Speaker 1: Mh you run into the Irish if you like stories,
Speaker 1: you know, settle in, buckle up, charge the glass, pour
Speaker 1: a pint and listen. You know, the music, the poems,
Speaker 1: the stories, the jokes, the crack as they say, is
Speaker 1: it just just does not stop.
Speaker 2: That got thoughts in my head. Can't get them. J
Speaker 2: Not the thing what I'm thinking about, not going thoughts
Speaker 2: in my head, can't get them, joh, not the thing
Speaker 2: what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 3: Hello, this is Alan Schipnok back for another Fire Drill podcast.
Speaker 3: This is kind of a fun one. We're going to
Speaker 3: talk all things Ireland. If you go to our distribution partner,
Speaker 3: golf digest dot com, they have two very long travelogues
Speaker 3: that Matt Janella has put together in his Journeys franchise.
Speaker 3: One is around Dublin and one is around Belfast and
Speaker 3: all the golf, the culture of the history will be
Speaker 3: to these great cities on the island of Ireland. Matt,
Speaker 3: thanks for thanks for being here to talk about all
Speaker 3: this stuff. I know that you're an honorary Irishman and
Speaker 3: you have some roots on the island, and tell us
Speaker 3: about how excited you are that these projects are now
Speaker 3: out there in the wild.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, again, you know what I think
Speaker 1: of Ireland, you know what I think of the Irish,
Speaker 1: and that goes for you know, quite frankly for me
Speaker 1: and the experiences I've had and the friends I've made
Speaker 1: in all of my travels to and from the Island
Speaker 1: of Ireland, the Republic and Northern Ireland. It's hard for
Speaker 1: me to differentiate the two. And I think tonight, for
Speaker 1: the purposes of what we're going to be doing in
Speaker 1: terms of talking about our ranking of our golf courses
Speaker 1: on the Island of Ireland, we kind of group them
Speaker 1: all together. Obviously, over time and through you know, several
Speaker 1: conversations with many people going from Dublin to Belfast, you
Speaker 1: learn a lot about how and why you know they're
Speaker 1: you know, it's very different Northern Ireland, six counties of
Speaker 1: the thirty two counties that make up kind of the
Speaker 1: Island of Ireland. You know, you read about and learn
Speaker 1: about Michael Collins and what he did to secure the
Speaker 1: twenty six counties of what is the Republic of Ireland,
Speaker 1: and you learn about sort of how and why there
Speaker 1: is still a very distinct separation. And I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of movement to evolve that relationship between these
Speaker 1: two countries, which you know, as driving along, you're not
Speaker 1: really you're not really you're not going through any kind
Speaker 1: of checkpoint. You're not you know, showing your passport to
Speaker 1: get from one to the next. But there is a
Speaker 1: very distinct difference, you know, you start seeing different flags,
Speaker 1: different different representation of you know, the politics between sort
Speaker 1: of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. I would
Speaker 1: say it's probably somewhat similar to the politics in the
Speaker 1: United States in that, you know, the ten percent on
Speaker 1: the far left and ten percent on the far right
Speaker 1: are the loudest, and there's an eighty percent in the
Speaker 1: middle who are much more sensible and kind of just
Speaker 1: want to move on, don't really want to get in,
Speaker 1: you know, they want to kind of evolve out of
Speaker 1: the bitterness, the hate, the the pain, you know, I
Speaker 1: would say, is one word to describe it. So in
Speaker 1: that sense, I you know, you know, Dublin is a
Speaker 1: much it's it's kind of a lighter air to the
Speaker 1: city and the environment and the experiences you have I find,
Speaker 1: you know, Belfast, you know, and again I think it's
Speaker 1: come a long way, maybe even since the first time
Speaker 1: I've ever sort of went through there. This was the
Speaker 1: first time I really immersed myself in the city of
Speaker 1: Belfast and spend a lot of time kind of walking
Speaker 1: the streets, going to pubs, and there's a little it's
Speaker 1: a little heavier, it's a little darker, it's a little edgier.
Speaker 1: Trying to think of, you know, maybe two cities to
Speaker 1: try to compare it to, you know, it's not really
Speaker 1: San Francisco to New York, It's not. It might be
Speaker 1: more like Manhattan to Boston, you know, like we're you know,
Speaker 1: Manhattan has a more of a lighter air to it.
Speaker 1: It's a little more of a cultural melting pot, where
Speaker 1: Boston's got a little bit of an edge to it,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh Like I guess, you know, if I
Speaker 1: were to try to summarize it to an American sort
Speaker 1: of listener. But again, I've I've made so many friends
Speaker 1: in both areas and spent you know, a fair amount
Speaker 1: of time listening to where they're at with it, and that,
Speaker 1: to me was one of the one of the best
Speaker 1: experiences about these two particular trips was the real immersion
Speaker 1: into the cities. Because a lot of you know, to
Speaker 1: the points I make in that Dublin Dublin Travel show
Speaker 1: and also in Belfast. A lot of times people go
Speaker 1: into these big cities and then just spoke out and
Speaker 1: head to the coast and get those traditional links experiences
Speaker 1: to the Southwest or the north Northwest. And I don't
Speaker 1: think they they spend enough time in these what I
Speaker 1: would consider like really great cities, you know, in terms
Speaker 1: of the fun and energy and and and food and vibe,
Speaker 1: and you know, the sporting life and culture is very
Speaker 1: vibrant and and and you know between rugby and hurling,
Speaker 1: mostly in the Republic of Ireland. But that those kind
Speaker 1: of things are just it's it's it's fascinating to me
Speaker 1: and and it was a real privilege and it's always
Speaker 1: an honor to get an opportunity to do some of
Speaker 1: this type of storytelling, this kind of long form immersive storytelling.
Speaker 1: Could have done an hour each on each city. Honestly,
Speaker 1: we had enough content to do it, and over time,
Speaker 1: I think we'll continue to put it out on our
Speaker 1: firepit collective dot com channels or throughout various you know,
Speaker 1: social components and digital shorts and even more podcasting. So
Speaker 1: the crews that I worked with on these shows and
Speaker 1: the editing and all the different people that are a
Speaker 1: part of putting this together. As you know, Alan like,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of talented people that I work with,
Speaker 1: both Ireland Ireland based and that we brought over from
Speaker 1: the US, and they all deserve a lot of credit.
Speaker 1: Jesse Levine and Rex Lint and you know, you know
Speaker 1: Jake Muldowney who who did a lot of editing on this.
Speaker 1: Mel McClain uh is a local Irish guy, Cormick Downs
Speaker 1: these these you know, Darren Fitzgerald, Kieren fitz Simons, who
Speaker 1: actually I played hard glass with eleven time club champion
Speaker 1: car Golf, is very supportive and sort of getting us
Speaker 1: around and facilitating some of the logistics of all of this.
Speaker 1: It is such a complete and total team effort, and
Speaker 1: one person, you know, leads into the next, and all
Speaker 1: the different people that lent their time and expertise and perspectives,
Speaker 1: it's it's just really it's a it's very special to me.
Speaker 1: I do have Irish roots. My great great grandfather. I
Speaker 1: found his old house. We're going to continue to tell
Speaker 1: that story in in County Claire. Michael Boland, Francis Boland,
Speaker 1: his son emigrated, uh to San Francisco, and he you know,
Speaker 1: he was my great grandfather and he was the father
Speaker 1: of Grandma Mary and my mom, my dad's mom. So
Speaker 1: being able to trace all of that back was part
Speaker 1: of this whole adventure that that I went on. And
Speaker 1: then I spent a month there in July and played
Speaker 1: the father daughter and the father son. So it just
Speaker 1: kept going. This has been just a real, real connective
Speaker 1: uh sort of adventure to you know, all things. The
Speaker 1: island of Ireland.
Speaker 3: I had people say to me, is not ever coming home?
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I do think there's a possibility one day that you know, uh,
Speaker 1: the Janella crew will take a one way flight to Ireland.
Speaker 1: Because you know, the more you're there, the harder it
Speaker 1: is to leave. Honestly, there's there's us this cultural warmth
Speaker 1: and pool and and you know connective tissue that the
Speaker 1: more you're there, the harder it is to get on
Speaker 1: a plane and go home, because it starts feeling a
Speaker 1: lot like home. I mean, Killian o'doubt and Shane Fleming
Speaker 1: and Aidan Maloy. I mean, the list goes on and
Speaker 1: on of people that you know almost are becoming you know,
Speaker 1: brother figures and Owen Lynch and Joe Canning now and
Speaker 1: you know this is this is Noel. Ryan has now
Speaker 1: become a new friend. You know, guys that the minute
Speaker 1: you mean, come on, let's go, We're getting you want
Speaker 1: to play god, you want to let's go out. You
Speaker 1: can come to my home. Where can I do for you?
Speaker 1: Do you need anything? You want to borrow a cart?
Speaker 1: Like you know it just like it just keeps coming
Speaker 1: and coming, and uh, it's just beautiful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there is very something very special about that place.
Speaker 3: And you know, obviously some of our listeners want to
Speaker 3: talk about about the golf courses. We'll certainly get to that.
