golf Courses

Thursday, February 11, 2010

The Walker Cup

A great piece of news: Paul Dunne, a member at my home club of Greystones, has been selected to the Walker Cup panel for 2011, which takes place at Royal Aberdeen. He is 17, plays of +2 and has one of the best short games you'll see.

He is garnering himself an impressive reputation with victories in numerous tournaments, caps for the Senior Irish Panel, and last year he became the first person to defend his Irish Boys Amateur Close Championship title. Not even Rory McIlroy did that.

It's hard to believe that a few years ago I played against his dad, Collie, when a scrawny twelve year old Paul caddied for his old man. These days it's the other way around.

Paul is a name to watch in the years ahead. Let's hope he makes the team.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Druid's Glen offers FREE golf

[Photo: green to tee on the long uphill 18th]

Yes, hard to believe, but one of Ireland's greatest parkland courses is offering free golf. On any day for the next month you can play for free - timesheet permitting. That includes the weekends.

Druid's Glen remains my favourite parkland in Ireland so if you can get out on it, lap up the constantly changing thrills. All you have to do is fill in a form and they email you the voucher. How simple is that! Visit www.druidsglen.ie

[Photo: the tee shot on the immensely difficult par four 13th]

The European started the year with a bang, offering €40 green fees, and now Druid's Glen are giving out freebies. This could be a great year for Irish (and visiting) golfers, so keep your eyes peeled for some fantastic bargains.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

TW2: Tom Watson on Tiger Woods

Every golfer on the planet has an opinion on Tiger’s behaviour and his infidelities. But, as the most famous sports person on the planet, there are millions of non-golfers who will have strong opinions, too. My 17 year old niece for instance, who thinks Tiger is a disgrace. As a husband and father, he clearly has a lot to answer for, but as a golfer… what do sex and infidelity have to do with golf? If he’s the best in the world then what happens in his private life is exactly that: private. Then again, being who he is, he doesn’t have a private life.

The thing is, no matter what Tiger does next, he’s going to get hammered by people. If he apologises and says he’s really, really sorry, there will be many people (from the media to professional golfers to Tiger-haters to the man on the street) who claim he’s being insincere; if he doesn’t apologise, these same people will say he’s being arrogant. He’s in a no-win situation. Obviously, he has to apologise – the world demands nothing less – but make it a simple apology and then get out there and start winning again.

Plenty of professionals have made their thoughts known on this matter, but I particularly liked what Tom Watson had to say recently, ahead of the 2010 Dubai Desert Classic. As a bridge between old-school golf and the modern professional era – as he illustrated so brilliantly for almost 72 holes at Turnberry – his is an opinion that is both considered and balanced. And worth listening to. Take note, Mr Woods.

Tom Watson wants the world number one to "clean up his act" on the course, as well as coming clean about his extra-marital affairs. To be honest, as I‘ve said already, I’m not that bothered by the latter concern, but more interestingly, and more importantly for the long term, Watson claims that there is plenty Tiger could do to improve his behaviour while competing. We have all observed his explosive frustration and it would be good to see him rein it back.

“Some day I’ll tell my grand kids I played in the same tournament with Tiger Woods. We are witnessing a phenomenon the game may never, ever see again.”

This is a quote made by Tom Watson in Golf World magazine in 2000. How times have changed. According to Watson in 2010, Woods does not share the same standing as many of the game's other great names because of his sometimes surly on-course demeanour. "I feel that he has not carried the same stature as the other great players that have come along like Jack (Nicklaus), Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan in the sense that there was (bad) language and club-throwing on the golf course."

"You can grant that to somebody, a young person, that has not been out there for a while, but I think he needs to clean up his act there and show the respect for the game that the people before him have shown."

Coming from Watson, that’s got to sting.

On the infidelities, Watson believes Woods should attempt to explain publically his situation before returning to golf competition.

"When he comes back he has to show some humility to the public in the sense that if I were him, it wouldn't be at a golf tournament where I come out in public first.”

