Scotland and Ireland through Randy's eyes - Journal style

Day 1

8/15/07

Breakfast at Brad's and visited with Margaret and the girls. It was nice to see Ella and Clare for a short time. They make me feel very special and accepted when I visit.

Flight to Philly was uneventful but Brad, Mike, Alex and I are really excited to get to Scotland.

Day 2

8/16/07

Landed in Scotland- Feet on Scottish European soil for the first time ever.....YES!

Bus to Glasgow cost $3.85 pounds; Train to Irvine cost only $5.35 pounds.

Brad and I accidentally left our back packs on the train and it took off to Ayr.

Luckily we found Willy at the train depot and he helped us retrieve them on the return train one hour later. He is our Hero!

Found Thistle Hotel in Irvine. Checked in for two nights. Caught ride to Irvine Bogside Golf Club.

The people in Irvine are nice but have a very thick accent. Very hard to understand them most times.

Irvine golf was very hard. Rain, sun and winds at 20 mph made it a hard lesson.

The Style is links and a must to be straight off the tee. Blind shots over dunes and gorse make it very rewarding when a good shot is hit. Shot a 93 and happy about that.

Had a great time with the guys.

Dinner that night after a short walk to town at Italian. It was OK but expensive.

Tired for the first night but stayed awake to kick the jet lag until 11:30 PM. Cobble stone streets and a nice long walk found us downtown with not much going on.

Irvine is small, only about 9,000 ppl.

Walked to Harborside and found a place called The Ship Inn. Great old fashioned place that was converted to a restaurant. The building is over 400 years old. Wow.

Met some locals and talked about travel abroad.

Day 3

8/17/07

Woke to a Scottish breakfast - good but did not like haggis.

Shuttle to old muni courses called Lochgreen and Darley. Busy place but in the heart of the city of Troon.

Only locals playing there and it was like the real links style of flat land with lots of tall grass and bunkers.

Great golfing and I shot an 88 at Lochgreen in the morning and 92 in the afternoon at Darley.

It was a perfect day for golf and I really had a great time with Brad, Alex and Mike. The best time so far as we all laughed and enjoyed company.

The Guinness and Whiskey helped a lot too.

Dinner at Ship Inn was nice and met the owner who was a young man. We talked about the locals and learned a few things about the Scots.

They don't like the Brits and they are very snobbish about Americans when it comes to stereotypes. But after a while he was a hoot to talk with.

Day 4

8/18/07

Woke to breakfast and caught flight to Dublin.

Easy going travel was nice but still took 8 hours to get to our hotel in Shannon.

Found out that Shannon not a town but only has industry and neighborhood no business.

So we caught cab to Bunratty Castle and did the tourist thing.

The castle was built in late 15th century and was amazing to see. The village was cool to walk through and take pictures.

We ate at a seafood restaurant and Guinness and whiskey at a pub.

Day 5

8/19/07

Met group at airport for bus to Killarney.

Killarney is about 15,000 population. Traditional celtic town with small street and lots of shopping and tourism.

Good to get acquainted with all the guys on the bus. The trip was about an hour and it was good to have a tour driver to share in the sightseeing. His name is John.

We arrived at Adare golf club and met up with two brothers from England who are journalists writing about Golf travel and Americans playing in Ireland.

Adare is the sight of the Irish Open in June and Padraig Harrington won it this year.

It was a spectacular place. Perfect conditions with sun and clouds only.

The golf was awesome and inland golf is rare in Ireland. Lots of trees and water.

Huge old castle made for some great pictures.

Shot a 91 and happy with play.

Shuttle to Killarney and ate dinner with group to get aquatinted. Out for evening at Irish pubs for traditional music.

Pretty cool place. Old small streets with shops and restaurants everywhere.

Day 6

8/20/07

Irish breakfast with Alex, Brad, Andy and Paul.

Bus to Dooks Golf Club.

Passed through a town that had a Goat for a statue. Every year they have a festival to crown the town goat.

They call it King Puck Fest. Say that five times fast. There is a story here too long to tell.

Wow! This was a spectacular place in the dunes on the water. Wind!

Shot a 90! Very happy about that.

On the 9th hole I hit my third shot on a par five from 130 yards with a nine iron. In the hole for an EAGLE baby! Shot of the week for me so far.

Wow what a rush!

Great day with Brad and I beat him 3 and 2 for a whiskey. I like it when he buys me the winnings.

Played a match with the England boys only to halve the match. They took lots of pictures and said my eagle was going in the article. Cool.

Off to dinner.

An Eagle in Ireland is like two in the States. Alex Glass.

Had Dinner at Foley's and the food was great. Steak and seafood and quality.

We ate dinner with three of the guys from Bozeman.

Day 7

8/21/07

Irish breakfast in the AM and caught the bus at 8 AM.

Enjoyed the trip to Tralee Golf Club. Went through the town (Tralee) where they are having a festival of the Roses. Crowned queen and everything.

In fact the contestants are on TV and from around the world and the winner was crowned on TV last night. Some even from the USA but they have to had direct decent from Ireland ancestors.

I can't remember what percentage of Irish blood but I think it had to be 25% or higher. That would make it third generation or higher I think.

Off to Tralee, and Arnold Palmer design course outside the town of Tralee.

Played a match with Brad against the other two brothers and ended up all square after eighteen holes.

Brad was playing well, I was not but we found a way to eek out a pretty good score against the Winegardeners who are 4 handicap.

We were 3 down with three to play and I sunk a four foot putt to keep us in the game.

Two down with two to play. Well Brad and I both chunked out way to a 6 but Jon missed a bogie put for a six and we took a stroke on them there two which put us 1 down with one to play.

18th hole was down wind and long. Brad hit his right but had a shot. Mine was right side fairway. Brad hit a spectacular shot to with 30 feet right of green. I hit mine over the green.

Brad and I talked about his shot over a bunker and he chose a pitching wedge and said he'd land it halfway. He hit the perfect shot and it went in the hole for an EAGLE (3).

We jumped about and hollered like girls high five and belly bumping. That shot gave us the win for the hole and ALL SQUARE for the match. WOW!

Even though we didn't win, we did the ultimate when dormie, we won the last three holes to keep the other team from winning. Very cool!

I really have a great time playing golf with my brother.

We went shopping back in Killarney in the afternoon and that was good.

Mike and I had a great dinner at Gaby's Seafood. Irish seafood is really good and they prepare everything top notch.

Mike and I met up with Brad, Alex, Andy and Paul for a movie across the street. We saw Bourne Ultimatum.

Went to pub down the alley to listen to Irish music. Then to bed. What a great day!
Day 8
8/22/07

Irish breakfast this morning again.

Off to play Waterville. Every course gets harder each day and I'll have to get a little more focused.

Mike and I are matching up against Pat and Bill from Bozeman. They are nice and we should have a good day. Brad and Alex are playing the Brits for a match.