Speaker 3: But just for those who haven't had a chance to
Speaker 3: watch the video, just give them a taste of what's
Speaker 3: in this most recent installment, which really focused on Belfast
Speaker 3: and the North and there one is there one thread
Speaker 3: that runs through this this long form kind of storytelling
Speaker 3: that it's particularly special to you.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to pause right there, and we're going
Speaker 1: to take a second before answer that question and before
Speaker 1: we get into the to the sort of the meat
Speaker 1: of this this particular sort of Belfast excursion. And thank
Speaker 1: Link Soul for being our sponsor for a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of what we do here at Firepit Collective.
Speaker 1: As you know, I've been really dear friends with John
Speaker 1: Ashworth for you know better part of almost twenty years
Speaker 1: now and just always have loved and appreciated that relationship
Speaker 1: and admired his you know, his commitment to the good
Speaker 1: stuff in life and golf and literally linking soul. So
Speaker 1: you know, he's come over to Ireland with me quite
Speaker 1: a bit. We've played in the father Son So all
Speaker 1: of the apparel on and off the golf course, especially
Speaker 1: in Ireland, by the way, it's those hoodies and some
Speaker 1: of the outerwear is very very cherished on all those
Speaker 1: trips over to Ireland and the rain geal by the way.
Speaker 1: So thanks to linksoul and go to link soul dot
Speaker 1: com and use Firepit twenty five for twenty five percent
Speaker 1: off your next purchase purchase on link soul dot com.
Speaker 1: And then also Dormy Workshop, you know again that golf
Speaker 1: family business based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where all they
Speaker 1: do is make quality leather headcovers and accessories. The Bishop
Speaker 1: Brothers I met at the PGA Merchandise Show almost ten
Speaker 1: years ago promoting their product and everything that they do
Speaker 1: ever since. Go to Dormy Workshop dot com use promo
Speaker 1: code fire Pit fifteen for fifteen percent off your next purchase,
Speaker 1: or as you know on the pit shop at Firepit
Speaker 1: Collective dot com, get one of the Dormy Firepit head
Speaker 1: covers or matching stash bags. So got to pay the
Speaker 1: bills and those guys do a lot to support us,
Speaker 1: So want to thank both Links and Army Workshop. Back
Speaker 1: to your question in terms of the thread of what
Speaker 1: this travel show is specific to Belfast, it's really about
Speaker 1: sort of hunkering down in the center of that city
Speaker 1: and yes, spoking out to some of these golf experiences
Speaker 1: and excursions, but they're all they're all sort of within
Speaker 1: an hour and a half drive, and they're all very
Speaker 1: capable of coming back home to the city. So in
Speaker 1: both these these Dublin and Belfast, it was all about
Speaker 1: kind of instead of doing that raucous road and travel
Speaker 1: and driving and playing and then moving on and you know,
Speaker 1: sort of never really unpacking because you're always sort of
Speaker 1: packing and going to the next spot. It was really
Speaker 1: nice and refreshing, given where I am in my life
Speaker 1: and what we know, what we like to do, and
Speaker 1: sort of the level of you know, dining experiences and
Speaker 1: some of the some of the off course excursions that
Speaker 1: are that are offered in both Dublin and Belfast. This
Speaker 1: was just really really nice to stay and sort of
Speaker 1: play in one place for five and six days at
Speaker 1: a time. So that was kind of the thread of
Speaker 1: both of these travel travelogus.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't I'm not sure if people
Speaker 3: understand how great the golf is just on the outskirts,
Speaker 3: especially of Dublin. I mean, you don't have to go
Speaker 3: far to play world class courses. And you and I
Speaker 3: have done some serious barnstorming, and those trips are fun,
Speaker 3: but they're also exhausting. You're in a different bed every night,
Speaker 3: and you're packing unpacking the car constantly. It's like a
Speaker 3: Rubik's cube to make it all and sometimes you just
Speaker 3: have to do it if you really want to see
Speaker 3: some of these places. But the idea of having a
Speaker 3: home base and if you have like you know, I know,
Speaker 3: Katie was over there with you and bendto for part
Speaker 3: of it, like they can do cool things in the
Speaker 3: city and they can explore and then you can get
Speaker 3: together for dinner like that, that does sound very civilized.
Speaker 1: Is exactly. It would be a good word to describe
Speaker 1: the whole experience. And again, I think couples or groups
Speaker 1: of guys that you know, maybe only want to play
Speaker 1: eighteen in a day, and don't you know again navigating
Speaker 1: the roads on the other side of the car and
Speaker 1: the other side.
Speaker 4: Of the road.
Speaker 1: That takes a level of commitment and focus. You know
Speaker 1: that that not a lot of people I think are
Speaker 1: prepared to do or sort of you know, in a
Speaker 1: space to do after having a few pints againness or
Speaker 1: what you know, it just kind of it just kind
Speaker 1: of frees you up to you know, take on an
Speaker 1: Ireland adventure in a much different way. And both are
Speaker 1: amazing and again we've we've been lucky enough to do
Speaker 1: both now. But uh, you know, a little music at night,
Speaker 1: you know, hunker down, kind of stumb back to your hotel.
Speaker 1: There's something to be said for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, So you've met a lot of characters you
Speaker 3: name dropped a few of them already. But the Irish
Speaker 3: are great talkers, are great storytellers. The crack, as they say,
Speaker 3: never quit. Maybe this would be a time to introduce
Speaker 3: a couple of voices. Any favorite characters that you want
Speaker 3: to you want to bring into this podcast for a listener.
Speaker 1: Well, you know you talked about the golf in Dublin,
Speaker 1: and in Dublin we kind of have have talked about this,
Speaker 1: but you know, Royal count I mean sorry, Royal Dublin
Speaker 1: and Port Marnick and the island. You know, some of
Speaker 1: the some of the courses I got to play while
Speaker 1: in Dublin were amazing. And you're right, you know, and
Speaker 1: and uh you got Port Marnick links that's going through
Speaker 1: some transitional stuff here and only getting better. And uh
Speaker 1: so there there's there's Dublin is is low. So did
Speaker 1: you go up to Belfast? And again you're you're not
Speaker 1: a far drive away from you know, Port Stewart, Port Rush,
Speaker 1: Royal County Down ard Glass. You know, you know you
Speaker 1: can get around Royal Belfast for that matter, you can
Speaker 1: get around and go to some pretty incredible golf experiences
Speaker 1: without too much driving. And then again have experiences like
Speaker 1: Titanic Belfast in Belfast proper. So at Royal County Down.
Speaker 1: It's the first course I play in this travelogue. Kevan
Speaker 1: k e v A and Kevan Whitson is you know,
Speaker 1: essentially the director of golf there and has been there
Speaker 1: for over thirty years, and you'll see in the show
Speaker 1: he kind of sees us off. On the first tee.
Speaker 1: We had the most incredible day. You know, got a
Speaker 1: little bit of rain and again when you rock up
Speaker 1: at somebody's places, you can get you know, torrential downpours.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's Ireland, it happens. But we
Speaker 1: had kind of one of the most spectacular day. The
Speaker 1: base of the Mountains of Morn you know, the skies cleared.
Speaker 1: We had a little bit of rain, but then you
Speaker 1: with that, you get rainbows when the sun comes out.
Speaker 1: The rain had hit pretty hard right before we teed off,
Speaker 1: so it kind of chased a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of other golfers away. So it was almost like we
Speaker 1: had the course to ourselves. And I was out there
Speaker 1: with a guy named Stephen Burns, a long time you
Speaker 1: know caddy out there from in that area, lives in
Speaker 1: that area, and he and I had just like this
Speaker 1: spiritual walk around Royal County down. He couldn't have been
Speaker 1: couldn't have been nicer. You know, you have that, you
Speaker 1: have that one on one experience with a caddy. You know,
Speaker 1: even the crew kind of left us alone for you
Speaker 1: know about you know, eight to ten holes. You know,
Speaker 1: they were with us for the start, they were with
Speaker 1: us for the finish. So you know, we just had
Speaker 1: a really incredible experience. And that golf course in that
Speaker 1: kind of weather, when the wind kind of lays down
Speaker 1: and Royal County down, is as vulnerable as it gets,
Speaker 1: because I'm not sure that it's ever really vulnerable. You know,
Speaker 1: I had a good tempo going, I played, you know,
Speaker 1: played way better than sort of what I normally do,
Speaker 1: and it just just felt you know, eighteenth old Rainbow.
Speaker 1: We had whiskey at the turn, on the shot on
Speaker 1: the tenth te It just it was great. And Kevin
Speaker 1: sort of talks about one thing that didn't make the
Speaker 1: show that kind of got edited out that we'll play
Speaker 1: for you now, is you know what the impact of
Speaker 1: what the Irish Open was in twenty fifteen when Rory
Speaker 1: kind of reinserted himself into you know, what would have
Speaker 1: been the host of the Irish Open when the Irish
Speaker 1: Open was you know, struggling a bit, you know and
Speaker 1: trying to find its way, and I think Rory, you know,
Speaker 1: put it put it on its back, put it on
Speaker 1: his back and you'll hear him talk about sort of
Speaker 1: what that the impact that had on Of course, that
Speaker 1: was already you know, well respected and well received by
Speaker 1: the people who would making the journey, but it brought
Speaker 1: a lot more eyeballs.
