The European Club,
One of Irelands and the worlds finest links golf courses. a certain mr Pat Ruddy scowered the country looking for suitable links land (by definition: A coastal zone of topsoil-covered sand between the beach sand and mainland soil). He found such a place 40mins drive south of Dublin, our capital city. This Links course would be the 61st Links in Ireland, out of a world total of 150. The first 3 golf courses ever built were Links, and all in Scotland (Prestwick, St Andrews, Royal Troon), these courses in addition to Augusta, Pine Valley and some of the top American courses would provide an inspiration for the course designer. The designer, owner, golf writer and fanatic is the same person, the aforementioned.
It was on Saturday in April that I first drove into this club to compete with our society, The unassuming Pat Ruddy welcomes us as we entered his humble pro shop, a proud man he is, and an accommodating welcoming person too.
I showed a few of you some pictures of this course in the Niblick thread, namely the insanely difficult bunkers, I think there are 110 in total, or a sum near enough that figure. As he owns the course, he does not need to seek approval from the commitee to approve new expensions, bunkers, greens, ponds or anything, recently he added 2 additional holes. (I can think of one other club with more than 18 holes, and thats the prestigious London club in the UK). The European club has been a top 7 club for all its lifetime in the Irish course rankings, as high as #1 on a few occasions or so i believe, and minimum of #25 in the Britain and Ireland rankings. Padraig Harrington practices here a lot, especially prior to the Open championships, Infact Pat redisigned this course to reflect the conditions found at the Open, thus enabling Padraig to better prepare for those Major wins. Tiger Woods shot the course record of 67, Duval, O'Meara and McCarron completed the 4ball that day, and all 4 have been made honourary members. The PLP video with Padraig Harrington and Stephanie Sparks was filmed here too. Its a great vid if you havent seen it before, have a look online for it. Rory McIlroy won the Irish Amateur championships in 2006 here,
The European club is said to be one of the most difficult courses in the world to play, this is due to a few factors, the extremely fast and imaginative greens, the terribly high rough & gorse, the 80ft sand dunes and 40ft troughs, it could be said that the wind is the most challenging factor, and a challenging factor it can be.
So, my round. Well, it wasnt pretty ;)
The signs were good, No wind, a beautifully rare and sunny day, and the rough was cut back to allow it to grow, so 3-4 ft rough was standing a mere 1ft at its highest. The stage was set, my game in relatively good shape, playing from the society tees, the course was there for the taking. I didn't fall victim to any of the bunkers. Some of my playing partners may as well have brought a bucket and spade. I was driving powerfully, but not always staying on the fairway, 10 degrees left, and you are need to call in the detectives to help locate your ball, but none the less, i played rather well from the forgiving rough. My greatest flaw on my first outing here, was the greens, i simply couldnt putt. My first Singular putt came on the last hole, the 18th. Everything else was a 2 or 3 putt, I simply havent ever played on greens this fast. The greens themselves have yet to be cut to their shortest length, that will happen in a month or so.
I scored 27 points, which was the 4th highest in my society, 22 players in total. This course is a monster, it really is. It gobbels up society golfers whole, and spits them out with their head bowed, and their eyes enlightened. The bunkers you see are supported by railway sleepers, they make the bunkers empower many a player, and the greens were created with the effect of an optical illusion at times, making distances difficult to guage, or said distances difficult to trust. One of the greens (the 12th) which runs adjacent to the beautiful Irish sea measures 127 yards in length (longest in the world), It was this very green that Tiger wanted to have a few putting competitions from one end to the other with his playing partners to see who could get the ball closest, Golf at its finest, there to make people happy and excited, challenging and fun.
The 7th hole is listed in the top 100 holes in the world, and voted top 18 built since 1970. A river/stream runs in front of the tees as does a load of heather, the river then runs along the right hand side of the fairway all the way to the green. I took a 3w from the bag and cracked a drive about 15yards short of a marsh/pond just left of the fairway (this marsh is 300yards from the championship tees which i didnt play from), people take this route of safety as there appears to be a thin landing aread to play a driver, this again is a misconception, as when I walked the fairway, there was plenty of room within the landing zone, so a driver could have been used, if hit fairly straight. I played i believe a 7i to the front pin position from the left, tough shot aiming back at the stream pretty much.Fantastic hole, fantastic shotmaking decisions.
The 12th and 13th were 2 of my favourite holes, both playing alongside the beach, both have their out of bounds line on the beach, so plenty a person would have the play their 2nd shot from the sandy shore. On the 13th, a par 5 I had a screamer of a Drive, measured about 260yards (the ball travels shorter in a temperate irish climate). I hit a bullet of a 3 wood to the cusp of the green, but it wasnt enough, the ball rolled back down the hill from whence it came, I had a 3rd shot of about 20-30 yards.. I didnt mind, 2 well hit beauties and im still short, well thats a complement to the tenacity of the hole i suppose. When Tiger woods played here, he played into a fierce wind, starting up high in the dunes he smashed the driver way down to the fairway, then again took the driver out and hit another beauty from the fairway to the front edge of the green. Seems like he played it in a similar fashion to me, 2 great shots, but he with wind in his face from and from the championship tees. anyway, another beaut of a hole I must say.
Actually, the 15th was terrific too, I was considering a 7i second shot uphill to the green which was enclosed by a mix of bush and reeds, another deceptive read the 7i would have been, One of my playing partners hit an 8i to the front of the green, he normally hits a little shorther than i, so an 8i I decided upon with a little friendly encouragement. 6ft from the pin, missed the putt. Another example of the perpetual story of my day right there! :D
I won the closest the pin award for my shot on the par 3 14th, Ive included some pictures of the double tiered bunker, Was a lot of fun, missed the put as usual, but you can see my ball in the pic. If only i didnt leave my putting head in the boot of the car. Some of the stories I have pieced together in this article, have been sourced from the book i won for that close approach. "Fifty years in a bunker", Its the book that Pat Ruddy wrote on his adventures of creating this masterpiece of a course. If you are coming to Ireland or link to play true Links courses, you should buy this book. Anyone interested in Golf and how one person through imagination and percierverance raised a Golf club from the sandy dunes into one of the finest in the world.
I hope you enjoyed my cameo story of my adventures, thoughts, and insight into my game, It was a delight to play such a terrific course, and if ever you are in Ireland, this is one of the places you must visit. Any true links really you should visit, from Portmarnock, Baltray, Royal County Down and Royal Portrush to Rosses Point, Lahinch, Ballybunion, the Island and Strandhill. Links in Ireland and indeed Scotland are unrivaled.
Here are some of my pics for you to chew on.. I wish i cropped them first, but hey... the bigger the better, eh! :D
This is the 3rd hole from where my drive landed. way Offline i know, its a slight dogleg right, the apex of the hole is very narrow, obviously my drive didnt find it.
The 3rd again, a bit closer to the green.
This sits before the 7th Teebox.
The 10th, i played it rather well and picked up a nice par, missing my birdie putt again.
The Beautiful 12th, the first hole to play along side the beach, our prevailing wind "the south easterlies" push drives toward the sea, standing on an elevated tee in the dunes, its not easy to play under the wind either. great hole though.
My ball on the green prior to its missed putt, and my playing partner in a bit of a tricky spot.
nice view from the 15th green.
The 17th i thought from the society tees was an easy enough par 4. beautiful hole none the less.
and finally, the 18th. The sleepers this time hold not sand, but water. that wasnt to be known until i approached the green, prior to this hole, every bunker was supported by these sleepers (wood from railway tracks), but this was a pleasant surprise.
Ta
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