Speaker 1: If you travel to the island of Ireland to play golf,
Speaker 1: you can play in magnificent courses in Northern Ireland and
Speaker 1: all over the Republic. We've had a whole raft of
Speaker 1: champions come along, from McElroy to Lawry, to Harrington, to
Speaker 1: g Mac to Darren Clark. And I used to say
Speaker 1: to Americans in particular, if you travel to Ireland and
Speaker 1: play golf, we'll tell you the secret of how to
Speaker 1: how to produce champions which have got to come and play.
Speaker 1: And for American people who might go, who might go
Speaker 1: west from the States to play golf in Hawaii or whatever,
Speaker 1: we say we have you know se of the links
Speaker 1: courses of the world, and come here and play golf
Speaker 1: on the edge of the eternal Atlantic, and you are
Speaker 1: in for a very special experience. Put another log on
Speaker 1: the fire nobody, he's get the time. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: fire pit with Matt Janella. We opened this episode with
Speaker 1: Enda Kenny, former Prime Minister of Ireland, who we met
Speaker 1: and played with at the Father Son in Waterville. The
Speaker 1: first week of August. We were on an epic adventure
Speaker 1: to almost all of the greats and several hidden gems
Speaker 1: on the island of Ireland, and before we get to
Speaker 1: the details of the trip, I want to thank our
Speaker 1: friends at link Soul for their support. John Ashworth and
Speaker 1: Jeff Cunningham have created so much more than apparel you
Speaker 1: can wear on and off the course. Links Soul is
Speaker 1: a lifestyle that permeates out of Goat Hill Park in Oceanside, California,
Speaker 1: where they're forging the blueprint for the best of a
Speaker 1: true muni in America, and we thank them for that
Speaker 1: as well. Use promo code fire Pit off your next
Speaker 1: purchase at linksoul dot com. I've roamed the dunes of
Speaker 1: Ireland with John and Jeff in the past, but on
Speaker 1: this trip we were there as the fire Pit collect
Speaker 1: working for Golf Digest and in conjunction with Tourism Ireland.
Speaker 1: The goal was to come back with two journeys. The
Speaker 1: first to the Southwest would celebrate the fact that the
Speaker 1: crack was back. Pubs were open, musicians jamming, singers singing.
Speaker 1: And then there's the father Son at Waterville, the annual
Speaker 1: gathering of the best of intentions, kegs of libations, and
Speaker 1: countless deep connections. Here's Marty Carr, who leads this fraternity
Speaker 1: of golf well started just as a as a as
Speaker 1: a concept thready two years ago and it's grown into
Speaker 1: something that is just in describing Mo went to be
Speaker 1: honest witch and was only said m Keith Pelly last
Speaker 1: night from from a son and and he was he
Speaker 1: was over can get over the connection and the bond
Speaker 1: and the and the friendships and how every pairing was
Speaker 1: a cool pairing and every table was a cool table.
Speaker 1: And I think you tend to forget that the people
Speaker 1: that come here are all kind of like minded and connected,
Speaker 1: and it's it's just incredible. It's indescribable bombs that that's
Speaker 1: been created. And then you throw in the village of
Speaker 1: Water and you throw in you know that the golf
Speaker 1: course here, which is probably one of the greatest in
Speaker 1: the world, and it's just it's a melting pot of
Speaker 1: good stuff. You know. The second journey we'd come back
Speaker 1: with was to the North and Northwest, and the story
Speaker 1: there will be about what's new and what those new
Speaker 1: courses will mean to the trip takers as they plot
Speaker 1: their next Irish adventure. Here's Endy Kenny again, golfing attic,
Speaker 1: who's from County Mayo, where carn Golf is located. Karn
Speaker 1: isn't new per se, but what is new will be
Speaker 1: a significant boost to Carn's business model, which depends a
Speaker 1: lot on outside play. Karn is a is a very
Speaker 1: special piece of ground and a great tribute should be
Speaker 1: paid to those who had the vision to actually believe
Speaker 1: that a golf course could be put there. This course
Speaker 1: in Karn was owned by a number of local farmers
Speaker 1: who were willing to move it on for the good
Speaker 1: of the community. The course was designed by the late
Speaker 1: Eddie Hackett, which I had the privilege to open when
Speaker 1: it was a Minister for Tourism along with the late
Speaker 1: Great Christie O'Connor Sr. And I recall Eddie Hackett saying
Speaker 1: to me, this is the last course that I will design,
Speaker 1: and it's the one where we've interfered with the nature
Speaker 1: to the least extent possible, and that means that they
Speaker 1: took the greens out of the locations where they're where
Speaker 1: they're located, and the rest of the terrain is as
Speaker 1: it was for millennia. So it's it's a It's an
Speaker 1: extraordinary piece of ground and for those who play Karen
Speaker 1: and who play golf, they want to be on their
Speaker 1: game it's it's it's not in a very populated area
Speaker 1: with the people are most welcoming. So I think for
Speaker 1: you and your crew, I think you're in for a
Speaker 1: very special experience, no more than here in Waterville and
Speaker 1: many of the Lynks courses in Ireland. Khan is truly
Speaker 1: special and it's a it's a kind of golf course
Speaker 1: you will not see every day of the week. Well
Speaker 1: twelve courses and over two thousand miles later, we lobstered
Speaker 1: in a one year old wooden skiff. We cease harried
Speaker 1: in search of a famous dolphin, drove a car ferry,
Speaker 1: boaded into the cliffs of more Ran, along the Giants
Speaker 1: Causeway and got in the huddle of a Gaelic football match.
Speaker 1: Pardon the language, We're still in the game, that's and
Speaker 1: it was our own fucking pond. Who are We were
Speaker 1: like headless, fucking chickens when the high box You mean
Speaker 1: if he had candor key and got back with a
Speaker 1: cool couple of challenge but a simple as it. These
Speaker 1: journeys will start dropping soon, but for now. I was
Speaker 1: joined by Alex se Peggy, my longtime producer, shooter and
Speaker 1: partner in the collective Colt Netler was with us who
Speaker 1: we recently hired as a producer, shooter, editor and storyteller,
Speaker 1: and as you'll hear in this podcast, he's a hell
Speaker 1: of a player. The hosting duties of this round table
Speaker 1: go to Lads Versias, who's overseeing the culture vertical of
Speaker 1: the Fire Pit Collective, and Alan Schipnuk, who's also a
Speaker 1: partner and the editorial director. We start with Alan, So, boys,
Speaker 1: you're back in California. Welcome. How hung over are you
Speaker 1: from the Guinness and just emotionally from what looked like
Speaker 1: an absolutely epic trip. I think I speak for lads
Speaker 1: and most of the golf world, we say the fomo
Speaker 1: was real. I mean I was sitting at home going, man,
Speaker 1: how did I get eased out of this trip? And
Speaker 1: I think that was probably universal sentiment. Even though we
Speaker 1: weren't employed by the Fire Pit Collective, probably felt that
Speaker 1: a little bit. It's funny it never came up. We
Speaker 1: lived vicariously through each of you on that trip, so
Speaker 1: we didn't have any room for any more people in
Speaker 1: the van. I mean we were pretty reloaded in, so
Speaker 1: you know that's it. Well, speaking transportation, tell us about
Speaker 1: kind of your flight over from the States arriving into Ireland.
Speaker 1: Kind of the protocols that you went through and maybe
Speaker 1: you know walk us through that, like what's it like
Speaker 1: to travel and do that? Right now? I didn't get
Speaker 1: pass sport until Wednesday before we left. We left on
Speaker 1: a on a Sunday, I think right or left left Sunday, arrived.
Speaker 1: I didn't get my passport till the wednesday before because
Speaker 1: my passport had expired in October and because of COVID
Speaker 1: like and moving, I moved from Florida to California like
Speaker 1: a disaster, and and turns out I was able to
Speaker 1: go five days before and get a passport in San Diego,
Speaker 1: paid two d dollars to get it rushed, and got
Speaker 1: my passport days before, which could have really thrown a
Speaker 1: wrench into what was happening. And then I got I
Speaker 1: got my my my vaccination card laminated. Now I've been
Speaker 1: told since then doctors have DM ME saying getting it
Speaker 1: laminated is not a good idea because you may have
Speaker 1: to get booster shots and you should keep them on
Speaker 1: the same card, and so laminating not a good idea.
Speaker 1: So I did that. I would tell people not to
Speaker 1: do that. Can you de laminate. Is that a possibility.
Speaker 1: I don't know. You might be able to getting really hot.
Speaker 1: I will say that in California there's a great website
Speaker 1: where you can put in all the information. You'll get
Speaker 1: a digital vaccination passport that has a QV code and
Speaker 1: that takes the place of a little piece of cardboard,
Speaker 1: and then it will get updated over time. So I
Speaker 1: would recommend anyone who has gotten VACT. It takes about
Speaker 1: thirty seconds to sign up. I'm sure other states have
Speaker 1: a similar director. That website Alan is referring to is
Speaker 1: my Vaccine Record dot C, d p H, dot c A,
Speaker 1: dot gov, which, as he says, is for California. Now
Speaker 1: back to more I'm getting there, and Coult chimes in
Speaker 1: with some of his travel troubles, speaking of foam all,
Speaker 1: I actually experienced a little bit of that myself. Starting
Speaker 1: off the first twenty four hours. I was supposed to
Speaker 1: be over there two hours before you, guys, Land. I
Speaker 1: didn't end up getting there until another twenty four hours later.