Speaker 5: Rody was a terrific host of that tournament. He put
Speaker 5: his heart and soul and to that event. We didn't
Speaker 5: have the kindest weather that way, but it was an
Speaker 5: opportunity to get the very best players in the world
Speaker 5: to come here and see the place, and the pictures
Speaker 5: were being there und the world, so it was the
Speaker 5: reaction to the golf course and to the tournament was fantastic.
Speaker 3: You can make a case that Royal County Down or
Speaker 3: Royal Port Rush is the best golf course in the world,
Speaker 3: and I would buy it either way. I mean, I'm
Speaker 3: a humongous fan of Port Rush. To me is just
Speaker 3: one of the most awesome experiences on the planet. And
Speaker 3: there's a lot of people who prefer Royal County Down.
Speaker 3: So that's how good the golf is in the North,
Speaker 3: let alone all these other cult classics and hidden gems.
Speaker 3: But I mean, as a one to two punch, does
Speaker 3: not get better than the County Down and Port Rushes.
Speaker 1: It really doesn't no and again and you'll see the
Speaker 1: visuals of in this episode of Royal County Down and
Speaker 1: then you know again we we did the Manning Brothers
Speaker 1: Ultimate Buddies Trip podcast and if you haven't listened to that,
Speaker 1: I highly recommend it because the last place they go
Speaker 1: up and play is Royal County Down and the sleeve
Speaker 1: Donnered Hotel there is now you know, a marine and
Speaker 1: lawn property and some of the guys on that trip
Speaker 1: or you know owners now the new owners of sleeve
Speaker 1: Donnered and that you know, Eric Church one of the
Speaker 1: great you know, one of the greatest names and voices
Speaker 1: in country music in the US in Nashville, you know,
Speaker 1: being at Sleeved honored and in that you know, the
Speaker 1: Mountains of Morn inspired him to write a song that
Speaker 1: ultimately he released on our podcast. But it's it's it's
Speaker 1: that's the kind of that's the visuals that that that
Speaker 1: kind kind of you know, and and the soulful stir
Speaker 1: that happens when you go to a place like that
Speaker 1: and have that kind of experience. So that's Royal County Down.
Speaker 1: The other the other course, we played next Door to
Speaker 1: Port Rush and we'll get to our list here at
Speaker 1: the end of this podcast of our top ten you
Speaker 1: know on the island of Ireland. But you know, go
Speaker 1: back to the US Open at Aaron Hills and I'm
Speaker 1: on the Putting Green and I'm sort of wrapping out
Speaker 1: with Brooks and Ricky Elliott. His Ricky Elliott from Northern Ireland,
Speaker 1: from Port Stewart and where you know, I had sort
Speaker 1: of recently done something on Portsey. Oh, I saw you
Speaker 1: did somebody? What do you think ports? He goes, you
Speaker 1: know who you got to find? You got to find
Speaker 1: Dez Giffen. Dez Giffen is a math teacher, essentially a
Speaker 1: teacher in the area. Taught me Graham McDowell. He went
Speaker 1: out and designed that front nine of Port Stewart for
Speaker 1: a couple of pints of beer. I was like, what
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? I mean, you know you
Speaker 1: know that. Have you played Port Stewart?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, that front nine is epic.
Speaker 1: It's just like, I mean, you know that punches you
Speaker 1: in the teeth, right, I mean you're you're like, wait
Speaker 1: what you know right off the that first tea box
Speaker 1: and down by you know, it's amazing, just the left
Speaker 1: of Harry Shack and done done a variety of things
Speaker 1: on it. But I, over the years of trying to
Speaker 1: track down Dez Giffing, I kept missing him, like he
Speaker 1: wasn't in town, or I wasn't available when he was available,
Speaker 1: and I, you know, this went on for years of
Speaker 1: like I gotta find Dez Giffrin, I got to find given.
Speaker 1: So on this particular trip, we finally got ahold of
Speaker 1: him and I said, Dez, all I want to do
Speaker 1: is sit down and talk to you and play this
Speaker 1: golf course with you. And we made it happen. And
Speaker 1: uh and you'll see that, you know that interview and
Speaker 1: hear that story about you know, how they ultimately got
Speaker 1: the land. You know, they looked at it after Royal
Speaker 1: Port Rush hosted the Open in nineteen fifty one, the
Speaker 1: membership of Port Stewart looked at these dunes land, which
Speaker 1: is just really extreme. It's like carn right, I mean
Speaker 1: the kind of dunesland where you're like, what the big
Speaker 1: and humbling, and they looked at it and deemed it
Speaker 1: was not suitable for golf. They thought it was just
Speaker 1: almost too much. And you think about nineteen fifties, you're
Speaker 1: not dealing with the equipment there. Well, eventually, you know,
Speaker 1: Dez and some members and you know, kind of push
Speaker 1: on and ultimately get the land and then you know,
Speaker 1: go snooping around out there and I think we can
Speaker 1: do it and knock a few dunes down and talk,
Speaker 1: you know, flatten off a few tops of dunes and
Speaker 1: those make those greens. And thus you have the front
Speaker 1: nine at Port Stewart. And Dez Giffen is not an architect,
Speaker 1: doesn't claim to be one, but you know, he's well traveled.
Speaker 1: He was a very well accomplished golfer. And he and
Speaker 1: and the guy who is still there today is the superintendent. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: you know, make this all become a reality. And the
Speaker 1: whole thing costs two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and
Speaker 1: you know, and now they just file him in there
Speaker 1: and people come and play that, you know, Playport Stewart,
Speaker 1: you know, pretty specifically for that front nine thanks to
Speaker 1: Dez Giffen. The current sort of course manager Superintendent Bernard
Speaker 1: Finley and Dez Giffen really kind of get the get
Speaker 1: the credit for doing this. Two hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 1: pounds is what it costs. And as Ricky Elliott. You know,
Speaker 1: I sort of mentioned it to Day's like, hey, Ricky
Speaker 1: Elliott just said you did it for a couple of
Speaker 1: pints of beer and goes, well, it's kind of true.
Speaker 1: They did give him honorary membership and he still does
Speaker 1: play the golf course from time to time. He's it's
Speaker 1: getting a little tougher for him as he gets, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, older, because it's it's no Joe, it's it
Speaker 1: is a pretty it's pretty uh uh you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's a good walk. But it was just a real treat.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: And again the sun came out as we were getting
Speaker 1: to the seventh green, eight t ninth hole, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and we get all the way to the to the
Speaker 1: top of the of the green and there and again
Speaker 1: it's just like lit up. And then we go and
Speaker 1: we have a pint on the back porch and and
Speaker 1: we had a really sweet conversation that didn't make the
Speaker 1: final edit. Uh, we got we got a little bit
Speaker 1: of we've got the visual visuals of it, but it was,
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was a neat opportunity to
Speaker 1: sort of actually buy him another pint and thank him
Speaker 1: for all that he you know he left behind there
Speaker 1: in the in what has become the front nine of
Speaker 1: Port Stewart. So here's our conversation on that back porch.
Speaker 6: He takes some joy and kind of seeing people take
Speaker 6: off and going in.
Speaker 7: When you created this, don't think about it, Natol not
Speaker 7: it must have been really No, No, it's it's there.
Speaker 7: It'll be there hopefully. So I have had my pleasure
Speaker 7: right of being able to do it. It's a good
Speaker 7: privilege and it's not something that happens to anybody very often.
Speaker 1: It's a nice gift.
Speaker 6: The ten year old DEAs that roamed those dudes has
Speaker 6: given this, this, this town, quite a gift for for
Speaker 6: many years to come and many people like me who
Speaker 6: fly from all over the world to come experience raw
Speaker 6: links land like this.
Speaker 1: It's it exceeds experience.
Speaker 7: Well, it's always nice to know that you enjoy it.
Speaker 7: That's the big thing, enjoying it. If it wasn't enjoyable,
Speaker 7: it wouldn't be worth coming to.
Speaker 6: All good stories come back to the beginning. And you
Speaker 6: said it from the beginning, when you set out to
Speaker 6: do this, it was to make it enjoyable. Yes, I
Speaker 6: enjoyed it. Yeah, good, your good.
Speaker 3: Health that's awesome. I mean, you gotta love these characters.
Speaker 3: You know, in this in this modern era where gil
Speaker 3: Haunts gets seemingly every golf course in the world he's
Speaker 3: working on find these locals and you know, he evokes
Speaker 3: like a George Cromb or a Jack Neville, you know,
Speaker 3: the guys who did like one golf course in their
Speaker 3: life and they were they were they were pretty memorable.
Speaker 1: Well it's it's it's not unlike what like John Ashworth
Speaker 1: was doing at Godill Park, you know, with with his
Speaker 1: with his crew out there, they're changing hole by hole.
