Ireland golf trip

Ireland golf trip

Jim George and I (Jeff Mann) played golf in Ireland for 13 days starting on July 11th 2018. We played golf every day and we completed 15 rounds of golf (36 holes per day on two occasions) during that 13-day time period. We only played golf on links-style golf courses - twice at the Wicklow golf club, 4x at the European golf club, 4x at the Ballybunion golf club (Cashen course), 3x at the Enniscrone golf club and twice at the Carne golf club. I mainly chose links-style golf courses that are very scenic and that had a considerable amount of grass-covered dunes, undulating fairways, plateau greens and lots of very thick rough. Ireland was suffering from a drought in the summer of 2018 and they had received no rain for many weeks, so the fairways were "browned-out" and very hard. Although they had no irrigation systems to water the fairways (+/- the tee boxes), they routinely managed to water the greens enough to keep them looking very green and healthy.

I did not take a camera with me on this golf trip to Ireland, but we used Jim's iPhone (Model 5) to take some photographic images at each golf course. I will be posting links to the original iPhone camera images and I will provide a brief description of each image. In totality, this small compendium of photographic images should provide a clear picture of the terrain of Irish links-style golf courses.

Please note that some of the jpg images are large files and it may take a long time to load the jpg image if you have a slow internet connection.

European golf club:

1) Hole 11. Jim is hitting a chip shot to a relatively flat green. Note that the bunkers are lined with wooden railway ties, which is a characteristic feature of the European golf club's bunkers and I have never experienced that particular feature at other Ireland golf courses.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanGC-Hole11.jpg

2) Hole 12. Jeff is driving on this par 5 hole, which runs parallel to the beach. Note the large dune covered with thick dune grass along the left side of the fairway and the beach on the right side of the fairway.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanHole12.jpg

3) 12th hole green. This U-shaped green is over 100 yards in length and it is apparently the largest green in the world.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanGC-Hole12.jpg

For more information, see this review at http://www.yourgolftravel.com/19th-hole/2013/08/14/a-round-at-the-european-club/

4) Hole 3. This is a par 5 hole and Jim is hitting his 2nd shot. The ball landed on the green, but it rolled off the right side of the green due to the slope of the green and the hard green surface. The ball ended up lying alongside the bunker on the right side of the green.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanHole2.jpg

5) Extra hole - 12a. The European golf club has two extra holes (holes 7a and hole 12a which are par 3 holes) and which are optional to play. Hole 12a is a par 3 hole that is over 200 yards in length and Jim is using a 6-iron. The green is well protected with a large dune on the right that is covered with thick grass and gorse bushes, thick grass on the left side of the green where the land falls off into a depressed hollow and a large grass-covered dune behind the green, which is relatively small in size. Getting a par 3 on this hole is a great achievement!

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanHole12a.jpg

6) Hole 7. Jeff is standing on the tee box of the 13th hole. One can see the 7th hole's green and fairway in the distance. The fairway is only 35 yards wide (between the two marshes that are tightly filled with reeds) and it is the stroke index number 1 hole at the European golf club. Getting a par on this hole is a very difficult, but satisfying, achievement (which Jim and I both achieved during the same round of golf)!

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanHole7.jpg

7) Hole 14. This is a very dramatic par 3 hole where the green is located on a plateau shelf. There are deep bunkers in front of the right-hand side of the front of the green and along the right-hand side of the green. There is a steep roll-off along the front side of the green on the left-hand side. There is very thick grass behind the green and also on the dune slope along the left-hand side of the green.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanGC-Hole14.jpg

This is an image of the bunker located to the right of the 14th green. Note that one enters/exits the bunker via grass-covered steps.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanGCBunker.jpg

8) Jim's golf ball landed so close to this wood-lined bunker wall that he he was forced to hit the ball backwards away from the green.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanGCBunkerBackwards.jpg

9) It is difficult to convey how thick the rough is alongside the fairways in Ireland. Here is an image of Jeff lying in the rough where the grass is very thick and matted down. Finding a ball in this thick rough is extremely difficult because the ball penetrates the matted-down grass and disappears deeply into the interior below the matted grass subsurface.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanGCRough.jpg

10) Here is another image of Jim lying in the rough alonside a fairway.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EuropeanGCRoughJim.jpg

