We can’t turn the page on our visit to County Clare without a shoutout to Jerry Matthews for his fine performance at Doonbeg. Holes 7 through 11 are Pars 3-5-3-5-3 and anyone scoring par or better on that stretch – dubbed Shanahan’s Corner – gets a commemorative bag tag sent to them. Jerry did just that! (Writer’s note: my caddie had seen enough by the sixth hole that this promotion wasn’t mentioned to me as a possibility…)
Monday included a relatively short ride up the coast to Moun
Sunday morning we had our first full Irish breakfast at the Lahinch Coast Hotel and boarded our bus to view the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs are a stunning expanse of rock jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. The Visitor Center offered a full explanation of the Cliffs as well as some shopping and dining opportunities. It was a lovely clear day to see this impressive site.
The Cliffs of Moher (above), where Richard Matthews, Butch Sheffield and Scott Schukraft took a break.
A few members of the trip group arrived on Friday on the heels of Hurricane Lorenzo. While the hurricane did not amount to what was projected, it did bring its share of rain and wind from the southwest up through Dublin.
Three of us (myself, John Brauer and Mike Rowe) opted to play Corballis Golf Club, which is very close to The Island Golf Club in Donabate, near Dublin. The rain was steady for nine of the 12 holes we played.
John Brauer and Mike Rowe during a rainy preview
As much as you think you can gather information about a place online there is no substitute for actually being there. That was my experience during a brief visit (“Familiarity Trip” in travel industry terms…) to our second hotel on the Ireland trip – the Mount Falcon Estate. We will be at the estate Monday and Tuesday nights during our week in Ireland this coming October.
The estate is just outside the town of Ballina in County Mayo on the West coast of Ireland. I was met by Operatio
Last month I had the pleasure of going to County Mayo to preview one of the courses and one of our hotels for the upcoming Ireland trip... Carne Golf Links. There are still a few places in Ireland that I haven’t been to… 🙂
Last year we were on one of our last nights in Ireland and Carne Managing Director Gerry McGuire approached me and encouraged us to consider Carne Golf Links for a future trip. When it was clear we were headed North from County Clare it made perfect sense to add Carne Gol
Welcome to the opening post for our 2019 TurfNet Members Trip to Ireland blog. Below you will find the details of the trip along with an explanatory webinar video (below) and a trip brochure. We hope this is the year that you will join us!
Departure: Leave US Friday October 4th for Shannon in the Southwest of Ireland. Flights arrive Saturday morning June 5th. Note: on this date there are primarily three flights from the East Coast to Shannon: AerLingus from New York/JFK and Boston, and Uni