Speaker 1: And the seven amount of new work on I think
Speaker 1: Sunday night, get on the runway, third to take off,
Speaker 1: you know, hour goes by not in the air and
Speaker 1: up back at the gate. A couple of more hours
Speaker 1: go by some tesco by yeah, mechanical, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: have this up and running shore that we get you
Speaker 1: over to double no problem, you know, uh, fast forward,
Speaker 1: you know, every passenger now in the airport, off the
Speaker 1: plane like asking questions where you're supposed to go. I
Speaker 1: ran over to the Marriott of New Work, luckily to
Speaker 1: get the uh one of the last rooms available. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: I pop up Twitter. These boys are having guinness. They're
Speaker 1: at Valley Bun. Yeah, you know, shot like I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to be there, come on, give me over there. But
Speaker 1: luckily enough it uh you know, a day later I
Speaker 1: was able to join them. Do you like any pig trom?
Speaker 1: What do you don't understand? There's a fucking Mallard duck
Speaker 1: on the irarm shit I was talking to. That's Killy
Speaker 1: and O'Dowd and Irish legend with the punch line to
Speaker 1: a seven minute joke that's coming soon on the fire
Speaker 1: Pit Collective's YouTube channel. But now back to lads, as
Speaker 1: he gets us into the good stuff. So let's jump
Speaker 1: to the southwest and kick us off. Tell us about
Speaker 1: you know, the early stages of the of the trip,
Speaker 1: first courses people, whether I think we need to talk
Speaker 1: about our strategy, Matt. You know, we we land. Matt
Speaker 1: was expecting we're gonna start to shoot. It's anti my
Speaker 1: rules of shooting after a red eye. So we get
Speaker 1: to Turli and it's just kind of beat the clock
Speaker 1: not to fall asleep. It was nine am when we landed,
Speaker 1: took that long drive to Turley. It was like by
Speaker 1: then it was like noon, so it's kind of like
Speaker 1: hanging out at the hotel and resist the bed or
Speaker 1: go hang out. So we went straight to golf course
Speaker 1: at Turley and just had lunch there and walked the
Speaker 1: course so we wouldn't fall asleep. But what happened to
Speaker 1: your night there? Matt? Meet a couple of nice people.
Speaker 1: We meet up with Cormack, one of our the Irish
Speaker 1: based shooter that joined the group. Um. So Cormack is like,
Speaker 1: we in order to shoot drones in Ireland, you've got
Speaker 1: to have a local, licensed Irish drone shooter. So this
Speaker 1: Cormack is a guy I've worked with on previous journeys
Speaker 1: two I think, both Morocco and Ireland, and so we
Speaker 1: joined up forces with him. So he was part of
Speaker 1: the crew and yeah that that night, I get a
Speaker 1: call in the middle of the night. You know, you're
Speaker 1: we stay up late, we try to this is key.
Speaker 1: Now you gotta get a good night's sleep. Now you
Speaker 1: get over jet lag. And I get a call in
Speaker 1: the other night at like two in the morning, someone
Speaker 1: doesn't know him in Ireland, and I never fall back
Speaker 1: to sleep. I'm wide awake. So I'm on like two
Speaker 1: hours of sleep right out of the gates, you know,
Speaker 1: never caught up, never caught up. And now we're going
Speaker 1: full bore. You know. The next morning we shoot truly
Speaker 1: any in first Oh bally Bunyan at sunrise, Yeah, it epic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: day day shoot day one. We had the most insane
Speaker 1: sunrise over bally Bunyan when it was this is day
Speaker 1: one where it was supposed to be raining already off
Speaker 1: the gates, like a chance of rain. Basically the whole
Speaker 1: forecast every day we looked said something eighty ninety or
Speaker 1: a chance of showers and it looked like a washout
Speaker 1: and we not trust the trust and night. What advice
Speaker 1: would you give people traveling that are gonna pack, that
Speaker 1: are going to face some elements, what what is it
Speaker 1: that you bring to have on the golf course on
Speaker 1: the trip, like that great rain here, it's rain gloves,
Speaker 1: and it's two pair of shoes because if the one
Speaker 1: gets wet, you need to toggle. You can't go back
Speaker 1: into the wet shoes the next day. Yeah, that's death.
Speaker 1: You still aren't dry. By the way, they're outside right now.
Speaker 1: There are people who are my umbrella. You know she's
Speaker 1: got what he asked me. He's like, dude, did these
Speaker 1: ever recover? I mean, they dry out like he thought
Speaker 1: he was gonna have to throw him away. Man, I
Speaker 1: don't know about that. I I don't know about yours, but
Speaker 1: mine they looking good right now. They're hold on by
Speaker 1: a thread. As we continue to sprinkle in some voices
Speaker 1: and sounds of the trip, meet John and Paul Anthony,
Speaker 1: a father and son from South Bend, Indiana, who were
Speaker 1: competing in Waterville. I asked them what they loved about Ireland.
Speaker 1: The people, The people, the people. I tell every American
Speaker 1: I meet you go to Ireland first and foremost for
Speaker 1: the people. Walk into any pub and just start talking
Speaker 1: to a local. Uh, It's it can be life changing.
Speaker 1: They all want to meet you. They're all gonna make it.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have a story about cousin Jimmy who's tending
Speaker 1: bar in Boston, and and uncle Ray who's in New York. Um,
Speaker 1: and you just meet the people. I mean, it's obviously
Speaker 1: we all know how beautiful it is, you know, topography
Speaker 1: and everything like that, but it's the people. And if
Speaker 1: you're a golfer, it's a no brainer. I mean, just
Speaker 1: what are you waiting for? Did you see many other
Speaker 1: golf tourists and can you can you speak to the
Speaker 1: enthusiasm of of the Irish golf community as you guys
Speaker 1: showed up because it's been you know, it's a huge
Speaker 1: part of the economy there and they've they've been on
Speaker 1: lockdown that's ways stricter than most other places going on
Speaker 1: two years now. So what was just the energy like
Speaker 1: for when when you rolled up to bally Bunning and
Speaker 1: truly in these places, I've got a I've got a
Speaker 1: great example that I think was itl Hinch which was
Speaker 1: a little down the road, which we'll get to, but
Speaker 1: in the hotel um. You know, I guess domestic tours
Speaker 1: and for Ireland is doing pretty well at the moment.
Speaker 1: I mean, people are traveling within the country, but we're
Speaker 1: at the Hitch Hotel. We're checking in and I think
Speaker 1: it was late at night and forgetting and you know,
Speaker 1: I've got the bags, the backpacks, heavy stuff like clunk clunk,
Speaker 1: clunk up the stairs, you know, like god like checking
Speaker 1: into my little card over the door. And there's a
Speaker 1: guy walk behind me and uh, I think you know,
Speaker 1: I said high or he said hi, and he goes, oh, American,
Speaker 1: and I'm like yeah, He's like I've been here before.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, first time. He's like, well, you know, welcome,
Speaker 1: and it is so nice to hear in American accent again.
Speaker 1: He's like, welcome, have a great time. Wow. And I
Speaker 1: was like, I've never gotten that before. Like it was
Speaker 1: a really really nice moment. And I didn't know that's
Speaker 1: how they felt, you know, it was it was an
Speaker 1: honor to be there, you know, Royal County down it's
Speaker 1: like thirteen to fifteen thousand sort of international visitors, you know,
Speaker 1: like North American uh, golfers, and I mean, you know
Speaker 1: these are places that's a big number. If you take
Speaker 1: that number of times, you know, two fifty or whatever
Speaker 1: they charge, that's that's a significant impact. You know, these
Speaker 1: are all sort of member based clubs where members charged
Speaker 1: are charged five D seven D you know, either euros
Speaker 1: or pounds a year to play all their golf. So
Speaker 1: they really are dependent on outside play big time. That's
Speaker 1: their whole model. And so you know, although Irish people
Speaker 1: are moving around Ireland and Northern Ireland, you know, to
Speaker 1: too Colt's point like this, it was I mean, Ireland
Speaker 1: is always a warm reception. This was overly warm. It
Speaker 1: felt like we kind of had the place to ourselves.
Speaker 1: I mean it was crazy. I mean, they had membership
Speaker 1: play and they had stuff going on, but there was
Speaker 1: a it was like going to Ireland like probably what
Speaker 1: it was like twenty five or thirty years ago, where
Speaker 1: you know, just there wasn't a lot of Americans roaming around,
Speaker 1: and but the ones who were, I'm gonna tell you,
Speaker 1: had a very good experience because not only the hospitality,
Speaker 1: but in terms of COVID that country is vaccinated. Uh,
Speaker 1: they've they've they had just recently, you know, they had
Speaker 1: they had Ireland had lost its music. Think about that
Speaker 1: Ireland lost music that for that country and that culture matters.
Speaker 1: You're showing back up. It's like some of the first
Speaker 1: times that people have been playing music together in almost
Speaker 1: two years. So we we had sing song sessions that
Speaker 1: went to like two thirty three in the morning with
Speaker 1: Pete who were like eighty years old, because it was
Speaker 1: like they Ireland was getting their music back as we were,
Speaker 1: you know, coming back, and masks were basically happening indoors
Speaker 1: and as soon as you got sit down and it
Speaker 1: wasn't even that hard and fast. It was pretty like
Speaker 1: just just be sensible, you know, um, have a mask,
Speaker 1: you know, and and otherwise otherwise guys, it was awesome.
