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Course Nuffies Series: Ireland Trip (Part 1)
32 Plays10 months ago
Something different this week. Monty and AC discuss their Ireland golf trip. They cover their itinerary, highlights, travel advice, the style of golf and some cracking yarns. Enjoy this one!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Off The Tips' and 'Course Nuffy'
Why Choose Ireland for Golf?
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Off The Tips podcast. If you're reading the title, you'll realise this is a little bit of a different pod. We're bringing back the course Nuffy series that we've been
00:00:29
Speaker
a little bit slack with. And this one's probably one for the travelers, one for the golf sickos that are about tradition. And to break it down, well, with me, I'm going to probably take a bit of a backseat because I was I was just living this trip through images and videos as AC and Monty. Boys, welcome. And I'm sure you're looking forward to breaking down your golf trip.
00:00:56
Speaker
Hey Cal, yep, so pumped for this one. I'm excited to reminisce. We had a great trip. Monty, how are you going, mate? Yeah, good, mate. It's good to be here. It's six months of pass, but yeah, pretty pumped to rip in and try and inform the listeners about how epic, epic island golf is. Well, boys, we'll cut this small shot there. And just, Monty, can you talk to me about
00:01:25
Speaker
Why Ireland and not, you know, maybe somewhere else? Yeah, it's a good question. I think most people think of UK golf and think, you know, eminently to Scotland. Whereas for us, probably one of the core attractions of doing an island golf trip is it doesn't quite have the same depth of
00:01:53
Speaker
of golf as say a Scotland or a US or even England does for that matter. So we diligently did quite a bit of research. I think for us, No Laying Up, the tourist source series and Tom Coyne, who's a professor stroke golf writer, did a book where he walked
00:02:16
Speaker
Island and played every single golf links course in Ireland with his carry bag on his back and walked to each course. So those two sources sort of born the idea and AC and I sort of ran with it without too much thought and as we went through the process it was yeah it's logistically it's quite easy from any you know as a first golf trip was was quite easy you know it was only
00:02:45
Speaker
a finite list of courses that you want to play as opposed to something like a Scotland where you can sort of break it up into probably five or six regions and sort of go down numerous rabbit holes. So we carved out a list through quite extensive research and just went for it really, hired a car and basically drove a loop of Ireland. And this is the Republic of Ireland only, not Northern Ireland.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah,
Planning a Golf Trip to Ireland
00:03:13
Speaker
I see. Do you have any kind of other points to add on that about why Ireland golf is important to you or was important for you to see? I think to all Monty's point, he's covered it all really. The main thing was watching that No Laying Up series just looked like a heck of a time. And then as Monty alluded to, it's just the fact that
00:03:38
Speaker
You don't really have to worry about missing anything. You can kind of cover all the courses you want to while you're there. Whereas Scotland, you've got a lot more decisions to make. And so, for like, given the circumstances, I think it was a lot easier logistically to go to Ireland and man, their golf courses are good, which we'll talk about later.
Challenges of Irish Golf Courses
00:04:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think as a duo, as a first time,
00:04:05
Speaker
Traveler like proper overseas golf trip. Yeah, it was quite It was quite easy from out from our parts. Just it's easy to tick them off and and I think the the Extravagance is probably a word that we might use On a number of occasions through this this podcast is something to behold really all of these golf courses like
00:04:34
Speaker
You know, the views, the extravagance of the style of golf, the shape of the golf holes, of what you're playing in between. And I'm specifically alluding to the dunes here. It's like
00:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty, for a layman like myself, it's hard to, I don't have a vocabulary good enough to sort of put into, into words, but it's, you know, so, so unique. And, you know, whilst we get exposure to Lynx Golf through the open championship every year, I think Ireland is distinctly different to what we would typically see.
00:05:13
Speaker
on an open course, which is typically obviously seaside, but big pot bunkering, berm and fast. Whereas Ireland didn't quite have the same extent of pot bunkering, it still had it. And what it lacked in pot bunkering made up for in just the dunes and the scale of these courses, like carved out of made wood,
00:05:42
Speaker
made with shovels primarily back in the day, and hence they didn't have the power to move big june, so you put golf holes in between them, which was pretty chaotic and fun. Yeah, I think the big thing as well, the island style was that the fairways are pretty tight compared to a traditional Lynx course, so they don't need pop bunkers, they've just got basically knee-deep rough off the other side of the fairway.
