Royal County Down – Mon 15/5/17

Had been looking forward to this day for a long time. Tee off time 10:30am … tick, tick, tick. Takes a bit courage to drive the speed limit … narrow lanes, 8 foot hedges literally edging the road, lots of blind corners, going 100km/h – thought I was in a Isle of Man TT race. However the appalling weather was making me nervous on the hour long drive south from Belfast, and my worst fears appeared confirmed as the course was closed until further notice. Hung around more out of blind hope than optimism. But the groundsmen came in just before noon, and despite a gale blowing, and drizzle still coming in horizontally they decided it was ok to open the course, and with a backlog of equally desperate golfers, we got under way ~ 1:45pm. Got paired up with 2 brothers (Jeff & Jay) from the States. We were all just grateful to get a chance to play this great course (overview: course overview). Luckily the gale was behind us off the 1st so we were every chance of making it past the ladies tee. Won’t bore you with the blow-by-blow details but the outward 9 is probably the best, and despite the wind helping us we got ourselves in trouble more often than not. Wind, blind tee shots, undulations, narrow landing zones & punitive bunkers (& our inability to execute) made the course guide as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. And then when we turned back into the wind it was like hitting into soup. Was speaking to a spotter & laughed at how the ‘milky bar kids’ at the Irish Amateur the week before had sunshine & not a breath of wind. Believe it or not, but despite that, none of us wanted the day to finish. Staff at the course treat you as honoured guests, and when they ask how you enjoyed the course, they are genuinely interested & engaging in conversation – great day.

Entrance & club house. The left side of the building is the pro-shop & the visitor/guest club house which was pretty impressive – wonder what the members section looks like??