Ireland Golf 2019

     Our 6th golf trip to Ireland.  It all started in 1993 when my long (real long) time friend Roger with whom I golfed as a teenager suggested we go to Ireland for a golf trip the following year as we were turning 40.  We did, and now this is the 6th such trip.  I have been on all six trips (after all I organize them), while Mike has been on five (1994, 2004, 2009, 2016 and 2019), as has Byron (2004, 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2019); st two (2012 and 2016), while Guy has now been on three (2009, 2016 and 2019).  

     Early on we invited Bernie to join us.  Through completing a retirement assessment for Bernie and his wife Norm  had come to be aware of the special linkage Bernie has to golf on the West coast of Ireland.  Bernie's grandfather Bob Wallace was the head pro at both Galway Golf Club and Adare Manor Golf Club.  The great Christy O'Connor Senior wrote affectionately in his Foreward to the Christy O'Connor's Junior Golf Book about Bob Wallace, his "... great golfing wisdom ..." and his contribution to Christy's career when starting out as his assistant in 1946.   While in Dublin for a few days prior to the trip Bernie discovered his great grandfather had been the head caddie master at Royal County Down in 1911.  That’s where his four sons were born (Newcastle) and started as caddies - with three of the boys becoming Irish golf professionals.  Quite the rich family history associated with golf.

     This made six with my childhood friend Roger, whose idea it was 26 years ago to embark on these golf trips.  Unfortunately as time passed it became apparent Roger might have a court date during the time we would be away and regretfully decided he could not join us.  This left us with five, doable but an awkward number for golf.  Guy then mentioned Gilles, the common-law husband of his cousin, was interested and voila (Guy and Gilles - that's all the French you're going to get in this blog), we were back to six. 

     When first came to Ireland 25 years ago we agreed we were going to restrict ourselves to 'links' golf.  There are other great golf courses in Ireland, e.g. the K Club, but if not links then they were not included in our itinerary.  We held true to that commitment once again.

     Some have questioned why we don't go to Scotland.  As great as the golf no doubt is in Scotland it is hard to imagine it being much better than in Ireland.  And there is something nice about replaying a links a second (or third) time after ten or 25 years. 

Previous trips have taken us to Northern Ireland, and gems such as

• Royal County Down (currently ranked #1 in the World by Golf Digest) and the site of the 2015 Irish Open
• Royal Portrush (site of the 2012 Irish Open and now the 2019 Open),
• Portstewart (site of the 2017 Irish Open),
• Castlerock, and 
• Ardglass.

We have extensively toured the north of Ireland, Donegal and Connemara, as well as the West coast where we have played

• Ballyliffin (site of the 2018 Irish Open),
• Portsalon,
• Rosapenna (both Sandy Hills and Old Tom Morris),
• Narin and Portnoo
• Cruit Island 
• Castlegregory
• the Dingle
• Donegal,
• County Sligo / Rosses Point,
• Enniscrone, 
• Carne/Belmullet
• Lahinch (site of the 2019 Irish Open)
• Ballybunion (both Old and Cashen) - the Old being the site of the 2000 Irish Open
• Tralee, and
• Waterville 

We made one 'detour' to the south to play

• Old Head

And have played a number of links around Dublin, specifically

• Portmarnock (Championship Course) - the site of 19 Irish Opens albeit the last was in 2003,
• The Island,
• County Louth (site of the 2004 and 2009 Irish Opens)
• Seapoint
• Royal Dublin (the site of 6 Irish Opens albeit the last was in 1985), and
• The European Club

This trip took us first to Northern Ireland for one round and then the north-west of Ireland where we played

• Castlerock (including the 9 hole Bann course),
• Ballyliffin (ranked #9 in Ireland),
• Portsalon (#22),
• Sandy Hills (Rosapenna) (#11),
• County Sligo (#7),
• Enniscrone - twice (#14), and
• and Carne / Belmullet (#12)

Challenging links each and every one.