Two-Week Itinerary and Rest Days
00:06:10
Speaker
and which the boys really struggled with. It was particularly penal. Basically every golf course, Monty and I just couldn't keep big numbers off the scorecard. It was great though. They were all tough walks as well is another thing I'll add. We were always pretty knackered after a day. We'd earned our beer. Yeah, well boys, I'm really keen to hear about these golf courses. But before we kind of rip into that, do you want to just run me
00:06:40
Speaker
the listeners through what you did and how you went about it, you know, your timeframe and your movements. I'll start with you, A.C. Maybe you can kick off. Yeah, so what we did is we were there for two weeks and played 12 golf courses. So what we did is we started in Dublin and played a kind of ad hoc round at a course called Ballas, played at the island and then drove up to Sligo
00:07:11
Speaker
where we played Ennis Crone, County Sligo and Khan. And then we kind of went south and down to Lahinch and then we played at Ballybunion. We went to Traly, Waterville and then Dukes to finish. We played a couple of nine-holers along the way and obviously there's a few rest days in between but that's very high level of what we did. I don't think I've missed any golf course out there Monty. So that's
00:07:40
Speaker
That's the basis of our trip. So we basically did, we went to the top of Ireland real, basically, and then came down. We covered a fair, it was a fair trip. We covered a decent whack of Ireland, um, during our time there. Yeah. I think we drove 1200 kilometres or something over, over 14 days, couple of rest days, um, one 36 all day.
00:08:10
Speaker
And, you know, so it was quite nice. I think, you know, one thing people should be cognizant of when planning a trip and probably more so to Ireland than anywhere else is, um, because you don't have to be so hectic in your schedule, don't be afraid to, you know, plan, plan a couple of rest days in there. I know most eager beaver golfers just want to get out there and play every day, but, you know, we quite enjoyed and found that quite
00:08:36
Speaker
advantageous just having a couple of days here and there, one in Dublin, a couple in Galway where you can just put the feet up because they are big walks, the pubs are pretty epic so you don't want to take your experience at something like a belly bunion by having too many sheriffs the night before so if you can budge it in a couple of nights out
00:09:06
Speaker
I think that would be, would be, uh, would be good. We, we, we, we found quite a good mix, but there was one establishment which we'll move to later where we, we wish we could've talked into a few more. Yeah. Is there anything in particular you guys got up to in those rest days that you'd recommend to people going or was it strictly that a rest day and you kind of didn't get out and do anything else because you're,
00:09:34
Speaker
busy walking holes. We just sort of roamed, didn't we, Monty? There was nothing in particular I recall other than the Guinness factory. That's a good experience. It was a good touristy thing to do. Heck of a business that. But apart from that, I can't recall us doing too much, went to the cliffs and more. They're a bit overrated. And apart from that,
00:10:03
Speaker
I can't recall much more we did. Fuck, that's my alarm. Monty, anything else? I can't remember. We covered quite a few bases in Dublin, which I recommend, including the Guinness Factory. But I just think when you're playing that much golf and doing quite a bit of driving, you need that time off because even sickos like us, you can get a little bit bored of
00:10:30
Speaker
Well, not bored of the golf, but, you know, you want it to remain fresh and unique. And I think one other thing I'd just tie into Ireland generally before we get specific into the courses is, you know, I wouldn't get your hopes up about the weather. Like we had a run like in just talking to the locals who we played with and others while we were there.
00:10:57
Speaker
Yeah, that's just one other factor to be mindful of and that you're like, you're highly unlikely to get 14 days of good weather on an Island golf trip.
Adapting to Irish Golf Conditions
00:11:07
Speaker
Like you can easily get eight to 10, but I can't recall around the Gulf where I didn't play with at least a jersey or long pants. Um, and that just sort of adds to the AC's comment earlier about attitude, attitudes of premium playing.
00:11:24
Speaker
all in golf courses, you know, your big numbers around the corner, whether it's from your own doing or a big gale or something. Yeah, I think generally the one thing I took away was you've got to have a good attitude. Otherwise you have a shit time because the weather is often pretty grueling. The scores are never great. So you've just got to just soak it up while you're there. I kind of started
00:11:51
Speaker
sort of thinking, okay, I want to play 12, 13 good holes. And I think it's a better way to think of your round rather than your total score because Monty and I were never really near our handicaps. It was pretty late. Neither of us playing off, what, fours and fives or something. Neither of us broke 80 around Ireland, I don't think. No, I don't think we were close.
00:12:18
Speaker
No, no, I think my best was maybe like an 82 with probably a birdie on the last or something. And the other thing I'd say is Ireland golf course, like any UK golf course, is rugged by nature. You know, I alluded to it in the junks. So, you know, your expectations should be around like
00:12:40
Speaker
the wow factor of the shots that you're playing, the creativity required around the greens. Like it's, it's so, so different to what we have at home and you're not going to get like a cape kidnappers or a carry cliffs type, uh, conditioning every round you play like you will at the top courses. But you know, there's just so much rugged beauty out there. You can probably a prime example, but yeah, it just sort of adds to the, the whole, uh,
00:13:09
Speaker
you know, wholesome experience. You know, it's proper golf, right? Not this glorified resort, American golf. Was there any kind of additions to the bag that were important around Ireland? I'd say what the obvious one would be, an iron you can hit off the tee, but what sort of shots were you guys playing that you maybe wouldn't play in New Zealand? It's a good question.
00:13:39
Speaker
I, you really, you quickly find out whether you can keep the bull out of the wind and I can't. The top of the bag setup's really a lot more important I feel. You need a lot of options off the tee. It sounds simple but you need a good setup with your driving iron. You need something that you can put in the fairway and try to keep low.
