Boards Golf Society (Final) Mount Juliet Estate (24th Sep 1120 -1240 hrs)

3d Flytroughs of each hole here - https://clubnet.golfgraffix.com/CourseTours/tour.html?clubid=UBUH8Q-14535-76841&courseid=course1&wd1=0&wd2=1

4th to me is such a claustrophic tee shot, feels so narrow. Cracking golf hole. 2-4 are all class holes to be fair

I'm not saying that we shouldn't go shouldn't go ahead with the day, but I'm not sure there's much point. I played twice this week and got so much bad golf out of my system I'm a sure thing to win. I carry my bag and don't think I'll bother bringing a second ball to save myself carrying a spare.

Sure give the rest of us a chance and only carry one club.Leave the bag in the car😀

Bit of old footage from the times Fix was mentioning, to keep the mood going

Fota Island making an appearance in the video ??

As you know, I know the place very very well. Mount Juliet is a very special place to me.

Unlike you Fix, I was lucky with my golf upbringing, my father was a member of Greystones since around 1980. I couldn’t tell you how old I was when he first brought me out, but it became a regular weekly trip from Shankill to go out on a Saturday and caddy for him. Payment was in the form of a Blackcurrant cordial and a Kit Kat. Juniors weren’t allowed in the club, so I had to sit on the steps outside and consume the days reward. I do recall one day though being in awe that Fr Deveraux from Glenroe was in the bar and being allowed in to meet him 🤩 If it was raining, I could sit in the locker room. God I remember that place, smelly, small, tight for space and always busy. Anyway, I wouldn’t spend to long before I headed down to the putting green for a few hours while my da helped them out in the bar 🍻

Now I say juniors, but I wasn’t allowed join the club till I was 12. My old man would however bring me down some evenings when he went for a practice and I could hit a few balls. He got me a cut down 9 iron (which I remember so well, the fecking grip was wore off at some stage and was basically down to paper 🥹) a putter from about 1950 and a few other terrible cut down clubs to get me started. So in 1989 I joined the club and have been lucky to remain a member ever since. Of course I didn’t always play that much as a kid because Greystones was a 2 hour commute each way on a train and a bus. So it was Saturday only, caddy for old man in the morning and play my game in the afternoon.

I remember going to my first Irish Opens around that time. Portmarnock and Royal Dublin, Seve and Langer. I was lucky enough to live a short enough walk over the back fields to Woodbrook where the Irish PGA was hosted a few times. The Pros hosted clinics for the young lads and I remember they wouldn’t give me much time. Genuinely I had a great swing and I hit the ball well, they couldn’t say much more than keep doing that and go off to give the worse players their time 🤣 I got a gig as scoreboard man. I recall the first couple of days I was following Owen Mullhall of Royal Dublin (I think). His caddy wasn’t a bit impressed that a young lad got the job, but I kept up, I paid attention and I made sure I got the scores correct. I was his best friend by the time we finished up 😁. Philip Walton won around that time, and my school pal was a big fan of his, Philip was an absolute gent to us. But Christy was my hero, I loved him. I recall begging my old man to bring me over to Deerpark to a clinic he did, probably in the 80’s. I think we traded stories about that day over a pint or 2 Fix. The only thing I recall from that day was some lad asking Christy how to get back spin. Christys answer was a question, “what’s your handicap ?”. 14 says the guy. “It’s not backspin you need, you just want to get the ball to go forward”.

So moving on to about 1996/97. My best buds brother was 10 years older than us and he lived in Kilkenny. We used to basically spend every other weekend in the marble city and why wouldn’t you when you are 19 and able to get away for free weekends! This went on for years. Then I met a girl in Dublin, she was a Dub, we went out for a while and it wasn’t long before I found out her old man was from a place called Glenmore…….. in Kilkenny, sure with all the time I used to spend down there, wasn’t it destined that I’d end up marrying someone with Kilkenny routes 👰‍♀️🤵‍♂️.

I never made it to any of the Irish Opens in Mount Juliet though. I wrote this and then had to backtrack because I can’t truly remember the first time I visited the place 🤯 I was at the second of the WGC’s. I spent the weekend in my friends house and went to the golf every day and my now wife came down with her dad on the Sunday. I remember we had a great chat with Ernie Els (winner) wife on the 17th hole. That proved more than a bit random a couple of years later…. Ask me Saturday….

Anyway we had a work thing in Kilkenny around the same time when I first played the course and I genuinely can’t remember if this was before or after the WGC. Some other work weekends in the mid naughties took us close by, and we managed to get a few more games in. I quickly fell in love with the course and it was a firm favourite. At the WGC we were so impressed with the place that we booked in for a weekend soon after. Then my friend moved out of Kilkenny city to live in the local village and this meant more time spent around Mount Juliet. We used to rent a meeting room in the Conrad in Dublin and ended up joining their privilege club. Guess what, Mount Juliet was part of the Conrad group and we got vouchers to stay there. We were regulars. The Rose Garden Lodges, The Manor House, Hunters yard……. And the golf. Interestingly it was 5 star quality, service, food and luxury, but it was actually only a 4 star resort though. The Manor House being a listed building was not allowed a lift, and if you want 5 stars, you have to have a lift!

The time came to make an honest woman of her and when we had to discuss venues, well we just looked at each other and together said Mount Juliet. Probably the easiest Wedding decision any couple has ever made. Of course her father was over the moon when we told him that we would like to get married in his local parish of Glenmore and host the reception in Mount Juliet. We were all set for a beautiful June wedding with pictures around the estate to treasure forever. But then Ireland happened and I’ll never forget the rain that fell that day, it was truly horrendous. Still, we got lovely pictures in the Manor House (still looks the same), but none on the golf course 😟. The following morning the rain cleared and I played golf with my Dad, my Godfather and my Father in Law. A very special round of golf, on a very special course.

For years we keep returning and have seen the place change with the new hotel in Hunters yard, but it still retains a lot of what it was, the changes have been subtle and in keeping with its tradition. When our kids came along our first born was christened Lucy Juliet as a nod to our love for the place and as a family we used to spend a weekend there every Christmas to visit Santa and Mrs Clause. We try and get back every year, sometimes it’s just a passing visit, but last year we spent a few days there the week after the Irish Open was played and I’m looking forward to the return, and my first game of golf there in a few years.

so yea, I know the place and I knew that Video was not all that it seemed 🤣😂

I assume I'm the last to notice this, but the course flyovers and GPS maps on the app are great!

Also, what's long drive from the past?