Ballymascanlon
This wasn’t one of our usual trips. We hadn’t really heard of Ballymascanlon before but it was chosen as the venue for my brother’s 40th birthday event by his wife and so off we went there on 2 June to play golf and enjoy the after party. No camper van this time – we decided to push to boat out and stay in the hotel with the rest of the party people.
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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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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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Mannan Castle Golf Club
We found Mannan Castle on an overcast day but even with the threat of rain this was a very enjoyable course.
We drove straight here from home and were playing in a 9-hole repeater competition. A club official explained it to us but I’m still not sure what it was about. It’s always more enjoyable when we hook up with other people to play the course but we haven’t been doing so well lately and today was the same – on our own again.
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Greenacres Golf Centre
Greenacres is an 18 hole parkland course just outside Ballyrobert on the road to Ballyclare. I first played here about 5 years (or more) ago and, truthfully, I wasn’t that impressed. It was soggy, next to featureless and not very memorable.
But the Greenacres I played this time around was so much improved it was like a brand new course. I can’t say that I remembered the layout of the course very well – except for the par 3 6th over the pond, which was still there – but it was in tremendous order. There were far more trees than I remember and the greens were in fantastic condition. Whilst they didn’t have the immaculate look of the greens on the courses we have played recently they were fast and tricky enough to land on and read.
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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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Roscrea Golf Club
We played here yesterday much later then we normally do. They were having an open competition and we put our names down for around 2:30pm (with it being a Sunday Clive wanted to go to church). When we arrived there were no other people down to play with us and what with it being a fourball competition we were out of luck. But we were there to play golf and the chap we spoke to gave us the green fee at the open price of €15 each, which we weren’t complaining about.
Roscrea is an 18 hole parkland course in County Tipperary. It has been there since around 1911 but has only been 18 holes since the mid 1990s. The weather was still looking unpleasant. It was less windy than yesterday but in its place was a light, steady rain. Wet gear on, we headed for the first tee.
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Castlegregory Golf Club
Castlegregory is a 9 hole links course on the north side of the Dingle peninsula. This is the first links course we have played in ages and just when we needed the good weather we’ve been having to continue, it promptly turned. It was a pretty grey morning and by the time we teed off at 13:30 the wind had really picked up and clouds were getting lower and more threatening – not very nice conditions at all.
This is a very nice little course. There’s a testing enough par 5 to start, nicely set along the water. On a good day it could be driveable in two but it would be a brave man who tries even then as the green is very well positioned at the water’s edge. There are some difficult par 3s which have either elevated greens you must hit or you’re in the serious stuff, or there’s a giant pond to carry all the way to the green. There are only a couple of where you would feel truly comfortable taking out your driver.
Kerry Radio
A bit of fame at last!
Colm, who we met at Beaufort, also does a bit of radio and he thought our story would make for a interesting report. So he called us yesterday at about 11:40 while we were waiting to tee off at Castlegregory and recorded an interview with us.
Thankfully, Clive did most of the talking and he spoke very well about what we get up to and the courses we’ve played. When he handed the phone over the me my mind promptly went blank. Colm asked me about the courses we had played in the Kerry and Cork area but, even though we’d just played Beaufort and Bantry Bay, I had to ask Clive what we had played. So I fumbled my way through a bit about Bantry Bay. Hopefully, Colm will have edited that bit out!
Anyway, thanks to Colm for doing the interview. Hopefully we’ll get a few more hits on the site!
Beaufort Golf Club
When we arrived at Beaufort last night we learned two things immediately. It has a fantastic location – the McGillicuddy’s Reeks provide a spectacular backdrop – and they have peacocks, which have an unmistakeable call.
We met Joe, the barman, and Hans, the chef, and spun our tale. A quick phone call to Tim was all it took to make sure it was OK to park the camper overnight, then came the two pints of Guinness. It wasn’t busy so we chatted with Joe and Hans some more before they engaged each other in a putting competition on the practise green. It looked like Hans was winning as we headed back to the van for the evening.
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