I am a Rock I am an Island

Early to bed, early to rise……..not likely. Slept like a log, and starting to feel normal with the time change. Another Full Irish Breakfast under my belt (my ever expanding belt!) and I am back up to the room to pack for our first move later today as we will travel north to Newcastle, in County Down, Northern Ireland, after golf.

Pretty psyched about playing The Island Golf Club today, and am puzzled why you don’t see or hear much about it. I read this quote online……“The best course in Ireland you never heard of. Play it and don’t tell anyone.”……….and that appears to be the case. Ranked #7 in Ireland by Top100GolfCourses.com this is a true links course located on what used to be an island and accessible only by boat, but which now has a land connection. Depending on how you look at it, we were lucky that the rough, fescue, and marram grass, hadn’t really sprouted yet, so we were able to find our wayward shots, but unlucky that we didn’t see the course at its true best. Our host for the day was Jerry, a longtime member at the club who provided a fantastic guided tour as we played, while putting together a really solid round on the scorecard. The pictures really don’t do the course justice……..this is one tough golf course, and must be visually stunning once Mother Nature turns up the thermometer and the grasses take over. One of the best links courses I have ever played! No……..I won’t tell you my score.

After a quick…….you guessed it…..Guinness, we hit the road and headed north, expecting a 90 minute drive to reach Newcastle. Having NAV in the car is making travel pretty easy, and we were door to door without a wrong turn in a breeze. Our destination is the Slieve Donard Hotel……literally across the parking lot from Royal County Down GC, the local jewell of golf courses that we will play in a few days. The hotel is under renovation after being purchased by a US group in 2021. Pretty special place, and will be ab fab when all done. We stayed on property for dinner choosing the Percy French, a restaurant/lounge bar located in a separate building close to the entry gate for the hotel. Fantastic.

So that was the day……..all went well, and nobody got hurt. Tomorrow we are back on course at Ardglass.