Day 3
Gweedore-9 holes
The weather was cool and blustery with periods of rain, clouds and sunshine (at just the right moments over the water)
Donal O'Cellaigh's father(in cahoots with Charlie Cambell from our b&b) graciously arranged for 4 members to meet and escort our group complete with a kid from Queens who showed up out of the blue and joined the group.
Again I grabbed 2 members and once again I was rewarded with the hot hand in the form of one of our 15 handicap amateurs who caught fire.
The first hole winds inauspiciously around a boundary marker which I played well wide of and was rewarded with an ideal angle where I proceeded to bogie the hole from anyway by running it through the green with my downwind pitch and run.
The second hole(a short/medium par 3 into a howling wind) has a difficult perched green that falls away on the edges. despite this I pitched to tap in length and was patting myself on my back as my partner chipped in for a net one (so much for difficult perched greens)
The third hole tee shot occupies the last uninteresting ground and turns uphill passing through a sheep fence to a severely sloping left to right green placed precisiely as the ground lays and adds great interest to the second shot and subsequent recovery/putts.
It works perfectly as we are now in a large area maintained by sheep where all grass is cropped perfectly close and firm by sheep.
Even with a semiblind second it was easy to tell what shot was required, yet not so easy to execute and pull off the shot.
Yes I three-putted my putt with 15 feet of break from behind the hole.
Four is played downhill to a longish par with the estuary on the left and a boundary on the right-played away from the spectacular view of the ocean and estuary behind us.
I witnessed the funniest shot seen in awhile there when my amateur toped his second shot through the closely cropped boundary area, caught a downslop and exploded back onto the fairway in front of the green.
The most difficult feature of the hole was a paved road which ran in fron of the green and had to be factored into the obligatory run-up approach as it was downwind.
Five is long uphill par 5 played into the teeth of the wind with a 200+ yard wide fairway.
I found this area of the course fascinating as the sheep had cut it all to one height, yet the landscape was littered with scenic small rock outcroppings which provided natural hazards. Given the wind conditions, the player had to come in from the correct angle or holding the sloped greens was all but impossible.
Donal's father pointed out the bunker Donal had painstakingly built over several weeks during his Captaincy (the father's)which had caused quite a stir at the time.
The bunker has since been changed/eroded.
In the middle of the hole you crest the hill and are treated to a spectacular view of the ocean and estuary.
6 is a medium par 4 from an elevation played down again towards the water.
Again you can pick your angle depending upon the wind/pin.
Truly a glorious feeling aiming at a 200 yard wide" fairway" in such a setting.(fairway may imply flat, but the terrain was anyathing but flat with multiple valleys and ridges and and an overall tilt toward the water behind,left and right-rolling would best describe it-and I don't think a camera would capture it)
7 plays back up the hill and central feature of the courseand is a long difficult hole, the second 1/2 of which plays beyond the fence again and out of the perpetual fairway,
8 and 9 are good holes played on the more mundane terrain near the clubhouse, 8 enhanced by a difficult 2 tiered green with a large dip in front of the green. I did birdie 9 to salvage our match
Donal's father and the goup which included the current Captain couldn't have been nicer, regailing us with stories about the history and future plans for the place (many new greens were being constructed with the plan to have less course on the common grazing grounds and more on their property.
While I wasn't clear on the future layout, I do know that losing the holes on the huge grazing area would be a loss and would take away from the incredible uniqueness and even the strategy involved in such a large fairway.(to say nothing of the incredible views and largeness of the place)
It appeared #3 green was going away and I found that to be a fascinating green and greensite (which were one and the same)
They did explain that playing through sheep dung got a bit tiresome......
All in all an unforgettable and unique experience.
Dunfanaghy
weather about the same 20 mph wind, some squalls, some sun.
Played in the "14 hole Dunfanaghy Open"( for 10 euros each for the 6 amateurs,free for the pros
)
We paid 15 so we could play all 18.
Stunning views all around, played over some flat land early, but interesting well designed holes routed around and though manageable fescueand a few burns.
In the middle of the course the holes climb and 7 through 10 are spectacular scenic holes played near/over pieces of the bay/estuary with great views of both and the beach.
15-18 are a difficult stretch with 16 playing uphill to a plateau green with views around another inlet and the course and 17 a stout par 3 along the inlet in a scenic little area.
Many tucked pins which made it difficult to get close with the wind if you had taken a safe line off the tee,(which I tend to do on a first time play and on a course with multiple boundaries on one side)
All in all a scenic and hospitable place.
Very well worth playing