Heart of Down - August 2012

At the new Titanic Centre at Queen's island

We started the Heart of Down week at the Titanic exhibition centre in Belfast, and enjoyed a stroll through the history of the shipyard and it's most famous product.

We watched and enjoyed on Sunday evening as Rory again blew the field away to take his second major title at the PGA. Well Done Rory !

We headed off on Monday morning for the Ladies foursomes at RCD and had a lovely day after a few wet holes. The Heart of Down started on Tuesday at Spa, continued at a very wet Ardglass on Wednesday (where we had to abandon after 6 holes) and on to Downpatrick on Thursday. The Day out at RCD on Friday was lovely - the sun shone and we had a wonderful day.





On Saturday we had to pay a visit to the Mecca of Northern Ireland golf .. Holywood Golf Club .. Rory's home club. We found a very warm and friendly welcome at Holywood and enjoyed lunch.








On Saturday evening we toasted a good week's golf with friends .. and look forward to many more.

  

Thanks to Marshall for the Rory Bobble and to Martina for the Chanpagne !

Irish Open at Royal Portrush - June 2012

The Irish Open returned to Northern Ireland for the first time in over 50 years in 2012 and was played at the wonderful Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush. We went up for the weekend and had a great, if a little damp ! time.






There was a hearty Irish welcome for all of the players to tees and greens, with a little understandable partisan treatment for our local heros , Darren, Rory, G-Mac and Padraig.

The winner was our Celtic Cousin Jamie Donaldson from Wales, for his first victory on the Eurpean Tour -  a terrific performace.

Killarney - May 2012

Hi again, The video here shows some scenes of a wonderful and very lucky sunny week in Killarney. We played all 3 courses, Lackabane, Killeen and Mahoney's Point at the Killarney Golf and Fishing club as part of the Killarney Festival of Golf .. a fantastic week.


 We made the most of our time in the sunny South and took in a few extra rounds as well - a particularly good day at Dooks in Glenbeigh, Kerry.

Being Bona Fide golfers ! we headed off to the first tee and enjoyed a lovely sunny round on this wonderful links .. a special day.

Dooks is a great course with fantastic sea views from almost every hole.  It's very much off the beaten track and took us some time to find it ! but well worth the effort.

We also spent some time in Dingle and played at the Ceann Sibeal Links, a fantastic course - the most westerly links in Europe ..

A great week and we look forward to a return visit to the Kingdon of Kerry !

The Tangle o' The Isles and Machrihanish

On Friday morning we headed off on the long drive from Carnoustie to Machrihanish. It's a monster drive, but it was such a wonderful day that we actually took a detour to see Oban, the Gateway to the Isles. Driving through the scenic West of Scotland in the sunshine is a rare treat and we thoroughly enjoyed the journey. We eventually got to our hotel on the Mull of Kintyre with 5 mnutes to spare for dinner and slept very well !

  

On Saturday morning it was off to the wonderful Machrihanish golf course and onto the scariest first tee in Scotland. You have to drive across the beach .. scarey, but wonderful.

 

 It was a bit wet to start with but it soon brightened up and we had a great round. It's a brilliant course wth lots of blind drives over dunes, a bit like a more wild Ballyliffin. Fantastic course.

We were very lucky that the sun shone for most of the round, as it allowed us to see the best of the course and enjoy the wonderful views.

Lunch was in the Old Clubhouse afterwards and then we went for a drive and a walk around the Mull of Kintyre and saw St. Columba's footsteps and well. We came across a family of seals on the rocks. They were so well camouflaged by the black rocks that it was only when they moved that you could actually make out their shapes against the rocks. Here they are - in the middle at the back ..

This trip to Machrihanish was a great addition to our golf week and worth every mile of the monster drive ! The journey back down to Glasgow and on to Cairnryan on Sunday wasn't quite so good. It rained very heavily nd the small mountain roads are not so charming in the wind and rain ! Nevertheless we survived and really enjoyed the trip.

That's it for now. Next action is Killarney in late May.

Carnoustie Country Classic

Following our opening reception at the lovely Panmure clubhouse on Sunday evening, we started the week at Montrose with a warm welcome from the piper at the Royal Montrose clubhouse.  A good day's golf and thankfully dry !

Martina, with Kirsten, Bill and Mary.

Day 2 was at Monifieth. Here's Martina's group on the first, Kirstin from Denmark and Mary from the Uk along with Bill from Monifieth.

I played with Helle from Denmark, and Margaret and Lesley from the UK.