00:14:02
Speaker
out of the wind. I bought a driving iron just before I went and if I didn't have it, I would have been seriously screwed. It was a big player for me. So it's just a
00:14:16
Speaker
It got to the point as well where you'd be playing into the wind and you'd be a chance of getting to the green with like a three wood and the risk just was too much as well. So you'd have to kind of lay up and yeah, it was such an eye-opening experience for me. And I've played a lot of golf, but it was just a different gravy.
First Experiences in Irish Golf Courses
00:14:38
Speaker
Yeah, I think you need to be able to have the ability to put your ego to one side.
00:14:44
Speaker
just hit a five iron from 110 or something, you know, like the shot that rather than forcing one into the wind, and I know it's one on one stuff, but it was really around home and in Ireland, but just that half swing iron shot is huge. They're both off the tee. And then also, you know, heading into greens, I can accept that on
00:15:07
Speaker
some holes into the wind, that bogey's a good score. And also, probably didn't get as quite as many runoffs as I was expecting, but there's still enough that like, that seven iron chip into the hill, or even up to a green, is very handy. Like I know, I think most golfers would acknowledge that they don't use it as much as they should, because it's a low risk option, but
00:15:37
Speaker
It can really limit the damage and help make some up and downs from tricky spots around Ireland and just take your medicine out of the rough.
00:15:49
Speaker
The other thing that was really tricky with the rough is you'd be on dunes, right? So the bull would be below your feet or well above it. And it just made it even more difficult, especially when it's seriously thick. That was what we really struggled with. I felt the rough was bad, but just not having a flat lie. Yeah. And, um, reflecting on it, when we were at the open at Liverpool,
00:16:16
Speaker
you can't ride the wind like if you've got a left to rider trying to hold fairways or hold greens hitting a fade. Boys that was some interesting intel on on shot shaping and club usage you know I'm sick for that sort of stuff but I think the punters are ready to get into chatting about some golf courses. AC
00:16:41
Speaker
kick us off, mate. Where did the big grand... We had a bit of an afternoon to kill. We had no plans of golf and Monty and I thought, okay, let's have a little look around and let's just find it. We had a bit of a niche to scratch. We were keen to get out there and just play a pretty casual afternoon round and we landed on Cobalis, which was a great start to our Irish golf experience. They had this unbelievable front nine that
00:17:08
Speaker
Had some dramatic holes, a lot of up and down, some pretty interesting tunes that you play between. And then the back nine they shouldn't have bothered with. The back nine was bleak.
00:17:22
Speaker
But it was a great, it was cheap. It was an awesome start. I remember thinking, holy shit, I'm in some strife here because I couldn't keep it on the planet that day. And I honestly remember being so concerned about like how I was going to go on all these nice courses. I was like, I wouldn't have verbalized it that much, but I was genuinely like, oh, this could be such a tough trip. But yeah, it was a, it was a great time. It's a, it's a fantastic current eraser for
00:17:53
Speaker
Everything, you know, we flew in over Dublin and we saw all these golf courses was like fuck we've we gotta We gotta get out. We gotta get out It's probably 20 minutes out of Dublin on car maybe 30 good way to practice the iris driving and then You know good way the great curtain raise of the front nine like very Very similar to what we what we faced in the in the days following
00:18:22
Speaker
I'd highly recommend if people have a spare couple of hours in their evening when they're in Dublin or half a day to kill to at least just go out and play the front nine, just your classic, classic country golf course, tiny little clubhouse, just epic golf holes during your
00:18:45
Speaker
I think we got, we had a couple of shockers with directions thinking the hole was one way and we played it that way and turned out we just headed into an absolute bundle, but it's part of the experience. You talk about having an epic front nine. What stood out on the front nine that was left out of the design maps on the back? Just the land they had to work with would be the thing, right?
00:19:16
Speaker
A lot of quirky holes, you're kind of hitting off little plateaus down to greens, hitting up to greens, you're kind of between the dunes. And then the back nine, you kind of come out of the dunes and it's just, it looks like it's just been added on to try and make 18 holes is the way I'd describe it. I don't know if that's exactly what happened, but it's the impression I got. And the front nine, you're playing in some like genuine valleys of dunes.
00:19:43
Speaker
you're playing as if the feel I was meant to be there and that's the path you've got to take which obviously we didn't take but um you know it's uh yeah it's not a sort of table toppy type greens uh some it's pretty sure if you if you look at the car it was pretty short from memory but uh it requires all sorts of shots um epic epic epic star then we
00:20:10
Speaker
can probably leave Corbalis there. Like I said, would recommend that the nine holes of people have got time.
Collecting Souvenirs and Cultural Experiences
00:20:18
Speaker
We then headed, we stayed in Dublin for a few nights. So the day following was we played the Island Golf Club, which along with Port Marnick would be regarded as sort of the top two or three golf courses in Dublin and is ranked in the top 10.
00:20:39
Speaker
in Ireland. It was quite different in a weird way to what we had through the rest of the trip. So we had a very firm and fast day at the island, which wasn't necessarily indicative of the rest of the trip. Like whilst it was still firm in summer, this day was something else. And I think
00:21:08
Speaker
It'll hang with me probably for the rest of my life.
