SUNGRL

We left Galway this morning and headed to Doonbeg Golf Club which is out on the coast in County Clare. The weather was overcast and as we got closer to the coast it started to blow and we had a bit of rain. It was spitting as we got our golf clubs ready but I had a word with the weather gods and told them if they knew what was good for them they would stop that behaviour immediately!

Standing up on the first tee is pretty WOW. Out to your left you have the Atlantic Ocean and the first hole is a long par 5 that is framed by hills on both sides – it looks like a sports stadium. It was still pretty windy as we teed off but when you got down into the stadium you were quite sheltered. The next few holes were quite daunting as you couldn’t really see where you were supposed to be hitting. Needless to say the ball stocks were being depleted rather quickly and not by me I might add : )

The first nine holes go out along the coast and the second come back inland. We were just teeing off on the third when this woman walked towards us heading for the 16th. I thought ‘she looks familiar’ but thought no it can’t be. We said hello and she asked if she was going in the right direction for the next hole, all the while we were all looking at each other thinking we were familiar. It turns out it was our Canadian friend Trish who we know through an ex Manukau Golf Club member that Steve met at the World Junior’s in San Diego. Her and James run golf tours all around the world so she was out checking out the lodge and course. It turns out James is also in Ireland with a tour group playing all the great golf courses Ireland has to offer. What a coincidence – if we had been 5 minutes earlier or later we would have missed seeing each other. It was great to see her and catch up on the news.

We carried on our merry way – well actually not so merry as the weather wasn’t playing ball and the ball stocks were still being depleted! My talking to the weather gods was answered about the 8th hole and the sun came out to play. It was still quite windy though – I think that is just a natural state for this coast. The golf on the back nine was much improved with Steve having a couple of birdies and managing to keep his ball stocks in check. I only lost one ball all day : )

It is a stunning course and one that would be good to play again so you knew where you were going. The course was designed by Greg Norman and opened in 2002. The geography was hardly changed as the course was fitted into the natural environment.

Apparently there was a big storm in January this year and the area was badly damaged. The course and lodge went into liquidation and in February 2014 they were bought by Donald Trump for an estimated €15m. The Lodge at Doonbeg, which consists of 218 hotel suites, an expansive spa and several restaurants will be managed by the Trump Hotel Collection.

After golf we caught up with Trish again in the carpark before heading to Cork – our home for the next three days. It took about 2.5 hours to get here and as we drove through the city I thought I am going to like this place. It has a completely different look to Galway. We are staying at The River Lee Hotel which is really nice.

Today we played at the Galway Bay Golf Club. This course was designed by former Ryder Cup and World Cup legend Christy O Connor Junior. Set on 300 acres it superbly blends the stunning backdrop of Galway Bay and the rugged curves of the Atlantic Coastline. It was a challenging course and again we were impressed with the natural surrounds.

The greens were super slick so the pars and birdies were not forthcoming today for Stevie : ( On the ball count front Steve was down net 2 (lost 3 and found 1) and I was down 1. Steve went to great lengths to find his ball as you can see from the pictures below – we could see two balls in this prickly mass but only one was reachable much to Steve’s disgust! It is amazing what motivates some people : )

We arrived into Galway on Friday night. We wandered down to the shopping mall and noted that we weren’t staying in the nicest part of Galway. On further exploration of the city we have come to the conclusion that Galway in it’s entirety is not the prettiest city we have ever visited. I just read on Wikipedia that Galway suffered greatly as a result of the potato famines of 1845 to 1852 and did not fully recover until the great economic bubble of the late twentieth century. Personally I think this is probably an accurate assessment – it has the image of a place that has done it tough over time.

The Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It is sometimes referred to, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine because one-third of the population was then solely reliant on this cheap crop for a number of historical reasons. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island’s population to fall by between 20% and 25%. The proximate cause of famine was a potato disease commonly known as potato blight.

I also just read the following on wikipedia – in 2007, Galway was named as one of the eight “sexiest cities” in the world. A 2008 poll ranked Galway as the 42nd best tourist destination in the world, or 14th in Europe and 2nd in Ireland (behind Dingle). It was ranked ahead of all European capitals except Edinburgh, and many traditional tourist destinations (such as Venice). The New Zealand Herald listed Galway as one of ‘five great cities to visit in 2014’. The others were Istanbul, New Orleans, Dubai and Cabo, Mexico.

Interesting – clearly my definition of sexy differs wildly from whoever carried out the poll in 2007!

We have, however, found a very pleasant local – Tom Sheridan’s. Nice pub with great food. They also had a photo of the legendary Jonah Lomu on their wall.