Speaker 1: So there's a few questions that have come in with
Speaker 1: regard to kind of traveling to Ireland and counter Men
Speaker 1: and seven asked, do you think that the Irish golfing
Speaker 1: holiday represents good value for money or have they become
Speaker 1: overpriced compared to other destinations that you can go to.
Speaker 1: I mean it just depends, I think in the South.
Speaker 1: In the South, I mean, you're paying to get over there,
Speaker 1: um and all that, all that goes with that, and
Speaker 1: then but in the end of the day, you're you're
Speaker 1: still paying. You're paying like two fifty at the best
Speaker 1: places three to play the best golf courses in Ireland
Speaker 1: where you're paying, you know, you're paying more than that.
Speaker 1: You know, this is like that's the best, and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's and that's that's the highest you'll pay really like
Speaker 1: the Twilight nine rate at Pebble Beach, right, and then
Speaker 1: you find your Criti Islands for whatever thirty or fifty
Speaker 1: euro that will blow your brains out and that's like
Speaker 1: you know, banging for your buff. I mean there it
Speaker 1: is castle places like that in the North, Southwest and
Speaker 1: the North. But in the North you're paying more like
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty hops two hundred dollars. Wow. So
Speaker 1: in the North for like narn and Port New and
Speaker 1: St Patrick's and um, I don't know, Port Rush is
Speaker 1: is probably the most. You know in Royal County Down
Speaker 1: are probably on the high high end, and you're still
Speaker 1: you're still paying two fifty bucks and still it's still
Speaker 1: less than like a mediocre course in Scottsdale. Oh I
Speaker 1: think about that. Wow. No, it's I think generally across
Speaker 1: the board in the North, your your average price, you're
Speaker 1: gonna save about a hundred dollars, you know, per round
Speaker 1: of golf. I ran the numbers in the South. One
Speaker 1: possible itinerary using peak summer season bally Bunyan, trelle Waterville
Speaker 1: and La Hinch would cost you two each. At old
Speaker 1: Head it's four dollars and dukes a hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: seven dollars. That's six rounds for one thousand, seven seventy
Speaker 1: dollars and you'd average two dollars per round. I'd added
Speaker 1: their manner which is another four hundred and sixty six dollars,
Speaker 1: which brings a total over two thousand for seven rounds
Speaker 1: and an average green feet of three d nineteen dollars.
Speaker 1: As for up in the North and Northwest, we didn't
Speaker 1: play it on this trip, but Royal County Down is
Speaker 1: top price at three hundred and seventy dollars. We did
Speaker 1: play Port Rush, which is three thirty dollars our glass
Speaker 1: five St Patrick's at Russa Penna a hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: five Naarn and Port New a hundred and fifty five
Speaker 1: carne is a hundred and eighteen dollars and Critch Island
Speaker 1: is forty one for nine holes. That's seven rounds for
Speaker 1: one thousand, three hundred and sixty four dollars and an
Speaker 1: average of over a hundred dollars less per round, and
Speaker 1: the savings of eight hundred and seventy two dollars. So yes,
Speaker 1: across the board, value in Ireland is still there, especially
Speaker 1: in the north and Northwest. All right, back to the conversation.
Speaker 1: Here's Alex you Peggy, head of production for the collective
Speaker 1: and organizer of this trip. Biggest surprise, Um, I mean
Speaker 1: that definitely goes with Krisch Island. We split the trip
Speaker 1: into two sections. You know, when we do the show,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have two shows around the Southwest, and you know,
Speaker 1: the theme of that is the crack is back, the
Speaker 1: party is back, the good tents are back. Um. And
Speaker 1: then part two is the Northwest and the north with
Speaker 1: the Northwest is like what's new? And as we went north,
Speaker 1: everyone kept on telling us you gotta go check out
Speaker 1: this Kritch Island. And actually, when I talked to one
Speaker 1: of the owners of thereon in Port New on the phone,
Speaker 1: probably six weeks ago, after I told him we're going
Speaker 1: to go film there, the first thing he told him
Speaker 1: was like, you guys have to go to Kritch Island
Speaker 1: if you have time. And when we were with him,
Speaker 1: he reminded us again to go to Kridge Island. We
Speaker 1: had we had an extra four hours the next day
Speaker 1: on our way up to Rossa Penna, so we made
Speaker 1: that detour, played as a crew and it was first off,
Speaker 1: it was blowing probably around forty miles an hour, no exaggeration.
Speaker 1: Matt's got cell phone video we got. This trip was
Speaker 1: rare where the crew we actually got to play, got
Speaker 1: to play a lot. We'll get into that, but you know,
Speaker 1: the full the entire crew, you know, Cold Matt, myself, uh,
Speaker 1: Cormac as we mentioned earlier, and we had Darren driving surround.
Speaker 1: The five of us played and it was it was
Speaker 1: special as as people will see, this place was amazing.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the dirty little secret of golf travel
Speaker 1: is that sometimes the itinerary is so full you only
Speaker 1: have time to go and played five holes just so
Speaker 1: you can get some You play the most beautiful holes,
Speaker 1: you get some great scenic because on the next one
Speaker 1: we gotta go and to actually play you know, a
Speaker 1: full eight deen or whatever. As as a crew, that
Speaker 1: that's a luxury and a delight. That was a luxury
Speaker 1: and uh and incredible. I mean as far as people
Speaker 1: booking their travel, I would say, I mean for us,
Speaker 1: you know, which is work and I mean the tinerary
Speaker 1: is is chock full of things from sunrise to sunset.
Speaker 1: But even we still have hours here and there to
Speaker 1: do things like Chrisch Island. But if you're going over
Speaker 1: there and planning a trip, I mean building at least
Speaker 1: half a day here and there, because you will drive
Speaker 1: by places like Spanish Point look cool? Right We didn't
Speaker 1: you know, we didn't go there. We didn't have time.
Speaker 1: We drove by, I'm like, wow, that place looks bad.
Speaker 1: Or the little pitch and put outside of the hinge
Speaker 1: on the other side that unfortunately was closed. I believed
Speaker 1: to COVID. Hopefully it's going to come back. Um, but
Speaker 1: just I mean that would have been a blast, right again,
Speaker 1: like just what the boys jump out their pitch and
Speaker 1: put supposedly hardest Uh did you say that hardist hardest
Speaker 1: links in Ireland? It's like a thousand yards Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: just to build in, you know, opportunities to to do
Speaker 1: just that, to explore You're you're going to drive by
Speaker 1: a place, We're like, wow, that looks interesting. We were
Speaker 1: lucky being there for two weeks. I mean the hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty plus trips Matt and I have done and
Speaker 1: shows we've done. I've never built a schedule so late.
Speaker 1: I mean we had long drive times. I mean there
Speaker 1: were times we had four hours to drive, but there
Speaker 1: was a lot of time to go adventure and you
Speaker 1: know that was that was just through all the trips
Speaker 1: that we've taken to Ireland and Scotland and England, like
Speaker 1: it was necessary to do that in Ireland to to
Speaker 1: pull this off. That reminds me of some of the
Speaker 1: trips that Matt and I have taken with various friends
Speaker 1: and and wingmen, and that they're the itineraries are so ambitious,
Speaker 1: thirty six day plus drives and we were like, pull over,
Speaker 1: take a picture of like a sign that would point
Speaker 1: to a castle, Like all right, there's a sight seet
Speaker 1: for the trip. Like all we did was eat, sleep,
Speaker 1: play golf and drive. It was we didn't do anything else.
Speaker 1: And it's fun. I mean that's kind of the point.
Speaker 1: But you do feel like, man, I haven't quite seen
Speaker 1: as much of this country as I should, and so
Speaker 1: it's there's that tension. I mean, if everyone everyone has
Speaker 1: a well not everyone, but most people have a finite
Speaker 1: amount of time between family and work and everything else,
Speaker 1: and so you're you're trying to cram as much as
Speaker 1: you can, but I agree like it. You do want
Speaker 1: a sense of place and you do want to put
Speaker 1: your feet up and have some fun when when you can.
Speaker 1: So that's awesome that you guys made space for that,
Speaker 1: because it's not it's not easy to do it that
Speaker 1: that schedule and get so full so fast, especially when
Speaker 1: you're especially when you're also filming a TV content. Oh yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So when Alex when you said the crack is back,
Speaker 1: like just for those who don't know the words, the
Speaker 1: Irish word, a's c R A I C and it's
Speaker 1: it's kind of like the trash talking, the fun, the nightlife,
Speaker 1: the the in spanciality, the dwet and day like like,
Speaker 1: how how would you guys, how would you define crack
Speaker 1: for for those listening, Um, it's it's it's all that,
Speaker 1: it's it's the it's everything that's sort of Ireland is
Speaker 1: very prideful about, which is music and uh, you know, um,
Speaker 1: it's all around you know, singing together. There are songs
Speaker 1: they all you know, there are traditional Irish songs there
Speaker 1: they cover you know, traditional American piano sort of pub
Speaker 1: songs and uh, it's a big part of all of it.
Speaker 1: It's it's um, it's the Guinness, it's the pubs, it's
Speaker 1: the music. It's the local musicians, you know, sort of
Speaker 1: forming a spontaneous band, people chiming in like it's a
Speaker 1: it's the party, that's what you know, it's it's a
Speaker 1: good crack. If the next day that was a good crack, Yeah,
Speaker 1: well what was that? That was a good party. That
Speaker 1: was good. That was good, good energy, good good vibe.