00:21:13
Speaker
the shots we had to hit like very, very narrow fairways on some instances. You had numerous crosswinds and we just, to be honest, just weren't up to it. We just couldn't hold the fairways because it was so firm and if you started spinning a ball left to right with a left floor right breeze, you just have no chance of holding these fairways.
00:21:41
Speaker
and equally hitting into greens downwind was like nigh on impossible like you're hitting wedges and having to land them like 30 meters short of the green to then like hope that you've predicted the run out and the bounce accurately enough to then you know try hold the green we'll get we'll get close to the hole it was it was in great condition it was a great condition golf course um
00:22:07
Speaker
you know, a lot of fun. Like, and that was probably the very early reminder where you need to learn how to fade, you know, fade or draw the ball against the wind.
00:22:19
Speaker
And it was notably tight compared to the other layouts we played. And then you add the wind and the firmness and the fairways playing half the size of that. And so it was just extremely difficult. The other thing about it, the way I describe the fairways, if you were to pitch a ball onto a cricket pitch, it was so firm.
00:22:42
Speaker
Just distinctly remember just hitting a few wedges downwind and you just you actually have no idea what to say Yeah, you don't know where to say go sit and normally you have an idea, but it was just a different different gravy and One hole that stand out to me. I think it was a narrowest fairway an island. I think it was 13 Or 14 maybe and there's this power for we start swinging back alongside this inlet by the harbor there
00:23:13
Speaker
And, you know, that, that, that's pretty fun to, to like experience a hole like that. And, um, yeah, it was, uh, and the, the part three before that was like really epic, some, some really cool holes, like, and the, the people there, it'll be something we say throughout this whole pod, but, um, the guy who greeted us, uh, sort of,
00:23:39
Speaker
had yarns with us on the first tee. It was almost as though he was employed by the club just to be a legend and just chat to the visitors and just be an epic guy, really. And that was something we didn't quite get the other big boy courses in this realm. So it had this, you know, whilst it's ranked quite well and, you know, we'd rank it pretty highly ourselves. It had this quite,
00:24:07
Speaker
a different feeling about the place. All island golf courses, I had a lack of snobbiness, like you may expect these grand golf courses. That was a cool thing of the whole trip. But the island stood out slightly above the rest in that respect, which is always nice on your first proper hour.
00:24:28
Speaker
You talk about this being your first big board golf course of the trip and I'll kind of ask a question regarding to kind of all of the golf courses. When you were going there and you're obviously hanging around pro shop bars, did you collect any kind of souvenirs from these golf courses? Yeah, I've got a bull market from everyone. I've got my waterfall hat on too.
00:24:56
Speaker
Ballmarkers for me, I do it back home as well with the golf courses and that's what I collect. Monty, you're similar, I think? Yeah, yeah, similar. And some courses gave us yardage books, which is always quite a cool keepsake. But, you know, as you can imagine, the pro shops are on the expensive side. So, you know, all depends on one's budget. And an ideal word, you're buying a pole I'll need to place.
00:25:26
Speaker
Us young professionals can't cope. So, boys, your day at the island wraps up. How have you enjoyed your day and what's next? It was a heck of a day. And then we had the afternoon free, I believe, and we went to the pub. Well, not the pub, several pubs.
00:25:50
Speaker
Temple Bar while you're in Dublin. The Irish don't like Temple Bar because it's so touristy, but as a tourist, it's a heck of a time. The drinks will sting you, but it's a great spot to tie one on. Yeah, that'll go down as one of the greats, like the live music. And yeah, it's just incredible scenes, incredible scenes.
00:26:17
Speaker
Yeah. My experience with temple bars, very, very similar. It was, it was a bit loud and ruckusy, but boys, speaking of beers, Monty especially not, not known for enjoying his stouts. How did you, how did you get around the, you know, the local drop Guinness? I'm starting to warm to them. The thing with them, you've got to take big gulps. If you sip at them, they taste horrific.
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, splitting the Gannises was a great way to indulge, get a big gulp into your first and then you're underway. But I don't know, battled through, haven't ordered one since, but tried to order one at every clubhouse. They weren't necessarily going down quick at these clubhouses. There was some nursing going on.
00:27:16
Speaker
Well boys, so you've got your first day off and as you alluded to, you ripped and teared at Temple Bar, so I imagine the next day the rest day looked a little bit bleak and then you headed off to Monty. Where was next on the agenda? Yeah, we drove about
00:27:38
Speaker
three hours north into sort of the north-western tip of Ireland, or the north-eastern tip of Ireland, I should say, to County Sligo, Enniskrone area.
Navigating Ireland and Cultural Reflections
00:27:53
Speaker
So we played Enniskrone in the afternoon, which is a golf course that is probably starting to come on the radar of tourists more and more. It's probably not one.
00:28:08
Speaker
that would have always been on the radar like some that we will allude to through the course of this podcast. But I think it has the highest, one of the, if not the highest set of dunes in Ireland on the golf courses. So it was a good course, amazing dunes, amazing views, probably the biggest dunes on the trip.
