Ireland
May 2005

Our Second Trip

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In May 2005 we returned to Ireland.  The people had so enchanted us with their warmth and sincerity that we hated to leave the first time.  Two people were specifically responsible for this feeling.  Sean, the ghillie at The K Club and Diarmuid our caddy at Old Head.  Both exhibited the best of the Irish and we looked forward to furthering our friendships.

On the first trip Sean had taught us the basics of fly casting and we did a minimal amount of fly fishing on The River Liffey.  I am completely bitten by the fly fishing bug and would give up golf for fly fishing.

The primary reason we chose the end of May for our return was the Duffer's Fortnight which is the annual Mayfly hatch.  The hatch is so prolific and the fish so reckless anyone can catch fish as long as they can get a line in the water hence the term Duffer's Fortnight.

Unfortunately the last two weeks of May turned out to be the coldest in over a decade and completely shut down the hatch.  "March weather in May" a quote from Collin Montgomery at the Irish Open on our second day.  On the second night Sean was wearing the heavy coat and clothing he wears in November and December. The temperature dropped from the low  and mid 60's into the low and mid 40's.  The winds were in the 30 to 40 mph range and the rains were heavy.  We did have several warm and sunny days during the last week.

But any trip to Ireland comes with the knowledge of the inclemency of the weather.  WE HAD A GREAT TIME AND CAN NOT WAIT TO GET BACK. 

Day 1

Friday May 20, 2005

Day 2

Cold and windy while were fishing.  The temperature dropped to 7 Celsius.  That's about 44 degrees.

Lots of wind and rain - We played the Smurfit Course but took No Pictures

Day 4

Day 4 was a travel day.  We moved from the K Club to the Perryville House in Kinsale.  Kinsale is a fishing town in the south, south of Cork and the last town north of Old Head.

The Perryville House proved to be a very pleasant surprise.  We would recommend it to anyone traveling in the area.

Kinsale is charming and functional.  It represents a typical Irish town that is lively with day to day life and compatible with tourism.  Gayle was skeptical before we arrived but quickly fell in love with the place.  Why not?  Good lodging, great shops, wonderful cappuccino and mocha and its the place to stay when playing Old Head.  Dinners at Man Friday overlook the harbor, are romantic and the food is good.

Old Head Golf
The most beautiful location, the best design, the toughest conditions

Any one reading this who has seen the pictures of our first trip knows my opinion of Old Head; it is the most beautiful place on this planet and where family and friends should play golf after my passing to celebrate my love of life.  The course design is impeccable.  The weather is very challenging with winds commonly in the 30 to 40 mph range.

This trip was scheduled for two days.  The first day we had  some sun with scattered showers and winds blowing at least 35 mph.  The second day was colder and very foggy.  As we got out of the car the fog horn blared. Heavy rain was predicted to move in about noon.  I can play in 40 mph winds or heavy rain but not both at the same time so we did not play the second round. 

Still we got to renew our acquaintance with Diarmuid, the gentleman who caddied for us on our first trip.  Diarmuid has remained in touch since that first trip via email.  Diarmuid is an engineer/technician at the Archer Daniels Midland (AMD) plant in Cork and caddies for love of the game.  He is a proud west Cork man and a delight to spend time with.  He caddied for us at Old Head and then joined us a couple of days later at Mount Juliet to play.

Before we consider the golf we must talk about the geography and history.  To get an aerial view of the Old Head review the photos of our prior trip.  The geography and topography are remarkable. click here to review the photos from prior trip. We discuss the tunnels and cliffs extensively in the prior trip photos, be sure to scroll down to the photos showing the tunnels.  The history is also covered.  The Old Head of Cork's, as the area is referred to in history books, most significant historical element is the signal fire structure.  It is the oldest known "light house" in this part of Europe.  Because of its topography it was also the place where Vikings, and other invaders made a foothold on Eire (Ireland).  This is the location of the only "permanent" encampment of the Vikings.

The French and English used this at a point to invade or smuggle guns onto / into Ireland.  Their point of entry is known as Gun Bay.  The German submarine that sank the passenger ship Lusitania hid in Gun Bay until the Lusitania passed and then went out and did its dastardly deed.

Lets start with some of the historical aspects of Old Head.

The day we played we had frequent showers and steady winds in excess of 35 mph.  On one par 3 I had 175 yards to the center of the green.  Diarmuid handed me my 150 club, a 7 iron and said "hit it 20 yards out over the ocean . . . and good luck".  I hit the ball 205 yards, it ended up just over the back of the green.  Consider this. . . it took a gale force wind from behind for me to be able to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger does into the wind.

OLD HEAD FACTS

1. Leaving Old Head this is the traffic one encounters. Admittedly this is a remote location but these conditions can and do exist everywhere you go.  Drive carefully!

