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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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).
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Portsalon Golf Club
We’ve played here a couple of times in the past (last time was in July 2000) but Clive had to the opportunity to play again as part of Bright Castle’s Ulster Fourball team.
Click on to see what he thought.
Update: The team won at Portsalon and are through to the last 16. Well done lads!
Balbriggan Golf Club
Now this is more like it! The welcome we got here couldn’t have been more different to what happened at Kilcoole. When we arrived last night about half six the place still seemed quite busy – which we took to be a good sign. We went up the new looking shop where we met and had a good chat with Rory, the assistant pro. He told us that the new shop had only been opened for three weeks and that they were improving several holes on the course as well as adding a couple of new ones. We had no tee time pre-booked for the next day and we were looking to take advantage of an Open Fairways offer of 50% off. Rory explained that there was a big charity event on Monday and the tee was closed from 9am to 5pm and we told him we’d probably away off the first tee by no later that half seven. When it came to parking overnight Rory thought it wouldn’t be a problem but we should check with a club official just to be sure. As luck would have it David O’Connor, the Captain no less, came into the shop and said that should be fine. He even suggested having a quick 9 holes now – but we declined in view of the fact that we were tired and hungry! We made our way down to the harbour for dinner then came back to the clubhouse for Guinness. The Captain spoke to us again telling us to keep an eye out for the hares (of which there were plenty) and some buzzards (of which, sadly, we saw none).
Take that Kilcoole!
Kilcoole Golf Club
Right. We’ll get the bad stuff out of the way first. Kilcoole became the third golf club in the hundreds that we’ve played to tell us that we could not park overnight in their car park. In fact, in the words of the manager on duty that night, we “have no mission”. In all fairness to the guy he phoned his manager and some security company who seemed to have something to do with the car park. But still the answer was was no. I think what annoyed us the most about this was that it wasn’t for any insurance reason (like Waterford Castle) or because they’re Dublin snobs (like Howth). The reason we couldn’t park there seemed to be just because. We were very disappointed to say the least. I had almost decided not to do a write up of this course up because of that but that would just be stupid and spiteful, so here it is.
(We later learned from the two guys we played with today that there have been run-ins with a man who owns some land next to the course – or may even have owned some of the land the course now occupies – which could have been a reason for us not parking there. Still, would have been nice to have found that out last night).
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.
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).
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!
Rossmore Golf Club
We arrived at Rossmore in the middle of two things – the UEFA Cup Final on TV between Manchester United and Chelsea (it was 1-1) and a squad of ladies who were waiting for the football to finish so their prize giving night could start.
We asked a man at the bar if there was a a club official about and we were introduced to Jimmy, the Secretary. We spun him our yarn about parking overnight and he said that would be no problem. The Captain, Nigel Graham, then came to speak to us until duty called for the presentations. He sent us over a couple of pints later on – thanks Mr Captain! There were a couple of ladies who seemed to clean up on the prizes Della (I think that was her name) and another lady hardly had time to sit down before their names were called out again. Someone needs to check their handicaps! The football came back on and we hung around for the penalties – we’re not football followers but I think would have preferred if Chelsea had won for change.
