Well, my golf trip to Ireland is over and I had a fantastic time. We played some incredible golf courses, and I even played fairly well. I met up with 27 other guys mostly from Nashville. We stayed in Killarney and traveled around southwestern Ireland on a bus. Our behavior was what you would expect from 28 American rednecks. I have lots of great stories, most of which I’m not willing to post to a public blog.
The first day we played at Killarney Mahoney Point. This is an inland course on the edge of the lake with the Killarney mountains on the far side. Most of the travelers were pretty jet lagged and but we had fun anyway.
Day two we traveled to Waterville. This is an tough links course on the coast. The wind was blowing about 30-35 mph which made the play pretty challenging. Here’s Jim Hubboch digging out of a bunker.
Day three we went to Tralee. The weather was nice with a little wind. I hired a caddy there who is from Tralee and caddies for Janice Moddie on the LPGA tour. He had a week off after the women’s British Open and what does he do but work. I quickly learned to turn off my brain and try to do exactly what he told me.
Day 4 we went to Old Head which is located on an incredible part of the coast. The golf course takes up an entire spit of land jutting out into the sea. The weather was beautiful as was the scenery.
Day 5 we went to the famous Ballybunion. This is a really difficult golf course. On one hole I was 15 feet from the pin just off the green and it took me 5 shots to get in the hole! The ball rolled back to my feed twice, then over the green into a bunker, then up and down from there. The first 6 holes was cloudy and breezy, then the weather came in and the wind blew about 35 mph with lashing rain. I asked my caddy if he would be playing in this and he said no, he’d be in the shower by now. The last six holes the weather cleared and we finished in sunshine.
Day 6 we played at Dooks, a lesser known links course. The weather was rainy with little wind. One guy called Buffalo hit a drive off the tee that didn’t get 5 feet in the air. It dumped into the gorse 50 yards in front of the tee box. He asked his caddie if he saw the ball. The caddie repplied “No, I lost it in the air.”
The last day we played at Killarney Killeen along the lake right next to Mahoney Point played on day 1. It rained on and off that day and the groups that finished behind us played in pouring rain for a few holes.
Ohter than golf I didn’t have much time for anything else but drinking Guinness. Our group did our best to deplete Irelands reserves of the black stuff.
on Sep 6th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Ireland is beautiful, absolutely glorious!!!!
So, do you have any pictures from America or the first day of school?
Has Mary taken any to add?
I probably don’t even have to sign this for you to know who wants to see MORE!!!!