Following is the cost, length of links, par, low and high scores, best ball and average,  

Links	Cost (euros*)	Yards**	Par	Scores
				Low	High	Best	Average
Castlerock – Bann	20	2,446	34	46	68	39	53.7
Castlerock - Musseden	100	6,306	73	90	140	81	113.3
Ballyliffin	200	6,327	72	103	123	84	111.5
Portsalon	95	6,643	72	96	115	82	106.2
Sandy Hills***	55	6,312	72	99	128	90	118.4
County Sligo	130	6,554	71	97	122	82	109.0
Enniscrone	125	6,386	73	92	123	83	105.4
Carne / Belmullet	110	6,370	72	94	122	80	105.0
Enniscrone****	55	6,386	73	94	119	84	110.0

  *   Castlerock greens fee in pounds rather than euros

 **   yards adjusted to par 72 by adding / subtracting 175 yards per par variance

***  early bird rate

**** second round discount

Expenses

The trip itself came in a tad under-budget in part due to the break we got on the Castlerock green fee and spending a bit less on food then budgeted.  For this do-it-yourself golf tour of some great links of Ireland (5 of the 7 links we played (Ballyliffin; County Sligo; Enniscrone and Carne) are included in the book Legendary Golf Links of Ireland, which details 16 of the top links in Ireland) the costs in Canadian dollars based on an average exchange rate of $1.5525 Canadian $ per euro and $1.7607 Canadian $ per pound were:

To these costs one needs to add

• airfare, which brings the cost to around $3,750 prior to any additional expenditures on
• trolley and buggy fees, for those who didn't carry their clubs and
• personal purchases / souvenirs such as clothing, caps, club covers etc.

We generally did not spare any expense on green fees, paying on average $165 per round, including a high of $316 at Ballyliffin, the result of hosting the Irish Open in 2018 (note in 2012 the greens fees were only 90 euros!).  We did benefit from a 55 euro early bird (normally 130 euros) at Sandy Hills and a 55 euro second round (first round being 125 euros) at Enniscrone.

Lodging was a split between small hotels (six nights) and bed and breakfasts (three nights) ranging from a low of 40 euros to a high of 63 euros with an average cost per person per night of approximately 53 euros (approx. $82 Cdn).

Transportation includes car rental - we had two vehicles (SUVs) - fuel, tolls and a ferry.

The cost of breakfast is included in the lodging (all places were B&B) with the food essentially being dinner and often a pint or two in the clubhouse after the round.  The food in Ireland was really quite excellent and we ate well, on occasion having wine with dinner when at nicer restaurants.

Lodging

In terms of lodging following are the B&Bs and hotels were we stayed.  We were pleased with our lodgings - a mix of personal B&Bs and more traditional small hotels.  All in all good accommodations at reasonable prices - the overall average price per person Cdn $ was $81.65.

Castlerock - Mussenden	Score	Putts	Pars	Penalties
Byron	90	30	8	0
Guy	107	35	4	15
Gilles	108	37	0	4
Norm	117	36	1	8
Bernie	118	37	1	10
Mike	140	40	0	18

     Today was a miserable day, both from a weather and a golf perspective.  The course, while challenging was not unfair.  Compared to the 55 penalty strokes at Castlerock we had only 25 here at Ballyliffin (the fewest on average of any links), with Bernie not incurring any.  But the wind, cold and rain no doubt had a significant impact.  No one broke 100.   The front nine was not too bad (only cold - 10 to 12 C - and windy) but the rain came on the back nine making things that much more challenging.  Only Bernie improved his score from front to back and that by a remarkable 11 strokes, finishing very strong with no worse than a bogey on five of the last six holes.

     We left immediately after the round for a 1 hr 45 minutes drive south to Letterkenny and then back north to Downings (Rosapenna) and the Beach Hotel, our 'home' for the next three nights.  We ate in the hotel (we were tired and it was easy) - another decent meal; not outstanding but decent.  After a tiring, miserable day we all crashed pretty early.

Ballyliffin - Glashedy	Score	Putts	Pars	Penalties
Byron	103	33	1	6
Guy	103	35	3	4
Gilles	108	37	1	2
Bernie	113	36	3	0
Mike	119	38	1	9
Norm	123	36	0	4

A fish cake to start the meal (along with a number of other appetizers) and an apple tart with ice cream for dessert.