00:28:35
Speaker
um but didn't quite have the wow factor like some of the other golf course it was it was rugged um yeah it was a really good golf course but yeah we'll touch on we'll touch on khan um in in a moment it's it's very similar to khan and that khan and and then it's grown uh a big big in june's quite rugged
00:29:03
Speaker
sort of smaller field about the places with some very quirky holes. And if one was planning a trip and you were a little bit time or cost constrained, I would definitely say that, you know, Enniskrone with all due respect is probably in the, you know, not the no need camp, but like if you had to pick one of Carn or Enniskrone, I'd go with Carn, they're quite similar and a similar location.
00:29:32
Speaker
A worthwhile course, all the same. AC? Yeah, I think, I agree that Ennis Combe was one of the weaker places that we played at, but I still had a heck of a time there. I think to Monty's point, the holes that were outside of the dunes
00:29:55
Speaker
just didn't inspire us that much. The one thing that we aided by is we played with, I think he was about 15 and it was his local track and just a great kid. He was so mature for his age and just showed us around so well. We had a great time playing with him. That's- What was his name? Frankie.
00:30:21
Speaker
So that's the sort of experiences that you have that you'll remember as well rather than the course. He really took pride in showing us around the place, which was awesome. And one thing I will never forget is Monty asked him if foxes are dangerous.
00:30:41
Speaker
the fox on the go of course are dangerous and he just lost it, Frankie. He just thought it was the stupidest question he'd ever heard. And basically told Monty, let's put it this way, it's more scary than you. So. Do you reckon Monty's just watched too much Door of the Explorer where when he was growing up and had a bit of head noise about Swiper?
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, many a nightmares about swiper. Swiper no swiping is a common phrase in my head. I want to shout out the par fives there. They had four of them, but three were epic. One wasn't great, but I thought they had the stronger set of par fives. Any of the courses we played, they would have matched up with them. Yeah, and watch 12 or 13, maybe this epic downhill par four.
00:31:38
Speaker
So they can take the options well over the dunes and try to almost get to the green. We just play around the epic golf hole. It's still a lot of really good golf holes. I see what in particular stood out about the part fives. Were they just all different or was there anything that springs to mind? Well the three of them were in the sort of dune section of the golf course which is obviously why it's going to be more exciting and just yeah big
00:32:07
Speaker
Big elevation changes, some dog legs. One of them I had a pretty good look for an email too, so maybe that tainted my view of the hole. Basically, they just had a whole lot of intrigue about them. Different sort of shapes to the holes, really. And a few of them you couldn't hit driver was it risky off the tee as well, which is always a bit quirky for a par five. And they were playing in different directions as well. So, you know,
00:32:36
Speaker
the wind doesn't necessarily impact you as much, which was quite cool. Around this part of Ireland, I...
00:32:46
Speaker
I don't know what the exact kind of township's called, but what is the community and the village's kind of like? Very small, like I was saying the obvious, but they're very friendly people, Ireland, and it'll be a theme in this pod, just accommodating. Definitely out of all the places I traveled in Europe, over that sort of two, three month stretch, the Irish were the friendliest by a mile. Yeah.
00:33:14
Speaker
It does get quite remote, like small town New Zealand, but probably 40 years ago or something like that. It feels almost backwards in a way, like some of the small towns in Ireland, which is quite refreshing actually. And then the roads, for those who aren't aware, the roads in Ireland aren't known to be the easiest for driving.
00:33:40
Speaker
When you get up into the more remote parts of the country, you start driving on what are allegedly double lane roads, but you can barely trip one car through, let alone two. How did the boys go with that? We were fine. Driving in the cities was almost harder. We had some hairy moments in Dublin just early on. I think one stage Monty went down a one-way lane, hitting against the grain.
00:34:13
Speaker
So the thing that's a bit unsettling sort of when you're driving there is they have these sort of stone walls, but they're hard up against the road. So you don't have like wriggle room either side. So it feels a lot tighter than it probably is as well. But I thought the boys did pretty well in the driving front, to be honest. Yeah, no skiers, which is a tick in the box.
00:34:42
Speaker
Well the car's coming back in one piece so like you can argue it was a fantastic driving display from the loads. Yeah, impeccable. So correct me if I'm wrong but this was your 36th whole day at Ennis Chrome and then you headed to County Sligo or is that false mail? We just paid County Sligo the next day. Okay so
00:35:10
Speaker
I see one of your favorites, mate. The floor is yours. Yeah, it just stays clear. I loved this place. Very different style to other courses we played at.
00:35:22
Speaker
doesn't really have dunes. So the fairways are a lot wider, which I can appreciate. A bit more of a Scottish sort of English type feel, more pop, because there's actually rooms. What happens in Ireland is there's not, with the big dunes, there's actually not any room to put pop bunkers. So at Sligo, we got a lot more of that. It was a bit more strategic off the tee, trying to take some bunkers out of play.