Speaker 1: That's more from a group of locals, jamming and doulon.
Speaker 1: We pick it back up with Colt Nedler to go
Speaker 1: back to surprises real quick, Matt, what was something that
Speaker 1: you know, I forgot what the question was, but like
Speaker 1: something that you know surprised you on that trip, on
Speaker 1: or off the golf course. Oh man, well, you know,
Speaker 1: just going back to the whole schedule thing. I think too,
Speaker 1: it's funny that Alex said, you know, like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is the lightest itinerary I've ever booked, because it definitely
Speaker 1: didn't feel that like, I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Where are we on the same trip. Well, the granted
Speaker 1: the first five days when we were in Waterville, you're
Speaker 1: on your own schedule, Waterville was chilling, but you were.
Speaker 1: You were in the shedine till two am every day,
Speaker 1: so that was that was by your own doing that
Speaker 1: you were busy and right down you go, you go,
Speaker 1: you go to Ireland to go to bed at ten o'clock, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I gotta go to bed. You know, you don't go
Speaker 1: to bed, you go to Like I did say after
Speaker 1: the third night, I go, I have to not be
Speaker 1: on the last bus home like I was on the
Speaker 1: last bus for the first three nights. I was like,
Speaker 1: this is not a good you know. But that's why
Speaker 1: you keep You get invited back every year, Matt. That's
Speaker 1: why you're just punching your ticket for the next trip.
Speaker 1: You know, you're putting in the work for all of us.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. And again, so those who don't know
Speaker 1: all the vernaculars, the shebne is kind of like I mean,
Speaker 1: it used to be like a secret bar, like sort
Speaker 1: of like speak easy, yeah, yeah, and now it's kind
Speaker 1: of just a more general term, right for a place
Speaker 1: to go and have some fun. But back in the day, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: If someone has a like a basement barn that here
Speaker 1: in the States that would be there should be yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like a man. Well that's a good that's a
Speaker 1: really good segue to be Kaplaner's question a favorite town
Speaker 1: to sleep in combo of hotel, restaurant and of course
Speaker 1: the pubs. Colt, what did you like the most? Can I?
Speaker 1: Can I bring it back for one second? Um? I
Speaker 1: felt this was this was very impactful. To be honest,
Speaker 1: the whole Father's Son I did not. I did not
Speaker 1: realize what we were kind of getting into. I mean,
Speaker 1: this was like, you know, maybe date. This was day two,
Speaker 1: day like one and a half for me, and we're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're going down to Waterville for the father's Son. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what that is. Let's roll, you know, like, okay,
Speaker 1: we land, you know, I slowly kind of I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: Matt playing a tournament rad okay, cool? Uh. You know
Speaker 1: there's like fifty teams, you know, two man teams, a
Speaker 1: hundred people. Marty Carr. I'm sorry, I'm hearing about Marty Carr,
Speaker 1: this character who you haven't met yet and we're talked
Speaker 1: about and um, you know, the mettal I'll leave kind
Speaker 1: of describing that whole experience to you, but just to
Speaker 1: just to see. You know, the relationships that that in
Speaker 1: friendships that Matt had has over there and sort of
Speaker 1: has cultivated over years of travel, was incredible. It's like,
Speaker 1: you have this Irish family over there that you see
Speaker 1: every single year. Friends. I mean, whether it's their kids
Speaker 1: and you've see him grow up, or you know, you're
Speaker 1: some of your best friends over there, or you know
Speaker 1: people that you've known and gotten to play with over
Speaker 1: the years. Um, I was like, wow, I did not
Speaker 1: know this existed over here. You know, it was it
Speaker 1: was really cool experience, not only to just be around
Speaker 1: and then to be able to play in it was
Speaker 1: you know, that was wild. Um, to be able to
Speaker 1: play in it. So it's cold is cult shows up
Speaker 1: he does to the father's son. I'm not playing a
Speaker 1: practice round with Steve John, who is tournament director of
Speaker 1: A T and T and the pure first team and
Speaker 1: sort of you know beach. Yeah, the mayor of Pebble Beach,
Speaker 1: I mean Monterey Peninsula runs the Monterey Peninsula Foundation essentially,
Speaker 1: so well, you're forgetting the most important part of his resume.
Speaker 1: Steve John is my partner every year abandoned for for
Speaker 1: the Uncle Tony Invitational, which is the tournament that the
Speaker 1: Matt hosts in honor of the his colorful old Italian
Speaker 1: uncle got him into golf, and it's one of the
Speaker 1: highlights of the golf calendar for all of us and
Speaker 1: s J. As he's widely known in the golf world.
Speaker 1: We've had like three chances to win, like we were
Speaker 1: always right there and he's he's a great stick. He's
Speaker 1: probably a legit one or two and one of the
Speaker 1: all time characters. Let spectacular head of hair. It's not
Speaker 1: just that Colt got to play with some rando. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is one of the all time characters. So so
Speaker 1: so I'm playing a practice film with Steve John and
Speaker 1: he gets a phone call his son Kyle was coming in.
Speaker 1: Who by the way, Kyle and s J have won
Speaker 1: the Father's Son twice. They're contended. Kyle's a stick is
Speaker 1: a stick and uh, Kyle. He puts Kyle on like
Speaker 1: speaker phone on the sixteenth T. We're playing the back
Speaker 1: nine only and we're on the sixteenth T and Kyle
Speaker 1: basically says, Dad, I'm sorry. You know his fight had
Speaker 1: also got canceled day before. Father He's out. Matt then
Speaker 1: hits the Ireland journey text thread Colt, you're playing with
Speaker 1: Steve John tomorrow one fifteen working on clubs game on
Speaker 1: let's go. Gets clubs from the caddy that I use
Speaker 1: from a Dare Manner who's like one of the greatest
Speaker 1: people roaming the planets, Mark serteen. He's a great guy
Speaker 1: us him, used him as a dair, brought him over
Speaker 1: with the father son in the last few years. He
Speaker 1: has a set of clubs. He goes, culte, you can
Speaker 1: use my clubs. Coult uses Mark Startini's clubs. Shows up
Speaker 1: the first tea with s J and and the first
Speaker 1: hole of Waterville and they both proceed to pump it
Speaker 1: into the hazard like both go right out out ball.
Speaker 1: I mean they're there and it's taking best ball of
Speaker 1: the twosome from day one three day tournaments. Second day
Speaker 1: is alternate shot, third days back to best ball the twosome.
Speaker 1: These guys are out. I mean, I didn't I think
Speaker 1: it was maybe at the turn on the first day,
Speaker 1: asked Matt. I'm like, he said something like what I'm
Speaker 1: playing the next two days as well. Bear in mind
Speaker 1: I on before this trip, I was like, hey, if
Speaker 1: we can all play nine holes together at some point
Speaker 1: that would be sick. I love to play nine in Ireland,
Speaker 1: that would be awesome. You know, right off the bat
Speaker 1: they jump in play three days in Waterville for the
Speaker 1: father's son. I'm like, sir, yes, sir at further a
Speaker 1: couple of two of them over there in the fairway,
Speaker 1: like I'm passing them and they're like thickest thieves they're
Speaker 1: over there. I'm hearing, hey cold great, yeah yeah right,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, yeah, you know, this is like when
Speaker 1: your girl cheats on you with like you know, through universe.
Speaker 1: Like I don't really need to hear all this matter,
Speaker 1: Like it's a sensitive subject, like is my partner Coult
Speaker 1: swoops in, steals them, carries him the victory. Like it
Speaker 1: puts me in an awkward position here, like you can
Speaker 1: lay off a little bit. Nobody nobody's thinking about anything.
Speaker 1: You know, they're having fun, they're playing good. You know.
Speaker 1: You know, it's all Stableford scoring over there. So it's
Speaker 1: always like it's pars two points, Bogey's one point and
Speaker 1: anything double zero and birdies are three eagles or four, etcetera,
Speaker 1: and so it's all you know, you gotta get to
Speaker 1: thirty six. That's par Basically, that's two points a whole
Speaker 1: and if you can get like anywhere, you know, thirty
Speaker 1: eight denying all good scores. Well. Fin day three we
Speaker 1: finished third. My partner and I finished fourth actually in
Speaker 1: the adopted category. A couple of our other friends. One.
Speaker 1: There were some beautiful speeches going on, and Cold is
Speaker 1: shooting the awards ceremony. Oh. Yeah, by the way, he's playing,
Speaker 1: and I'm also telling you about like, hey, when you're
Speaker 1: done or out there, got some shots. So whenever he's
Speaker 1: got playing and Ley and he's shooting, he's shooting like
Speaker 1: the whole time everything. So and he's shooting the trophy
Speaker 1: ceremony and they go, oh first play, Oh well, you know,
Speaker 1: unfortunately Kyle John couldn't make it. Steve John had and
Speaker 1: and Colt looks over me. He's like, did we just win?
Speaker 1: Low Gross? And like and I was, and they go
Speaker 1: and Steve John and Cold Neeler Low Gross, are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? Oh my god? That was so much fun.