     Today was a day trip - to the village of Portsalon, about a half hour drive through some very pretty countryside although along some very narrow 'roads'.  A very fair course Byron, Mike and I played here in 2004 and Byron and me again in 2012.  Unfortunately Byron has been under the weather (the cold and rain no doubt do not help), bad enough that he stared his antibiotics and decided not to play.  He drove us over and spent the time reading a book.  The day was similar to yesterday - ominous clouds, although it did not rain much, wind and cold.  Getting to be a common occurrence.  The golf was a bit better, again with relatively few penalty strokes and Bernie improving considerably from his first two rounds, continuing his strong play of the previous day's back nine to be the only one to break 100, with a nice 96.  Although the back nine does not feel very 'linksy' (the front does) I believe it is fair to say we all enjoyed playing Portsalon, I certainly did.  The views out across the beach to the village and the Atlantic Ocean are stunning.

     Bernie almost did not join us on the trip.  A few days before leaving his mom was admitted to hospital with diverticulitis and an infection.  It was quite serious but Bernie's mom, wife and brother all insisted he join us.  They knew how much Bernie was looking forward to the experience.  Unfortunately upon returning from Portsalon Bernie had a message that his wife was calling.  Bernie told us to head off to dinner without him and he would catch up if he could.  He never did.  Upon returning Bernie had left me a note that his mom had taken a turn for the worse.  Bernie had packed, taken a taxi from Downings to Letterkenny where with only minutes to spare he made the bus to Dublin, which conveniently stops at the airport.  Fortunately Westjet was flying direct to Halifax the next morning with Bernie able to change his ticket.  He made the flight, arriving late morning, and driving to Kentville where he was able to spend a few hours with his mom before she passed early evening.  All very sad, and very unfortunate for Bernie on so many levels.  We of course were saddened to have Bernie leave during this difficult time.  We wish him well.

     We decided to try another restaurant in the village - well the other side of the village.  A light rain fell on our walk up the hill.  After a drink in the bar we ate in the lounge as there was no seating in the restaurant per se.  Being on the ocean the menu was predominately fish.  In fact we all had some form of fish for both our appetizers and main course.  Another good meal.  We ended up chatting with a local couple who offered a suggestion for our last night - The Singing Pub - just outside of town.  Unfortunately the rain had somewhat intensified for the walk (down the hill) back to our hotel.

After returning from Portsalon we decided to try Fisk - another restaurant tonight for dinner.  

     We awoke to significant rain.  We had early (8:30 am and 8:40 am tee times - which got us a significantly discounted early bird rate) but given the steady rain no-one wanted to head out.  We went over to the course where without any issues we were re-booked for early afternoon - they totally understood.

     With the morning free Mike, Guy, Gilles and Byron decided to take a drive across the Fanad peninsula to Fanad head and a very picturesque lighthouse.  Although the weather was not great the lighting and ominous clouds provided a great backdrop for some nice photos.  I stayed back to catch up on some financial stuff and emails.  On the way back the boys stopped in to the Singing Pub, a few kms outside of town - recommended by a couple of locals the previous night.  They were favourably impressed so we had a spot for dinner.

     While the rain stopped - for the most part, there were showers on and off, it was still a miserable afternoon to play golf.  But this is what Irish golf is rumoured to be.   I guess we were spoiled during previous trips, particularly with the temperatures which were significantly warmer than this time around.  Rain, wind and cold - a perfect combination for struggles.  And struggle we did.  Byron, with only one par, some good putting and control of his shots (only 3 penalty strokes) was the only one to break 100, and just with a 99.  The next best score was 115 with three in the 120s.  Norm took 14 penalty stroke while both Mike and Guy had 18 each, including on six and five consecutive holes respectively.  The fairways are generally wide and generous but don't stray.  Even a few inches off the fairway and one is often taking another ball out of the bag.  The fescue is thick and unforgiving.  For our skill levels this was an extremely challenging course.  The links is certainly very scenic - no doubt it would be that much more so on a nice day - winding its way through the dunes, each hole feeling isolated from any other, with vistas of Sheephaven Bay ever present but the challenge did wear us down.  We were thankful to reach the 18th green (nice par Guy) and call it a day.  

     In my opinion we enjoyed the best meal of the trip to date at the Singing Pub.  We sat at a table next to a warming peat fire - after all the temperature was in the near 10 C.  The beer was good, the appetizers were great and the main courses excellent.  Large servings of very good food.  Again fish was dominant although Byron had a steak and Guinness pie with Gilles and Norm having Mickey's Signature Surf and Turf, served on a hot lava stone.  The pub had a great atmosphere and fortunately no we did not have to sing in order to be served.  An excellent choice for dinner.

