The perfect day in Ireland
Kevin Markham has played every course in Ireland – so which courses and resorts would he choose for his idyllic 24 hours?
What makes your perfect golf day? Superb scoring? Great friends? Glorious weather? A sun-soaked terrace above the 18th, where you can relax with a pint? All of the above?
But what if you had a time machine for a day, to take you wherever you wanted to go in the blink of an eye? Well, the Top 100 Editor found one somewhere and let me borrow it for a day. Here’s what happened…
I wake up in the five-star Castlemartyr Resort, Co. Cork. The most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. More comfortable even than at Adare Manor.
An early check out and on to the aforementioned Adare Manor and their Carriage House for breakfast. Orange juice and potato rösti (with slow-cooked ham hock, wilted spinach, fried egg, gruyère, hollandaise sauce). That’s fuel for the engine and not as heavy as our famous ‘Full Irish’. Besides, I prefer my fungi around trees on the golf course, not on my plate. The staff can’t do enough for you here, but I’d refuse the proffered pint of Guinness because, time travel or not, it’s going to be a long day and my next jump is far to the north. And I doubt drinking and time travel mix well.
My morning tee time is booked, but it will have to wait while I warm up at Adare Manor’s incredible practice facilities.
When I’m good and ready, my tee time for my first 18 holes beckons at St Patrick’s Links, Rosapenna, in beautiful County Donegal. To describe this Tom Doak design as a modern masterpiece simply doesn’t do it justice. It’s a links that combines the classic nuances of old school design with such modern flair and intrigue that holes – and greens in particular – can leave you utterly bamboozled and grinning with joy. There aren’t many courses in Ireland where every hole has you wanting to go back to the tee for a I-didn’t-mean-to-do-that-firsttime-around mulligan. That’s the character of the links at St Patrick’s.
A great and fitting lunch requires a special trip to Concra Wood, Co. Monaghan, and a restaurant (The View) that has established a reputation for something more than clubhouse grub. A terrace looks down on the course and Lough Muckno beyond. The Chef’s Pie of the Day does the trick… I’m not picky… and I’ll take that Guinness now, thank you.
As I ponder over that pint, I face a quandary. My favourite course in Ireland lies to the west, in the wilds of Co. Mayo. Carne is my forever-happy place, with towering dunes to drown out the world and holes to fill you with awe… but maybe a trip to the unexpected is in order, somewhere that serves as a foil to St Patrick’s. The glamorous parkland at Druids Glen turns my head (it reopens this spring)… but it is too high profile. Something smaller, less well known holds appeal. There are many to choose from: Rathcore, Portumna, Portarlington, Esker Hills, Muskerry and Moyola Park spring to mind.
Lunch is done and my mind is set. The transporter takes me north east to the wonders of Scrabo. The course is not even in this Top 100, but I fell in love with it on sight, lured by the rawness of the landscape, the wild abandon of the layout, and the relentless thrill and challenge of holes. And the vast views. The course thunders over and around Scrabo Hill, the terrain drenched in gorse, the fairways all bounce and attitude. It’s joy and terror in equal measure.
Could you honestly beat an after-round drink on the terrace at Old Head, the 18th hole stretching all the way back to the tee and the famous lighthouse, all sweetly wrapped by the Atlantic Ocean? No, is the answer. Just. No.
It would be all too easy to stay here for dinner (and the night), but experience has taught me that the food and atmosphere in ‘Dingle’ should not be missed. The clubhouse is perched on Ireland’s west coast and it’s a bustle of activity, such is it’s culinary allure. The menu changes daily, especially with the locally-caught Catch of the Day, but you won’t go wrong with whatever you order… assuming there’s a table free. It doesn’t get much more gloriously ‘Irish’ than this.
My last jump of the day, before I return the time machine to the Editor, is the easiest decision of all. I head home to my bed, eschewing the comfort of the Lough Ernes, the Farnham Estates, the Mount Juliets. Home is where the heart is… which may explain why I love Irish golf courses so much.
■ Kevin Markham co-chairs our Irish Top 100 and his feat of playing every course in the country led to him writing two books, Hooked and Driving the Green.