OLD MAN

We are up at the crack of 6:30 to finish packing, load the car, and still have time for a FULL IRISH BREAKFAST, before hitting the road from coast to coast for Rosapenna. It is about a there hour drive, and our tee time is 12:10 so we do have to boogie. I honestly didn’t have time for the full meal deal this morning, but I did grab a few take-out sausages for the road…….J&S opted for the more sensible croissants w/sliced ham and a few muffins. Sad to say goodbye to the Slieve Donnard Hotel, but I’m sure we have more great hotels farther down the road.

Just a slight glitch with the NAV system resulted in our first missed turn of the trip, but we caught it early……Sibylle’s iPhone got us back on track, and to the golf course on schedule. We really had no time to check anything out, or even drop our bags at the hotel, so just checked in at the pro shop and headed to the first tee. There are three courses here, and first up is Old Tom Morris, also know as The Old Links. For those who have never read anything about the early days of golf in Scotland, Old Tom Morris was a legend……..winner of the Open Championship in 1860 – 1861- 1864 – 1867…….credited with many innovations to do with golf course maintenance…….a renowned golf course designer……manufacturer of golf clubs…..and father of (you guessed it) Young Tom Morris, who is a story unto himself. Old Tom apparently visited this area in the early 1890’s and somehow was asked to design a course. The course has undergone some changes over the years, with major work being done by James Braid and Harry Vardon in 1906, and H.S. Colt in 1912, but many of the holes we will play today are just as they were when first designed by Old Tom, particularly on the back nine. This is a real treat.

First impressions are that the course is obviously true old school links……..narrow firm fairways with extremely tight lies bordered by treacherous hairy dunes, and undulating greens that in season must be very difficult…….today they could have used a good haircut……quite slow. I have to admit it has been a while since I hit anything 300yds, but today that happened a few times……..love that roll baby! The front nine is more inland and tight, but on the back, it opened up a little and offered some ocean views of Sheepshead Bay. I know this was not a favourite of J&S, but I loved it. Would like to play this one with my hickory clubs one day. The good news is that the weather couldn’t have been better…….well, maybe a little warmer, but we had lovely sunshine and a gentle breeze almost the whole way around.

Following golf we make our way to the hotel which is just a couple of hundred yards down the road, and get checked in. We have an awesome suite with a separate bedroom, large living room, and a dining room (now blog central). Ok the furniture is a little frumpy, but great space and more than we would expect. Our booking agent Justin Farrell – Links of Ireland Golf & Travel is responsible for this and we thank him very much. If you need his contact info we can send it along. Justin put together our first itinerary three years ago and has stayed the course until it was safe to travel following the COVID restrictions. Our current itinerary he put together is a knockout.

First things first…….we need a beer and some fries. Maria introduces herself in the bar and we find out she is a fairly new hire here at the hotel, coming in from Barcelona on a bit of an adventure to work in an English speaking country and improve her language skills (why she chose Ireland I’ll never know)………we did our part by sorting out the differences between chips, potato chips, crisps, and french fries. Always happy to help. Her boss/bar manager is Peter, a very friendly and chatty English bloke whose accent I pin down as a direct match to Michael Cain the actor…….looks a bit like him also. All good, Peter lines us up for dinner in the bar in a couple of hours. Dinner is fantastic.

We have been able to chit chat with a number of people about this area, and our impression is that it is not unlike being Up North in Ontario. Many of the homes in town are vacation homes owned by people who may live 2-3 hours away (Belfast, Dublin, etc.) There is great golf at your back door, the ocean is right here for water sports and boating, good hiking, and absolutely stunning beaches……….I think Sheepshead Bay is a sand collector just like Georgian Bay………I’m not going in the water to check that out. They are a little bit short on restaurants in town, but other than that, this would be a great place to spend summer vacation, or to spend a few days, as we are, on your golf trip.

Early to bed, early to rise………next up tomorrow morning is the Sandy Hills course.

PS: From yesterday……I meant to post a copy of the Royal County Down scorecard. Although a par 76 for Jutta and Sibylle, they played all 6,249 yards of it.