Today was brutal.  The highest average score - by over 5 strokes - of any links played and the most penalty strokes with an average of over 12 per person, which is startling considering Byron had only three.  10%, or nine of the 90 holes played had scores in the double digits.  No one had more than one par!  Yes the weather was bad, no doubt contributing to the result but the course was so so tough.  Miss the fairway and you might as well just throw down another ball - the fescue was that thick and punishing.  It can only get better from here.  To demonstrate how difficult it was on four holes our best ball was a double-bogey.

Today was our best scoring (based on average score) day of the trip, 0.4 strokes less than yesterday at Enniscrone. 

Byron enjoyed a very steady round - only two pars but 11 bogeys.  If not for his 40 putts he might have broken 90.  Guy on the other hand was hot or cold.  Five pars led the day but so did 11 penalty strokes.  If only Guy could keep the ball out of the fescue, but I guess that's the consequence of hitting it so far.  For them Gilles, Norm and Mike each had respectable rounds.  Guy parred #6 and Norm dropped a 13' putt to par #15 to complete the goal of a par on every numbered hole.  Unfortunately there were again no birdies today - leaving only one day to break the birdie less streak.  Of note though was Gilles' 33 ft putt on #11 to save bogey.

Again played Enniscrone Golf Links (club founded in 1918)

On the left the view from my room when I woke up.  Then 1 hr 15 min later.  Fortunately the weather cleared, returning more to the former, rather than the latter photo.

Mike was propelled by his birdie on the 7th hole - Hacketts - a 533 yard par 5.  Finally, on the last day someone had a birdie.  Congratulations Mike!  Also of note were Guy's three consecutive pars on the 11th, 12th and 13th, contributing to his six during the round.

.

                                 County Sligo                                                                            Enniscrone

Before we get to the trivia quizzes first, similar to 2016 here are:

A bunch of possibly interesting but useless facts

 based on all 46.00 rounds for which scores were recorded

Norm (9.00); Guy (8.67); Mike (8.50); Gilles (8.50); Byron (7.83) and Bernie (3.50)

Guy only recorded 3 holes on Carne's Kilmore 9 (perhaps not surprisingly all pars) and Byron only 6 holes

2016 provided for comparative purposes

                                                                                 2019              2016

Number of strokes                                                    5,043            6,180

Yards played                                                         290,674         371,909

Rounds played                                                          46.00            59.28

Average score per hole                                                  6.1               5.8

Average length of hole (yards)                                     351              348

Best ball                                                                         63                56

Worst ball                                                                    189              199

Birdies

Par 3s                                                                              0                  1

Par 4s                                                                              0                  4

Par 5s                                                                              1                  2 + 1 eagle

Pars (with birdies = 2 x par)

Guy - 36     Byron - 26        Bernie - 9     Gilles - 9     Mike - 8     Norm - 8

Most consecutive pars / birdies / eagles

Guy -    3 - Enniscrone (June 9th) holes 11 through 13

Total amount spent on green fees (at an average exchange of $1.55 euro)

2019                             $  7,506.07     an average of $163.18 per round

2016                             $11,844.38     an average of $199.80 per round

Average score (excluding Bann and Kilmore) with 2016 for comparison

Bryon - 97.1        Guy - 102.6        Bernie - 109.0        Gilles - 110.5        Norm - 115.5        Mike - 123.0

Byron - 96.7        Guy -   99.4                                                                    Norm - 107.6        Mike - 115.1

Average recorded (given the 'gimme') putts with 2016 for comparison

Byron - 34.0     Gilles - 34.8     Guy - 34.9     Bernie - 35.3     Norm - 36.5        Mike - 38.5

True or False?

1.     Unlike the nine (9) four putts last trip (2016) there were no recorded four putts this trip.

2.     The longest stretch of consecutive par 4s was five - holes 8 through 12 at Ballyliffin.

3.     At every links played, including Bann and Kilmore hole #6 was always a par 4.

4.     The longest par 4 was longer than the shortest par 5?  Hint - the answer is the same was in 2012 and 2016.

5.     22.5% or more than 1 in 5 the par 4s played were 400 yards or longer.

