Scorecard scribbles spark fond memories
I have a cardboard box tucked in the corner of my basement that is bulging with my golf scorecards from around the globe. They range from the world’s largest golf resort, Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China, to the Aigas golf club, a pretty nine-hole loop that runs through the folds of the Scottish highlands.
Almost every card is marked in the margins with scribbles and smudges that instantly trigger memories of the trip. (During an early round at a course in Queensland, Australia, a mob of kangaroos bound across the fairway, just a pitching wedge away from me. I grabbed my scorecard and quickly wrote, “Real or jet lag?”) Here are some of my most memorable scorecard headings: Horsing around
As soon as our bus chugged to the top of the headland and was preparing to round the driveway, a cow the size of a golf cart ambled in front of us, blocking our entrance to the Pennard Golf Club. We waited, but not patiently. Pennard is strung out along the rocky high ground above Three Cliff’s Bay off Wales’ Gower Peninsula and is one of the game’s little known gems. Consider the 7th hole: off to the right lie the ruins of a 13th-century church. A little farther in the distance stretch the dark stone walls of a Norman castle. Wild ponies graze happily on the tall, sweet grass that grows along the edge of the fairways and ruins. Land of legends
The Giant’s Causeway at the top of Northern Ireland is made for myths. Forty thousand basalt columns march out to the Atlantic, the rumoured roadway for giant Finn MacCool to visit Scotland. The southern edge of Northern Ireland also has its legends. Royal County Down Golf Club in the seaside town of Newcastle is considered one of the world’s greatest layouts. Curling along Dundrum Bay and in the shadows of the muscular Mountains of Mourne, the course is carpeted in purple heather in the fall and blazing gorse in the spring. Golfers from all levels of the game make the trip. One year, the pilgrims included Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and film stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Sunscreen anyone
The 15th hole at the El Camaleon golf course in Mexico’s Mayakoba Resort isn’t particularly tough. The par 3 is just 128 yards long. What is difficult, though, is the view. The hole runs along a sparkling stretch of the Caribbean Sea, with views out to Cozumel and the planet’s secondlargest coral reef. What’s really tough on the concentration are the nearly naked sunbathers on the adjoining sugar-white beach; hard to keep the head down on the swing. Pining for New Zealand
I don’t think New Zealand gets enough love. Floating at the bottom of the world and overshadowed by its big-boy neighbour Australia, the Kiwi Nation goes mostly unnoticed. But you can’t ignore the vista at the Kauri Cliffs Golf Club at Matauri Bay on the North Island. Six of the holes zig-zag along the edges of the cliffs, looking out to Cape Brett and the magical Cavalli Islands, with the stunning Norfolk Pines punctuating the horizon. The course is part of a 2,400-hectare resort that boasts a luxury lodge, private beaches, hiking, tennis and mountain biking. Ian Cruickshank is a Toronto-based writer. His trip to Ireland was subsidized by Tourism Ireland.