Ballybunion's Cashen golf course:

1) Hole 4. This is a par 4 hole and Jim is driving off the elevated tee towards the distant green that is surrounded by small grass-covered dunes. Note the "browned-out" fairway due to the lack of rain.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Cashen-Hole4.jpg

2) Hole 5. This short par 4 hole is Jim's favorite hole on the Cashen course. The small green is offset from the fairway and it is located on a ledge on the side of a sloping hill and it is very narrow from back-to-front with a back-to-front width of about 15 feet. Jim could get to the green using a five-iron off the tee followed by a wedge shot, while I used a driver off the tee followed by a nine-iron shot. I never got a par on this hole during any of the four rounds we played at the Cashen course. One day, my short iron shot landed short of the green and then rolled further down the hill. On another day, I landed in the sole bunker at the back of the green - and my bunker shot landed successfully on the green but the golf ball rolled off the front edge and then continued to roll down the hill. On another day, my short iron shot went into the thick grass at the back of green and I couldn't find the ball. I only landed my 2nd shot (approach shot) on the green during one round, but I three-putted for a bogey. By contrast, Jim had a birdie on one occasion and a par on another occasion.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CashenFive.jpg

Note that this particular photographic image was taken on a previous visit - using a digital SLR camera. Note the green fairway grass, which is the usual scenario under normal (non-drought) conditions.

3) Hole 7. This is a short par 4 hole, but the fairway is very narrow and it is easy to pull/hook one's tee shot so that it crosses the white out-of-bounds posts to then land on the beach. The green is very narrow from side-to-side. An approach shot miss on the left will result in the ball going out-of-bounds and landing on the beach, while an approach shot miss on the right will cause the ball to land in very deep rough. This is target golf at its very best!

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Cashen-Hole7.jpg

4) Hole 10. This is a dog-leg right par 4 hole. The fairway is very narrow and undulating and there are grass-covered dunes on either side of the narrow fairway.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CashenHole10.jpg

5) Hole 12. This par 3 hole is over 200 yards in length and I had to use a driver off the tee (which is located in the far distance on the other side of the cart path) because the plateau green is very elevated on the top shelf of a dune and I was often also hitting straight into a stiff wind. Jim is putting his ball in this image. Note the "browned-out" grass around the green due to the unusual drought conditions.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Cashen-Hole12.jpg

6) Hole 13. This is a long par 4 hole and I routinely had to use a fairway wood for my 2nd shot (approach shot). The green is very small and narrow (back-to-front) and it is located on a small ledge on the side of a dune. Any approach shot that lands short of the green often rolls 50-100 feet down the hill. An approach shot that goes well over the green will land in very thick dune grass.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CashenHole13.jpg

7) Hole 16. This is a short par 3 hole. In this image, I am teeing off from the green tee (senior tee). The green is very small with sloping sides that can cause the golf ball to run off in variable directions. If it runs off the front of the green, it usually rolls down the hill into a deep gully containing thick rough (which I call a "dark dungeon"). If it rolls off the back of the green, it would likely roll down the hill and land on the beach.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Cashen-Hole16.jpg

8) Hole 17. This is a very demanding par 5 hole alongside the beach. The green is elevated on a plateau and it has steep sloping sides that can cause the ball to roll off in different directions. Jim is performing a practice swing as he prepares to hit his 3rd shot off a tight lie (on the "browned-out" fairway). His golf ball landed short of the green on the left side where the rough was very thick.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Cashen-Hole17.jpg

On the next day's golf round, Jim's 3rd shot landed on the green, but it rolled off the back of the green and down a slope towards the rocky beach.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CashenLostBall.jpg

Note that Jim is looking for his ball, which he never found. The ball was either hidden in the very thick grass on the side of the hill or it rolled down the sloping hill into the sea. Jim unfortunately also left his Mizuno pitching wedge on the side of the sloping hill and he never found it again - it was either swallowed up by the earth or it was subsequently found by another golfer who kept it.

