My favourite hole: Carla Reynolds
ALL the finishing holes at Seapoint are really, really good and you walk out onto the 17th and see the beach, but I love the 16th and it’s the risk reward that makes it for me.
‘It’s a short par-4 [340 yards for the men, 301 for the ladies], index two, and one of the few holes I have a shot on, and a tricky one because of the way it’s set up.
‘There’s a massive mound within driving distance in the centre of the fairway, so you’ve the option of playing back from that and having a longer shot into the green.
‘Or you could dry hitting a driver to leave you with a flick of a wedge, so that’s the risk reward scenario.
‘It’s that kind of hole where you could make birdies or doubles.
‘Even once you’re on the fairway you’re not home and hosed. There’s a very narrow entrance into the green and there’s a bunker short right which seems to catch me out most of the time, and when you’re on the green there’s a couple of tricky pin positions.
‘Now that I work for the ILGU [Irish Ladies Golf Union] I don’t play as much competitively - I’m involved in events in a different capacity - but it’s an interesting and exciting time to be involved, moving towards Golf Ireland [the new governing body that will take over from the GUI and ILGU in January 2021] and seeing the strategy behind that.
‘Women’s golf is flourishing and it’s nice to know the girls on a personal level and be reporting on them. It’s a great job to be in.’
Carla Reynolds is Head of Communications at the Irish Ladies Golf Union and plays off a handicap of 3.
She is a former Connacht Senior finalist and almost knocked Leona Maguire out of the Irish Close Championship at the semi-final stage in 2012 before losing narrowly to the eventual champion. Four years later Leona became the World number one amateur player.