Friday, Aug 19, 2011 --- Real Irish Golf - Lahinch and Doonbeg

This is the day we are scheduled for 36 holes – 18 at Lahinch and 18 at Doonebeg (optional). We had met some other travelling golfers earlier in the day and they said that Lahinch was their favorite of all the courses – a very tall statement since they had played many of the same courses we had played. It was right down the street from our hotel so the 8:30 tee time on the Castle Course was easy to meet. It was rainy and dreary, and the forecast for the day was not an optimistic one.

We teed off in a light rain that we would battle off and on for the first 14-15 holes. The course was great! On the first hole Stevie Wonder (Wander?) put a 165 yard fairway shot stiff for a kick-in birdie to start the round (and a skin). As usual, there were many good views and challenging holes with notable elevation changes. There was a lot of really thick rough (a swing and a miss did happen on occasion to more than one golfer), but no gorse or heather (remember the distinction?).

Our group had a stellar caddie – Dennis. He worked so hard for all of us and he traversed the cold and rain with only a heavy wool sweater (that thing must have weighed 15 pounds soaking wet).

We played through gorgeous holes and some ruins of ancient castles. Playing this course on a sunny day would have been unimaginably wonderful, and this writer can see why the other itinerant golfers we met said it was their favorite.

The last 4 holes were in a steady rain and driving wind. We were all pretty much worn out from the conditions. The last 4 holes were basically dead into the wind so the 408 yard par 4 Hole 17 pretty much played like a 550 yard par 5. No one was even inside the 100 yard marker in two. Once again, Bob looked like Nanuk of the North and of course Mittens … well let’s just say we all know how he likes cold, wet weather. I don’t think it reached anywhere close to 60⁰ that morning.

The schedule called for lunch at the Greg Norman-designed Doonebeg clubhouse (just about 8 miles away) and 18 for the afternoon with a forecast of more hard winds and rain. Some of us felt like, as the saying goes, “We didn’t come here to get our nails done” and others fell into the “Eighteen holes in the rain is enough for one day” camp. So, Tim (no surprise), Pat and John Emhardt henceforth became known collectively as “The Ladies” with Emmie landing the nickname Buttercup and Pat acquiring the nickname Sweet Pea (of course, the P has a double entendre given his first name and his incident at the Cliffs of Mohr).

On to Doonbeg - at least for the MEN

The MEN (JZ, Chan, Bob, John Peer, Steve and Marty agreed to join us to make 2 threesomes) were off to golf at Doonbeg. This was a wonderful place for many reasons:

• It is very new by Irish standards (only 14 years old) and has an exquisite clubhouse;
• There was a wedding that evening and it apparently involved bride, bridesmaids and guests who were all super models (more on that later);
• The seafood chowder in the dining room was outstanding (very needed on the cold, damp day);
• The caddies were excellent (Marty even got his favorite caddie Maria – or is it caddiette?).

The caddy master asked if we were really going to go out and play in this weather and we assured him we were committed to the entire 18. At that point, the caddies were drawing straws to see who had to go out with us, and John was the unlucky one with me. When one of the caddies hooked up with us and we were introducing ourselves, we went through Marty, Steve, Bob, John, John and Chan. At the last name he repeated “John?” because I suspect he heard a slightly different pronunciation from the previous two John’s. Chan repeated “Chan” to which the caddie questioned incredulously “Sean?!?!?!” most assuredly thinking Chan did not look Irish. We spelled it for him, and then he was on board. I was very glad to have John (the caddy) – he was engaging, knowledgeable and certainly helped with club selection given the weather conditions.

We teed off in a howling wind with hard rain, and Hole 1 was a long par 5 that ended with a green surrounded on three sides by 30-40 foot dunes (Note: the old son-of-a-gun Marty had the long drive on the first hole by far, which he parlayed into a birdie). You can see the dunes in the distance straight-away where the green is nestled – of course the driving rain is obscuring the view.

As good fortune would have it, the rain stopped about the 4^th or 5^th hole, but the wind never relented, as we guesstimated it was in the range of 35-40 mph, which was confirmed by our caddies.  By the back nine the sun had appeared and we had a glorious (recall that means 65⁰ and very windy) afternoon of golf. We all loved the course as it had many scenic holes and was well-designed. My caddy told me that he caddied for Luke Donald who played the course from the tips in a steady rain and high winds (something like we were having that day, but all 18 holes) and shot a 68 (the course record is 67 by Greg Norman)!

 

It has some very interesting holes - #12 with a sandtrap in the middle of the green (below left), and the signature Hole 14 which was a 90-yard par 3, tucked on a hillside, facing straight into the ocean and a 40 mph wind (see below on the right). Chan hit a crisp 7-iron that got blown off course and landed short of pin-high on the hillside on the right. Steve (with advice from the caddie) played an 8-iron back in his stance and nailed a low bullet that got just past pin high. By the time it got there it had no momentum and literally stopped in its tracks 15 feet behind the pin. It was amazing to see such a low, hard-hit shot not roll at all.

Hole #12 Doonbeg

Hole #14 Doonbeg

The finishing hole was right on the ocean with the clubhouse/resort right behind the green. It was a great way to finish with the sun getting low in the west over the ocean.

After the round, the supermodels were sauntering all around the grounds and getting organized for what looked like a rehearsal dinner. One of them had a camera. As we were getting on the bus, one of the super models mistakenly started to come on our bus! She got up the steps and was actually on the bus when we all started being fools and yelling at her to take our picture and join us for a beer etc. Our usually alert bus driver did not close the door fast enough, and she was able to back out with a good laugh – a good laugh for her and a major disappointment for us.

Later that night we had a great dinner in Lahinch town at the Atlantic Hotel (who knew you could get Kashmiri Curry Chicken in Ireland?). It was getting late, and we were walking back to our hotel (less than a mile away), when Pat and Z decided to stop in a bar (as opposed to pee outside the window). The rest of us walked on, but it appears that the two of them were kicked out of the bar within minutes and rejoined us on the walk. Who knows what they did inside, but they are holding to the credo, “What happens in Ireland, stays in Ireland.”