00:35:48
Speaker
And then around the greens as well without dunes, they had room for some pretty wicked green complexes. The greens were a little bit bigger, had some nice runoffs. I feel like you had a bit more options at Sligo. They hold and dictate how you should play it quite as much as the other golf courses in Ireland, I'd say. And that's what I really enjoyed about it. It was a great nick. The routing was really interesting. Oh, yeah.
00:36:19
Speaker
I can't speak highly enough of County Sligo. I think out of all of them, if I was a member anywhere, it probably would be there. Yeah, I've got very little to add to that. Cool little town, Sligo, like good place to, good place to stay. Quite a cool clubhouse. Probably one of the courses we have scoped to sort of play more runs, run chit shops, bump and runs around the greens.
00:36:49
Speaker
probably one of the tighter courses in terms of lies like a really good neck which which was quite fun just some nice you know ups and downs because whilst the walking through Ireland was quite difficult like with your dunes you know if you were to look at an elevation change over around you're probably not looking at massive amounts for a slugger you're going up big hills
00:37:17
Speaker
down the hills which was also quite nice for a change. We had a pretty cool experience actually probably on reflection like 13 holes and we were thinking we were looking at rain all day and then it just the heavens opened up and we literally tried to get through it but had to sprint from the back of the course into the clubhouse
00:37:44
Speaker
stripped down to our undies basically sat in the clubhouse for maybe, I don't know, two or three hours in the hope that the rain would clear. And then the boys in the clubhouse let us take a cart out for free when we got a small break in the weather and shot out for our last five or six holes, which was probably the best stretch in aggregate almost on the golf course.
00:38:12
Speaker
The logo, the County Sligo logo, is probably top two on the trip, so I'd say Waterville and Sligo had the best logos. I've got a head cover from there, so if you don't know where to buy your kit, I'd say Sligo's up there, because it does have an epic logo, and it's pretty proximate to Enus Grown, so it's probably 45 minutes from Enus Grown, so the scope to do a 36-hole day
00:38:41
Speaker
if that's desired because outside of that it's pretty sparse in terms of top-tier golf courses. They've got a bit of a yarn, I think.
Unique Courses and Humorous Travel Tales
00:38:53
Speaker
I see again the floor is yours. I think you might be better at telling this one, but... Yeah, I'll have a go. So we didn't stay many B&Bs, we were mainly our own resonances, but
00:39:11
Speaker
Sligo, there was a distinct lack of accommodation options because you're in a relatively small town. So we stayed in a B&B and our host, our lovely host, Celine, was great. It was a cold, cold, cold evening. I think AC and I had been out. Oh no, we got home late from Enesco and there was
00:39:40
Speaker
We thought we were probably the last ones home maybe. So there was some opaque instructions with the door opening and closing that we didn't quite get our head around. So I think what happened is we got home late and thought we were the last ones home. Locked the door, maybe on accident, I can't recall and turns out, yeah, we go down for breakfast the next morning and what had been a pretty cold and a pretty thundery night.
00:40:10
Speaker
in a small town island and AC had managed to lock Celine and her darling husband out of the house for the night.
00:40:26
Speaker
for the life of it. They didn't have a spare key or something so they were unable to get into their own home. I think they tried to scale the fence and get into the back door and our phones were blowing up the next morning. I think they'd been banging on the door for around three or four hours and I think
00:40:49
Speaker
One of the guests in the other room managed to let them in at maybe 3 or 4 am and probably the best part about it was she comes down and was explaining it to me in the morning like we were so cold couldn't get in and I was like oh shit sorry about that and the AC just shrugged it off like nothing had happened
00:41:13
Speaker
For a pretty sympathetic guy, there was a distinct lack of sympathy showing for poor Celine. Was that... Go on, AC, mate. I need to hear more about this. So I'm one of those people that sweats everything. Normally in that situation, I'd feel so guilty. I'd be thinking about it for weeks. But I just...
00:41:39
Speaker
I just couldn't wrap my head around how there was no other way you could get into your house, especially when you're hosting like four different bedrooms. I just couldn't get my head around that. I said, there's got to be a spare key or a way on the back door. Like you guys, surely that's got to be in the models. So I don't know. I didn't. I don't think I'd really appreciated what we'd done. Yeah. I was about rattles in the morning.
00:42:05
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't, I don't think I even used the word sorry, which... I don't know. And I think we're checking out that morning too, which probably helps. Good timing. Was it a frosty reception over your cornflakes or... Oh, she made it with a shit Ricky. Yeah. I hope she's not a listener. Nah, I felt bad. So I gave her five stars. Good on you, mate. I'm glad you can sleep at night after that.
00:42:36
Speaker
Then we headed across to Khan. So as I mentioned, Sligo is sort of the north eastern corner of Ireland. We then traversed essentially across to Khan, which was sort of in the north western corner of Ireland.
