The Curragh Golf Club

When we arrived at the clubhouse of the oldest golf course in Ireland we couldn’t have received a nicer welcome. We told Margaret at the bar our story who suggested that Clive talked to Peter over the phone. He couldn’t have been a nicer guy, he and Clive chatted for ages and then he set us up with a couple of pints of Guinness on him while we sat back and watched US Open for a while before someone turned the TV over for the hurling match between Kilkenny and Galway - never seen a match from start to finish and we really enjoyed it. All the while people were walking back and forth to the bar and we got a quick chat with most of them. There was a party in the clubhouse later on that night so we went back to the van for dinner before stumping up €6 in aid of a local hospice to join the party. We were entertained by The Beer Mats before finally calling it a night at about 11:30pm - a late one for us!

Next morning we went into St Brigid’s cathedral, Kildare for the Sunday service where Clive was able to tell them that there was to be a baptism, much to their surprise! Seems the rector forgot to tell them. Anyway, by the time our 2pm tee off came around the day was warming up nicely even though it was still trying to rain. Our playing partner for the day was Larry who escorted around the course in a gentlemanly fashion.

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Killeen Golf Club

When we arrived at Killeen it was in the midst of a lady’s competition. From the clubhouse we could see a large lake with a few greens dotted around it and it looked like to could be a really nice course. We spun our story to the lady behind the bar and with permission granted we enjoyed a Guinness before heading back to the van for dinner. Unable to resist the lure of another Guinness we headed back into the bar for another and got caught up on the prize giving - someone won with 42 points! The US Open had been called off for the day so with no golf to watch on the TV we turned in for the night.

This morning was a lot calmer weather-wise. Still plenty of cloud around but none of it threatening rain and it was a lot warmer as well. Today’s competition was a three ball rumble, but our third person let us down. Their name had been scored of the time sheet and with no one else around we put our green fee in an envelope and headed out to play.

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Dunmurry Springs Golf Club

Tired of turning into random driveways at 11pm thinking they were the entrance to some out of the way clubhouse we set off for Dunmurry Springs armed with a brand new sat nav. We arrived at 9:30pm, still bright daylight at this time of year, so the sat nav did it’s job well. We had a brief chat with some of the lads who were just coming off the course. They gave us the low down on why the clubhouse wasn’t finished yet (they were still operating out of a few prefab huts in the car park) and told us about their sky high joining and annual green fees. We counted ourselves lucky that our fee is under £600 a year. Sean, one of the guys who works at the course, suggested we could take in a couple of holes before the light faded but we decided against it on account of being tired and disappointed that there’d be no Guinness tonight.

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Cill Dara Golf Club

James, who seemed to be the head bar dude, was the lucky recipient of our story when we arrived at the clubhouse last night. We chatted with him for a bit (he used to work at the Curragh) but they were getting ready for a charity presentation night and before long lots of people had arrived and things had to be done. As we were leaving James introduced us briefly to Joe, the President, just to make our overnight stay ‘official’.

Cill Dara is a 9 hole course on the Curragh Plain and we were joined by Sean Kelly, he wasn’t a member but he had played here many times. The weather was very windy but there was no danger of rain and in fact the sun came out for the last few holes. Sean was a great partner to have. He’s a member Castle Barna and has only been playing golf since 2000 - in fact he told us that on his very first ever round of golf he had a hole in one! And he’s played a fair number of courses as well, including some of the posh ones that we think are too expensive (we’re looking at you K Club and Druid’s Glen).

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Woodlands Golf Club

Yesterday after playing at Rossmore we met up with friends in Dublin for a meal (quite good fish and chips in Beshoff, O’Connell Street) and then we went to see The Deep Blue Sea and the Gate theatre (an excellent show which we all enjoyed).

Anyway the play finished at about 10:25pm so we hurried off where we had parked the van and headed out of Dublin. It turned into a bit of a rigmarole. First we missed the N7 turn off for Naas. No big deal, we just took the M50 south and we were back on track. Then I followed the maps that Clive had pulled off Google but when got there what we found wasn’t a golf course, it was an industrial estate. After some faffing Clive asked the man in the security hut if Woodlands nearby. He said it might just be out the road so we moved on. But no golf course. Then we went into Naas and pulled in at a petrol station, but no one there had heard of the course. A man suggested trying the gardai station, which we couldn’t find. Eventually I looked in the Open Fairways book for directions. Woodlands isn’t in Naas at all - it’s in small village just outside Prosperous. Thanks very much Google!

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Castlewarden Golf Club

We’re not used to these late tee times, today’s was at 2:15pm, and with nothing much else on the cards we went to the club early (10am!) to see if there had been any cancellations. But the time sheet was packed and everyone seemed keen to play so we just hung around in the camper reading and whatnot until it was time to go.

While we were waiting the wind picked up. And then it picked up some more. It was a nice, sunny day up to that point. It was still warm and the sky was still blue but I don’t recall ever having played in such a persistently strong wind.

But anyway we arrived at the tee box to find that we were playing with a chap called Damian, playing off 7. He seemed like a nice person but boy was he hard work. Not only was there no craic out of him whatsoever and even less in the way of actually speaking. He made no effort to engage us in conversation. He didn’t wait for us or help us look for balls or say things like ‘great shot’ (though to be honest there wasn’t much in the way of great shots going on). Maybe he was having a bad day, maybe he didn’t like northerners, but whatever the case we may as well have been playing in a two ball for all the effort he made to play with us.

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Craddockstown Golf Club

When we arrived here and asked at the bar if it was OK to park overnight, Philip D Mann gave us the thumbs up and entertained us with his unique sense of humour while we drank our Guinness. You need to be on your toes to at least keep up with him!

The clubhouse was very nice but as with the more modern, and bigger, clubhouses it’s hard to mix easily with the locals so we just watched the highlights of Ireland v Ecuador on TV. After our golf we met Cormy, the course ranger, who showed the old clubhouse, which is a listed house. The old bar downstairs there would have been and ideal spot to get the local banter.

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Knockanally Golf Club

We played this on the last day of our Bank Holiday weekend trip. The night before it looked like the poor weather was going to continue but we got round the course mainly dry and there were some good sunny spells, during which took a few photos.

Knockanally’s biggest claim to fame is the fact that its clubhouse is a 19th century Palladian mansion formerly owned by the Coates family. The changing facilities, located in the basement, looked quite new. There were two changing rooms and they both had very grand looking fireplaces in them. Not sure if they are in working order but how fantastic would it be in the winter if they were! There were a few slightly risqué murals dotted around of naked golfers with strategically placed clubs and foliage which spiced things up and added to the character of the place.

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