Going for Golf

Ireland’s pedigree enhances its appeal

Ballybunion

It is, therefore, no great surprise that the country is blessed with fabulous courses and has produced so many outstanding players.

Ireland’s golfing pedigree was further boosted when the third greatest sporting event after the Olympics and the World Cup, the Ryder Cup, was fought out at the K Club.

While happy to have such a huge event visit their shores, not every Irishman and woman was entirely enamoured with the choice of venue.

Magnificent though the K Club undoubtedly is, they wonder whether it would not have been better to play the match over a more traditional Irish course.

Putting to one side prosaic problems regarding the necessary infrastructure - although access to an unlimited supply of draught Guinness is the only genuine requirement – there are a number of courses around the west coast that would have fitted the bill nicely.

The spectacular Ballybunion is one. Here, as elsewhere in a country that loves a good story, a little licence and necessary embellishment may be exercised.

“The Time I Beat Tom Watson” and “Me and the President of the United States of America” will be among the more memorable stories likely to emanate from this world famous and welcoming golf club.

Whether they are precisely true or not will be left to you to decide, but they are entirely possible as both Tom Watson and President Clinton are among the impressive list of celebrity visitors who regularly turn up to play at the club.

It has two cracking courses but the demands of a tight schedule meant a choice had to be made between the Old Course and the Cashen Course. Partly because the Cashen is developing a reputation as something of a beast and partly because it brought into the realms of possibility a Cashen Kerry headline, I opted for the latter.

Although it’s only been around for a quarter-of-a-century, it feels as if it’s been going for at least a hundred years. The club had the foresight to purchase the land quite some time before they invited renowned architect Robert Trent Jones to design the course.

“I was thrilled beyond words,” said Trent Jones. “It was the finest piece of links-land that I had ever seen and perhaps the finest piece of links-land in the world.”

With the mighty ocean waves pounding the sandy beach on one side and the quieter river gently lapping on the other, the course occupies a truly spectacular stretch of land that would appear to have been built by God with only one purpose in mind – to entertain golfers.

The towering dunes are as big as cathedrals, while the canyons that weave between them provide both the fairways and welcome shelter from the inevitable wind.

Although in reality there is plenty of room, the close proximity of the really thick stuff causes many a grip to tighten and palm to sweat.

In truth, the course is more forgiving than one might imagine, with most of the bounces, especially near the greens, being more help than hindrance. Indeed, there is a feeling in some quarters that the design should be amended in places and a number of experts have already been approached and their views sought.

One opinion is that there are not enough classic pitch-and-run opportunities as one might hope to find on an authentic links course.

Whereas that might indeed be true, it would be hard to imagine anyone stepping off the final green feeling anything other than thrilled at having completed 18 spectacular holes on such an exhilarating course.