GULLY COMES TO TOWN

Up and at em this morning, we are on the road, and that means packing our bags once again for the trip down to Malahide, on the coast a half hour north of Dublin. I go over and fling open the curtains to see what surprises Irish weather has in store for us today aaaaaand………..it’s my good friend Gully……..flew in from Collingwood to catch the last few days of the trip. Good to see you buddy. Jutta immediately goes for the camera and shoots about twenty pictures of this fella while he stands in one spot, then we go back to packing……….Gully is not leaving. The wind is obviously howling out there and we can see the whitecaps on the bay in the distance. Gully appears to have chosen this spot to take shelter from the wind………or does he have an alterior motive? It only takes about ten minutes and he has Jutta under his spell……..oh he looks so cold…….I hope the wind doesn’t blow him away……….look his feathers are all standing up………and finally……..he looks hungry!!!! Jutta has a contraband ham croissant stolen from the breakfast buffet, wrapped in a napkin, and stored in her purse. It made its way through the round at Ardglass yesterday without being eaten, because let’s face it, that was no day for a picnic on the course. “Here” she says, “Give him some”. It is a hefty sandwich with some weight to it and I tear off one of the sharp ends, pop the window, and drop it down onto the ledge. Gully flips it up with his beak and swallows it whole. Gone, in one bite……..I would have had trouble taking a bite that big……..I figured he would stand there and peck away at it, but no, it was gone. So now I understand the game………Gully is a hotel scavenger who lives on the ledges at Slieve Donard and gets fed by the guests. Most birds would have flown away when I opened the curtains or the window above his head, but he just stood there and raised his beak, ready to catch whatever was coming his way. Now that Jutta was sure you could open the window without somehow being attacked by this rogue aviator, another chunk of the sandwich followed in a few minutes……….then another……..then another……then another, until Gully ate the whole damn thing. As I said before, this was a hefty sandwich, and now I’m thinking if Gully decides to leave, or a wind gust catches him off balance, he is going to drop like a stone to the ground below. If you tied that sandwich to his legs I guarantee you there is no way he could get off the ground. We draw the curtains closed to let him know feeding time is over, and head down to breakfast.

The fearsome foursome discuss options for the day………we have a 1pm tee time at Portmarnock, just down the road from Malahide, and with all of our technology out on the table we decide that the bad weather should pass, and by 1pm we should be good to go. New app alert………”met office”……pretty cool maps and graphics showing the weather…….Vivian got the scoop from her caddie at Ardglass yesterday. Back to the room to pick up the bags…..pop the curtains……and you guessed it, Gully is still there. He is either waiting for more food, or realizes he has overeaten and is way beyond his flight weight. We say our goodbyes and away we go…….goodbye to Gully, and the Slieve Donard,…….a great place to stay, although maybe suffering from a few growing pains, it can only get better. Our next home is the Grand Hotel, where we stayed last year at either end of our trip…….it is only 15-20 minutes from here to Dublin airport and a very comfy old hotel in a great location, walking distance to town for the restaurants, shops, and pubs. By chance when we arrive there are two rooms ready for us (11am) so we are moved in, changed for golf, and down the road to Portmarnock in plenty of time. The rain has almost stopped, but the wind continues to blow pretty hard.

Vivian and I will share a golf cart today, and when it arrives at the first tee for us we are smiling ear to ear. Look at this puppy…….it’s like a small condo on wheels with patio doors on each side. It is impervious to rain, wind, hail, stray golf balls………what a piece of work……never seen anything like this before. Our forecaddie for the day is Jerry (Golden), an older chap who lives close-by and plays 3 times a week up the road at Malahide GC. As the round goes on he discloses that he is half deaf, and sometime later that his eyesight is failing a little………two traits you are not looking for in a caddie, but he makes up for it with course knowledge and advice, and is a pleasure to have along. Vivian and I are living large in the cart, now named the Popemobile. We don’t know how Jutta and Mike are surviving outside in the gale………we do care of course, but no chance we are giving up these seats for anything.

There are 27 holes at Portmarnock, and we will be playing the championship combo Red/Blue, the same eighteen that the R&A Women’s Amateur will be played on in late June. Mike and I will play green tees at 5,900yds……..oh crap, that is metres…….too late now, looks like it will be 6,500yds……piece of cake in this wind…..lol. This is a lovely golf course, but not nearly as linksy (is that a word) as others we have played but the holes are very interesting, and more than a few are just unreachable when playing into the wind. A couple of the par 3’s are just totally wild. Everyone is struggling a little with the conditions, but having a great round all the same. I can’t say we weren’t happy to get our 18 holes in and settle into the clubhouse…….very traditional……quite fancy……tons of trophy’s, plaques, photos, and memorabilia line the walls, telling of a long and storied history at this club. We choose nice window seats upstairs in the bar/restaurant. Very, very, nice. Our mandatory/traditional Guinness is delivered to the table along with menus, just in case we feel like a bite to eat…….remember the drill………golf, drink, eat, sleep, repeat……..and we just happen to be famished. This decision is easy…….eat here, then get back to the hotel and crash………tough, tiring day out there. The fish and chips were fab and exactly what we needed.

Calling it a day right here……..early round tomorrow, 8:30 at The Island to play before members take to the course for weekly competition day.