Speaker 1: That was enjoys funny gross. Oh my god. With Barow
Speaker 1: clubs clubs the three days, okay, they it's best ball
Speaker 1: to twosome and then Colt, you've got zero shots? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And and Steve got three shots, you got two. He's
Speaker 1: a three handicapped him to get into three days total
Speaker 1: best ballot twosome, alternate shot and best ball of twosome.
Speaker 1: And they both are in the hazard off the first
Speaker 1: tea on the first hole and they finished seven over.
Speaker 1: Doesn't put everybody off. The set is all the strategy.
Speaker 1: So Colt and s J are defending gross champions. Kyle
Speaker 1: John might be my partner next year and Alan is
Speaker 1: need of a new partner. At the Uncle Tony invitation.
Speaker 1: As for Colton, Alan asked him for a wrap up
Speaker 1: before we headed north. We're talking favorites in Southwest sure,
Speaker 1: I mean, and we're talking just golf or experience, because
Speaker 1: the La Hinch experience where the whole crew plays its sunset.
Speaker 1: La Hinch is the town. You know, we're coming up
Speaker 1: eighteen as a seven ball, you know, trying to get
Speaker 1: in at last light. I mean, it's just you know,
Speaker 1: it's old Tom, old Tom mackenzie, right, It's just I mean,
Speaker 1: how can you beat that? I don't think you can.
Speaker 1: I mean, Lynch m my favorite golf course in all
Speaker 1: while Ireland, the whole island. But what about you, Matt.
Speaker 1: You you've you've seen him done them. If you had
Speaker 1: to pick one favorite in the Southwest, what's it going
Speaker 1: to be? Well, you know, the story we do on
Speaker 1: truly is they've they've they've really made a lot of
Speaker 1: changes and improvements to the front nine, which was always
Speaker 1: said to be the weaker nine and sort of you know,
Speaker 1: maybe have pulled Trulli down in the in the rankings
Speaker 1: so speak. But I think so it's gotten better. And
Speaker 1: then Bally Bunny. In the first time I played Bally
Speaker 1: Bunny and it was raining, you know, sideways blowing forty
Speaker 1: always has could have clouded my you know, sort of
Speaker 1: impression of the golf because that's all I It's all
Speaker 1: I really. I mean I played it again raining also,
Speaker 1: like I just I finally thought in this perfect in
Speaker 1: a situation, it was an epic day and uh, it
Speaker 1: was pristine, it was an immaculate condition. And um and
Speaker 1: they've they've actually improved their eighteen told which is one
Speaker 1: that I never liked. It was kind of this raw, odd,
Speaker 1: blind approach shot and uh, and and all that being said,
Speaker 1: I I just for me, you know, Waterville and La
Speaker 1: Hinch just it's really impossible to pick between them. I
Speaker 1: love them both. I I for different reasons. I love
Speaker 1: both the towns, I love both the golf courses, I
Speaker 1: love both of vibe, I love all the experience. I've
Speaker 1: got great memories and moments of both. It's just I
Speaker 1: can't do it. It's like pebble and cypress for me.
Speaker 1: All Right, that's well said from the from the visitor standpoint,
Speaker 1: I think you know the Hinch. You're like right down
Speaker 1: the street from the Cliffs of More, not too far
Speaker 1: from this cool little music artist town duel In. Like
Speaker 1: that area has a lot happening if you're traveling with
Speaker 1: family or you know, you just want to get in
Speaker 1: a lot in an area. Yeah, that's a great point.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, and it's it's so close to Shannon,
Speaker 1: Like that's the hinches big problem. That's been a big
Speaker 1: thing for like the Hinch especially, Like everybody who flies
Speaker 1: in out of Shannon goes right to Hinch. It so
Speaker 1: you could be on the tea in like forty five
Speaker 1: minutes from the time you land. That's a problem. Well
Speaker 1: it's Shannon Airport still closed, so there's no flights. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: but they take great care of us. And then we
Speaker 1: know a local there, Antoino Looney I've you know, through
Speaker 1: John Ashworth. I've got to know this guy who's just
Speaker 1: a you know, it's in a country full of characters.
Speaker 1: This is in the top ten Antoino Looney who offered
Speaker 1: to take us out in his boat to be at
Speaker 1: the base of the Cliffs of More. You know, on
Speaker 1: the morning we're supposed to get away, and we got
Speaker 1: sunset and again whether we're supposed to be horrible, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: We got to go right and we we we actually
Speaker 1: he drove the boat into the cliffs more so over
Speaker 1: over over our shoulder and and and there you know,
Speaker 1: we got you're in student and over this time year.
Speaker 1: Then you're over can Island. Where are the people? Where
Speaker 1: do the people come to see the cliffs? Wre right?
Speaker 1: See where the castle is there O'Brien's cast. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just like get in the tower, you know. Yeah. How
Speaker 1: long does that go? Back? Back back? Joe Joe, Brian Stronghold,
Speaker 1: who are going way back? I think give your own
Speaker 1: in creation. Yeah you know, yeah, but the way back
Speaker 1: yeah wait wait, wait, wait, way back way a couple
Speaker 1: of ways. The Cliffs of More are less than an
Speaker 1: hour from Shannon Airport, maybe ten minutes from the Hinge.
Speaker 1: Tickets range in price from free for kids twelve and under,
Speaker 1: twelve dollars for adults, and up to twenty two dollars
Speaker 1: for an entire family. O'Brien's tower goes way way back
Speaker 1: to and sits set above sea level. I mean, mind boy,
Speaker 1: if you want to talk about surprise experiences. For me,
Speaker 1: obviously chritsch Island is is something that we can do
Speaker 1: a whole podcast on and probably will at some point.
Speaker 1: But um, for me that the boat ride with ANTOINEO
Speaker 1: Looney at sunrise at La Hinch into the cliffs some
Speaker 1: more is something. You know, I've done the boat right
Speaker 1: along the north of Kauai on the Nepolyi coastline, which
Speaker 1: is spectacular and breathtaking. This is times ten of that,
Speaker 1: all right. So so now you make the hard choice
Speaker 1: to skip Role County down and you go to the northwest,
Speaker 1: which is really the least explored part of of Ireland
Speaker 1: from a golf standpoint. That was the point. That was
Speaker 1: the point. That's what I was gonna say, What, why
Speaker 1: why do that? And what what was the vision there? Well,
Speaker 1: it's got two new it's got you know basically there
Speaker 1: and I portnew Gil Hans just you know, basically did
Speaker 1: a did a total redo and Tom Doke built a
Speaker 1: course at rossa Penna called St Patrick's on what originally
Speaker 1: Jack Nicholas had started as to eighteens and the project
Speaker 1: sort of ran a foul. The Casey family was able
Speaker 1: to buy the land. Uh, they reached out to Doke
Speaker 1: who came over and routed eighteen holes on what would
Speaker 1: have been you know, thirty six. So um, the kind
Speaker 1: of the pull to that north and the Northwest was
Speaker 1: what's new there and what's going to be the impact
Speaker 1: of these two new you know, I'm sort of a
Speaker 1: modern minimalist American, you know, you know, architectural you know,
Speaker 1: rock stars rolling into Ireland and doing what they do
Speaker 1: on this land. And what's that going to do is
Speaker 1: sort of as seismic shift, as as tea times get
Speaker 1: booked out in the Southwest and prices are where they
Speaker 1: are and value is what it is in the north
Speaker 1: and here comes Gilhanson, Tom Doak. What is what's going
Speaker 1: to kind of be this impact of the poll of
Speaker 1: interest plus value to the north and the Northwest. And
Speaker 1: that was part of what we were out to discover.
Speaker 1: We heard from end to Kenny on corn earlier. Now
Speaker 1: meet Jerry McGuire of County Mayo, my playing partner and
Speaker 1: guide around Carnes. Wild Atlantic Dunes. Don't cut dunes like
Speaker 1: this anywhere, not so many of them. You've got them
Speaker 1: here and there in the odd place. But here it's
Speaker 1: just Saltimore incredible. When you drive from Ballina or anywhere
Speaker 1: within the Na Bell Mullet, the ground of the flat land,
Speaker 1: it's bog and then you come out here and you
Speaker 1: just think you hit the moon. You stand open the
Speaker 1: first tee box and you come out here in the
Speaker 1: middle of what you'd call really craters, and they're cold,
Speaker 1: built in crackers, And until you do it, you just
Speaker 1: you have to do it. It's destination golf. When you
Speaker 1: get here, you'll just be blown away by it. Just
Speaker 1: to clarify, carn added some holes by Jim a Eddie
Speaker 1: Hackett to the original eighteen. Now you have the most
Speaker 1: dramatic nine by Hackett, plus the new nine, which is
Speaker 1: what's called the Wild Atlantic Dunes. The remaining nine holes
Speaker 1: are the Hackett nine, which are flat and more playable
Speaker 1: for the locals. Now back to the conversation for more
Speaker 1: on the trip and planning out this trip. It's places
Speaker 1: like Carn and Sligo and bally liff In that are
Speaker 1: going to benefit from all of this this poll and
Speaker 1: the interest here. And we stumbled into Carn, which I mean,
Speaker 1: you want to talk about raw it's it's it would
Speaker 1: be like Shaquille O'Neil when he was at l s U,
Speaker 1: like just big Gangley and and like you know, has
Speaker 1: a lot of talent, but you know, like just it's
Speaker 1: just it's like it's just you know, just not ready yet.