Speaker 1: It's not unlike what the locals did at Critch Island, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, nestled between there and important New and and
Speaker 1: uh and Saint Patrick's which is gil Hanson Tom Doak
Speaker 1: and then you got, like the locals out there were
Speaker 1: shovels creating the Crisch Island experience. This this nine hole
Speaker 1: homegrown golf experience that if you pass by and don't
Speaker 1: play it, you're you're just you're you're you know, you're
Speaker 1: missing the boat. Those those stories that you stumble upon
Speaker 1: in places like you know, Ireland and Northern Ireland are
Speaker 1: just that's a big part of a big part of
Speaker 1: the uniqueness and fun.
Speaker 3: I know a place that's very special to you that's
Speaker 3: not on the radar screen of every American you know,
Speaker 3: Vagabond Golfer is art Glass, which which is up in
Speaker 3: the North as well, and it's to my great regret,
Speaker 3: I had a tea time there during the week of
Speaker 3: the Open at Port Rush, and I can't remember what happened.
Speaker 3: I can't remember her name, but anyway, no that's not true,
Speaker 3: but I couldn't make the tea time and it still
Speaker 3: haunts me. I mean, I'll get there someday, but tell
Speaker 3: people what's so special about our glass and its place
Speaker 3: in your golfing life? You know?
Speaker 8: It was?
Speaker 1: It was that Irish Open and I had my I
Speaker 1: got to play in that pro am actually with Ricky Fowler,
Speaker 1: Ap McCoy one of the great jockeys in the history
Speaker 1: of horse racing, certainly as it relates to Ireland, and
Speaker 1: Patty Kilty who from Northern Ireland is a comedian and
Speaker 1: now a talk show host up there. Who's whose remains
Speaker 1: a friend and got to play in that tournament. I
Speaker 1: was there with Tim Rose a Fort and Todd Curran.
Speaker 1: My best buddy was on the bag and reporting live
Speaker 1: for you know, Morning Drive from the Irish Open and
Speaker 1: and you know, Marty Carr, dear friend, and we're running around,
Speaker 1: we're at the sleeve Donnard Van Morrison and you get
Speaker 1: Rory's hosting. It's just really good energy. Weather wasn't great
Speaker 1: as as Kevin alluded to, but it didn't really matter.
Speaker 1: It was like it was just one big giant jamboree
Speaker 1: and festival of fun. And and you know, we had
Speaker 1: stayed out really late one night and Marty says, hey,
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning, we're going over to our glass. You've got
Speaker 1: to see this place. I'm like, I don't this doesn't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't you, I can't feel my face.
Speaker 1: Let alone, like get up and go play golf, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? No, no, no, you got to
Speaker 1: do it. Get in the car and he and his
Speaker 1: best friend from sort of you know, going way back
Speaker 1: and me and my best friend piling cars and you know,
Speaker 1: again it's also about like the discovery of all discovery
Speaker 1: of it all.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: You come in, you're in pain, you're hungover, you know,
Speaker 1: your reek of like God only knows what you consume
Speaker 1: the night before, and it's coming out of your pores,
Speaker 1: you know, and you show up and you rock up
Speaker 1: into this parking lot and it's a castle of a
Speaker 1: clubhouse that goes back into the fourteen hundreds, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's about thirty minutes away from Royal County down.
Speaker 1: It felt like three hours. Like it was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, the twisting turns like, oh God, I just
Speaker 1: want to just want to curl up in a bed
Speaker 1: and show up on the first team in that Irish
Speaker 1: fresh you know, Irish breeze hit you and it kind
Speaker 1: of wakes you up. And Paul Vaughn, the pro there
Speaker 1: who was there then is still there, he and his
Speaker 1: wife there, and Karen Fitzsimon's and meeting some of the locals,
Speaker 1: you know, just this warm embrace, and you know, you
Speaker 1: get up over that first you know, first hole, and
Speaker 1: you get on the first green and the second t
Speaker 1: and you're looking at this little part three that looks
Speaker 1: like it looks something like almost reverse of the approach
Speaker 1: of the eighth fairway at Pebble Beach, right if the
Speaker 1: eighth green was elevated and you were standing on that
Speaker 1: fairway hitting that shot to an elevated green, or kind
Speaker 1: of like you know, to a more elevated green and
Speaker 1: you saw that extreme you know, Carrie and some of
Speaker 1: the coastline, you'd be like, that's the second hole of
Speaker 1: our glass. That's how our glass opens. And then it
Speaker 1: continues to run along that coastline. Then it cuts in
Speaker 1: lit it comes back down along the coastline. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was like, what in what what is this? You know,
Speaker 1: it just again, it just like it just grabs you
Speaker 1: and it holds onto your pant leg like you know,
Speaker 1: like a like a little terrier, would you know if
Speaker 1: you're trying to steal the mail. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: just relentlessly incredible. And I've now been back, you know,
Speaker 1: several times since they continue to put you know, now
Speaker 1: they are on the radar for a lot more Americans.
Speaker 1: There's a lot more people that go to Royal County
Speaker 1: down that then go to Ardglass or Port Rushport, Stewart
Speaker 1: Ardglass Castle. You know that that becomes kind of this
Speaker 1: northern itinerary. And if you miss art Glass, you're crazy.
Speaker 1: And you know Paul Vaughn and Karen fitz Simon's and
Speaker 1: you'll see at the end of this of this episode,
Speaker 1: you know, FITZI gets really eleven time club champion. He's
Speaker 1: his his family goes back eight generations to this this club,
Speaker 1: this land. There they went from hundreds of North American
Speaker 1: visitors to now thousands, upwards of seven thousand visitors now
Speaker 1: from North American who are frequenting Our Glass per year.
Speaker 1: They're taking that money and they're putting it back into
Speaker 1: the golf course. They continue to enhance the experience and
Speaker 1: the the agronomy. And by the way, the food at
Speaker 1: Our Glass is some of the best food you'll have
Speaker 1: at any one of those clubhouses. Paul Vaughn is smart
Speaker 1: enough to give, you know, the food and beverage to
Speaker 1: a to a you know, a local couple who's really
Speaker 1: taking it on. And damn, I'm telling you, you know,
Speaker 1: the pints and the food there at Ard Glass are great.
Speaker 1: And here's FITZI on sort of how and why this
Speaker 1: this course, this land, this experience kind of separates itself,
Speaker 1: you know. And again I always say there's magic in
Speaker 1: the land that is Goat Hill, Goat Hill Park. I
Speaker 1: will tell you right now there's magic in the land
Speaker 1: that is Art Glass.
Speaker 8: I think it's just peace in your heart, good friends
Speaker 8: and all the good things that you aspire to in life.
Speaker 8: I think we just kind of naturally we have a
Speaker 8: lot of that here. People are very closely knit. That's
Speaker 8: a very special community and it's just lovely to be
Speaker 8: part of. You read a good book, what do you
Speaker 8: want to do is you read the last line of
Speaker 8: the book, is you want to just phone your friends
Speaker 8: say I've got a great book for you somewhere where
Speaker 8: I that I love and I've spent my whole life
Speaker 8: here and I just can't wait to share it.
Speaker 3: And you see how much I come alive when you
Speaker 3: have guys who come here.
Speaker 8: It's not put on, it's just I just want to
Speaker 8: show you what we have here, and like you see
Speaker 8: how special it is there.
Speaker 3: There are places that just it's like in alchemy, you know,
Speaker 3: it's the experience is greater than just the golf course.
Speaker 3: And it's hard to explain why. Like, so it's cool
Speaker 3: that you have that. Are you an honorary member there? Now?
Speaker 3: Did they do that?
Speaker 1: They did? They surprised me at one of the PGA
Speaker 1: merchandise shows And that's so cool. And and you know,
Speaker 1: I've never really done anything in terms of playing in
Speaker 1: like the member member or you know, the the you
Speaker 1: know like the club champions are like that would be
Speaker 1: a real use dream uh of being able to do that,
Speaker 1: you know, by the way, I've you know the mole
Speaker 1: Hall family. The father there runs a bait shop right
Speaker 1: there in town in our glass and you know, don't
Speaker 1: blink them. The town is not that big. It's an
Speaker 1: old little fishing village and it goes back centuries. And
Speaker 1: the mole Hall brothers have recently realized they have some
Speaker 1: they have Greek root roots and and you you'll you'll
Speaker 1: see it if you watch this show William Mohall. Uh,
Speaker 1: these these guys, this, these three brothers that all worked
Speaker 1: on Game of Thrones, and not unlike a lot of
Speaker 1: people in Northern Ireland, by the way, in and around
Speaker 1: Belfast greatly benefited from Game of Thrones and the Titanic
Speaker 1: Belfast experience, which I'll get to in a second. But
Speaker 1: the mole Hall brothers were the original owners of what
Speaker 1: became two of the dire wolves used in Game of Thrones,
Speaker 1: originally as real dogs and wolves, and then eventually they
Speaker 1: they kind of modified those dogs and made them bigger
Speaker 1: and kind of computerized. But they had the original dogs
Speaker 1: and I got to meet them on one of my
Speaker 1: trips to our Glass became friends with them. I have,
Speaker 1: you know, many pints with them, and many stories and
Speaker 1: many trips and many meals and William Whall. These these
Speaker 1: guys know their history, especially as it relates to in
Speaker 1: and around Ardglass, which is where you'll find the grave
Speaker 1: of Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland,
Speaker 1: is you know, buried right there, just a few miles
Speaker 1: away from Ardglass. And if if you don't go and
Speaker 1: visit this grave again, you're making a mistake. I learned
Speaker 1: a lot about Saint Patrick. Uh and not just that
Speaker 1: we you know, celebrate his day in March, but he
Speaker 1: he here's William and dropping some serious history and perspective
Speaker 1: on the patriot Saint of Ireland.
