No holding back today……..I thought based on geography that Old Head might be the last course we played on this golf adventure, but it turns out to be the first in our southern swing. Old Head is close to 2 hours from the hotel, but I plan to make it in 90 minutes……..co-pilot might protest……..either way, it is an early rise, fire down the required ballast for the day at the breakfast table and hit the road. Everyone is pumped to play this beautiful monster. Come on……..if you haven’t played it, you sure as hell have looked at it online and said “Holy Crap”……I know I did. Many of you tuning in have played it, and I’m sure you will agree that this is a very unique, challenging, and beautiful, golf course……I totally expected it to be a little gimmicky but it wasn’t…….these are 18 really good golf holes, and the only difference here compared to your home course is, that if you hit it off line out of bounds or into a hazard, it ain’t coming back……..it will likely be 300 feet down the cliffs in the ocean.
Driving towards the peninsula that is Old Head, we are in total pea soup………fog and mist so thick you can’t see too far ahead, and drizzly rain falling to boot. The entry gate with the fog and mist and rain would have you think you were just arriving at Hogwarts………..and the gate master is this spooky old guy with a clipboard who tells us “You may continue this way”, and points a crooked long nailed finger down the road ahead. Thankfully we are greeted by a great golf services team who take our bags, give us direction, answer questions, and make sure we have everything we need. What a pisser though…….they charged us 10 euros each to use their Rickshaw Carts………….we don’t know for sure, but pretty sure it is a 375 – 425 euro green fee…………like maybe you could comp the Rickshaw?…….please don’t tell Bill at Oslerbrook as we don’t want him getting any ideas. J&S make a B-line for the pro shop clothing racks, and I hang around outside looking for some free logo’d tees and ball markers. Before long we head over to the driving range…….Jutta’s eyes as big as silver dollars……..”I love this place”………..and we meet our forecaddy Mateo……more on him later, but he is not getting a positive review. Andy from Maryland is our fourth, and I swear the guy looks like, and is built like John Rahm………says he has an 18 handicap……bullshit………his caddy is Mick…….classic Irish guy with a bald head and Fu Manchu moustache……he is the real deal.
Teeing off on #1 we think…..so this is it?…….then we walk to the second tee and our jaws drop……..and this continues for 16 more great holes. Even though sometimes you have to hit the ball this way or that, it still adds up to a great round of golf on a superb golf course. You may have noticed over the past couple of weeks that almost every course we have played becomes our new favourite of all time………guess what……today……..this is it. So the story is that this land…..approx 200 acres……was for sale for about 14 years before being purchased by John and Patrick O’Connor in 1989 for $300,000. Their decision to build a world class golf facility with a level of service far above all other courses, and to restrict public access to the “headlands” was not universally accepted as a good plan. It took a lot of negotiation, protests by locals and environmentalists, resolutions, and a lot of work, but eventually the course opened for play in 1997. There are about 300 full members (80% non-Irish), but clearly the meat and potatoes supporting this place comes from visitor play. I could write all day about the club, but just look it up and see what you think…….for our gang, this was an amazing experience and like no other we have ever experienced. How did I play……actually OK…….yeah I launched a couple into the ocean , and lost one in the weeds, but overall, if you are hitting the ball well, the course is very playable…….course conditions were fantastic……greens perfect, etc., etc.,etc.. Oh, did I mention the weather……..perfect……..high teens……sunshine……..and a good breeze making club selection important on a lot of holes. Our man Mateo……young fella with not a lot of experience……..lost me after a few holes…….bad yardages…….missed reads on putts……but I was happier to do it myself anyway…….he focussed on J&S, but then lost Jutta’s confidence also, so at that point he was just window dressing. Too bad, but Mick filled in a lot and helped us out when needed.
The trip down from Killarney was pretty smooth…….good roads and some higher speed dual lane sections which cut the travel time substantially. Kinsale is the last town on the mainland before heading out to the headlands, and just driving through we could tell this was a happening place we would like to spend some time in the future. It might be wise to spend the night here and avoid the 2 hour drive in the morning. We will be back!
Way too many pictures to deal with from this day………I will include as many as possible and expand on the captions to help explain………
So a 2 hour drive there means a 2 hour return drive, and back at the hotel in Killarney we decide we are going out for dinner and will avoid the geriatric dining hall downstairs for the rest of our stay……..walking the street, we find most places are full booked with waiting lists for tables later in the evening………we happen upon a marginally acceptable restaurant full of the Irish, and decide this is it…….to hungry to continue the search. Ok, it wasn’t great, but passable, then we head out on the street taking in all the activity…………this town is rockin’ and fun to be out in the middle of it. I would like to say we pub’d it, drank beer, and sang Irish songs into the AM, but instead we grabbed an ice cream and headed back to the hotel. I know…….boring…….
We have a free day tomorrow, and have plans for a trip to the Dingle peninsula……..gonna dangle my dingle……..or dingle my dangle…..oh who the hell knows…….see ya tomorrow
HUGEBLOGSITE 
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