On Sunday we took a drive to Clifden and drove around Sky Rd which is an 11 km drive along Clifden Bay and Streamstown Bay rising more than 150 m above sea level at Slyne Head, with views of the Atlantic. The landscape is fairly hardy and the houses are all concrete and stone. They also use stone for fences both around the houses and in the pastures – I suppose the stone stands the test of time given the exposure to the oceanic conditions.

After having a walk around Clifden we came back to Galway and checked out Salthill which is the seaside area in the city of Galway. It wasn’t a bad day and there were a few hardy folk swimming in the North Atlantic. As with the city the beach certainly didn’t appeal to me.

I went for a run into the city centre this morning and back and encountered a couple of intoxicated individuals – 7am on a Monday morning! I couldn’t really understand what they were saying – a combination of their accents and the alcohol. Anyway I ignored them and then I heard one of them say – hey woman! I carried on my merry way and then realised I had taken a wrong turn – I could have re traced my steps but encountering the intoxicated ones again didn’t really appeal so had to get directions from a woman I came across. Still directionally challenged no matter what part of the world I am in!

Today we headed south for about an hour to Rosses Point to play County Sligo Golf Club. Another sunny morning as we left Harvey’s Point. It did get a bit darker looking as we drove down the coast but we had faith that the SUNGRL powers would not fail us.

County Sligo Golf Club started out with a nine-hole course, designed by George Combe (contriver in 1896 of the world’s first handicap system), and opened for play in 1894. At the turn of the 20th century, Willie Campbell extended the course to 18 holes. The famous Colt and Alison partnership remodelled the course in 1927. County Sligo is the home of the West of Ireland Amateur Championship and host to other important amateur events.

It is a typical west coast links course and has views of the Darty Mountains and Benbulben, Sligo’s limestone “Table Mountain” as well as the Ox Mountains where Knockalong is the highest peak. Drumcliffe Bay sweeps around the golf course which has long sandy beaches.

We armed ourselves with more golf balls and off we went. We were joined on the fourth hole by a couple of members – William and Ivor. They were actually from Enniskillen which is in the south of Northern Ireland. They prefer the links course rather than the park courses closer to home so travel about an hour to play at County Sligo.

They were great fun and happy to give us tips as to where to and where not to hit the ball. This is of course is all in vain sometimes as my clubs and ball have a mind of their own. I managed not to lose a ball until the 14th hole and kept my second ball all the way until the end. Ivor was a bit of an eagle eye in respect of finding balls in the rough. Steve was on fire on the back nine having a couple of birdies and lots of pars – the locals were impressed.

I had checked the local weather forecast that morning and it said 24 degrees, 0.2 mm of rain and 100% humidity. I think that was pretty accurate – it was extremely humid. We were joking with William and Ivor saying we don’t know what everyone is going on about complaining about the weather in Ireland – it has been great since we arrived. They said that they get the sort of day we had yesterday – warm and no wind with the sun eventually burning through – maybe 5 days a year!

We had a drink in the bar afterwards and were talking about the conflict in Northern Ireland. Ivor who is 69 said he grew up with it and didn’t know any different as have his daughters who are 28 and 32 – they have never known life without trouble. He told us the story of having to go to Marks & Spencer in Belfast to pick up a suit jacket he had ordered for a wedding he was attending the next day. Just as he got to the door of Marks and Spencer the place blew up. He said he dusted himself off, went to the back of the store and rang the bell. This girl answered, the shop was a mess but she promptly went off and found his suit jacket. Ivor paid for the jacket and then drove home thinking nothing of it – that was life.

We are actually going to Enniskillen where both Ivor and William live to play golf on Thursday. They said there was probably not one building there that hasn’t been bombed at one time or another. They also said there would be quite a few people from Belfast that would never have crossed the border into Southern Ireland.

Ivor recommended taking a drive back along the coast and stopping in at Smugglers Creek Inn for a drink so we did. Smuggler’s Creek Inn, nestling on the cliffs overlooking Donegal Bay and the Blue Stack Mountains in South Donegal, dates back to the early 1900’s. We drove through Ballyshannon to get there which is one of the oldest settlements in Ireland.

The Inn overlooks Rossnowlagh Beach. Rossnowlagh in the Irish language is Ros Neamhlach, meaning “heavenly headland. It was an absolute millpond with the odd wave and there were many people out swimming and surfing – admittedly a lot of them were in wetsuits but wow they breed them tough up here. I doubt the North Atlantic Ocean would be particularly tropical.

After a satisfying snack and drink we headed back to Harvey’s Point. The Lough Eske Castle sits on the property next door to where we are staying – there is a 5 star hotel there so we decided to call in and check that out. Two glasses of prosecco and one free cocktail later we left there! The castle dates back to 1861. Until it was saved by it’s present owners, it rose through the surrounding forest in ruined grandeur, a tranquil reminder of an Ireland long passed. Only the outer walls remained when the current owners started rebuilding it along with the hotel – the total project cost about 50 million euros and took about two years. The hotel opened in 2007.