6.      In no case did a par 3 open or close the round, i.e. holes 1 and 18 were never par 3s.

7.      We only played from the blue tees once - at Rosapenna Sandy Hills.

8.      Excl Bann and Kilmore the closing hole #18 had the greatest total yardage (3,156 yards).

9.      Guy had the most consecutive holes with at least 1 penalty stroke - 5 at Sandy Hills from the 4th through 8th.

10.     Byron (three times) and Guy (twice) were the only ones to have rounds with no recorded three putts.

11.     Excl. Bann and Kilmore the longest par 5 was > 100 yards longer than the shortest par 5.

12.     Excl. Bann and Kilmore both the shortest and longest par 3s were the 13th hole on their respective links.

13.     We had more pars on the front nine (40) than the back nine (38).

14.     There were three recorded zero putts.

15.      Both Guy and Mike had at least one penalty stroke on every hole.

16.      The hole with the most penalty strokes was #16 with 31 while both holes #5 and #14 had the fewest with 4

17.      Mike was the only one to hit a green in regulation at Rosapenna Sandy Hills.

18.      There were four pars on one hole.

19.      The average score per hole was 6.09, comprised of 3.75 strokes, 1.94 putts and 0.40 penalty strokes.

20.      We had twice as many quadruple bogeys during Round 2 at Enniscrone versus Round 1.

Multiple choice (and without reviewing any of the above to research)

Questions excluded Castlerock Bann and Carne Kilmore links

1.     An easy one to start - how many of the clubs did we play were founded in the 1800s? 

          a)        2

          b)        3

          c)        4

          d)        5

2.      Excluding Bernie the players with the most and least Greens in Regulation were

          a)         Byron and Norm

          b)         Guy and Gilles

          c)         Guy and Mike

          d)         Byron and Mike

3.       It should not surprise anyone the most penalty strokes (average for those playing) was Sandy Hills (12.2).      What links was second at 9.2?

          a)           Castlerock

          b)           Ballyliffin

          c)            Portsalon

          d)            Carne

4.       What was the longest and shortest par 4s

           a)            17th at Carne and 13th at Enniscrone

           b)            2nd at Portsalon and 12th at Sandy Hills

           c)             7th at County Sligo and 2nd at Castlerock

           d)             9th at Portsalon and 2nd at County Sligo

5.        The easiest (and yes these were the four easiest) hole based on our total score to par was

            a)            the 303 yard par 4 13th hole at Enniscrone (round 1)

            b)            the 303 yard par 4 13th hole at Enniscrone (round 2)

            c)            the 164 yard par 3 3rd hole at Enniscrone (round 1)

            d)            the 152 yard par 3 13th hole at County Sligo

6.         The most difficult (and yes these were the four most difficult) hole was

            a)             the 379 yard par 4 13th hole at Castlerock

            b)             the 415 yard par 4 15th at Ballyliffin

            c)             the 475 yard par 5 8th at Sandy Hills

            d)             the 400 yard par 4 9th at Sandy Hills

Multiple choice (continued)

7.          Of course you would expect the most quadruple (or worse) bogeys to have been at Sandy Hills and you would be correct - we had 21.  Excluding Bernie the second most was 17 at

             a)            Castlerock

             b)            Ballyliffin

             c)            County Sligo

             d)            Enniscrone (Round 2)

8.           Excluding 'recorded' putts and penalty strokes, how many shots did we collectively take?

              a)         2,512

              b)         3,105

              c)         5,043

              d)         too many

9.            The cost per ball struck (including putts (incl. gimmees as a ball struck) but excluding penalty strokes) was

              a)         $1.49

              b)         $1.59

              c)         $2.01

              d)         $2.42

10.         Our best best ball (80) and our worst worst ball (160) were at:

              a)         Carne and Castlerock

              b)         Enniscrone (round 1) and Sandy Hills

              c)         Portsalon and Sandy Hills

              d)         County Sligo and Ballyliffin

11.         Norm dropped how many feet of putts (keeping in mind 56 of his 162 holes were recorded as 0 ft, i.e. < 6 inch tap ins)?

              a)          248

              b)          297

              c)           375

              d)           not enough

12.         We know the 6th and 15th holes had the fewest pars with only one each.  Which hole had the most?  And a bonus point if you know how many.

              a)           2nd

              b)           3rd

              c)           12th

              d)           13th

Answers available only through emailing moosehead@accesswave.ca