We had another dry and very enjoyable round and nice lunch afterwards at the clubhouse.

Margaret, Helle and Lesley with Bill and me at Monifieth

This year the tournament is based at the Carnoustie golf hotel, and we spent some time tonight enjoying the pool and sauna facilities - badly needed after a few exhausting days on the golf course .. very welcome.

 

With Kirsten, Hele and caddies Mike and Alan on the 1st Tee at Carnoustie

Wednesday saw our favourite round of the week on the Carnoustie Championship course. Again the sun shone and the course was in magnificent condition. The club house attendent told us that there was sun cream in the Ladies locker rom. We thought he was joking .. but in fact there was !

We made use of the sun cream ! and had a great day out on this wonderful course. Mike and Alan looked after us very well, having caddied for us for the past few years.

The Ladies did well this year and the overall winner for the day was Lis from Denmark. Here are the girls enjoying the sun on the terrace of the hotel after the round.

The final day's play at Panmure was a different story with the weather, and I'm afraid we endured a typically Scottish day of heavy rain and high winds. Apologies that there are no photos of the day's play .. However, we have the most important one . the Panmure Heart Warmer !

Despite the dreadful weather, we had a great day, made a lot better by the roaring fires and brandy on the house provided by Charles in the clubhouse afterwards.

Today was a bit of an endurance, but we survived and enjoyed some lunch afterwards, while relaxing and getting ready for the end of week dinner and presentation of prizes at the Carnoustie hotel tonight.

 As always the end of week dinner was a jolly affair with fun and games delivered by Stuart at the expense of some of the participants. Charles and Bill vied for the best greens of the week with Panmure coming off best on a show of hands (could be something to do with the Brandy on the house !)






We did quite well with the prizes, with a daily prize each and emerged as Ladies Champion and runner up !

Another great week's golf at these wonderful courses and a chance to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones.

As always, thanks to all of our hosts for looking after us so well. Particular thanks to Jan, Jean and Stuart for a great week.

Back to Carnoustie ....

Great view of the Loch fron the 10th green.

Hi again,

Our trip back to the Carnoustie Country Classic started on Saturday with a warm up round at the Carrick on Loch Lomond. This is a really beautiful course which winds along the shores of the Loch. We had a lovely sunny day and a very enjoyable round on the Bonnie Banks.

Great Par 3 down to the Loch

Driving the Par 5 11th

We finished with lunch in the clubhouse and caught the second half of the FA Cup final before heading off for Carnoustie, for our final warm up round before the Classic.

A view over the Barry Burn from the roof of the new clubhouse at Carnoustie.

Another nice sunny round, on the Carnoustie Championship course on Sunday, if a bit cold ! but a great way to get ready for the busy week ahead.

Coasts of Down

The picture above of the 4th Tee on a wonderful day at Royal County Down doesn't really tell the story of the Coasts of Down tournament. It doesn't show the howling gales that we endured at Kirkistown on Day One or the whistling winds on the cliff tops at Ardglass on Day Two.

This little clip of the flags at Ardglass flying before we tee'ed off gives a better idea of conditions at Ardglass.

This is our group on the first tee at Kirkistown on Day One. That's Jean originally from Northern Ireland and Roy from the US with Martina and me. Kirkistown can be wild at the best of times, but it certainly lived up to that billing on Day One .. wild and wonderful but very enjoyable nevertleless.





On Day Two, we played with Paul from Headfort on a very wild and windy Ardglass, a truely wonderful course on the cliff tops overlooking the Irish Sea. Ardglass is one of my favourties and despite the weather, it was a memorable round.



The best day of the week was undoubtedly Friday at Royal County Down, where the wonderful course and even the weather didn't disappoint .. another great day.

A really good, if challenging week ! Next action is the Carnoustie Country Classic from 7th May.

Grand Finale

Friday night, as always proved to be great fun at the Link Clubhouse.

We were treated to a wonderful meal following a Champage reception and the week's prizegiving.

Old Tom Morris made his customary appearence, He's looking very well considering he's been dead for donkey's years ! He regaled us with tales of his own and his son Tommy's triumphs and some great stories about the clubs and balls he used.

We had the piping in of the haggis and the wonderful Address to the Haggis .. as per Rabbie Burns .. magic.

A great end to another wonderful week in the Home of Golf.

Thanks again to all at Links Golf, Mark, John, Lindsay, Ross, Jamie, Scott, Kenny, Colin, Leanne and Lexie for a fantastic week. See you next year !

Bye for now,

Kate.