We arrived back to our hotel about 8pm after having left it at 8am that morning – a very enjoyably day out : )

We are currently staying at Harvey’s Point Country Hotel in County Donegal. It is a four star hotel that has won Trip Advisor’s number one hotel in Ireland this year and is one of the top 25 hotels in the world.

It is in the countryside and sits on Lough (Lake) Eske. The rooms are amazingly large, the setting beautiful and the food delicious. The staff are also super friendly which is a common trait in this country : )

Day two of our Irish golfing sojourn saw us head to Donegal Golf Club in Murvagh. The sun was shining although the clouds always seem to be lurking nearby. Donegal is another typical links course and although the fairways seemed wider than Narin & Portnoo we both managed to find ourselves in the rough quite regularly. Finding golf balls in that stuff proved very difficult so a replenishment of golf ball stocks at the 9 hole mark was required.

It was remarkably warm, humid in fact. We came across these two old guys who were sweating away. One of them says you better stock up on drinking water – there’s a heatwave, its coming off the Sahara Dessert! These conditions are unheard of here. We were laughing away thinking although it was warm this was no heatwave! The lady in the pro shop also mentioned the heatwave.

We stopped off in Donegal town for lunch on the way home and had a look at the local paper. Low and behold if it doesn’t have an article on the heatwave – apparently the temperatures are going to be on a par with Madrid! Is this the effect of global warming or is it because the SUNGRL is in the house! I may need personal protection if the locals get wind that it is in fact the magical workings of the SUNGRL : )

Donegal Golf Club was founded in 1959 when the first golf course and clubhouse were built at Tullycullion on the edge of Donegal Town. The land for the course was granted to the club by the Temple family, owners of Magee & Co.

In the early 70’s some far-sighted members identified the links land of the Murvagh Penninsula as being more than suitable for a golf course. The land was leased from the Department of Lands and Ireland ’s leading golf course designer at the time, Eddie Hackett, was hired to design an 18-hole championship course. The course and new clubhouse were officially opened in 1976.

Since then, the course has undergone quite a bit of remodeling. Most of these changes have been carried out under the direction of Pat Ruddy, another famous Irish golf course designer.

In 1997, the original clubhouse was demolished to make way for the current, modern building, which was officially opened in 1998.

Donegal Golf Club was the venue for the Irish Ladies Close Championship in 1979, and again in 2003. In 2004, the Club hosted the Men’s Irish Close Championship; the winner was Brian McElhinney, the 2004 European Amateur Champion, who came out on top of a strong field that included Rory McIlroy, then 14 years old and playing in his first Irish Close Championship. For those of you who follow golf you will know that Rory McIlroy just won the British Open last weekend.

The Ulster Senior’s Amateur Championship was played on the course in 2010. It was won by Garth McGimpsey, former Walker Cup Captain, who is probably Ireland’s most famous recent Amateur.

We flew from Zurich to Dublin on Sunday night. We didn’t get into Dublin until 10.30pm so we stayed in a hotel close to the airport. We picked our rental car up early Monday morning and hit the road. We were heading for County Donegal which is in the north west. Most of the four hour drive was through Northern Ireland.

The countryside reminded me a bit of the West Coast of the South Island and some more remote parts up north in NZ.

First stop was the Narin & Portnoo Golf Club which is situated in a beautiful seaside resort in County Donegal in the northwest of the country. It is considered one of the finest natural and scenic 18-hole links Golf courses in Ireland, with sweeping views of Gweebarra Bay on the North Atlantic Coast. The coast up here is known as the Wild Atlantic Way – we are yet to see this wildness but based on the solid housing we have seen can imagine it gets pretty wild.

Opened in 1930, it is engagingly old-fashioned, with a meandering routing over and around the dunes. The course has recently been re-developed and the new par 73 layout offers a range of teeing areas and challenges to suit all golfers.

This was our first game of golf in two months so it was going to be interesting. The course was a typical links course and met all our expectations – it was stunning. The other thing that has met our expectations is the friendliness of the people – everyone wants to chat and offer helpful hints. Steve is in his element with all this chatting!

One thing that has exceeded all expectations is the weather, although generally cloudy it is remarkably warm. We didn’t tee off until 2.30pm so when the sun really came out to play about 6pm we were just playing the last few holes along the coast – amazing scenery.

Although Ireland was a destination we had discussed previously we didn’t think we would fit it in on this trip so it felt quite surreal to be walking the fairways in the north western most part of the country.