Boards Golf Society 2025 (Round 2) - Portumna Golf Club (15th March)

It’s a very good road , I drove upto Athlone tonight for a few days away with my better half. There was a lovely setting orange moon for the last hour aswell , was a great night for a long spin. 😎Up early for breakfast now in the Am and back down the road for golf !

Hav'nt hit a golf ball either on a golf course or driving range since mc creddin. I have however taken a leaf out of the Chinese book on how they teach their kids to play by practicing without hitting a golf ball for six months.

The living room carpet was starting to wear away in one spot so i was building up confidence that i was going places until i decided to send a video of what i though was my new improved swing last night to our very own boards resident pro Benny Harmon. Unfortunately it did'nt take him long to burst my bubble😭, so appologies to my playing partners tomorrow in advance.

Hopefully i might get a chance to stop off in Birr on the way down in the morning.

Ps i have decided to postpone any of the usual side wagers for the forseeable future in order to focus on the golf.😉

Loughrae same. Beautiful day for the golf.

Anyone here already?

Pakman on 5th

One tough track.Really enjoyed the company of @boccy23 , @tigerwoods and @scotty_golf9

Sitting in clubhouse waiting for grub.

Long round, over 5 hours.

Hope rest get in without needing luminous balls.

The longest day.

Woke up at 530 and could not get back asleep . Then drove to practically Galway and back. For like a 5.5 hour round.

Mad day.

I definitely over did the caffeine and the poor lads had to listen to a monologue for a good 5 hours – sorry lads, lack of sleep.

All above sounds like it should have been a disaster of a day. But it is what the BGS is all about, a long drive to an unusual course , in unusual and memorable landscape.

Besides my constant talking – a good days craic was had , with now a long term Boards mate, a Post Punk. A few newer lads in Sorbet , and awec.

All sound lads , up for a laugh, but to be honest, we had to get on , because the pace was terrible and the group ahead of us were moving for nobody. If in reality there was probably someone ahead of them . Look it was just the unfortunate sequence of a last throw of winter . A long winter.

Course had obviously still got the grit on the fairways – and grass was long. So the white tees were going to be a challenge. Love the shape of the course, the natural use of the land. The mature real trees. Would be stunning in June and July.

As always , there is a great anticipation on the first tee at a boards outing. Portumna 1st tees is a tight space – the delay – all the players around, added to the craic and build up.

I have to admit the practice putting green made a balls of me. The pace was amazing. I don’t think it was reflective of the course at all. I just never go going on the greens all day. It was unfortunate – because from a ball striking perspective , I hit some great shots. But never got rewarded.

The 3 lads had great moments. A post punk is a more powerful player these days , but a slice came in, and , he could not shift it all day. Awec looks very poised and well positioned over the ball and when he connects, is a powerful player. Sorbet – has a beautiful tempo and lovely swing and will definitely be in the teen whs in next few years. A lovely calm nature to all 3 lads. What on earth they were doing with me – I clearly stuck myself in last on the group (LOL)

As I felt totally out of the day – felt there would definitely be scores in the 40 pts – I started hitting all sorts of experimental shots – slices, draws , punches. Just having fun. But rather bizarrely I pulled them all off. I had a good laugh at it all.

Little did I know that people were struggling , with the sand/grit , the longer tees , no roll and difficult to judge greens. It wasn’t a high scoring day at all.

So a long day , good laugh , some good golf , company , food . A course I would love , slight changes in direction and elevation all day. A real old world feel , links feel. Would be some place in June.

That has to be one of the longest days ever. Some commitment by all involved and all the players.

Hopefully catch all again next month.

Fix.

Good fun playing with @Kiith @kev_s88 and @weapon of grass destruction . Good chat and fun the whole round.

I didn't really enjoy the course, the gravel on the fairways was strange and the slow play was aggravating. We finished the last 3 holes in the dark. If Portumna comes up again in the rota I will probably skip it. My play was absolutely awful, but I won't blame that on anything but myself.

Really looking forward to Rathsallagh, I have only played there once but really enjoyed my round there.

Just home after a lot of mileage and great craic.

Some photos of the day first and post round analysis will follow.

One of my favourite courses to play from the work society and it was mentioned on a discussion at Captains weekend in Killarney as a possible venue, hopefully it will be considered again in the future and in the summer months.

Thanks a million again to captain @Kiith for another enjoyable outing and the committee for another excellent organising of the day out.

Apologies that I wasn't staying afterwards as I had a long spin ahead to Carlow.

Snackbox

Back in 2014...it was my longest golf day, return in 2025 to another long day.

Everything conspired against us to be fair, frost delayed start, a massive GAA society out in front of us, was going to be an uphill battle.

I played pretty poor most of the day, with some moments of my best struck shots.

Driver was poor, irons were poor, chipping was 90% terrible, putted OK, bit didn't adjust to the slowdown as the light and temp dropped and left a bunch on the way in 6 inches short and online. Outside of that the rest was great 🤣🤣🤣

I probably hit 5 or 6 shots all day that I was genuinely happy with, other than that I'd be struggling.