Speaker 9: From here we can see the Moor mountains, which are
Speaker 9: you know, famous, But they've also got the main mountain
Speaker 9: which is called Sleeve Donnard and it's the highest mountain
Speaker 9: in the north here, and it's named after a guy
Speaker 9: who was a hermit. He lived in a cave up there,
Speaker 9: and Saint Patrick made him a saint because he gave
Speaker 9: him a very important job. His job is that whenever
Speaker 9: the end of the world happens and all the Christians
Speaker 9: are lifted up into heaven. He has to come from
Speaker 9: there to here to wake up Saint Patrick, so that
Speaker 9: whenever St Patrick's gone up into heaven, he takes all
Speaker 9: the Irish with him, because no matter if you're good
Speaker 9: or bad, as long as you're Irish, you're getting into heaven.
Speaker 6: That's great news.
Speaker 1: It's really good news. Actually, so yeah, it takes away
Speaker 1: a lot of my anxiety.
Speaker 3: Got irish.
Speaker 1: And this is it.
Speaker 9: This is it.
Speaker 3: This is where he's buried. He's buried in here with
Speaker 3: some bridges and signt column.
Speaker 1: This is an incredibly powerful if.
Speaker 9: You think about the amount of Irish across the world,
Speaker 9: you know, would you say earlier seventy million people.
Speaker 3: Who claim ance history.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and each one of them celebrates Sin Patrick's day
Speaker 9: in some way in every corner of the world, especially
Speaker 9: America and Australia and places like that in England. And
Speaker 9: the man they're celebrating is right here in front of us.
Speaker 9: To become a saint, you have to you have to
Speaker 9: make miracles. One of his miracles was that he chased
Speaker 9: all the snakes out of Ireland. Ireland has no snakes
Speaker 9: in it, England has snakes but Ireland doesn't. And they
Speaker 9: say that, you know, he managed to do that, but
Speaker 9: they reckon. It's a metaphor for him actually chasing all
Speaker 9: the Pagans out of Ireland, you know, and making everyone
Speaker 9: Christian st. Patrick also like kind of helped along in
Speaker 9: the lines of banishing slavery as well in Ireland like
Speaker 9: two thy six hundred years ago or something like that.
Speaker 1: So he was early adopter of equality.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great. I mean you don't even really think
Speaker 3: that there is an actual Saint Patrick, you know, it's
Speaker 3: just one of those things you take for granted. It's
Speaker 3: all around you, like, oh, there was actually some dude
Speaker 3: named Patrick who became a saint who played this this
Speaker 3: role and it's like, oh interesting, Yeah, that's that's funny.
Speaker 1: It was Welsh, by the way, like of all things,
Speaker 1: as you just learned, I mean, you know, I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the we're storytellers right at the core of
Speaker 1: what we are and who we are. We we love
Speaker 1: a good story. And like I've always said, you go
Speaker 1: to Ireland, the island of Ireland, you run into the
Speaker 1: Irish if you like stories, you know, Settle in. Buckle up,
Speaker 1: charge the glass, pour a pint and listen. You know,
Speaker 1: the music, the poems, the stories, the jokes, the crack
Speaker 1: as they say, is it just just does not stop.
Speaker 1: And again that's part of I think, why not only
Speaker 1: because I have roots in County Clare and that's that's
Speaker 1: really meaningful to not only me but my family. But
Speaker 1: then it's just all this this this history and the
Speaker 1: stories and the storytelling and the passion that they have
Speaker 1: for their own stories. You know that the the energy
Speaker 1: around who they are and what they are and why
Speaker 1: it all matters. You know, it's like if you if
Speaker 1: it's not hitting you or resonating with you, just you
Speaker 1: got to go check your pulse because it's possible you're dead.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, there's there's some golf journeys that you
Speaker 3: enjoy in spite of the people. Like if you went
Speaker 3: out and did like all the great golf clubs of
Speaker 3: Long Island, like the courses are amazing, you have to
Speaker 3: you have to deal with the New Yorkers. But in
Speaker 3: Ireland that the people elevate the experience, just the interactions
Speaker 3: you have, the fun of it all that it really
Speaker 3: becomes part of the whole trip. And the more open
Speaker 3: you are to it, as you're saying, like, it'll get
Speaker 3: sucked into a lot of a lot of fun things.
Speaker 3: Uh that I think when people watch these these these
Speaker 3: two shows you put together, it brings out to life.
Speaker 3: I mean, just the the characters and it's just so
Speaker 3: fun to listen to them talk that. Not only that
Speaker 3: the lilt and the accent is wonderful, but it's just
Speaker 3: an oral culture like that's that's a big part of
Speaker 3: their their heritage, right is it just gets passed down.
Speaker 3: And so that's really cool.
Speaker 1: Speaking of heritage and passing down. And little guy who
Speaker 1: had experience in Ireland, I mean, he's I'm sending him
Speaker 1: to bed. But Bannon, speaking of the microphone, what do
Speaker 1: you think of Ireland? We lit right, we go to bed, now,
Speaker 1: you go to bed now?
Speaker 3: All right? That's probably a good cue for us to
Speaker 3: to get to our our list of our ten favorite
Speaker 3: course in Ireland. And these are just the ones we've played.
Speaker 3: So I'm missing a few. I've never been to the island.
Speaker 3: That's that's one that's at the top of my bucket list.
Speaker 3: And now there's there's you know you you've brought this
Speaker 3: out in some some of your other Ireland reporting. I
Speaker 3: mean there's there's new stuff happening at Saint Patrick's and
Speaker 3: all there's you know, Hogshead like you name it, like
Speaker 3: you think of like the Manhattan Skyline. It feels like
Speaker 3: it's been there forever, it's never going to change, but
Speaker 3: in fact there's always a new building, go go. But
Speaker 3: it's kind of the same thing in Ireland. Like the
Speaker 3: new golf stuff happened constantly there right now, which is
Speaker 3: really exciting.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's hard to believe. You know. I haven't
Speaker 1: played Enniscrown. I've walked part of parts of County laut
Speaker 1: Ball Tray, which was amazing. That that's not far from
Speaker 1: Dublin by the way, you know what I mean, Like you,
Speaker 1: that's an easy get from Dublin, so I should say that,
Speaker 1: I you know, as we're starting into our list that
Speaker 1: you know again I haven't played those.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I haven't been to Carn, which is you
Speaker 3: know our friend John Gerdetty, great Si Rider. I mean,
Speaker 3: he's sort of the patron saint of Carn like that.
Speaker 3: That's been on my list for a long time. So
Speaker 3: it's kind of fun to think you and I have
Speaker 3: been lucky and you more than me to get to
Speaker 3: take a lot of trips and play a lot of
Speaker 3: these courses. But there's still more to look forward to,
Speaker 3: which is amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and not on my list, but you know, like
Speaker 1: old Head, it's not in my top ten because you know,
Speaker 1: I've always said it's more like Golden Tea golf. It's
Speaker 1: so extreme and and you know, I don't know why
Speaker 1: it's wild. It doesn't make my top ten because but
Speaker 1: I say, like, you've got to go play it, You've
Speaker 1: got to go experience it, and if you're lucky enough
Speaker 1: to catch it on a day where it's not windy
Speaker 1: and rainy, it's gonna be one of the most epic
Speaker 1: experiences you've ever had on a golf course. It doesn't
Speaker 1: it ever. Actually, it just feels a little too extreme,
Speaker 1: like like I said, Golden Tea.
Speaker 3: Or Yeah, it's worth doing though if you go that far.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's kind of how I feel about Cape
Speaker 3: Kidnappers when we were there in New Zealand. Like the
Speaker 3: course itself, it didn't blow me away. There's there's some
Speaker 3: wonky holes and inland holes are not amazing. There's some
Speaker 3: tom dope greens, but if you're there. You got to
Speaker 3: do it because the views, the some of the some
Speaker 3: of the shots are very memorable. So I like Oldhead
Speaker 3: a little more like Cape Kidnappers, but is.
Speaker 1: Very much so if you go that far way better.
Speaker 3: Than you go that far. You just got to do it.
Speaker 3: But all right, all start. Number ten for me is
Speaker 3: tre Lee, which is a little bit of a polarizing course.
