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.

Carnage at The Castle !!!!!!!!

At the end of a memorable round on the Castle Course at St. Andrews !

Hi Again,

Well the infamous Scottish weather caught up with us today and we had a bit of a nightmare in the wind and rain on the Castle Course - great fun ! Today was a team scramble. This is our team - Joe, Bob and myself were joined by young local Sam, who played a blinder and saved us many times !

The Castle is a very scenic course and if it hadn't been so cold, it would have been very nice to enjoy the views. There are sea views from almost everywhere - some really spectacular holes.

You can get the idea from some of the photos, a really lovely course, but maybe today wasn't the best day to play it ! It was quite wet with a lot of water on the course.


The par 3 17th, below is a fantastic hole, played across the rocks. It played it's full length today as it was into a howling gale .. with hailstones for good measure !

Nevertheless, another great day, aided and abetted by my caddy Willie.

The planned trip to the practise range in the afternoon didn't materialise and I retired to the Spa, Thermal pool and sauna instead ! to try and get some heat back into the bones after a testing day on the course.

Tonight is music and craic at the Jigger, and tomorrow is another team game on the Jubilee.

I'm looking foward to that, and I'm off to say a novena for a better day tomorrow !!

Cheers,

Kate.

Glorious Kingsbarns

The Janapese/ Irish Alliance at Kingsbarns today, complete with caddies.

Yet again, we had a wonderful sunny day at Kingsbarns today. This must be my luckiest golf course. I've never had a bad day here. It's a fantastic course. It looks many many times it's 13 years - unbelieveable that it's a new course. It looks so traditional.

There's a sea view from almost every hole. It's must be one of the most scenic courses in Scotland.

We were very well looked after today by the team of caddies.

 

And I had a very enjoyable day in the comapny of Yukiko, Atsuko and Michiko from Tokyo. 

Gavin did a great job for me today reading putts and offering advice all around. 

We settled into the cozy clubhouse afterwards for our fish and chips and then it was back to the hotel, ready for our first assault on the Castle Course tomorrow. The Castle is a new addition to the golf week. We'll play the Team Scramble there tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that. I've heard it's a challenge ! However, in team scramble, it's not so bad .. no pressure !

Bye for now - will report on the Castle tomorrow night.

Kate.

Adventure at Carnoustie !!

The first tee at Carnoustie from the roof of the new clubhouse.

Hi,

I'm very excited to be back at Carnoustie - to have another go at the 18th and put manners on the bunker that was my downfall last year ! I felt at home in the hotel when I passed by the 'Padraig Harrington Suite' !

I called in first to see our friends in the pro shop and check out the new clubhouse and locker rooms. The new building looks great - lovely spacious locker rooms.


The it was off to meet up with Joe and Bob, and caddy Charlie for our round on the Championship course. It was bright and dry, but seriously windy and cold, proper Scottish weather !

Despite many extra layers ! I still didn't manage the cold very well - it really was icy.

The course was wonderful as always. I really love it here ..fantastic day.

I managed to avoid Jonny Millar's bunker on the 18th . the one where I broke my wrist last year ! Joe wasn't quite so lucky !

Jonny Millar's bunker - no problem this time !

We finished up and after a quick drink, headed down to St. Andrews to attend the opening reception for the Golf week and also to watch the last day of the Masters.

Unfortunately, our Northern Ireland boys were not at the races this year, although Padraig did well, and what about Bubba .. outragous. He deserves the green jacket for that second shot to the 10th in the playoff - only a lunatic would play it ! but it came off ! Hard luck to Louis .. brilliant albatross.

The golf week starts tomorrow at Kingsbarns .. really looking forward to that. It's one of my favourites.

Off to St. Andrews - first stop Gleneagles

The 18th on the Old Course at St. Andrews - the most famous view in golf.

Gleneagles - recovered from the snow !!

Hi Again,


I'm delighted to be on my way again to St.Andrews for the annual April Golf Week. I decided to add in a few extras this time and have included The Kings on Gleneagles and Carnoustie on the way.

Following a very early start on Saturday for the ferry from Larne to Troon,  I arrived at Gleneagles to see little traces of snow around Glendevon and indeed around the courses. I was really pleased to hear that although the Kings had been closed all week because of the snow it was open today.

I met up with Cameron, our caddy, who had looked after us a number of times and had a wonderful round on this beautiful course, along with Mike from London.

Here we are on the 10th and 11th. We managed to get around dry, although it was very cold. Mental note to add more layers tomorow!

After the round I drove on to Carnoustie for a game tomorrow. It had been a very long day ! but a great one ; very enjoyable and still dry !

Look forward to fun and games on Carnoustie tomorrow.

Bye for now,

Kate.

Getting started for 2012

Hi Friends and Bloggers,


We've been very lucky to start our 2012 Golf Adventures on a glorious weekend at Royal Portrush and Portstewart, my favourite golf territory on the fabulous North Coast of Ireland (the current Major Golf Capital of the World !). We started on Friday on the Dunluce Links, which will host the Irish Open later in the summer, moved onto the Valley links at Royal Portrush on Saturday and onto Portstewart for a lovely sunny round on Sunday.

It was wonderful to see the sun shine on these great courses and I think we enjoyed a treat which is very rare in March !

The 2nd Tee at Portstewart - the 'Mountain' on the left !

We took some time during the trip to visit the local highlights !



 The Wine Bar and the Harbour Bar in Portrush and the Bayview Hotel in Portballintrae, following in the footsteps of the local greats, Darren and G-Mac.

Dinner at the Wine Bar

Stopped off for a quick one at G-Mac's local

This was a wonderful start to the golfing year. 

Next stop for me is the St. Andrews Golf week at Easter. Looking forward to that. Then some home turf at the Coasts of Down, before heading back to the Carnoustie Country Classic, where I have some unfinished business, following my broken wrist there last year !!