Great company for the round, with plenty of friendly slagging between 4 good friends. That's the joy of the boards society, to have joined a gang of nuts from the Internet and found some real mates.

@Alanm just superbly consistent. Adding the new driver has added a further dimension to his game, which already had every other facet in place. Sub 70 golf and + handicap has to be back on the table.

@Golfgraffix was always a quality golfer, but has upped his consistency. Didn't have his best game...and a hint of angry GG crept in, but his putting game keeps him in any round of golf

@Break80 the birthday man, was steady throughout. A couple of points left on the board with the short game, which was strange for him. But adjusting to a new set of clubs, wedges included, are a valid excuse. Took the money off benny, which always puts a smile onhis face.

We had a confluence of events work against us yesterday, the return of a winter frost, 2 societies on a course on the same day. Portumna is a cracking course though, great mix of holes. A good solid test from the whites in wintry conditions.

I can understand people's frustrations given the way the day played out, but unfortunately circumstance conspired against us.

Just the one photo from yesterday, great par 3, the 5th I think.

18th green with my ball barely visible

It always amazes me when you can take a photo in the dark and look back to see things you couldnt see with the naked eye

Some cut losing 75 % of your handicap for 35 pts , because a few lads couldn't handle white tees 🤣, .

Great win Alanm

Oiche Mhaith agus Lá fhéile Phàdraig golfers. Hope you all had a good bank holiday.

All roads and early roads led to Portumna for Round 2 of the Boards Golf Society. Portumna is a gem of a course and 1 I always looked forward to it from the work society and this would have been my 4th time playing it. On the road after collecting my playing partner @get2thechoppa in Clonmel and on the road just after 9:30. Not a bad spin up, we took a slight little re-route into a great little village for some really tasty breakfast and even some of their own made Dubai chocolate 👌👌👌.

When we got into the car park we were chatting to other boards golfers and we found out that due to some earlier frost it was going to be a delay of up to 1 hour. This gave enough time to get some practice putts in and I found that this green was very pacy, slight touches and the golf ball rolling passed the cup by at least 10 - 15 feet, this was similar on the main greens, the course was in great nick for this time of year but the pin positions were very tricky and putting was the bullet in the foot for my game on Saturday. With the delay and with super sunshine, I had to buy a new hat. I also got some further practice on the range, hitting some 52° and 8 irons and they felt fine, I was carrying a slight injury with sciatica in my lower back, but I had a heat pad applied and thankfully there was no further injury.

After some shots in the range it was back up to the practice green, a few more putts and chatting to some more fellow golfers and to some new members. My other fellow players Saturday were @ciano15 , great to catch up with him again as I played with him last along with @scotty_golf9 and @bakerbhoy at Captains at Mount Juliet, when @ciano15 makes connection on the ball with his driver or irons, he can hit it miles, there were some sweet shots with his irons on 2nd shots, a gentleman and great craic throughout the round.

As the groups started teeing off and it came near to us, Ciano and I looked for a new member of the boards society, @rogermelliethemanofthetelly, as I read the name of the scorecard, Roger reached out his hand to shake hands and introduced himself. Roger is only new to the game of golf and a very good place to be, you'll pick up so much experience and pointers from so many great people in this group. Had a great chat with Roger on the course and we had a lot in common in regards to similar careers and other interests. A tough one on the course Saturday, but always had a smile on every fairway and every tee box.

The last of our 4 ball was my passenger and partner in crime @get2thechoppa , @get2thechoppa got his Gui membership renewed last week and his proper handicap back also. His game is coming back the more he plays and he was hitting very well off the tee, so good I read later yesterday that he won the Long Drive, it was a great tee shot and I think we all saw it hit the marker and land after it. Some putts didn't go the way on the day, but onwards and upwards.

Thanks to the 3 lads for great chats and company on the round 👍👍👍

I went out again with the same mindset as I played Portmarnock, I was enjoying my golf but I left some shots out there. Off the tee very happy and I was on the green on every par 3 only to have inconsistencies with the putter. It came right with a long par save on the 15th. A respectful 31 points on a very long course I was well happy with.

As mentioned earlier, Portumna is one of my favourite courses, it was a long round on Saturday as we had some bottlenecks on tee boxes with another society ahead of us and nearly 5 hours for our rounds, coming in on the last hole it was getting hard to see the ball flight from our tee shots. Other than that, I really enjoyed the outing and I hope that Portumna is considered again in the future and possibly played in the summer months.

Many thanks as always again to captain @Kiith and the ever hardworking committee for organising another great outing.

Looking forward to Rathsallagh in April another new course for me. All the best folks.

Snackbox

Arra now dont be blaming people in front for yer slow play, held up the whole place yez did.

Ironic given the tendency of some in your group to wax lyrical about slow play

🤣🤣🤣🥄🥄🥄💩