Slade Valley Golf Club
So we arrived at Slade Valley around 9:30pm, asked at the bar if there was an official around and were directed to David Kennedy, the Vice Captain. He was sitting at a table with three other people so we just mosied on over there and interrupted him! There was a comical moment as we did so – Clive simply looked at David and said his name and I could see that David was trying very hard to recognise this person standing before him, perhaps a long-forgotten friend or school chum? Eventually Clive twigged what was going on and before long we were launching into our usual patter about this will be course number whatever and can we park overnight. David said that would be fine and we continued to have a great laugh with him and the three other people at the table (one of whom was the Lady Vice Captain). We could hardly have asked for a warmer welcome and we were already liking Slade Valley. David’s guests left soon after but he stood on with us for a while longer and told us his own pretty amazing golfing story – he took it upon himself to collect the signatures of all the Ryder Cup players from 2006 in a commemorative booklet that had postage stamps in it (I think I’ve got that right). He must have been keen as in order to get Tiger Woods’ he went to Dubai! He’s also been in Florida and was just back from Loch Lomond (though his attempts to get Olazabal’s autograph were thwarted by his non appearance! David said it was the most expensive autograph he didn’t get, and he had to stay an extra night in Loch Lomond on account of the delays at Dublin Airport).
When David left we had another pint of Guinness and admired the fantastic view from the clubhouse (opened in 2004) over the now twinkling lights of Dublin in the distance. We let Tina (whose mother lived not far from where Clive was born) at the bar know that we would be parking overnight and then off we went to bed.
Next morning it was grey, cold and misty. Where the bloomin’ heck is the summer? We were playing with two members, Paddy and Dermot, but before they arrived we had a good bit of banter with some other members on the practice green involving parades, bonfires and bounty hunters! Then Paddy and Dermot arrived and we could get on with our game.
Slade Valley is a parkland course on the edges of the Wicklow hills south of Dublin. That’s it’s one great advantage – altitude. It has the highest green in Ireland (the 11th hole is about 1000ft above sea level) and has some amazing views over Dublin and the surrounding countryside. It also has some of the fastest greens we’ve played on even though they looked like they’d been recently spiked and fertilized. The course being where it is there’s a fair amount of climbing to be done so be prepared to stop and admire the view half way up heart attack hill. Also be prepared to wonder where to go next. Thank goodness we were playing with members because without them there’s a fair chance we would have got lost. There’s greens next to greens next to tee boxes and a fair amount of criss-crossing of fairways and roads goes on as well. They’re in the process of adding three new holes which should help to alleviate some of those problems.
The course was in fine condition and is a fair test of golf – not too long or too difficult with those fast greens and amazing views rounding things off nicely.
Thomas says:
Thoroughly enjoyed playing this course, especially after the craic we had last night. We bumped into David again who was just arriving as we finished our game. I had a few pars and was driving well but mostly the two of us just played poorly – 30 points was all we could manage (it was a betterball stableford competition). My favourite hole was the third, a downhill dog leg par four. As you approach the bend in the fairway you get to see more the views and the green, which has been raised up out of the down slope, looks like it’s just floating there. Really nice, and I had a par there! Wasn’t so keen on all the criss-crossing and the fact that the tees and greens seemed so close to each other, but apart from that it’s a really nice course.
Clive says:
I never cease to be amazed at the people we meet who give us stories to add to those we already have – imagine meeting a man who has been all over the world just to get some autographs and Darren Clarke seems to be a bit touchy about giving autographs! Now coming to the golf – I only had a couple of pars and played poorly but I must admit Slade was a lovely course. I liked the 16th with a long sweep of a fairway and then a tricky entrance into the green. They have almost got their new holes ready after they had to dig out hundreds of trees – that reminded me of Portumna. As ever our partners were two lovely gents – Paddy had been a member since the place opened back in 1970. Both just popped the ball nicely up the fairway where I still try to hit it too hard. The countryside around this course is rural and hilly county Wicklow and not at all Dublin – you’ll love the area – give it a go and find out if David has got Senor Olazabal’s autograph!
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