The Holy Grail

Friday of the golf week is our big treat, where we play the Old Course at St. Andrews.

It's always a joy and a sense of excitement driving off on the first tee, with the clubhouse behind, the gallery watching ! and the widest fairway in the world suddenly looking quite challenging .. I love it ..

We had a lovely day - some sunshine and even the odd patch of good golf ! I started well - had a nice birdie on the 5th .. but went a bit downhill after that ! Had a visit to Hell Bunker .. and my first visit to the Road Hole bunker (well would be rude not to !).

We retired to the Dunvegan afterwards to relive another wonderful week. Then back to base to prepare for the fun and games at the Links Clubhouse on Friday night.

As always, we were treated to a wonderful meal, following a Champagne reception - and piping in of the haggis .. Old Tom Morris paid his customary visit and reminded us of his and his son Tommy's contribution to golf. This year too, we had an additional treat with a pipe band, which joined us for a few tunes .. a great addition.

Some of the teams really entered into the Scottish Spirit ....






And so to the end of another wonderful week at St. Andrews.

Thanks to Mark and all at Links Golf, Lyndsay, Leanne, Ross, Jamie, John, Scott, Colin, Kenny, Ken, Iain and Charlotte for a really great week.

God Bless and Haste Ye Back

Onwards and Upwards

Wednesday was another team game on the Jubilee and Thursday the individual Stableford on the New Course.

We were extremely lucky throughout the week not to get wet .. although the back nine on the Jubilee was really cold with a biting wind which seemed to be always against us ! Great day though and we all  particularly enjoyed the team competitions.

To the Fairways ...

Tricky Par 3 8th at Kingsbarns

The first game of the week was at Kingsbarns .. fantastic course with wonderful sea views from almost every hole. Great day. I really enjoyed the game and the fish and chips afterwards !

Tuesday, we returned to the Castle Course. I was particularly looking forward to the round here, since we saw very little of it last year in a wind and rain storm ! This time around, it was much better ! Sunny and bright, if not exactly warm. It's a really beautiful course, great to play in the team scramble format. I wouldn't like to have been playing my own ball !

This is our team for the round at the Castle : Frank (with Cedric and Mulligan - long story !), Alan and Petra.
I was delighted to be re-united with Ian, my trusty caddy. Ian was away last year and I missed him badly. He looks after me very well !

Tuesday night sees the night out at the Jigger :

It's a great night's craic, with music, chat and of course plenty of the local produce .. malt whisky etc etc.

Great music from Celine and Leo, a set from Elvis and a bar or two of Danny Boy.

Here's a blast of the craic  !

Scene of the Crime !

I've almost forgiven the Carnoustie Championship course for breaking my wrist 2 years ago !

I met up with Frank on the Sunday morning and we played Carnoustie. I always enjoy the course - it's a wonderful links, with the wind blowing from a different direction every minute. I always think of my fellow Dubliner Padraig when I play the 18th, and his heroics on the 18th where he survived first time around and came back to narrowly defeat Sergio in the playoff, to win his first Open - magic.

We then headed down to St. Andrews for the opening reception of the Golf Week.

As always, the magic of the Home of Golf kicks in as soon as I see the 18th fairway and the R&A clubhouse .. looking forward to a wonderful week's golf.

Looking for Nessie ...

I couldn't leave the Highlands without seeing the wonderful Loch Ness.

Unbelievably, it was an absolutely lovely sunny day when I took to the water in search of Nessie herself. It was a lovely few hours enjoying the water and the stunning views ..(I didn't find her !). Here's my little memory ..




Next day, Saturday, I drove on at a leisurely pace from Inverness down through Boat of Garten and Aviemore to Carnoustie for the next leg of the Scottish Golf Fest !

Highland Fling

8th Fairway at Royal Dornoch

Hi again,

I've been very lucky this year to be able to add an extra week to my April trip to St. Andrews, and play some golf in the magnificent Scottish Highlands.

Andy Murray's Post Box in Dunblane.

I drove across to Inverness from Belfast, stopping off at Dunblane to see Andy Murray's Gold Postbox !

The Kings at Gleneagles - in the snow

 It's impressive, but would be nice to have his name and Olympic achievements recorded on it.Good to see nevertheless.

I stopped off for lunch at Gleneagles, only to discover that the courses are closed and have been closed quite a lot since Christmas because of the snow. They still look magnificent though.

The road up to Inverness, once you pass Perth is sometimes one lane and can be quite taxing to drive, so I was very happy when I got to Culloden House, just outside Inverness. With it's sweeping driveways, it's a very imposing structure and looks exactly as I'd imagine a Highland Great House to be. It's very close to the site of the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and was requisitioned by Bonnie Prince Charlie for the days before the Battle.

Culloden House, near Inverness in the Highlands.

The interior doesn't disappoint and you'd expect to see Mr. Darcy ride up on his horse and come in for tea with Miss Bennett ! I spent a very enjoyable few days at Culloden House.

My first game was about an hour away, up across the Dornoch Firth at Royal Dornoch. I had an incredible day at Royal Dornoch. The strong Spring sunshine made for very pleasant conditions and there was virtually no one about ! millionaire's golf. Fantastic day, on what is truely one of the finest courses in the country if not the world.



Here's a little record of my day at Royal Dornoch and the next 2 at Castle Stuart.





Castle Stuart is a very new course, and has staged two successful Scottish Opens. It's a modern links on the shores of the Murray Firth. I had 2 wonderful days at Castle Stuart. More spring sunshine and absolutely magnificent views across the firth. 

The snow glistening on the mountains further north made a wonderful backdrop for the holes by the firth.

Wonderful golf course. Now that I've played it, I'm very much looking forward to watching the Scottish Open this year, and seeing how it should be played !

Flakey Spring ...

Hello again friends and bloggers.

We started our golf season again this year, with a late March weekend on the wonderful North coast of Ireland. Unfortunately, the weather didn't co operate quite as well as last year, when we played in short sleeves. This time it was heavy duty weather gear and snow on the hills ! but nevertheless, we survived and had a great weekend.

Friday was our first game at Castlerock, a wonderful course, but the sleet and snow was a force to be reckoned with !

Saturday saw us at the Valley at Royal Portrush. We didn't have snow, but the wind was biting .. evidenced by the headgear !

Sunday at Portstewart was another good day .. cold and snowey, but a very enjoyable round on a wonderful course.



It can only get better ! for the rest of the season ...