Speaker 1: You know, like it's just not ready yet. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's close, and you know, it's got the
Speaker 1: bones and the character. And then now they've got twenty
Speaker 1: seven holes and the locals and the people who run
Speaker 1: it are basically doing it for free, and they've had
Speaker 1: some real financial struggles that they've you know, they've kind
Speaker 1: of gotten through. I got to play with Enda Kenny,
Speaker 1: the former Prime Minister of Ireland at the Father's son.
Speaker 1: He's a local, he's a Mayo guy, the County Mayo
Speaker 1: which is where KRN is, and he was basically all
Speaker 1: in on you gotta go see it. Anyway we went.
Speaker 1: It was amazing. You know, it's amazing, but it's it
Speaker 1: needs the help of the Narro and important new and
Speaker 1: and Rossa Pennant. It needs this pull, it needs more
Speaker 1: outside play, it needs finances and then it has a
Speaker 1: chance of being something really special. But right now it's
Speaker 1: very very tough, long rough, very narrow fairways. It's massive dunes.
Speaker 1: It's it's extreme. It's very biggest dunes in the area.
Speaker 1: You're addressed in full cameo headed tone. Go dune hunting,
Speaker 1: they say, they say that people tea off from Carn
Speaker 1: and sometimes may never be seen again. The wild Atlantic Dunes.
Speaker 1: That that's what it is. These dunes are seriously what
Speaker 1: fifty feet tall period. It's not a no I know,
Speaker 1: that's that's part of it. It's always had this mystique
Speaker 1: because it is so raw. And John Getty, my former psycholague,
Speaker 1: you know, he wrote a book Ancestral Links in the
Speaker 1: Car and plays a big role in that. And it's
Speaker 1: one of the great regrets of my life is if
Speaker 1: after every year after the Open, John will go to
Speaker 1: Carn and host people and like, I was so close
Speaker 1: to going a few times, I've never made it. And
Speaker 1: now he's not going over there as much. And Nelly's
Speaker 1: retired and um, but it's it's always been fixed in
Speaker 1: my brain. I mean, there's any place in all of
Speaker 1: golf I want to get too car and is like
Speaker 1: right at the top of the list. So I love
Speaker 1: your impressions of it. It It kind of confirms everything I've
Speaker 1: always believed. And yeah, I mean the best pint of
Speaker 1: Guinness as well. Yes, so let's talk about that sidebar
Speaker 1: in the Guinness like best yea, why is that? Like
Speaker 1: is the Guinness different from place to place? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: apparently and and Guinness so if you serve Guinness in
Speaker 1: your pub, Guinness sends people out there to clean your
Speaker 1: lines and in quality control. Our driver, Darren shout out
Speaker 1: there and it was a former Guinness tap linesman, not
Speaker 1: sure if that was his actual title, but he would
Speaker 1: clean the you know the lines, Yeah, the lines. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so Guinness does quality control at every pub,
Speaker 1: said Darren. Said. Carnes got a great or rather a
Speaker 1: grand pint of Guinness. Well that's interesting. We we had
Speaker 1: this conversation. He was cold, it was it was And
Speaker 1: by the way, I think it's also because after you're
Speaker 1: done hiking, carn like, it just tastes true now come.
Speaker 1: My favorite part of the whole trip about my road
Speaker 1: I have for your mother's milk. M I'm saying, for
Speaker 1: some reason, they taste so much better. Never once I've
Speaker 1: gone to a bar Americans to not give me a guinness,
Speaker 1: But in Ireland give me a guinness. Can't You can't
Speaker 1: get the words out fast enough getting in the car
Speaker 1: pub Guinness and father's son I was doing. I was
Speaker 1: drinking a lot of guinness. But once we got once
Speaker 1: we got going and playing, you know, it's kind of
Speaker 1: slowed down because it's not like they're serving you guinness
Speaker 1: out on the golf course. You kind of gotta go
Speaker 1: earn it and you gotta stick around afterwards. And you know,
Speaker 1: Jerry McGuire is the is the you know, you'd call
Speaker 1: him the director of golf there. He does the job
Speaker 1: for free. He was one of my favorite. I mean,
Speaker 1: we we ran in so many amazing people. But is
Speaker 1: it Fiona. It's Jerry and Fiona run carn and I
Speaker 1: mean not only the best guinness, but like we had,
Speaker 1: we had a really great meal there. The hospitality I
Speaker 1: mean brings a tear to my eye. Honestly, these people
Speaker 1: are as as down home quality people you'll ever come
Speaker 1: across and uh, they were really they they you couldn't
Speaker 1: leave Carn without I mean they touch you. They're like
Speaker 1: that that you know you can't, like I said in
Speaker 1: a tweet, you can't help but root for Carna, Like
Speaker 1: this place is going to benefit from Marion in Port
Speaker 1: New and and St Patrick's at Rossa Panna because of
Speaker 1: kind of this this northern shift. And no one's happier
Speaker 1: than me for for Fiona and jere McGuire and all
Speaker 1: the people car because I love that. I love that,
Speaker 1: all right, So now let's get to St Patrick's and
Speaker 1: uh and the other and the hands course, like come on,
Speaker 1: let's hear it. So after Karn was Narni Port New Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: If you like Pebble Beach and you would rather have
Speaker 1: two Carmel base there, you go to get someone like
Speaker 1: kil Hans and Jim Widner to take their time to
Speaker 1: come here. I mean those their schedules are ridiculous. And
Speaker 1: to get them to come here and take us on board,
Speaker 1: it was like buying a lot of ticket and winning
Speaker 1: a lotta that's Liam McDivitt who helped rescue the course
Speaker 1: in He and his partner Larry fully bought the debt
Speaker 1: of one point seven million euros and had to put
Speaker 1: several million back into the place. To play there for
Speaker 1: a hundred fifty five dollars isn't exactly like winning the Lotto,
Speaker 1: but it's close. Even closer. Locals pay roughly six d
Speaker 1: dollars to play for a year. What Gil and Jim
Speaker 1: did you know? They basically had an impact on you know,
Speaker 1: every hole, whether it was teas greens, location of greens,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, slight sort of routing tweaks, condensing holes
Speaker 1: into threes or making them fours, and and and what
Speaker 1: what they've done. And it's a beautif talking about a
Speaker 1: beautiful little beach town there. Um and and cool little
Speaker 1: vibe and aesthetic. When we rock up, there's a food
Speaker 1: truck in the in the parking, in the in the parking,
Speaker 1: we're a lot. There's kids everywhere, people are playing in
Speaker 1: T shirts and short and and uh, it's just this beautiful,
Speaker 1: non pretentious but also pristine looking experience. And um and
Speaker 1: we had played with Liam, one of the owners. He's
Speaker 1: a local. He's he's living and has lived in America.
Speaker 1: Kind of this is coming back. He and Larry Foley,
Speaker 1: whose son I played with the father's son. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a Irish American who you know, loves Ireland as
Speaker 1: as you know, as much as anybody does. And they
Speaker 1: bought this, you know, Larry Foley bought its sight unseen
Speaker 1: on his partner Liam's suggestion, Jill Hanson Jim Wagner went
Speaker 1: over there and just I mean I did never played
Speaker 1: it before, but what I played was an absolute gas
Speaker 1: just so much fun, absolutely beautiful, great, uh little you know,
Speaker 1: combination of holes. We had a rainbow over the gulf.
Speaker 1: You know, you're playing down to little greens like you
Speaker 1: do on the seventh and Pebble Beach, like there's a
Speaker 1: couple versions of that. Not to mention, Liam mc adivot,
Speaker 1: the owner who is out there with us, caddied there
Speaker 1: for a euro around as a kid as a kid. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's gotta be a stage name. Yeah, I'm changing. I'm
Speaker 1: changing my last see to make dvot and so now what,
Speaker 1: by the way, one of about twenty seven that we've met, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was the was the same as the Guinness count. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: we go to the food truck and Liam goes, all right,
Speaker 1: we'll take this food truck is insane it's the best
Speaker 1: pizza and tacos you'll ever have. And Liam Rock said,
Speaker 1: he goes, all right, We'll take eight taco short ripped tacos,
Speaker 1: will have eight pizzas, will have to lamb you know,
Speaker 1: we'll have a calamari. We we feasted. We feasted that
Speaker 1: night in out of a food truck at Aaron and
Speaker 1: Port New NonStop all year long to play Pebble Beach.
Speaker 1: Once we won't be going to Pebble Beach. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to give you a little perspective of where I
Speaker 1: come from. That was the group of guys we walked
Speaker 1: up the eighteenth with sun setting behind us. I had
Speaker 1: pointed out to them that they pay the same, if
Speaker 1: not less, to play narn and Port New all year
Speaker 1: long versus what anyone pays to play Pebble Beach once.
Speaker 1: They weren't interested in that deal. And if you're playing
Speaker 1: near and in Port New, you can't blame him. So
Speaker 1: Narni Port New is going to UH. I was thinking, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is amazing what this is going to do for
Speaker 1: the North, like unbelievable. And then we went to Rossa
Speaker 1: Penna and St. Patrick. But between that is where we
Speaker 1: went to Christ Island. So this is what the amazing
Speaker 1: thing is is is between naron Port New and Sapenna.
Speaker 1: This is why Critch Island, which is a nine hole
Speaker 1: you know, made out of the farm, made from the
Speaker 1: shovels of the farmers who lived around in the area
Speaker 1: where you can't even get a big bus over this
Speaker 1: little bridge in order to get to Chritch Island where
Speaker 1: they don't even have any merchandise in the pro shop.
