Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: Tony_Muldoon on July 09, 2009, 03:35:42 AM
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I haven’t seen much about this but I think it’s a really interesting story.
For the past 3 years Padraig Harrington has chosen to prepare for the links golf at The Open by playing a ‘local’ event on a links course. He spurns the big money event at Loch Lomond and turns out in the the Irish PPGA Championship at The European Club, owned and designed by GCA member Pat Ruddy.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2009/0708/1224250236506.html
“In 2007 here, Harrington beat Brendan McGovern in a play-off and, lo and behold, won the Open at Carnoustie in a play-off over Sergio Garcia. Then, last year, Harrington triumphed by four shots here over Philip Walton and the following week had four strokes to spare over Ian Poulter at Royal Birkdale. No wonder he’s looking for some inspiration from this week, where the tournament is of far more importance than the €26,005 purse, with €4,000 to the winner.
Harrington, who utilised the extra free days he had off after missing the cut in last week’s French Open by playing two practice rounds at Turnberry, knows that the links here – with rough set up to the same standards as players will find in the British Open – offers a perfect examination.
As Pat Ruddy, the owner and designer of The European, put it yesterday in agreeing that he unashamedly sets up the course as per the Open, “there are two purposes. We are hosting the national championship, which is a great honour. And then the excitement, the fun and the challenge of perhaps helping minutely a great golfer get ready for a great event next week. It’s only logical . . . . when people are to run at altitude, they go high up to prepare. So this is a version of the same thing – to acclimatise a man, to get him ready.”
Harrington returned home from his reconnaissance visit to Turnberry believing it to have the heaviest rough he has experienced at a major. “As Peter Dawsons (of the RA) says, they don’t control it. That is what a links golf course is and it’s real. I’ve never seen rough as heavy so close to greens.”
What Harrington, and the other 119 players in the field, will discover over the next four days at the European Club is a course with rough comparable in toughness to that at Turnberry. “It’s important he (Harrington) has a good training ground and if anyone gets at him, they are worthy of getting at him. It’s a stress test, (and) stress-testing is part of life,” said Ruddy.”
It would be easy to be cynical and point out that a) this is an event Padriag can play from his own bed and still find time in the day to get to the range and b) this is good promotion for the European Club.
Whilst that’s true, I have to say I met Pat Ruddy there last summer and asked him about this. He showed me where the rough had been grown in and said to get it set up like Birkdale he wanted the players to have small targets to see. He felt those moving from Loch Lomond to Birkdale would suffer shock at how small a target they had to aim at. Those moving form TEC to Birkdale would be confident that there’s more room than there seems to be. It would be interesting to know if TEC is set up differently this year than last?
Pat was also explicit that this course engineering was designed and agreed as a plan with the Irish Golf authorities and with Harrington agreeing to take part in the experiment.
Finally the other thing that struck me was that Pat Ruddy pays a personal price for doing this. If you meet him you’ll get some marvellous stories but you’ll also get his deep love for the game and his pride in the creation of the European Club. Part of his vision is that only a comparatively few people play there each day, ‘playing’ in comparitive solitude amongst these wild dunes. As we looked at the tallest dune, six weeks after the event, surveying the damage to the grasses that all the spectator’s wreck, he was genuinely saddened.
Ireland now has its greatest ever golfer and Pat Ruddy has played a part in that story. Thank you Pat.
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and how's 'yer man' doing this year?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/8141485.stm
it would be quite a story ....
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Golf is all about timing
http://www.pga.info/News/40879044.htm
At 61= does GCA's own Padraig (Dooley), make the cut?
http://www.pga-tic.co.uk/tic/tmscores.cgi?tourn=0708~params=P*2ESC~alphaorder=n~natorder=n~cardlink=Y~~season=IRE~style=12~groupties=Y~pr=Y~textout=N~bordersize=1~fontsize=M~winfocus=Y~
Dont know what the weather's like but those are high scores.
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As you say Tony those scores are quite high. Unluckly Padraig (Dooley), you almost made the cut.
Hats off to Harrington for supporting his local event. I suppose it will be a confidence boost if he wins (although its hardly a stellar field) but a hat trick of Open victories seems unlikely at present.
I agree with his philosophy of playing a links course the week before the Open. I can't understand (other than the pursuit of the mighty $, £ or €) why top contenders for next week would play Loch Lomond this week. The idea of a week of practice on a links course, either in competition or with friends as Tiger as done in the past, seems eminently more sensible than a week on an invariably wet course next to a Loch.
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Luck had nothing to do with making or not making the cut.
I wandered around with some friends today and brought my camera with me. I must downlod the pictures and post some of them.
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Thank you Andrew and Padraig for removing this thread from the "one hand clapping" variety. (Polari double entendre anyone?)
