Boystown Golf Club

We found Boystown with the help of a lady we stopped as we were driving along, not sure of where we were going. She was very chatty and, eventually, gave us perfect directions, which happened to go right past her house. We arrived without having had confirmation of a tee off time but luckily and young man called Jamie was going spare at 12:54 so we joined him for a three ball. We had just a few minutes to get changed and cram a banana into our mouths by way of lunch, and then we were on our way.

Boystown is an incredibly picturesque 9 hole parkland course in Co. Wicklow beside the Blessington Lakes and it’s a grand wee course for sure. Well, I say wee, it’s actually and pretty long for a 9-holer coming in at almost 3500 yards from the back tees. There’s plenty to look at and make you think on this course. There’s the old quarry at the second, a 461 yard par 4. The quarry will test your second shot to the green provided you managed to hit a decent drive. Then there’s the par 3 third over the pond. The remaining holes all have something to offer, not least of which are the great views over the lake and Wicklow hills beyond. Perhaps the best part of the course is the back to back par 5s at the 8th and 9th. The 8th is an uphill slog with a near-blind approach to the green. The 9th, to quote Jamie, is a beast of a hole - 591 yards over the quarry (again) with two huge trees waiting to collect your second shot. Two really great holes that were a pleasure to play twice.

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Druid’s Glen Golf Club

OK, so we didn’t actually play here but it’s a good story.

After our round at Druid’s Heath we got showered and changed. As usual, Clive doesn’t waste any more time than is necessary with that sort of thing so while I was still getting changed he was in the shop talking to the lads.

A huge thank you to Barry Dowling for offering to take us over the Druid’s Glen. He felt that since we’d come all this way it would be awful for us not to see it, so he gave us a whistle-stop tour. He showed the awesomely scary looking 13th, a pretty amazing par 4. And of course the Druid’s Altar which overlooks the famous par 3 12th. Barry gave us a decent tour of the rest of the course, the island green on the 17th, teeing off out of the orchard at the 3rd. He was very knowledgeable about the estate the course was built on so as well as giving us a tour of the course we got a good sense of the history of the place.

Then we got a tour of the clubhouse, which was the Tottenham family’s gentry house on the estate. Fantastic to see around inside. There were a lot of paintings and sketches of famous Irishmen and women and Clive was in his element spotting and naming them all.

Thanks again Barry - as soon as we’ve won the lottery and can afford to play Druid’s Glen, we’ll be in touch.

See our photos of Druid’s Glen.

Druid’s Heath Golf Club

Hotel/Spa type resorts aren’t really our thing and when we arrived at Druid’s Heath, that’s what we got. As we approached the reception of the hotel and the dulcet tones of a Daniel O’Donnell type crooner drifted out to greet us, we just looked at each other and decided to have a drink in a pub in Newtownmountkennedy and head back to the place where had parked to make our dinner. So we went to bed thinking we wouldn’t really have anything much to write about our time at this course.

Happily, we were wrong.

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Glendalough

After golf today we drove over, and had lunch at, the Wicklow gap before heading down to Glendalough. It was still windy but not quite as bad as on the Curragh Plain.

We’ve been here several times before and it really is worth a visit. There’s a visitor’s centre (which we didn’t go into this time) which explains the history of the are and where you can pick up routes to walk in the surrounding hills. The very grand sounding Monastic City (it’s really just a few very old buildings and a graveyard) is worth a look as it contains the iconic round tower. It’s also worth having a walk up to and around the Upper Lake - really beautiful scenery. Near the lake there’s a small house/information centre and we talked with the attendant there about wildlife in the area and other such things. She was very knowledgeable and probably happy to talk to some people who weren’t just looking for the nearest toilet! There’s also a nice sensory garden around the house.

Glendalough

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Baltinglass Golf Club

Once again we have chosen wisely with our golf courses as Baltinglass turned out to be yet another gem. The course itself was fantastic but the whole experience was set up very nicely when we arrived the evening before.

After we told our story to the barman we went into the lounge with our Guinness to watch the election results coming in. We got talking with a guy from Athy who was there with on a small society outing. The subject of the Irish language came up when a woman who was giving out one of the results made a very bad job of it and it was at that time we discovered that the barman was from Kosovo! That kind of threw us as his accent was as Irish as the man from Athy’s. His name was Agron, affectionately known as Aggie. He had been living in Ireland since he was 8 (of was it for 8 years - can’t remember which) and had not a word of English when he arrived in Ireland. Though he didn’t say who for, he voted in the elections!

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