Speaker 3: You know, it's Arnie Palmer is the designer, and supposedly,
Speaker 3: although when the story I've heard is when the course
Speaker 3: opened he shows up to cut the ceremonial tape that
Speaker 3: to tell him where the first he was, because Arnold
Speaker 3: was not not familiar with the terrain. But anyway, it's
Speaker 3: a possibly apocryphal.
Speaker 1: But which leads us to the whole conversation on the
Speaker 1: k Club and that whole thing in the Irish Open
Speaker 1: in three out of five years hosting the Irish Open
Speaker 1: and Arnold Palmer k Club as though that's some sort
Speaker 1: of representation of Irish golf. And even then they say, oh,
Speaker 1: Parkland is mostly okay, I get it. I like Parkland
Speaker 1: golf courses. I like a dear manor I like Portumna,
Speaker 1: you know, I think royal Belfast is an epic part.
Speaker 1: But again I don't want to go down that whole
Speaker 1: rabbit hole. But like come on, like Arnold Palmer Cake Club,
Speaker 1: like Irish Open.
Speaker 3: No I reject though it is it Royal County down
Speaker 3: next year so that anyway, but truly has some incredible terrain.
Speaker 3: And you talk about the front nine at ports through
Speaker 3: at the back nine, it truly is pretty spectacular. That's
Speaker 3: what I have at number ten, what about you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And they've made a lot of tweaks and improvements
Speaker 1: to the Front nine too. Truly is on my list.
Speaker 1: It's number nine on my list. At number ten, I
Speaker 1: have Our's I put it in there as as and
Speaker 1: again they continue to make that course better and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of very memorable holes and uh and and
Speaker 1: this is my list, and sentimentally, you know KRN doesn't
Speaker 1: make my list. I love Jerey Maguire, I love that story.
Speaker 1: I love the extreme dunes, I love that adventure. But
Speaker 1: I just I love all these other courses more. And
Speaker 1: Our Glass is one that just speaks to me and
Speaker 1: my heart, my soul, and it's on my list and
Speaker 1: it's number ten.
Speaker 3: That's cool. I love it. I mean number nine is
Speaker 3: for you, is truly for me. It's bal Tray, which
Speaker 3: is just we talked about him and I go, it's
Speaker 3: just a really cool place. I mean just there's something
Speaker 3: about the land and the layout and the way it flows.
Speaker 3: I'm just a big fan, like, I think that place
Speaker 3: is special.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I I need to I need again. We watched
Speaker 1: Hugh Foley play there. He was representing Royal Dublin in
Speaker 1: the Senior Cup and he dismantled his opponent and kind
Speaker 1: of ended it pretty early, and John Ashworth and I
Speaker 1: were out there watching him and I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, look at this golf course. How good is this?
Speaker 1: You know? I you know, And it's right next to
Speaker 1: Seapoint that makes it good.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: Seapoint has recently been sort of bought by car Golf
Speaker 1: and they've put some money and resources into it, and
Speaker 1: so Seapoint Baltray basically back up to each other, which
Speaker 1: would make a great thirty six holes. But I need
Speaker 1: to play I need to play ball Tray.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you have at eight eight?
Speaker 1: I have a dear manor again Parkland, you know, and
Speaker 1: Tom Fozzio. So I know that's not necessarily a true
Speaker 1: representation of Irish golf, of though you know, Fazio had
Speaker 1: a lot to do with Waterville, which is also on
Speaker 1: my list. But I love dere Manor, I love the
Speaker 1: golf course, and I love the whole experience driving through. J. P.
Speaker 1: Mcmahonus obviously bought it and put you know, several hundreds
Speaker 1: and millions of dollars of resources into redoing that whole facility.
Speaker 1: The And you know, my wife used to rank a
Speaker 1: resort and an experience on you know, sort of one
Speaker 1: to see island, and once after she went to a
Speaker 1: Dare she's like, from now on, everything's judged, as you know,
Speaker 1: from one, you know, on a scale of one to
Speaker 1: a Dare Manor. Where does it fall? Because a Dare
Speaker 1: Manor is is the top of the top of the
Speaker 1: top cool that golf course walking around playing there and
Speaker 1: you know, there's not a it's it's a bit Augusta
Speaker 1: like in terms of its perfection and how it's manicured.
Speaker 1: And you're up against the castle there in the home stretch.
Speaker 1: It's going to make a hell of a venue for
Speaker 1: a Ryder Cup in that, you know, getting towards the fifteen, sixteen,
Speaker 1: seventeen and eighteen and that Castle Manor backdrop is going
Speaker 1: to be spectacular.
Speaker 3: I love that Number eight for me is Port Stewart,
Speaker 3: which we touched on a lot already, so we don't
Speaker 3: have to go into any more detail. But it's the
Speaker 3: fact that it's so close to so many other great
Speaker 3: golf courses. It's a it's a must play. Yeah, what
Speaker 3: do you have at seven?
Speaker 1: I have Saint Patrick's And again we did, you know,
Speaker 1: we featured it in in our North Northwest Adventure I
Speaker 1: think now and two and a half years years ago,
Speaker 1: and so the story goes, you know, that was really
Speaker 1: during COVID. Tom Dope didn't spend a lot of time there,
Speaker 1: if you know, if at all. And Angela Moser was
Speaker 1: you know, sort of a big part of that project
Speaker 1: and ultimately landed her I think, you know, sort of
Speaker 1: the lead associate on what is now becoming Pineer's Number ten.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's obviously incredibly talented, uh you know, in
Speaker 1: that land and what they had to work with was
Speaker 1: that originally was going to be two eighteen hole Jack
Speaker 1: Nicholas courses and it kind of got stopped down midway
Speaker 1: through and the Casey family and you know, brought in
Speaker 1: Dope and his team, and I'm telling you right now,
Speaker 1: they made eighteen incredible golf holes and it is like
Speaker 1: big dunes, big fun and they run you know, the
Speaker 1: Dope greens at nine on the stimps. So you know,
Speaker 1: even if there is kind of like that that that
Speaker 1: sort of wild undulation, it's very fair and playable there.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you right now, you know it could
Speaker 1: even kind of the more I play, it could move
Speaker 1: up my list. That is that is one special experience
Speaker 1: and becomes a real pull and magnet to that North
Speaker 1: north you know, north Northwest experience that that a lot
Speaker 1: of people are going to be seeking out as that
Speaker 1: becomes the value play here and where you can still
Speaker 1: kind of get some tea times.
Speaker 3: Maybe that's cool. I love it. Number seven for me
Speaker 3: is Port Marnik, which I think it was kind of
Speaker 3: the Irish Carnoustie. You know, it's just an incredible championship test.
Speaker 3: It's very tactical, does not have the amazing dunes. It's
Speaker 3: not it's not as dramatic a sight as some of these,
Speaker 3: but it's just it's just just such a challenge. And
Speaker 3: I just remember a lot of thought went into how
Speaker 3: you played that golf course. There's there's it's just a
Speaker 3: very well laid out, thought provoking kind of course and
Speaker 3: and basically right in the heart of Dublin. It feels like,
Speaker 3: I mean, you can stumble out of James Joyce's you know,
Speaker 3: boyhood home and and they're here on the first tea
Speaker 3: at Port Marnick. So that's number seven for me. What
Speaker 3: do you got?
Speaker 1: I got Port Marnic at at number six actually so
Speaker 1: uh you know, and again featured in our in our
Speaker 1: Dublin uh travelog and journey and you know, as you know,
Speaker 1: they've recently started allowing female members, not unlike what Mirfield
Speaker 1: did in Scotland. Elaine McBride is the new general manager,
Speaker 1: the manager of that of that club. She is Scottish
Speaker 1: and she you know, this, this evolution of this you know,
Speaker 1: storied and you know traditional club is going to get
Speaker 1: a lot more eyeballs on. It had a Walker Cup
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety one, I believe, which Phil Mickelson and
Speaker 1: David Duvall and those guys played on that on that team.
Speaker 1: And you know, the talk is that Port Marnic at
Speaker 1: some point could get an Open championship and bring it
Speaker 1: to the Republic of Ireland, which would be in Dublin,
Speaker 1: and which would be that'd be bonkers.
Speaker 3: That'd be sweet. Yeah, it's it's it's worthy. There's no question.
Speaker 3: Number six for me is Dunebag just one of the wildest,
Speaker 3: wooliest sights in golf. And I haven't you know you
Speaker 3: remember you and I were there at like the turn
Speaker 3: of the century, hadn't even officially opened yet, and I
Speaker 3: know it's caught through some evolutions. I'd like to see
Speaker 3: it again, but I loved the original layout. I mean
Speaker 3: it was it was crazy and extreme and I that
Speaker 3: turns me on, Like it was just so much fun
Speaker 3: and so cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, then if that turns you on, you'd love then
Speaker 1: then carn would be on your list for sure. I know,
Speaker 1: for that wild and wooly and raw links experience. You know,
Speaker 1: what we saw in that original version of Dounebeg was
Speaker 1: virtually unplayable. I mean that was that was Greg Norman
Speaker 1: at his at his finest, which is ultimately his worst,
Speaker 1: where it's like what, there's no no one, any anybody
Speaker 1: north of a scratch handicap can't finish this golf course.