Speaker 1: And we played guy who for twenty years was not
Speaker 1: only the supertendent, he was the GM he was the
Speaker 1: head pro, he was the and Brian and he and
Speaker 1: he hosted this. We rocked up there like on two wheels.
Speaker 1: Uh nar an important who gave us three sets of
Speaker 1: clubs so all five of us could play. Wind is
Speaker 1: blowing the only rain. We pretty much got the whole
Speaker 1: trip for the first hole and then it cleared up
Speaker 1: and then it was like the greatest nine hole, the
Speaker 1: best value and greatest nine hole golf course maybe in
Speaker 1: the world. Is it just a coincidence that like the
Speaker 1: most fun golf holes were made by old Tom Morris
Speaker 1: who as like the first guy ever had no idea
Speaker 1: what he was doing. And then the farmers that just
Speaker 1: like make up holes these the farmers and like basically
Speaker 1: the something about the local priests you said, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: go ahead, you can't get the land from the church. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they Landford Church. They made the golf course. Took him
Speaker 1: four years to build these nine holes with shovels. And
Speaker 1: sixth hole, well you'll see the six holes of part
Speaker 1: three is like a mini version of sixteen at Cyprus Point.
Speaker 1: This is the most metal golf course I've ever heard of.
Speaker 1: You pay like thirty or thirty bucks to play nine holes,
Speaker 1: or fifty bucks to play a team. We had, um,
Speaker 1: it was we we had the bet with the like
Speaker 1: pound for pound, like the best time of anything and
Speaker 1: everything we did was the nine holes we played at
Speaker 1: Christi Island because low expectations, it was like we all
Speaker 1: got to play. We had such a time. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: It was like we were five kids that like got
Speaker 1: led into Disneyland by ourselves with no one else there,
Speaker 1: and we just ran around like crazy. They don't have
Speaker 1: but they do have Guinness. Yeah for um. For the
Speaker 1: listeners at home whose interest has been majorly picked, we
Speaker 1: should just point out it's spelled c r U I
Speaker 1: T it's like Crewett Island if that's not how they
Speaker 1: say it over there, and then it took a while
Speaker 1: for us to figure out how to say it. Yeah, yeah, No,
Speaker 1: it's definitely a cult classic. Um. Laurence Donnegan, the long
Speaker 1: time golf read or he's he tweeted about it maybe
Speaker 1: a year ago, a year and a half ago that
Speaker 1: is like his favorite course in the world or something
Speaker 1: equally hyperbolic. And that was the first time I've ever
Speaker 1: heard about it, and I immediately googled it and I've
Speaker 1: seen the photos. It does look just absolutely spectacular and
Speaker 1: clearly it's got a special ambiance. So that's awesome. So
Speaker 1: now Matt, who has a long history of jousting with
Speaker 1: Tom Doak, both as a human and as a designer,
Speaker 1: and um, I've heard him swear various oaths involving Tom
Speaker 1: Doak's name. Um, from tar Eady to Cape Kidnappers to
Speaker 1: uh stream songs. You go down the list, but you
Speaker 1: get to St. Patrick's and your belief is what Matt
Speaker 1: finish that sentence, Well, I mean I should probably address
Speaker 1: some of the Tom dot that you just laid out.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I I have a lot of
Speaker 1: respect for Tom Doke the designer, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think his greens are a great match for modern day
Speaker 1: green speeds. It's not there. They're too much undulation to
Speaker 1: handle green speeds of eleven and twelve, which is generally
Speaker 1: what high end resorts do two to golf versus in
Speaker 1: America in an effort to sort of justify large green
Speaker 1: fees or to sort of pump the chest on like
Speaker 1: we've got fast greens. And and Doke doesn't relent on,
Speaker 1: you know, and less strongly encouraged by Mike Kaiser. Basically,
Speaker 1: his his greens are not only too undulating for modern
Speaker 1: day greens fees, but with with good shots on approach shots,
Speaker 1: they just send balls in a lot of various directions,
Speaker 1: unnecessarily and unfairly in most cases. And you know, and
Speaker 1: and I'm an amateur, and so you know, I I
Speaker 1: have poked at Tom doke Um for that because I
Speaker 1: think it's I think that he costs himself in what
Speaker 1: I think is is Um being revered is one of
Speaker 1: the greatest of of of his generation. There are some
Speaker 1: people who say he is the greatest. I would say
Speaker 1: that because of because of three to four or five
Speaker 1: and sometimes screens per course, it's not. It's not it
Speaker 1: gets in the way of the good time and the
Speaker 1: good is done and the good routings and the other
Speaker 1: genius stuff he's done. That being said, when we rocked
Speaker 1: up to Rossa Penna and St Patrick's and that golf
Speaker 1: course and what he's done is um it's the in
Speaker 1: my opinion, you know, having just walked it and you know,
Speaker 1: I saw the scale, like this has to be his best.
Speaker 1: To me, he got he would. It's like he had
Speaker 1: the land of both Bandon and Pacific to build the
Speaker 1: ultimate band and Dunes golf course. The scale and the
Speaker 1: dunes and the and the and the position of the
Speaker 1: holes along the water and and the routing and the drama,
Speaker 1: the build up to the end. It's it's and they're
Speaker 1: going to run the green speeds at nine because that's
Speaker 1: sort of what they do in Ireland because the wind
Speaker 1: always blows and you have to still have it be playable.
Speaker 1: So great to be at nine in Ireland for this
Speaker 1: tom Dok golf course, and to have the land he
Speaker 1: had and where he's at in his career to do
Speaker 1: what he's you know, to do what he did. To me,
Speaker 1: it's the it's the best case scenario. Expectations were pretty high,
Speaker 1: to be fair with you know, Sandons Sands say, you
Speaker 1: know in Tom's Tom's record with with all of the above.
Speaker 1: So yeah, John and I have been friends and our
Speaker 1: fans and friends of Tom's for a long time. So
Speaker 1: it was just a good foot And while on the
Speaker 1: subject of Tom Doak, Dream Golf, which consists of Bandon, Duons,
Speaker 1: Sand Valley and Cabot Cape Breton, have created a cool offer.
Speaker 1: As you probably know, Bannon just announced that it will
Speaker 1: host th usj Amateur championships over the next twenty three years,
Speaker 1: starting with the US Junior Amateur and at sand Valley,
Speaker 1: Dope is restoring the Lego Golf Club, which many consider
Speaker 1: one of the greatest courses ever built and by the
Speaker 1: pictures I've seen it looks insane anyway. To celebrate, Dream
Speaker 1: Golf is offering a four day, three nights day in
Speaker 1: July in which you can either be one of the
Speaker 1: first to preview the Leado or be on site abandoned
Speaker 1: for US Junior m enter by September by going to
Speaker 1: dream golf dot com forward slash giveaway dream golf dot
Speaker 1: Com forward slash giveaway now for more in St Patrick's
Speaker 1: and the Casey family back to the round table. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I think about like the New York Skyland.
Speaker 1: You feel like it's it's fixed, um, and yet they're
Speaker 1: always someone's always build the new skyscraper. And how cool
Speaker 1: is it that you know, they're still finding new links
Speaker 1: courses in Ireland and two of them, Uh, it's it's exciting.
Speaker 1: And Rossa Penna already has too too good golf course
Speaker 1: and they have a beautiful hotel there. And the Casey
Speaker 1: family are amazing people. Um, the sons uh, Frank and
Speaker 1: John basically like the Kaiser boys. So Frank Sr. Casey
Speaker 1: has been running this hotel and these golf courses, and
Speaker 1: his two sons are like Michael and Chris Kaiser like
Speaker 1: they're they're they're super thoughtful, intellectual, humble, uh gracious, classy.
Speaker 1: You know, guys in their thirties who have been a
Speaker 1: part of this whole culture for you know, for a
Speaker 1: long time, watching their dad do what he does. And
Speaker 1: now they're you know, their dad is still very much involved,
Speaker 1: but he they're they're really sort of breaking up the hospitality,
Speaker 1: the hotel and the golf and it's a it's I
Speaker 1: will tell you that when you know, I thought naron
Speaker 1: I Port knew was going to be a nice draw
Speaker 1: to the north and you see St Patrick's rossa Penna
Speaker 1: and knowing what we know again about the value and
Speaker 1: this this, this is going to be the golf course
Speaker 1: that with the dok enthusiasts and the gil hands enthusiasts
Speaker 1: and value enthusiasts and people who have already checked the
Speaker 1: boxes in the south and the Southwest, who have played
Speaker 1: all those golf courses, there is going to be a
Speaker 1: seismic shift to the north and the Northwest for the
Speaker 1: next ten years, for the foreseeable future because oft and
Speaker 1: let's not forget the Open at Port Rush kind of
Speaker 1: put that course and a whole other category all the
Speaker 1: there's been all this, there's been a movement happening in
Speaker 1: our glass has gone from five international golfers to five thousand,
Speaker 1: you know, over the last you know, five years. I
Speaker 1: mean there's already been this kind of discovery of the valley.