Next Golf for me is the Coasts of Down, at Kirkistown Castle, Ardglass and Royal County Down late in April.

Golfing Heaven

Enjoying the occasion on the Swilken Bridge on the Old Course

It doesn't get any better than a sunny day, in great company, on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Well OK then, the sun didn't last too long and we had hailstones on the second green ! But the course was fantastic and the company was first class. Here's our group today - League of Nations actually .. Alex from Scotland, Tim from the US  and Sevario from Sicily.

We set off from the first tee in glorious sunshine .. a real treat at the Mecca of Golf.

It's always a privilege, if a bit of a scare, driving down the first over Granny Clark's Wind, where all of our heros have been before us. You can almost feel the ghosts of  Jack, Tiger, Seve and of course the modern boys like Rory, G-Mac, Padraig, Louis etc. We all managed to get over the burn dry and breathed a collective sigh of relief to get away from the first green intact.

Tim comtemplating the green side bunker on the 5th

Alex made short work of Shell Bunker

There was quite a bit of wind today, which is actually one of the defences of the Old Course. The other defence is the 112 bunkers, which caught us all out at some stage today. Here's Tim facing up to a tricky bunker shot on the fifth. He played a brilliant shot out.


And here's Alex, almost lost in the massive Shell Bunker playing the 11th - another great shot out.

Fun and games on the 8th (Back to the flag !)

My golf was a bit mixed today and although I had some highlights, I didn't cope terribly well with the green side bunker on the 8th !! Thanks to Sevario for sending me the evidence above ! You'll notice from the foot prints at the back that this is not my first shot. I landed up against the steep face... well that's my excuse anyway ! I had a nice birdie on the 9th where we had a friendly wind and I almost drove the green. My claim to fame however was getting up and down from the road on the 17th (could probably sell that for a few bob at the Dunhill or the Open !). Even that didn't rival the putt Alex made for par on the 17th, from about 25 feet (it was 125 feet later in the evening !). I had a nice par on the 18th, having been about a foot from out of bounds on the widest double fairway in the world ! I blame the wind ! But the Texas wedge from about opposite Tom Morris' shop and a great putt got me home and dry.

Here's the guys driving the 17th .. such an iconic hole .. great experience to play it. I remembered when I was playing my shot off the grass verge on the road, the shot off the wall which Miguel played at the 2010  Open. Thankfully I wasn't that close to the wall .. but it would have been good to have a go at that one too.

What a fantastic day - wonderful experience to play the Old Course. It really doesn't get any better.

Here's our French Scotsman Dominique, dressed for the occasion !

Thursday on The New Course

After an envigorating round on the New Course ...

Thursday brought another day of 4 seasons in one day ! We started off in glorious sunshine and even ventured to take off some layers early on in the round. That proved fool hardy and we were shortly diving for cover from the rain and winds. Nevertheless another great day on the wonderful St. Andrews links. We played the New Course today. Here's our group - Stephanie, Colin and Joop. Willie did a great job again today at bringing me around safely and Ian joined us too to steer Joop around today.

Another very enjoyable round and we look forward to tomorrow for our Friday 13th treat on the Old Course.

What a difference a Day makes !

Our 4 Ball Better Ball team after a wonderful round on the Jubilee

Hi,

Today dawned bright and sunny ! What a difference to yesterday. We played the Jubilee Course today. It was a really nice round. Only one score to count from four, so reasonably relxed ! The front nine had sunshine and some good golf. As the weather got a bit worse, so did the golf ! and we didn't do quite so well on the back nine, finishing as it was getting cold and wet ! Great day nevertheless and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Here's our team of Joe and Bob, with Vladimir from Croatia. We were well looked after today by Willie and Brian, the caddies.

Tonight was our night out in the town and we had a nice meal at the Dunvegan, a real golfers' haunt, showing pictures of all of the Open Champions going back a long time .. lovely evening.

Tomorrow we play the New Course, the final game before our day out on the Old Course on Friday. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow and keeping the fingers crossed for some more sunshine !

Music and Fun at the Jigger ...

Hi,

On Tuesday night of the golf week, there's always music and fun at the Jigger. As before, Celine and Neil entertained us very well. They really are excellent and we all enoyed a great night's music. Here's a flavour of some of the tunes .. Molly Malone and a few other favourites got a bit of a bashing too !

It was a terrific night's fun, finished up at a reasonable 1am, with a rousing rendition of Flower of Scotland !

We retired, ready to do battle again in the Team 4 Ball Better Ball on the Jubilee tomorrow.

Bye for now,

Kate.