We went to Ireland in 1988 to play golf and see my cousin. We invited her and her husband to join us for dinner at the Ashford Castle where we were staying, it was nice meeting her for the first time. While there we played golf at the Westport Golf Course, a beautiful parkland course, the weather was good. The caddies were young boys from 10 to 14 years old, they made the play memorable. Next off to the hotel Europe in Killarney, we skipped a scheduled tour and played Killarney Lakes GC on another nice day, a beautiful course located right next to the lakes. The Irish Open was held there in 1991 & 92 and in 2010 & 11. Next we played Ballybunion GC, perhaps the hardest golf course I’ve ever played. When we arrived at the course it was really blowing, the caddies who normally come out of the caddie shack when you arrive didn’t come out. A while later they came out, I asked one of them “when it was summer?”, he replied “that was last July 4th”. The golf holes at Ballybunion remind you of Bud Chapman’s Infamous 18 golf holes, you stood on the tee and said “What?” When we got to the first par 3 hole I asked the caddie “where do I aim?”, he said “aim 30 yards to the right of the green”, I did and my shot went from way right to the very left side just off the green. The wind blows from the Atlantis Ocean up the bluffs and across the course making it very difficult. I luckily walked off the course after shooting an 87. We went across Ireland to Dublin where we played Portmarnock GC, home of the Irish Open 19 times. We played two days after the Open was held there, the grandstands were still in place, just no gallery for us but we did have good weather. It is a very nice course. It was very nice playing golf in Ireland, the people are extremely friendly and the golf courses are very nice but can be difficult to play depending on the weather.
Mike & Sandie