2. Diarmuid is a great golf companion. 

3. This is the best designed golf course in the world.

Link to Old Head Golf Links website

Mount Juliet

We left Old Head early primarily due to the hard rains that were predicted to hit by noon.  Frankly,  part of the motivation for leaving was to get to Mount Juliet.  Mount Juliet is where the American Express Championship has been played and is on the River Nore.   We were hoping the fishing would be better farther south but it was not.  There was no mayfly hatch at all.  Billie our Ghillie is 60 and was born and raised on the estate.  His sons are 30 and 34 and lived there until a few years ago.  He has fished the river for 55 years; this was the first year there were no mayflies in May.

We invited Diarmuid to bring a friend and play some golf with us. He graciously made the 2 hour drive.  I guess he has no problem taking money from me.  Caddie fees are paid discretely but golf bets get paid "on top of the table for all to see".  His friend was Vince.  Vince was at a wedding until 3:30 AM and got up and picked up Diarmuid by 6:30 AM.  The Irish love their golf.

An interesting cultural note.  Weddings are not done on Saturdays and Sundays in Ireland.  They happen during the week.  Work is automatically excused.  We do weekend weddings so we can work.  They skip work and get married during the week. They put more importance on life events.

We have some nice pictures of the river and scenery but none of fish.  We caught 3 very small ones. Two were trout and one salmon.

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Mount Juliet

We spent day 7 fishing and site seeing.  The traffic is a constant theme in our presentation.  Here we show Thomastown, Mount Juliet and Kilkenny.

Golf at Mount Juliet and our return to the K Club

The dawned warm and clear.  Our excitement was high because Diarmuid was coming to Mount Juliet to play with us.  As mentioned above Diarmuid brought a friend, Vince.  Both exemplify the Irish gentleman and the sport of golf.  We were deeply honored that they would spend the time with us.

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As mentioned above the day was warm and clear.  Our first since getting to Ireland.  I was very anxious to get back to the K Club and get some mayflies hatch action.  As it turned out I went down to the river about an hour early.  The bugs  were hatching and the fish were going crazy.  The water literally boiled for about an hour.  It was like waves of hot water coming down the river.  The bugs must have been coming up from the bottom and getting washed down stream. It was like a wave going around Angel stadium the way the fish boiled in waves down the river. 

Unfortunately I was alone and did not take photos.  The experience is worth the trip for anyone looking to fly fish in Ireland.

K Club

The weather cooperated for one more day.  It was cooler and did put off the hatch on the river so we went over to one of the lakes.  We fished about 2 hours.  The entire time fish were breaking the surface chasing bugs.  We would cast to specific fish.  We hooked 11 nice fish and landed 9.  They were all in the 17 to 20 inch range. 

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K Club

We were scheduled to move on to the Slieve Donard Hotel and golf at Royal County Down.  Royal County Down is purported to be the most picturesque of all links courses.  We will get there on one of our next trips.  It is in Northern Ireland just southeast of Belfast.  With the weather conditions crunching our fishing and predictions of heavy rains on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we decided to stay at the K Club and take our chances on the fishing.  We will get to Royal County Down on one of our next two trips.  In the future we hope to do heli-golf and avoid the time spent on the roads.

Because we stayed at the K Club and did more or what we had been doing from this point forward we only have limited pictures.[photogallery/photo00024389/real.htm]

Relaxing at the K Club and a round of golf on the Palmer (Ryder Cup) Course

We were getting ready to leave.  We played some golf and did some gift shopping.  Savoring our good fortune.[photogallery/photo00028937/real.htm]

Portmarnoch

For anyone arriving or departing from the Dublin airport we would strongly  suggest staying at the Portmarnoch Hotel.   If you are arriving and have a longish drive try staying here the first day/night.  If your flight leaves before noon this is a great way to avoid Irelands morning rush hour which last until 10:00 AM. 

It is a nice facility, new, probably built within the last 10 years and extremely conveniently located in relation to the airport.  It is also beach front property and has a links course designed by Bernard Langer.  The hotel is built using part of an old whisky distilling plant.  The food, service and ambiance are perfect.  It is only 15 to 20 minutes from the airport.  With Irelands traffic conditions this is clearly a relaxing way to make your flight or get the jet lag shaken off.  Staying helps avoid unnecessary frustrations.  The golf is so/so.  This is not a 'must play' facility, still if you have time to kill, try it.[photogallery/photo00003476/real.htm]

Return to US and Reynolds Plantation

On Wednesday June 1 we caught a flight back to Atlanta.  To break up the travel I thought we spend a night at a place called Reynolds Plantation.  It is an hour east of Atlanta and about half way to Augusta.  This turned out to be a good move.  Pinehurst has long been Gayle's favorite resort.  Reynolds dumped all over Pinehurst.  In fact, it beat out Hawaii as our destination for Gayle's birthday trip in October.

Reynolds Plantation and Return to California

As discussed above we were very impressed with Reynolds Plantation.  As you might expect it is a large family owned property.  Their lodge is run by the Ritz Carlton.  They have a world class spa, 5 'name brand' golf courses and a 19,000 acre lake. 

Sorry, by now we were pretty well pictured out.  When we go back in October we promise to take plenty of pictures.

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The End