This will never be the end of it. This fiasco is too big, too tasty for the media frenzy that’s consuming it. But Watson’s is one of the more reasoned and seasoned contributions to the debacle. I hope Tiger's listening.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Too much hotel space

[Photo: The brilliant 17th at Lough Erne]

Some interesting tourism statistics have been appearing in the last week or so. One that caught my eye was this:

The total number of hotel rooms in Ireland has surpassed the 60,000 mark. Of these, 27,000 were added between 1999 and 2008, when, quite simply, Ireland went mad. This, according to the Irish Hotels Federation, is 25% too many. In other words, to make the hotel industry viable again, some 15,000 rooms need to be lopped off. And perhaps more – tourism numbers were down by one million last year

[Photo: Killerig Castle's 18th up to the hotel]

How does that look when you bring in golf? In the same period there were probably fifty new courses built and, of these, 18 resulted in new hotels:

Castlemartyr
Blarney
Knightsbrook
Castleknock
Lough Erne
Moyvalley
Seafield
Rosapenna
Killerig Castle
Roe Park
Hilton Templepatrick
Powerscourt
The Heritage
Druid’s Heath
Farnham Estate
Doonbeg
Castle Dargan
Carton House

The list is an impressive one but with the downturn it is easy to see why rooms will remain empty for some time to come. Some will survive; some will not. There are already rumours that Moyvalley has reached a point of no return. Remember when the club first opened? Membership was €75,000. This country really did get too big for its boots, didn’t it, and the golf courses did the same.

[Photo: Doonbeg's 18th with 'The Lodge' beyond]

If you look at that list there are six clubs/hotels that wouldn’t be missed. That said, there are some on there that are spectacular. 2010 is going to be an interesting and, I suspect, depressing year for Irish golf. The general feeling is that if we can get through to 2011 then there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Until then, clubs will have to struggle on, offer great green fees and pray for a good Spring and Summer.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Backspin Magazine Rankings

[Photo: Waterville's 13th hole. Waterville ranked 6th]

Backspin Magazine have introduced a novel way of ranking Ireland's courses. Two years ago they separated parkland and links courses, and rated them as different entities. That was smart, because links courses generate particular passions - of the love/hate variety. Separate the two and no one can claim bias.

It was also smart to get an impressive panel of 44 judges that included golf journalists, golf professionals and amateurs. Each judge is asked to rate their top 15 courses, with 1st place receiving 250 points and last place 50 points. It's difficult to argue with that sort of approach...

… although I do have one problem with such an approach as it assumes that the 44 judges have played all the courses. What if ten of them haven't played Concra Wood, or a dozen haven't travelled to the far reaches of Narin & Portnoo (which isn’t even ranked)? But that's my only query and no ranking system is ever perfect.

Here are the rankings

[Photo: Connemara ranked 19th. The 14th is one of the best holes in the country]

He’s not welcome

When I started writing Hooked, I decided that I wasn’t going to pull my punches. There are some 350 golf courses on this island, so there are going to be world-beating greats and there are going to be bottom-of-the-barrel tanks. That’s the way it is and any course worth its salt is going to appeal to a certain – and sometimes niche – audience. There are enough of us out there that we look for different things from a golf course.

I won’t deny that I have insulted several clubs that are either too big for their boots, make claims that are ridiculous, have a superiority complex, or are of poor quality, but my reviews are my opinions. Mine and mine alone.

I have heard (first hand) that a member of Greystones, my home club, was berated by a lady at Elm Park Golf Club recently as if she was responsible for my comments. It got a bit heated, apparently, and the Elm Park member insisted that I receive the message that I wasn’t welcome at their course.

Somehow I’ll live with the pain, but I apologise to all Greystones GC members who visit Elm Park and receive such treatment. I did not mean to put you in the firing line.

In fairness, I did give Elm Park a hammering. They were unlucky because I have played the course a few times and whenever I visited I encountered the type of attitude that visiting golfers abhor – the ‘you’re not welcome’ attitude. It might only have been a few club members or a few members of staff having a bad day, but it happened every time. At the entrance gate, in the car park, in the clubhouse and on the golf course. That is too much of a coincidence – in my opinion - and that's why it's in the book.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Swing King

A beautiful take away, and a perfectly choreographed finish

Video by Stevie (thanks a bunch!)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The European Club Vs. the weather

[Steve drives off the famous par four 7th, Index 1.]