00:42:55
Speaker
between Sligo and Khan as Enes grown for a bit of context. So it's probably 45 from Sligo to Enes grown and then another 45 or maybe even a bit more onto Khan. So Khan, how do you describe Khan? 27 holes of just rugged, extravagant,
00:43:21
Speaker
chaotic unique I don't know it was probably you know the probably the craziest course I'll I'll play or at least I've played in my time shaggy condition which made it just all the better like just we talk about these tunes and these
00:43:44
Speaker
But this was sort of next level, probably like the, the scale, but also the consistency of it. Like each whole year, you're just weaving in between these journeys. It's probably a decent way of describing it. Um, you get out to the coast at one point, um, you know, Jerry McGuire, the guy who greeted us at the club, absolutely leads and had so much time for us. Like, yeah, I think that the club has struggled.
00:44:14
Speaker
in the past to sort of put itself on the map and has struggled financially. COVID hurt it. They were ramping up the visitor rounds again, but it's still very small in the context of Irish golf. It's quite remote, which makes the experience all the better.
00:44:32
Speaker
He gave us a great term, the lobster pot, when describing a pub. Once you get in, you can't get out. In reference to one of the local pubs near there, which I thought was great. And I started to weave in to my vocabulary back home. I don't know AC, you must buy all 27 holes. The Kilmore 9, which was our last 9 holes,
00:45:03
Speaker
I don't know. I was just struggling for words. It was cool.
00:45:08
Speaker
It's very hard to describe. I think what we'll do is we'll put some stuff on socials and just I think a few photos next to June's just to put in perspective how like when you're putting on the greens next to them how tall they actually are when you see a human under it. Just for that reference. I think it's yeah it's one of those ones where I just don't think you can ever describe it. I don't think a video or photo will ever truly reflect
00:45:38
Speaker
sort of how dramatic it is it's it's kind of like playing golf on the moon it was it's just so you just feel so you just it just feels like you're actually on a different planet and it sounds really soppy and painful but it's it's true i think one memory i'll have is on the kilmore nine there's this hole that
00:46:04
Speaker
probably about 300 up the hill and this hill is steep and it's it's firm and Monty's hit hit his two iron probably 200 meters 210 and up the hill and into the middle of fairway and we just thought oh nice shot sort of thing and then probably about 10 seconds later this thing's rolling back a hundred meters and which is
00:46:29
Speaker
Which is unfair, but if you laugh it off, it's just like that hole was just so outrageous. I'll never forget that. I think I went from having a... I think I remember it would have been about a 54 into the green and I think I hit six iron. Because if my memory serves me correctly, like... And that hole follows probably like one of the coolest par fives, right? That one where you like weave
00:46:58
Speaker
You go left, then you go right, then you go left, basically, onto a screen. A really risk-reward golf course. If you're hitting drive around there, again, it's not long. You could probably make hay, but even more so than some of these other courses, a big risk-reward element. It was the site of a club throw. I'm embarrassed by that on reflection, but it was just the compounding of
00:47:27
Speaker
like early legs golf experience where you sort of nothing quite goes your way. You get these unlucky bounces. You just can't quite hit the golf ball properly. And it's just, you know, all the frustration came out. It can for a couple of holes. I think we both made two on this par three afterwards, which was cool. We did it a couple of times on the trip.
00:47:51
Speaker
Yeah I distinctively remember Monty and I just making messes of par fives and they were always after we had something a bit a couple of big numbers and you felt like you might be able to get one back with a little wedge in your hand into the par five and wedge shank one or fat one and make a six and we did that all trip really. I think it was almost like you put a bit of pressure on yourself and you're on the par fives.
00:48:16
Speaker
And that's where, that's the frustration Monty's alluding to, but the Kilmore 9, I reckon I finished three holes. It was, the rough was so tough. And I, I just lost it at that point in the round. I was pretty gassed. It's a tough walk around count. So I think if you're playing the Kilmore 9, you do want a decent break between your, your 18 hole round. You have to play the Kilmore 9.
00:48:45
Speaker
You're there, you can't not. Yeah, I can't. I've been being high on my agenda for a long time and I really hope I get there and seeing all the footage of you guys playing and obviously the the no leg up boys went there and kind of I don't know if this is correct but put them on the map a little bit but you can just tell by all the things I've seen through you guys and through other stuff how drastic it really is and
00:49:11
Speaker
You can just tell, you know, to accomplish podcasts like yourself struggling for words to describe this magnificent place, I think it's just a place, and I haven't been there, that you need to get to. And I can't rant on sort of the whole experience of getting there too, like it's very remote, hands down be the most remote part of the
00:49:34
Speaker
the country that we were in and you sort of take this road where you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere and then next minute you're in this golf course at the tip of, you know, the north-western tip of Ireland. It's pretty epic in combination with the grand nature of the golf course. Anything else they say? The one thing we haven't actually talked about yet is just how windy it was at every golf course we played.