Speaker 1: Lifting played really well in the Irish Open. Royal County
Speaker 1: Down was the first one where where Rory hosted. Rory
Speaker 1: getting in the Irish Open. It playing well you know,
Speaker 1: you know happened at the Hinge too with romb bet
Speaker 1: that that kind of is all that's all happening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well so so this this becomes the ultimate question your
Speaker 1: your golfer traveling from the US or somewhere else, far
Speaker 1: far far away, and you only have one week, say
Speaker 1: you can't through the entire Irish island, So do you
Speaker 1: go to the north or do you go to the south.
Speaker 1: What's that answer? Now? The Southwest? You know, to deprive
Speaker 1: yourself of Lahinch, Trille, Waterville, Vally Bunyan, old Head, you know,
Speaker 1: dune bag Uh, you know, Dukes. I mean that's that's
Speaker 1: that is, that's as good as it gets. That is
Speaker 1: the supreme beings of Irish golf. But next up is now,
Speaker 1: I mean it was all I I love the North anyway,
Speaker 1: Port Rouge, Port Stewart, are Glass, Royal County down there
Speaker 1: was there's plenty up there, Castle Rock. But now you
Speaker 1: have more options in the north and the Northwest is
Speaker 1: now becoming Now the lines are blurred. Now there's a
Speaker 1: bit of more of a shift and now you can
Speaker 1: actually make a truly north northwest trip. And like we
Speaker 1: didn't even play Royal County down. We didn't play Port Stewart,
Speaker 1: we didn't do Port Rush, which you know, which is
Speaker 1: is epic. But my god, that's in the conversation that
Speaker 1: that holds up And if you're gonna go value, that's
Speaker 1: where you go. And if you want to get it
Speaker 1: in before it gets super popular, yeah, yeah, get it
Speaker 1: in now before it becomes I mean, I liked what
Speaker 1: you guys said on top of this podcast is probably
Speaker 1: an hour and a half ago now that it felt
Speaker 1: like Ireland two or three decades ago, your experience you
Speaker 1: just had and um and I think I think that's
Speaker 1: that's what the Northwest is going to be for a
Speaker 1: long time. And just a we don't know the geography
Speaker 1: that well. I mean, most folks would fly into Dublin
Speaker 1: and then if you just start going north you're gonna
Speaker 1: get to Royal County down before anything else. You go
Speaker 1: up these coasts and then hit Port Rush and just
Speaker 1: do a loop and you go west and you could
Speaker 1: you could do it one great circle just in the
Speaker 1: northern half of the island and could you could cut
Speaker 1: straight northwest get to Donegal and then donegalz in the
Speaker 1: middle is right minutes from man in Port New St
Speaker 1: Patrick's is an hour and a half from Donegal and
Speaker 1: then do it that way too. Yeah, and the Belfast too,
Speaker 1: by the way, you you can go. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: there are flights in both and there's actually a flight
Speaker 1: over to an airport in the northwest out of Dublin
Speaker 1: that you can connect that gets you into the heart
Speaker 1: of the Northwest. There is there, and it's only one
Speaker 1: flight a day. But and I suspect there will be
Speaker 1: more of those flights, you know. I would bet you
Speaker 1: know all my four oh and k that three years
Speaker 1: from now, assuming you know, everything clears up with COVID,
Speaker 1: that there will be a lot more flights going in
Speaker 1: and out of the airport in the Northwest. They're they're
Speaker 1: not gonna be big planes, but I think there'll be
Speaker 1: more flights. Before we get to final thoughts and favorite moments,
Speaker 1: we'd like to thank part Points for their support. Part
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Speaker 1: way you score this crazy game. Choose to play from
Speaker 1: a hundred yards A part is worth a hundred points.
Speaker 1: Bertie double that it's especially great for kids, beginners, family golf,
Speaker 1: and buddy strips. Looking for an alternate format that is
Speaker 1: conducive to side bets. Download the app now and go
Speaker 1: make park. Do anyone have a favorite moment? What do
Speaker 1: you got cold other than winning? I mean we didn't
Speaker 1: even I feel like we need to spin off podcasts
Speaker 1: for everything. Like, you know, the goats at le Hine
Speaker 1: was hilarious. Matt didn't believe they were there. Did we
Speaker 1: find them? Maybe you'll have to see market Nolan and
Speaker 1: his mom at let Hite grabbing beer as he lives. Literally,
Speaker 1: you know, you go Klondike and uh and what is it?
Speaker 1: Del Klondike and del Klondike On the fourth Marcus lives
Speaker 1: right behind the green. He runs into the house grabs
Speaker 1: beers for us. You know, we get a refresh in
Speaker 1: between two template holes. That's pretty ridiculous. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: the whole part of the Father's Son is is the
Speaker 1: the Irish mass priest comes in. You have the Irish
Speaker 1: mass that there's the whole Irish mass hole out at
Speaker 1: Waterville and the twelfth whole part through where there's a
Speaker 1: huge pit. Hundreds of years ago. You know, having mass
Speaker 1: was punishable by death at the time. They would go
Speaker 1: out there have mass in the pits so nobody could
Speaker 1: see him. I mean Waterville is built out on the
Speaker 1: you know, this peninsula is the golf course. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's all that's on the peninsula. But anyway, we had
Speaker 1: it out at Marty's House UM this year and it
Speaker 1: was a sort of a uh memorial service for a
Speaker 1: couple of the guys that have been a part of
Speaker 1: the tournament UM in the past and again rolling into
Speaker 1: the father's son without knowing a whole lot about it,
Speaker 1: to experience Irish mass there and to to experience the
Speaker 1: emotions that were a part of that and you know,
Speaker 1: celebrate the um the lives of some of the guys
Speaker 1: that have lived that tournament over the years. It was heavy,
Speaker 1: It was heavy, and it was it was eye opening
Speaker 1: UM and uh really enjoyable as well. M but you
Speaker 1: out fair moment. Castle Rock played as a crew part
Speaker 1: of the thing and I went home. I stuck one close,
Speaker 1: stuck one close, two for one. That's right. That eight
Speaker 1: favorite moment. First hole on one cot you covered Matt's bird,
Speaker 1: I think as well out a yeah, if I'm not taken,
Speaker 1: I did that drivable far forward. Appreciate that. I appreciated
Speaker 1: that I was out of the hole, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: How about you, Maddie man. I you know, for me,
Speaker 1: it's I mean, I I eagled my last hole, the
Speaker 1: eighteenth hold of the father's son of Waterville down wind
Speaker 1: some some I had nine iron into the green and
Speaker 1: uh and made the putt, which was my golf highlight
Speaker 1: by far. And but it's it's all about I mean,
Speaker 1: our glass is kind of the goat Hill Park of Ireland,
Speaker 1: you know, of of Northern Ireland, and it's it's um
Speaker 1: the people there, you know, become become friendly with the
Speaker 1: several years ago they made me an honorary member, you know.
Speaker 1: Uh they presented it to me at the p J
Speaker 1: Merchandise Show. I you I didn't know what, you know,
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't even know what that. That's amazing
Speaker 1: honor like the you know, the oldest clubhouse in the
Speaker 1: world fourteen oh six or something and uh yeah, our
Speaker 1: Glass and uh so this was my first time back there.
Speaker 1: Paul Vaughan, the pro um Fit see is kind of
Speaker 1: the eleven time club champion, was our host and uh
Speaker 1: we had we went lobstering. I met up with the
Speaker 1: the three brothers who owned the Dire Wolves, or were
Speaker 1: used as the Dire Wolves. Uh. And um got you know,
Speaker 1: become friendly with them. We met up with them, We
Speaker 1: had drinks in the pub with them, We played the
Speaker 1: golf course the next morning, and uh and we we
Speaker 1: sang songs until two in the morning. The whole Art
Speaker 1: Glass thing, to me is is my super spiritual I
Speaker 1: think there's some there's magic in the land and the
Speaker 1: and there's certainly magic in the in the people and
Speaker 1: the community there, and uh, it's cool. It's a really
Speaker 1: cool thing. And so being able to go back there
Speaker 1: that was, you know, of all the things, I got
Speaker 1: ten favorite things, twenty favorite things, thirty favorite things, and
Speaker 1: thirty favorite people that we met. But heart Glass is
Speaker 1: kind of the one for me, My heart love. This
Speaker 1: is a fun journey. I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it made my fomo worst or better, but it's it's
Speaker 1: great to hear the stories and it's it's fun to
Speaker 1: think about. There's bitterness in your tone from the beginning. No,
Speaker 1: I'm supportive. I'm supportive, but anyway, think thanks for filling
Speaker 1: us all in. I mean, yeah, I think the decision
Speaker 1: between between the Ireland and Scotland is much harder than
Speaker 1: it's ever been, especially when you're adding these two new
Speaker 1: courses and and Port Russias Star Turn and all of it.
Speaker 1: So it's if it's that, I mean, it's definitely a
Speaker 1: win win, but it's it's certainly something about Ireland. I mean,
Speaker 1: the people and the culture is so inviting and anyway,
Speaker 1: this is great stuff that was well said Alan, like,
Speaker 1: it's never been more of a closer fight between Scotland
Speaker 1: and Ireland. And at the end of the day, if
Speaker 1: you really you know, on the plenty of the golf
Speaker 1: stacks up, the golf can go, you know, one for one,
Speaker 1: you can go back and forth. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, what happens off course in Ireland and
Speaker 1: Northern Ireland is unlike anything else really in the world.
Speaker 1: The people and the warmth and the only thing they
Speaker 1: take seriously over there is making sure that you have
Speaker 1: a good time. You're very good at it. I'm all done,
Speaker 1: open Si