Enniscrone golf club:

1) Hole 3. Like many holes at Enniscrone, the fairway threads its way between the dunes in a twisting fashion, which means that one is often hitting a blind shot off the tee box. In this image, Jim is hitting his drive towards a white stone marker on the left side of the fairway in the far distance.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EnniscroneBlindTeeShot.jpg

Because a following group of golfers does not know whether its is safe to tee off, it is advisable to ring a bell after one has hit one's second shot - as shown in this next image.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EnniscroneBell.jpg

Note how thick the grass is in the rough alongside the fairway. An unskilled golfer hitting wayward shots is going to have to spend a lot of time climbing the dunes if he hopes to have any chance of finding his golf ball!

2) Tallest dune on the golf course.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EnniscroneDunes.jpg

I am walking along the "browned-out" fairway alongside a grass-covered dune that is between 50 -100 feet high. The vertical lines seen on the side of the dune in this image are due to narrow paths produced by hares (long-legged rabbits) running up-and-down the dunes.

Enniscrone golf course has the largest dunes that I have ever seen on a golf course - see this fly-over video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWu2TmZSNHc ) to get an idea of the extensive dune landscape at Enniscrone.

3) Hole 12. This is a short par 4 hole with a dog-leg left orientation. In this image I am preparing to hit my 2nd shot (approach shot) towards a green that is surrounded by grass-covered dunes. There is a large gully ("dark dungeon" depression) just over the hill and short of the green that is filled with thick grass. After this image was taken, I subsequently hit a great 6-iron shot which landed about 6 feet from the hole, but I unfortunately missed my birdie attempt!

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Enniscrone-Hole12.jpg

On the next day's round at Enniscrone GC, my golf ball landed at roughly the same spot on the fairway after driving off the tee box. However, I pulled my 2nd shot about 6 left of the green shot and my golf ball landed in the thick rough.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/EnniscroneHole12HittingFromRough.jpg

I could not find my ball in the thick rough, and I am preparing to hit a 2nd ball from a "spot" where I thought that my original ball landed.

4) Hole 16. This image of the 16th hole's fairway and green was taken from the 17th hole's tee box whole looking back at a following group of golfers approaching the 16th green. Note the large dunes and thick rough.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/Enniscrone-Hole16.jpg

Carne Golf Club:

The Carne golf course was opened in 1995 and the original 18-hole course was designed by the golf architect "Eddie Hackett". The first nine holes of the "Hackett Course" are located around the perimeter of the dunes area while the 2nd nine holes are located within the interior of the dune landscape. Another 9 holes were added in 2013 and it is called the "Kilmore Nine". The "Kilmore Nine" holes are located in the central interior zone of the dune area and it is the most dramatic set of nine holes at the Carne 27-hole golf course.

1) Hackett course hole 8. This is a long par 4 hole and Jim is hitting his approach shot towards the green which is located on a plateau shelf at the base of a large dune. Note the steep-roll off in front of the green and the thick dune-grass at the back and sides of the green.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CarneHole8.jpg

2) Hackett course hole 10. This is a long par 5 hole and Jim is hitting his approach shot towards the green which is surrounded by grass-covered dunes.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CarneHole10.jpg

3) Hackett course hole 16. This is short par 3 hole that is surrounded by many hazards - bunkers and many dunes covered with very thick grass. Note the foggy conditions - this was the only day that we experiened fog. This photo was taken from the 16th hole's tee box and you can see the preceding group of golfers on the green.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CarneHole16.jpg

4) Hackett course hole 18. This is a par 5 hole where the fairway is very undulating with large depressions. Note the clubhouse behind the left-hand side of the green.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/CarneHole18.jpg

5) Kilmore Course hole 6. This a 361 yard par 4 hole. The green is located on the top of a dune and the fairway leading to the green is very steep. Jim is driving of the tee. There is an out-of-bounds fence on the right. Note the 5th fairway between the dunes on the left-hand side of the image - the 5th fairway is very narrow and it twists-and-turns between the surrounding dunes.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/KillmoreHole6.jpg

6) Kilmore Course hole 7. This is a 200 yard par 3 hole where the green is elevated relative to the tee box and where there is no bale-out spot between the tee box and the green. The green is well protected by thick grass-covered dunes. Because of the elevation gain and steady headwind I had to use a driver to reach this green.

Link to original image - http://perfectgolfswingreview.net/KillmoreHole7Two.jpg

Jeff Mann.

July 2018.