Christmas and New Year were a disaster for golf in Ireland. The rain of November was followed by freezing temperatures – I should know, I locked myself out of the house on Dec 23^rd in -4 degrees – which led to snow and then rain. Muskerry, a course in Co. Cork, was closed for 32 consecutive days, which is no surprise after the horrendous flooding the Cork region endured. The picture wasn’t much brighter elsewhere, but then came a beam of sunshine. In fairness, it came from the one place you can always rely on: The European Club. Pat Ruddy just has a way with things and he knows how, and when, to use his nous. With so many clubs shut, and the European in such good condition – and let’s not forget all those golfers who were champing at the bit to get out and play – he promoted a rate of €40 a round for a week (12-19 January). It was snapped up, and I was lucky enough to get a fourball booked for 11.30 on the Saturday.

[Photo: the par three 16th. The tee is on the left of the photo. This is the only hole bogeyed by Tiger Woods when he broke the course record]

I hadn’t intended on playing at all, but my pal Finbarr was back from the US for a couple of days and had emailed me to ask if a round would be possible.

Friday night was unbelievably wet and on Saturday morning as I drove over the bridge on the N11 at Arklow, the Avoca River was higher than I’d ever seen it. It flows through the centre of Arklow and the 19 arch bridge that divides the town was deemed too dangerous to cross. Surely the European, a few miles to the north would be closed. Not at all, and apart from a few damp fairways and the odd pool of casual water, you’d hardly know there had been such a downpour only hours before.

[Photo: the par four 4th, and the famous bunkers that people love or hate (Fin hated them)]

If you’ve read my book, you know that I adore The European. This day was no different. Bright sunshine, friendly staff (which is a bit of a misnomer, since it was Pat Ruddy himself, and his son Ger who were managing the day) and plenty of time to have breakfast and a chat. And then more time to get irritated with my playing partners who turned up late, so we missed the tee time and got bumped to the back of the queue. Am I going to make some sarcastic comment about Finbarr’s brothers-in –law, Stephen and Dave, never being able to get out of bed to make a tee time? I wouldn’t dream of it.

Actually, it was just as well we got bumped, because we quickly lost ground on the people ahead of us, and it took us five hours to finish. Lots of lost golf balls (the rough may look short but you’re never going to find a ball in it) and lots of found golf balls (but only if you step on them) kept it slow, and there were few holes when at least one provisional drive wasn’t hit. Not that it mattered, it was a lot of fun. The European is, after all, one of the best courses in this country, packed with variety, intrigue and challenge.

[The par four 16th]

The four of us agreed on a Skins format. It’s one of the more entertaining set-ups. I played skins several years ago with two friends; two of us halved the first 12 holes, while the third wandered aimlessly as he tried to find lost balls galore. On the 13^th hole he hit two lucky shots and sank a putt to win 13 skins.

Our match wasn’t quite as one sided, although Steve failed to register one skin much to Fin’s obvious delight. They’re a competitive bunch, and Steve and Dave were distinctly unimpressed when I gave Finbarr a putt that resulted in three skins on the 11^th.

[Photo: the par four 12th is your first seaside hole]

The 12^th boasts the longest green in Europe, at 120 something yards. I’ve never seen the pin anywhere but the front, but here’s a word to the wise: the fairway distance markers are to the centre of the green. So standing by the 150 yard stake actually leaves you with only 90 yards to the front. Dave didn’t believe me, and from just inside the 200 yard stake he hit a four iron. It sailed over the pin and up the green. It left him with a fifty yard putt and despite hitting it as hard as he could, he was still short. You should find a long green of that length sometime and try to putt from one end to the other. It’s a lot harder than you’d think.

We almost finished in the dark but we enjoyed the course – as always – and all the lads from Ireland’s main golf forum on www.boards.ie enjoyed it too – the promotion got a great plug early on and at least a dozen groups booked straight away.

At the end of the round, Pat Ruddy showed me around his new library – which contains 5,000 golf books. So far. He plans to increase that to over 10,000, and hopefully match the US PGA’s collection of 15,000. No small ambition there. But then again, this is the man who designed and built The European himself, and never seems to be happy unless he’s out in a digger moving something somewhere.