Speaker 1: You're never going to have enough golf balls.
Speaker 3: I mean, Greg Norman couldn't screw that side up. I
Speaker 3: mean it's so good.
Speaker 1: But you know, they have made a lot of changes
Speaker 1: to it. I did get to play it recently and
Speaker 1: I got to get of, you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: compliments to that team there. There's a good energy there.
Speaker 1: I you know, obviously politics aside and all the you know,
Speaker 1: the bullshit a re associated with you know, all that
Speaker 1: goes along with Dunebeg. I you know, the people, the
Speaker 1: amount of people they employ there, the condition of that
Speaker 1: golf course, that experience, that land, which is about three
Speaker 1: hundred yards away from my great great grandfather's farm eighteen
Speaker 1: acres that he farmed. Ironically enough, essentially Dunebeg is ultimately
Speaker 1: the Bowlin family neighbor. So yeah, definitely, definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: respect for that, for that golf course.
Speaker 3: Okay, where are you on your list? What do you
Speaker 3: have for six?
Speaker 1: That was Port Marnic for me? And number five They
Speaker 1: talk about Dunes is bally Bunyan like bally Bunyan to me,
Speaker 1: and I think they've made some tweaks to eighteen. I
Speaker 1: was always a little put off by that finish, but
Speaker 1: you know, the more you the more you play, and
Speaker 1: the more you experience. You know, again, Cyprus Point doesn't
Speaker 1: have a great eighteenth hole, you know, the Hinch doesn't
Speaker 1: have a great you know, there's you know how some
Speaker 1: of these courses sort of start and end. You kind
Speaker 1: of kind of like give them a little pass, you know.
Speaker 1: It's part of part of the way you get in
Speaker 1: and out of out of these dunes. Right. And yeah,
Speaker 1: bally Bunyon is a nice comfortable number five on my list.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have Vally Bunyon. Three. Five for me is Waterville,
Speaker 3: Uh oh wow. Just such a cool course, such an
Speaker 3: epic setting that's down in the Southwest. You know, there's
Speaker 3: a lot of great golf down there. But I just
Speaker 3: and again you know, this is not it's not science.
Speaker 3: Like when we played Waterville and the sun was setting,
Speaker 3: I think it was a last it was a last
Speaker 3: course on our trip, you know, and just hitting a
Speaker 3: bunch of great shots coming in. Like you can romanticize
Speaker 3: these things that that's part of it. I mean, we
Speaker 3: all have emotional reactions to golf courses. You can't oh yeah,
Speaker 3: fully explain. And so I just think Waterville is a special.
Speaker 1: Totally In fact, it's uh, I'll reveal where it is
Speaker 1: on my list a little bit. Number four for me
Speaker 1: is port Rush and again you know they've they've tweaked
Speaker 1: a couple of holes there and they've only made that better.
Speaker 1: And I think it's obviously got it's it's due, and
Speaker 1: you know host of the opening fifty one and then
Speaker 1: you know again in twenty nineteen, right, they're going to
Speaker 1: get it again in twenty twenty five. So I mean,
Speaker 1: I got nothing but respect and love for you know,
Speaker 1: there's there's there's a deftness about I think the port
Speaker 1: Rush experience, not unlike I think the old course where
Speaker 1: it kind of sneaks up on you. You know, you go
Speaker 1: hole and whole and whole. You know, there's not any
Speaker 1: that crazy. There is some there's some pretty decent dunes land,
Speaker 1: but it's not as extreme as like the bally Bunions
Speaker 1: or or or some of the others that we're talking about.
Speaker 1: But man, just the quality of hole after a hole.
Speaker 1: You just you got to tip your cap.
Speaker 3: Oh one million percent, Yeah, I have I have higher
Speaker 3: than that. I think port Roach's spectac. Number four for
Speaker 3: me is Royal County Down and I honestly need to
Speaker 3: see it again. You know, I only played it once,
Speaker 3: and I mean you were there. We showed up and
Speaker 3: it was it was like I think the Sunday before
Speaker 3: maybe the the Senior Open. Something was going on and
Speaker 3: the place was deserted. There were no caddies, there was
Speaker 3: no yardage guides. We went out there. I just remember
Speaker 3: having that experience where we'd all all four of us,
Speaker 3: you know, pretty good drives on these blind holes. We
Speaker 3: crest the hill, becauldn't any golf balls. It's like, goddamn,
Speaker 3: we never knew where we were going.
Speaker 1: But I think Craig Bistrom is still out there in
Speaker 1: the gorse, searching for his searching for his calf. He
Speaker 1: got pissed and we walked away.
Speaker 3: Pours about for Craig. Yeah, but the the strength of
Speaker 3: that golf course, I mean, I remember the green complexes
Speaker 3: were just phenomenal for a Lynks course. You know, a
Speaker 3: lot of Links courses the greens are kind of flat
Speaker 3: and they're not super interesting. But I thought, I thought
Speaker 3: Royal County Downs were tremendous. That you know, the views
Speaker 3: of the town, it's an iconic photo we've all seen
Speaker 3: a thousand times, and just so many memorable holes, like
Speaker 3: so I think if I played it again it probably
Speaker 3: would get would go even higher. But massive respect to
Speaker 3: Royal County Down. It's just an incredible piece of ground.
Speaker 1: Incredible piece of ground, incredible test that to me is
Speaker 1: is like Carnoustie in terms of the it's hard, degree
Speaker 1: degree of difficulty. And and again I've now played it
Speaker 1: lucky enough to play it, you know, three or four times,
Speaker 1: maybe this was my fourth time, and uh and I've
Speaker 1: had a mix of all kinds of weather and this
Speaker 1: last time, you know, like I said, I got it
Speaker 1: in its vulnerable state and oh man, the amount of
Speaker 1: fun and that those views in that rainbow in the
Speaker 1: mountains of Morn and that experience in that walk, it
Speaker 1: just it was. It's it's number three on my list,
Speaker 1: So Royal County Down number three.
Speaker 3: Nice that bally Bunyan three. And it's it's a special place.
Speaker 1: I mean, even though on the second hole your ball
Speaker 1: just kept coming back down to you and just kept
Speaker 1: coming back.
Speaker 3: Those are all good shots, man, they were well executed.
Speaker 10: Yeah I think I made an eighth there, and I
Speaker 10: swear I did any bad shots, but yeah, it's I
Speaker 10: mean bally Bunnyan has kind of a romantic spot in
Speaker 10: my brain because I read about it.
Speaker 3: Part I ever played any Links golf and Tom Watson,
Speaker 3: you know, that was a place that he helped put
Speaker 3: on the map and just the name, the photographs, all
Speaker 3: of it, like it was kind of in my mind
Speaker 3: the ultimate Links golf course, probad ever left. I've ever
Speaker 3: been to the lynx Land at all, whether it was
Speaker 3: Scotland or Ireland, and when you get there, I mean
Speaker 3: it lives up to it. It's just a tremendous course.
Speaker 3: And you know, you play around that graveyard and it's
Speaker 3: quirky and funky, and that's what I want in a
Speaker 3: Lynks course, So so much fun.
Speaker 1: That middle stretch at Ballybunya and you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what is you know? I mean it again, that's what
Speaker 1: these that's what these places do is it's just as
Speaker 1: one guy, I don't know it. You know, you're gobsmacked,
Speaker 1: you know, like as one of my favorite words, but
Speaker 1: you're like, what's going on here? So actually number two
Speaker 1: on my list is is Waterville. And you know, I
Speaker 1: talk about the magic in the land of places like
Speaker 1: Goat and Ardglass, but to me, I've had so many
Speaker 1: spiritual experiences at Waterville, and so there is this connection
Speaker 1: to that town and some of those people, the caddies,
Speaker 1: you know, Kevin the caddy master, now you know they
Speaker 1: I you know I years of now the father, so
Speaker 1: the the you know, the butlers and all the you know,
Speaker 1: the different sort of you know, jumping in the water
Speaker 1: after big long night, singing the songs around the piano.
Speaker 1: But it's also you know Duley's by the way right
Speaker 1: there in the middle of town. It's also about the
Speaker 1: golf course. And again Eddie Hackett of carn originally designer
Speaker 1: the masshole. You know, you're going back to the eighteenth century.
Speaker 1: I posted a recent instagram of mass you know that
Speaker 1: they have at the masshole before the Father's son in
Speaker 1: that swale in which you know, Catholic priests had to
Speaker 1: sort of perform mass in fear of death. And that
Speaker 1: golf course, if you think about it as six three
Speaker 1: whole routings one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine,
Speaker 1: and that in that stretch and all the different directions
Speaker 1: that those three whole routings go, you're always going to
Speaker 1: get a hole that is downwind into the wind, inside wind,
Speaker 1: so you're never it's like, you know, you're never going
Speaker 1: like out for nine holes and then back for nine holes.