Padraig how tough was it there? I’d love to see some photo’s with the crowd in place.
Time to nip down the bookies?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/8145456.stm
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Wonderful story and thread, Tony, thanks for sharing it.
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Tony, I think the European Club is the hardest course I've ever played. However wednesday and thursday it was quite benign, good solid golf could easily lead to scores under 70. Today there was a fresh breeze, best score was 71.
We had quite a dry june so it should have been running reasonably firm, except we've had an inordinate amount of rain over the last 10 days and hence was quite receptive but the rough was a bit thicker then expected as well.
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The European Club and Pat Ruddy a controversial on this site. I love the course. It is a wonderful test of golf, fun, and has a last hole that is unforgettable. Pat Ruddy is a character. He is passionate about both the game and the course that he and his family built from scratch. It is his living gift to golf.
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Here are a few images from yesterday.
1st
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/085.jpg)
3rd
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/089.jpg)
4th
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/092.jpg)
Here's a ball in the greenside bunker on the 4th, the bunkers are to be avoided, easy to plug and takes great skill to recover successfully.
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/094.jpg)
and a closer look, this shot pitched on the sleepers on the left side of the bunker and ended up here
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/095.jpg)
7th tee shot
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/100-1.jpg)
and approach
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/101.jpg)
8th
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/107.jpg)
11th
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/116.jpg)
13th tee
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/118-1.jpg)
18th tee
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/121.jpg)
and approach
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/126.jpg)
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Harrington won by 7 shots today and was the only player under par.
I look forward to seeing that happen next week. ;D
http://www.pga.info/News/40879071.htm
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Is there any other course in Ireland that uses so much wooden planking (railway sleepers?) to shore up the bunkers?
My last golf trip to Ireland was 15 years ago, but I don't recall seeing bunkers of that type any where.
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Love that bunker up the last. I like railway sleeper bunkers, makes a thin something to fear! I guess from a purely maintenance point of view they're easy to keep than a sod wall since they won't need rebuilding often.
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Is there any other course in Ireland that uses so much wooden planking (railway sleepers?) to shore up the bunkers?
My last golf trip to Ireland was 15 years ago, but I don't recall seeing bunkers of that type any where.
David, there is no other course in Ireland that uses sleepers in that manner. They make the bunkers very visible, making hazards highly visible in one of Pat Ruddy's principles. He has a philosopy card on the tables in the clubhouse, it makes quite a good read. My favourite line is 'We make no apologies for the inept golfer' (hope I quoted it correctly)
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Love that bunker up the last. I like railway sleeper bunkers, makes a thin something to fear! I guess from a purely maintenance point of view they're easy to keep than a sod wall since they won't need rebuilding often.
I believe that it is not a bunker, but a water hazard. Controversial for sure. Padraig, were any of the alternate holes in play. One of the alternate par 3's on the back looked cool (12B, maybe?)
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I believe that it is not a bunker, but a water hazard.
Are you sure? Looks suspiciously like a rake sticking out on the right hand side...
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Jamie looking back from the green. You can see ball retrievers.
(http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo40/Muldoon4/The%20European%20Club/Img1968.jpg)
This controversial feature was originally a natural pond, but many questioned what it was doing on a Links. Remodelled as above.
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Ah the handle is a ball retriever! Aren't water hazards supposed to have coloured stakes?
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I was trying to find photos to compare the set up last August with Padraig’s photos. Hard to be sure as I don’t have the same angles and I wasn’t playing from as far back as he was.
Padraig’s photo’s first.
1
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/085.jpg)
(http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo40/Muldoon4/The%20European%20Club/Img1906.jpg)
3
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/089.jpg)
(http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo40/Muldoon4/The%20European%20Club/Img1915.jpg)
4
(http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc235/pdools/092.jpg)
(http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo40/Muldoon4/The%20European%20Club/Img1918.jpg)
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Love that bunker up the last. I like railway sleeper bunkers, makes a thin something to fear! I guess from a purely maintenance point of view they're easy to keep than a sod wall since they won't need rebuilding often.
I believe that it is not a bunker, but a water hazard. Controversial for sure. Padraig, were any of the alternate holes in play. One of the alternate par 3's on the back looked cool (12B, maybe?)
Sean, none of the alternate holes were in play. I've never played any of them, both look pretty decent with 12b being the pick.
I could never really understand the water on the last, it just looks so unnatural, nothing else on the course looks out of place, maybe a Swilcan or Barry burn type of feature would have worked better.
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Padraig & Tony
Thanks for the photographs. They bring back happy memories of a weekend which started with a round at TEC and concluded with England completing the grand slam at Lansdowne Road en route to World Cup glory ;D
Really enjoyed TEC and the warm welcome we were given. There are some cracking holes but the pond on 18 looked completely out of place. I'm not sure the burn looks any better in that last photograph.