00:50:04
Speaker
Staying the obvious, Lynx Golf is always going to be winning, but we were dealing with three to four club breezes all day, really. There'd be occasional times where it died down, but that was sort of the normal, I'd say. Yeah, and that day was no different. After that, that was our only 36 all day. So we played 27 at Khan, and then probably drove for a couple of hours and then played
00:50:35
Speaker
nine holes and this was heading down to the southwest which is you know we're a pocket of good golfers so then we played a country nine holder called Morani which Tom Coyne had recommended from memory through his book as one of his more preferred nine holders in Ireland sort of sheep for context like honesty box green fees
00:51:02
Speaker
Fences around the greens, sheep roaming around. Relatively small area of land crossing over holes almost. And then just sort of caught this stunning little, stunning bay with these massive sort of hills on either side. Very, very lovely outlook. And a very flat, flat pleasant walk. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's a must do, but if you're looking for a cheap and cheerful
00:51:33
Speaker
fun nine-holer, different experience to some of the other ones then, you know, I'll put it on the list.
Reflecting on Must-Play Courses
00:51:41
Speaker
Yeah, not a lot to add. It was, I think, pleasant. It's a great way to describe it. It was just a nice evening. The wind had started to die down. The other thing was it's just so flat, which was really nice. It was just a real easy walk. I think I played in runners. And there was a couple of cool little
00:52:01
Speaker
quirks to it. There's a really cool part three. I enjoyed it. I agree in that it's not something you need to worry about, but definitely worth kind of calling it if you're passing by and still feel like you're up to playing a bit of golf. And it's probably the most local course that we played. We'd probably been the only tourists through there for
00:52:24
Speaker
You know, all week at least, like there's probably only only 50 tourists that play there a year type thing, you know, which is quite cool. Like all the locals were just out there in jandals and walking the dogs and everything. It's got, yeah, nice contrast. Awesome boys. We're heading to the kind of the end of part one. One thing I just kind of want to circle back on as you talk about the lobster pot being the local around Khan. Did you guys get yourself stuck in a lobster pot when you were there?
00:52:55
Speaker
Nah we had to get moving so we didn't we didn't go out and can't. Basically Jerry said to us there's probably I'm speculating here there's probably about two places you can stay in and can't and he asked us if we'd stayed and if we'd experienced the pub and he said and we said no and he said next time you must stay in Cairn and you must go to this establishment so I think
00:53:22
Speaker
You know, you got to take his word for it. So if you're up in Cairn, we stayed in Sligo, then trek to Cairn. It's been a night of Cairn and experience the original Lobster Pot, if you will. Yeah, I think Bell Mullet's the town. Bell Mullet, that's it. Well, I'm sure you'll find yourself in a Lobster Pot at some point, especially if you're
00:53:50
Speaker
you know, head back that way or maybe on your Scotland trip or, you know, maybe just on Saturday. But boys, as we wrap up this pod, what are the must dos of part one that we've kind of gone over? Yeah, I think if you're being cut throat and you were cut for time,
00:54:11
Speaker
or on a budget let's say I think in this in this pocket of golf courses we we planted say you must play county sligo um as we alluded to quite different to what we had great nick you must pay carne and all three nines is
00:54:28
Speaker
as we're emphasised, and I think you must play the island in Dublin. Like, so therefore, we've opted to leave out, I guess, the two-night hole of Mulrani, Corbalis, and Enniscrone, as we've probably touched on. But not that they're bad in their own right, but if you're really tight for time, you know, I'd go with those.
00:54:57
Speaker
And is there anything that you guys maybe had to cut out when you were doing your itinerary that you'd probably play or is there anything you'd do differently about the start of the trip? We would have loved to play Port Marnock.
00:55:14
Speaker
They had no bookings available when we would have liked to play, so it just didn't line up. But I think while you're in Dublin, Port Marnock sounds like it's an absolute must. And especially if you just kind of want to do it all while you're there, it's one that you shouldn't leave out. Yeah, the other thing I'll add is I think Sligo was probably best course value for money as well. So while you're there, that's
00:55:42
Speaker
That's definitely another sort of thing I can rant home about Sligo, even though I've already given it a pretty, pretty big rap. The other thing I'd say, just generally on the whole, without wanting to toot our own horn is, you know, we, we were quite diligent in our research heading into the trip. And I think, you know, as a playbook, generally, we were pretty happy on the large, by and large, so like,
00:56:12
Speaker
If one's looking to traverse through Ireland, we were pretty content generally, but Port Marnock would be the one on this pocket of the trip that we were just unlucky this time around. But I think probably we should probably post our full itinerary or something, including a combination afterwards too. It's probably a good thing to do. Yeah, I was so content. We nailed it.
00:56:40
Speaker
Boys, I've absolutely loved you running me through the start of your trip. We obviously have talked about it a little bit, but I haven't heard all these yarns and depth and, you know, the Celine one definitely stands out. I don't remember ever hearing that yarn. So that's brilliant stuff. And, you know, I think you've provided a great insight to playing some of the golf courses in Ireland and, you know,
00:57:04
Speaker
part two i'm really looking forward to so thanks guys for tuning in and i really hope you enjoyed the boys yarns and as we've said part two is coming out in the next fortnight so keep your eyes and ears peeled we're going to have heaps of stuff on socials describing the trip photos videos i hope there's a club throw a yard in there but
00:57:28
Speaker
Boys, thanks for breaking that down with me at such different times of the day and I really enjoyed it and I'm sure the listeners will catch you next time.