Speaker 1: It's it's this remarkable routing and whole after hole, you know,
Speaker 1: in those little three three whole routings within that you know,
Speaker 1: time six, you just get so much variety and adventure
Speaker 1: and fun and fairness and all the things that like
Speaker 1: matter to me. And and and again that connection, that
Speaker 1: spiritual connection around things like the father son and now
Speaker 1: the father daughter and all that you know, you know,
Speaker 1: car Golf and Marty Carr have have put me in
Speaker 1: in those experiences around Waterville.
Speaker 3: It's just like.
Speaker 1: It's it's number two and and it you know, it's
Speaker 1: hard for me to not make it number one, but
Speaker 1: I've got that for another course.
Speaker 3: Number two for me is Royal Port Russian. I thought
Speaker 3: about this, even though there's only been one open there
Speaker 3: in my lifetime. It is my favorite course on the
Speaker 3: open Rota. I think for for drama, for variety of holes,
Speaker 3: for really cool views and really wild dunes. I like
Speaker 3: it better than any other course. I mean the old
Speaker 3: course is you know St. Andrews is amazing, but it's
Speaker 3: it's a terrible course for spectating. And there's the sameness
Speaker 3: to where those guys. The way they play those holes.
Speaker 3: There's so many driveable par fours for the pros now
Speaker 3: and I love the old course. I'd play there any
Speaker 3: day in my life gladly. But I think it's lost
Speaker 3: some interest at the highest level as a championship venue.
Speaker 3: And you know, I mean, like Troon, give me a break,
Speaker 3: like Carniuski's kind of flat and ugly, like I think, really,
Speaker 3: I think the Royal Port Rush is the best course
Speaker 3: on the Open Rota and I love it to pieces.
Speaker 3: And it's it's number two.
Speaker 1: I can see it and uh you know again it's
Speaker 1: it's four for me. And uh number one Number one
Speaker 1: is is.
Speaker 11: Ly hinch me too, no way, yeah wow, uh yeah
Speaker 11: again now that I realized you hadn't said, I mean,
Speaker 11: you know, if it wasn't on your list, it'd be
Speaker 11: it'd be sacrilege.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the hinch la hinch to me again. First hole,
Speaker 1: not that great second hole, not that great third hole.
Speaker 1: You know. Okay, now it's start fourth hold the Klondike,
Speaker 1: you know, original old Tom Morris. We're going back to
Speaker 1: the to the eighteen ninety four, then then followed by
Speaker 1: the Dell and then you know what McKenzie then had
Speaker 1: you know, did in the nineteen twenties. Hawtrey comes along
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety nine, eight and eleven that you know,
Speaker 1: Hawtrey kind of inserted into that incredible golf court. Like
Speaker 1: again you talk about the middle of valley Bunny, go
Speaker 1: to the middle of la Hinch and try to you know, unbelievable, reachable.
Speaker 1: Par four is incredible. Part three. I think Lahinch is
Speaker 1: Part four's or some of the you know, some of
Speaker 1: the best in all of Ireland golf. Not to mention
Speaker 1: it's also that little surfing village. It's the town of
Speaker 1: Lahinch itself. I you know, the vibe and energy I
Speaker 1: get there. I you know, I was sort of well
Speaker 1: overserved myself on a recent trip to Lahinch and sort
Speaker 1: of gave back some of it to the to the
Speaker 1: to the golf gods, but furthering my connection, my respect
Speaker 1: and love and admiration for Lynch. It's like I think
Speaker 1: I was serving pints for about two and a half
Speaker 1: hours in the nineteenth the bar there in town, and
Speaker 1: I'm just all of it, all of it. The sum
Speaker 1: total of what is Lahinch is number one on my lists.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you said it it's just it just doesn't quit.
Speaker 3: It's just such an interesting golf course. And you know,
Speaker 3: obviously as discussed like a place like Port Marnick is
Speaker 3: it's a tremendous test of golf. But it doesn't have
Speaker 3: the quirkiness, it doesn't have the weirdness. That's what I
Speaker 3: love about links golf, Like give me the blind holes,
Speaker 3: make me hit it over at dune like and Lynch
Speaker 3: just it just it just brings it at every turn.
Speaker 3: So it's really special.
Speaker 1: Two holes, you know, the Klondikendel have not been touched
Speaker 1: by anybody who've come along. They basically out of you know,
Speaker 1: respect and admiration for old Tom who you know what
Speaker 1: I think of him and his impact on the you know,
Speaker 1: I just think it's like, oh my god. Yes, you
Speaker 1: know when you're you're taking aim at a stone at
Speaker 1: the top of the top of the dune, you know,
Speaker 1: back to back, you know, like yes, yes, please perfect
Speaker 1: and you know where they are in the routing four
Speaker 1: and five. It's just yeah. And then the reveal on six,
Speaker 1: by the way, when you get up to the top
Speaker 1: of that and look down to the water. And again
Speaker 1: the eighth hole and then the eleventh uh and twelve,
Speaker 1: you know along the little the little inlet there, the
Speaker 1: little river.
Speaker 3: Was amazing. Yeah, that's great. That's cute that we have
Speaker 3: the same number one.
Speaker 9: Cute.
Speaker 3: It's unanimous we have.
Speaker 1: That we had the same number one in our in
Speaker 1: our in our Australian trip too, by the way, Ki.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well just discerning golfers, that's great. I love it. Well,
Speaker 3: this has been such a fun conversation and I would
Speaker 3: really encourage all the listeners out there to check out
Speaker 3: both of the big Janello's journeys. We have dropped. Belfast
Speaker 3: is brand new, but Dublin is is it's been out
Speaker 3: for a little while. But they really are great companion
Speaker 3: pieces and it's a fun contrast and it's just it's
Speaker 3: it's it's fun to see you do your thing, Matt, like,
Speaker 3: I mean, I know, this was this is why this
Speaker 3: company was founded in large part because you wanted to
Speaker 3: be able to tell the stories you want to tell
Speaker 3: and do them, you know, really immersive and really long form.
Speaker 3: And so both of these videos do that. And you know,
Speaker 3: shout out to Jake Muldowney who played a huge part
Speaker 3: in the editing and helped shephard these projects. And certainly
Speaker 3: appreciate the the help of Link Soul and Dormy and
Speaker 3: Golf Digest, who you know, all played a role in
Speaker 3: bringing these to life. But you know, you're the driving
Speaker 3: force on both of these episodes, so it's cool that
Speaker 3: people get to travel along with you.
Speaker 1: Well again, thanks to Tourism Ireland for also supporting, you know,
Speaker 1: the opportunity to tell these stories. And as you said,
Speaker 1: you know, I used to I used to, you know,
Speaker 1: in our mind when we were at Golf Channel and
Speaker 1: our crews would roll out there. In our mind we
Speaker 1: were always doing twenty two to thirty minute shows. They
Speaker 1: would just only they'd get cut down to five six
Speaker 1: seven minute segments. I said, we'd kill the cow and
Speaker 1: only eat the filet, and everything else would go to waste.
Speaker 1: And you know, only I knew what what wasn't being
Speaker 1: you know, sort of shared with the audience and the viewer,
Speaker 1: And these are these This is exactly you know, as
Speaker 1: you say, it's essentially a dream come true for me.
Speaker 1: I mean, we got stopped with two years of COVID
Speaker 1: right as kind of we were forming this company, and
Speaker 1: that obviously directly impacted travel in ways that you know,
Speaker 1: been it obviously impacted the world in so many ways,
Speaker 1: and obviously it's a global pandemic. But as it relates
Speaker 1: to travel, you know that that was that was a
Speaker 1: significant speed bump in trying to get to where we
Speaker 1: want to go with you know, travel storytelling. But I
Speaker 1: think that with Tourism of Ireland, with Golf Digest, with
Speaker 1: some of the other partners and the people involved, it
Speaker 1: now feels like we are getting to do what we
Speaker 1: always sort of wanted to do and talk to the
Speaker 1: people we wanted to talk to and share the stories
Speaker 1: we want to share. So appreciate all the people that
Speaker 1: were a part of this and this opportunity to kind
Speaker 1: of reflect on it, and thanks to everybody, and thanks
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 3: All Right, Well, that's good stuff. This has been another
Speaker 3: fire Drill podcast. Check out Firepit Collective dot com. We
Speaker 3: have links to all of these stories and we'll keep
Speaker 3: putting out some more sort of directors cut extras on
Speaker 3: the socials and elsewhere. But for Matt Janella, this is
Speaker 3: Alan Schipnak and we appreciate you listening and hopefully you'll
Speaker 3: check out the videos. I think you'll enjoy them. Thanks
Speaker 3: for being a part of this podcast and this is
Speaker 3: the end.
Speaker 4: I'm bet big and I played the wind, made a fortune,
Speaker 4: win my shit game, and I ran the table and
Speaker 4: then I thought I could fall. Then the win hit me.
Speaker 3: Lack of cannon, the ball, and now I cann it.
Speaker 2: Shake this losing the stream. Every road take is a
Speaker 2: dead end street. I got thoughts in my head, can't
Speaker 2: get them out, trying not to think what I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2: I've got thoughts in my head. I can't get them out,
Speaker 2: trying not to think what I'm thinking about.